The U.S. Added 379,000 Jobs In February | Latest COVID Relief Bill Create Massive Tax Rates for Some Families

Plus: 17 Million Won’t Get Stimulus Checks—Expect The Same For Student Loan Cancellation

TOPLINE

The United States added 379,000 jobs in February, according to data released Thursday by the Labor Department—far surpassing the 198,000 new jobs economists were expecting—as hiring rebounded in the leisure and hospitality sectors.

KEY FACTS

The restaurant industry—one the sectors hit hardest by the pandemic last spring—saw the biggest gains last month with 286,000 jobs added, while state and local government and construction jobs continued to decline. 

The unemployment rate ticked down slightly to 6.2% in February from 6.3% in January—it’s clocked in between 6% and 7% for the last five months. 

Experts including Federal Reserve chairman Jerome Powell have warned that this number understates the true scope of the unemployment crisis in the United States since more than four million workers, including a disproportionate number of women and people of color, have left the workforce and are no longer counted in the government’s official tally. 

The labor force participation rate held steady at 61.4% last month.

The report again showed huge discrepancies in unemployment by race: the unemployment rate for Black Americans was 9.9% in February compared to 8.5% for Hispanics, 5.1% for Asians and 5.6% for whites.

 Overall, there are now 9.5 million unemployed nationwide, down from 10.1 million in January—that means a little less than half of the jobs lost as a result of the pandemic have yet to be recovered.

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