Vox Sentences - The US job market continues its rebound

Strong jobs numbers in February likely presage an interest rate hike; Russia boots the free press while NATO denies Ukraine a no-fly zone.

Tonight's Sentences was written by Ellen Ioanes.

Good jobs numbers = coming rate hikes

Photo by Paul Weaver/SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images

• The labor market added 678,000 jobs in February, driving the unemployment rate down to 3.8 percent from 4 percent in January, the lowest level since the start of the pandemic. However, wage gains have stalled after historic gains, and are being wiped out by high inflation. [Wall Street Journal / Josh Mitchell]
• The strong employment numbers are a good sign for the labor market and reflect a rebound from the latest wave of Covid-19 infections due to the omicron variant — and post-pandemic recovery overall. But employment is not yet back to pre-pandemic levels, and many people need to negotiate child care and health concerns. [NPR / Scott Horsley]
• The employment boom isn’t hitting everyone equally; the unemployment rate for Black women rose from 5.8 percent to 6.1 percent in February from the previous month. Their participation in the workforce also decreased by .2 percentage points last month. [NBC / Hannah Miao]
• Nevertheless, the positive jobs numbers are part of the calculus that goes into the Federal Reserve’s decision to raise interest rates in an effort to combat inflation. The Russian invasion of Ukraine has shaken global markets, potentially causing the Fed to soon increase rates by .25 percent instead of the .5 percent initially predicted. [Reuters / Lucia Mutikani]
• Fed Chair Jerome Powell said Thursday that “hindsight says we should have moved earlier” on rate increases. [The Hill / Sylvan Lane]

Crisis continues in Russia and Ukraine

• Russia seized control of Europe’s largest nuclear power plant, in the Ukrainian city of Zaporizhzhia, on Friday. A fire at the facility, caused by shelling, caused alarm over the possibility of nuclear disaster, but the fire has been extinguished and the facility is reportedly safe. [Reuters / Pavel Polityuk and Aleksandar Vasovic]
• Russian troops continue to advance on key population centers, including the port city of Mariupol. Mayor Vadym Boychenko has said that the city is under constant attack and that Russian troops have cut it off from food and water, as well as heat, electricity, and safe transport for evacuation. [Al Jazeera]
• Although Russian attacks have become increasingly intense, the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) has denied Ukraine’s request for a no-fly zone in its airspace. Secretary General Jens Stoltenberg said NATO wouldn’t risk open conflict with Russia by using member states’ aircraft to enforce such an order. [WSJ / Nancy Youssef]
• Meanwhile in Russia, multiple independent channels, both Russian and Western, have suspended operations in the country as the government approves long prison sentences for spreading what it deems “fake information” about the invasion of Ukraine. Russia has also restricted access to social media like Twitter and Facebook. [Axios / Sara Fischer]

The Supreme Court upheld the death sentence of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the bombers responsible for four deaths at the 2013 Boston Marathon. [CNN / Ariane de Vogue]

• On Thursday, the Biden administration granted Temporary Protected Status to some tens of thousands of Ukrainians in the US. [CBS / Camilo Montoya-Galvez]
• The Internal Revenue Service plans to hire 10,000 workers to help with its massive tax return backlog. [Washington Post / Jacob Bobage and Lisa Rein]
• A suicide bombing at Shia mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, during Friday prayers killed at least 56 and injured nearly 200 more. [AP / Kathy Gannon and Riaz Khan]

What’s the four-letter name of the "Only Time" singer who reportedly lives alone in a castle?

Solve today's new Vox crossword puzzle, and stay tuned for more puzzles coming out Monday through Saturday.

“Our editorial policies won’t change.”

[Alexei Venediktov, the editor-in-chief of independent Russian radio station Ekho Moskvy, which shut down this week under increasing pressure from the Putin regime.]

Ukraine been in open conflict with Russian military forces since 2014.But on February 24, 2022, the conflict turned into one of Europe's largest wars since World War II. How did we get here? [YouTube]

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