Biden says ‘economic plan is working’ as US added 311,000 jobs in February

March 10 (UPI) — U.S. data showed on Friday that more than 300,000 people were added to the workforce last month, further supporting expectations of a higher U.S. Federal Reserve rate hike.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics said the number of non-farm payrolls increased by 311,000 in February, up from early-week private payroll processor ADP data showing 240,000 people were hired last month.

Profits were widely shared across the leisure and hospitality, retail, healthcare and government sectors.

While the number of those still unemployed and the overall unemployment rate increased last month, both figures are relatively unchanged since the beginning of the year, the government said in a report.

Speaking Friday, President Joe Biden said millions more Americans are enjoying decent jobs and pay.

“It’s no coincidence.” the president said. “Our economic plan is working”

Biden said that when he took office, there was no economic recovery. 268,000 jobs have been cut from the US economy. December 2020, a month before he took office. Many of the pitfalls in the past can be attributed to the sluggish economic growth seen during the worst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The President also noted that “people are returning to work.”

“Perhaps this is the part of the report that makes me the most happy,” he said.

However, the rapid recovery from the post-vaccination stage of the pandemic has meant that demand has outpaced supply and inflation remains high.

Biden himself acknowledged that there could be setbacks on the path to a more moderate level of consumer inflation.

This should only increase confidence that the US Federal Reserve will raise its key lending rate by 50 basis points, or 0.5 percentage points, double the pace of the first rate hike this year.

Federal Reserve Chairman Jerome Powell testified before both the House of Representatives and the Senate this week, saying the economy is still doing well with lingering inflationary pressures and higher interest rates on loans that make everything from homes to cars. more expensive.

Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee, Powell said that “economic data has been stronger than expected” this year. Inflation is three times the Fed’s 2% target, suggesting policymakers still have work to do to slow the economy down.

After eight successive rate hikes, US Senator Elizabeth Warren, M.A., chair of the Senate Subcommittee on Economic Policy, said the Fed’s policy They were designed to “slow down the economy and put people out of work.”

Widespread layoffs, combined with sluggish growth and spending, would be a sure sign of a recession. However, this has not yet happened. APD data showed that only 106,000 people were added to the private sector payroll in January.

However, James Knightley, chief international economist at ING, said dark clouds are brewing.

“Virtually all jobs created on the balance sheet in the last 11 months have been part-time, which is not a sign of strength,” He said.

Markets were modestly lower on the news. The Dow was down 0.3%, the S&P 500 was down 0.6% and the high-tech NASDAQ was down 0.8% as of 9:45 am EST.

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