The economy continues to explode. The February jobs report released Friday morning is being called “very very strong” and “very solid” by economists.
The economy added 678,000 new jobs, greatly beating expectations (one Harvard economist admits he projected 150,000.) Unemployment dropped to nearly pre-pandemic levels.
The AP calls it “another gain that underscored the economy’s solid health as the omicron wave fades and more Americans venture out to spend at restaurants, shops and hotels despite surging inflation.”
“The Labor Department’s report Friday also showed that the unemployment rate dropped from 4% to 3.8%, extending a sharp drop in joblessness as the economy has rebounded from the pandemic recession.”
Dean Baker, senior economist at the Center for Economic and Policy Research:
Economist David Rothschild:
Calling it “longest streak on record,” New York Times economics, business, and data reporter Ben Casselman notes: “We’ve added at least 400k jobs every month since May.”
“This was an unambiguously strong jobs report,” writes economist and public policy scholar Justin Wolfers, a professor the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan.
“Strong payrolls growth. Similar strength in the household survey. Broad-based gains. People getting back to work. Robust revisions. And signs that wage growth may not be the constraint some had feared.”
CNN Chief Business Correspondent: