Well, finally some good news. We have been locked in our homes for over a year and wearing uncomfortable masks, each of us fighting the coronavirus pandemic. It was and is a real invisible enemy. That was one choice. Dying or infecting loved ones was the other. It has been a very hard year. So what about that good news?
America added a fantastic 916,000 jobs in March. The unemployment rate fell from 6.2 percent to 6.0 percent in just one month, according to The Government News. Friday’s news showed that the vaccines and businesses opening have made their impact. In February, the U.S. only added 379,000 jobs. The March increase was astounding.
Add President Joe Biden’s $1.9 trillion COVID relief package, which he signed into law on March 11, 2020. And the nation can look forward to yet another jobs and economic increase in the near future. A majority of $1400 relief checks have been going right back into the economy with so many millions of people out of work or living on subsistence wages.
The following chart is as noted, not about farm employees. Incidentally, the Great Plains have long been importing white employees from South Africa for good farming and ranching jobs. The reason for this was the local supply of workers has been just too low or unable to perform these physical jobs.
There have been reasons these jobs went to white workers instead of black or brown ones, but that is a different discussion.
Data:Â FRED; Chart: Axios Visuals.
The nonfarm jobs number in March was the largest since the summer of 2020. In addition, when the jobs numbers were adjusted in January and February, they added 156,000 more employees, according to The Axios.
The hard-hit entertainment sector, which includes restaurants and bars, among others, is listed under the leisure and hospitality sector. It added 280,000 of the new jobs. But other sectors added substantially more jobs. These would have been in the manufacturing and construction.
The way that broke down was:
- ‘The unemployment rate for workers without a high school degree dropped from 10.1% to 8.2% — a sharp decline.
- ‘It also dropped for all racial and ethnic groups, except Asian Americans. Their unemployment rate jumped by nearly a full percentage point.’
However, there are still 3.8 million unemployed Americans. Regardless, the economy has plenty of room in the market labor force to indicate a strong jobs growth indicator for the rest of the year. It appeared that President Joe Biden’s infrastructure plan could continue healing the Republican-weakened middle and working classes if passed. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) has vowed that not one Republican senator would for it. Given how many Republicans, Democrats, and Independents across the nation approve of Biden’s plan to pay for it by taxing huge corporations and wealthy individuals, McConnell’s threat was puzzling.
As a result of the coronavirus pandemic, consumers shifted their buy patterns. Many ordered goods without going outside of their home and many will continue with that buying shift. Another shift was toward home repairs, remodeling, and home redecorating.
One of the major problems with the new online buying shift has been how it impacted big-box purchase and delivery systems. Most of these entities have put the packaging and delivery force under tremendous production or output strain, possible danger from the COVID-19 virus, and far too low wages.
The entertainment and transportation sectors continue to increase in their need for workers as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) just released its new guidelines regarding travel.
The Mueller Report Adventures: In Bite-Sizes on this Facebook page. These quick, two-minute reads interpret the report in normal English for busy people. Mueller Bite-Sizes uncovers what is essentially a compelling spy mystery. Interestingly enough, Mueller Bite-Sizes can be read in any order.
