Workers are returning to work in every sector of the U.S. economy. They aren’t waiting any longer because of COVID concerns, or supply-chain problems, as the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent from 4 percent, the government said Friday.
This is great news for economic growth this year. Businesses wouldn’t be hiring at this rate if the demand for their products was fading, or they weren’t finding enough supplies.
President Putin-for-life picked the wrong time to start another Cold War with his invasion of the Ukraine. World growth is accelerating as the pandemic subsides, and worldwide sanctions against anything owned by Putin and his Oligarchs will shrink the Russian economy even further, despite rising gas and oil prices.
The U.S. added a total of 678,000 jobs in February. Restaurants added 124,000 new jobs last month and hotels hired 28,000 people. Hiring also rose strongly at white-collar professional jobs (95,000), health care (64,000), construction (60,000) and transportation and warehousing (48,000).
Why are so many returning to work? The Omicron infection rate has very quickly returned to pre-Omicron levels, as I said last week, and mask mandates have been removed in most states. Consumers aren’t cowed by the Omicron, or any other variant, anymore.
Even hiring in January and December was stronger than previously reported. Job gains in the last two months were raised by a combined 92,000.
The change in total nonfarm payroll employment for December was revised up by 78,000, from +510,000 to +588,000, and the change for January was revised up by 14,000, from +467,000 to +481,000.
That’s 1,747,000 jobs added in just the past three months. This will boost supply chains as more jobs means more is produced. And inflation may be slowing, as average weekly pay increased just $0.01 cents.
Will ongoing inflation fears hurt future job growth? Consumers and businesses have been ignoring high inflation over the past year. Why should it slow them down now?
“We are probably about 1½ million jobs away from getting back to the pre-pandemic levels for the labor market,” said a commentator cited by MarketWatch. “With 11 million job openings and seemingly every business in the country desperately trying to hire, the economy can absorb those extra 1.5 million workers without blinking an eye — and probably will over the next few months.” —Stephen Stanley, chief economist at Amherst Pierpont Securities
Can Putin’s Oligarchs find a way to pull Putin out of his dream of another Czarist Russian Empire? Who knows how long will Russians endure the sanctions that are improverishing them?
Harlan Green © 2022
Follow Harlan Green on Twitter: https://twitter.com/HarlanGreen
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