Hiring surges as US economy recovers : BLS

The US economy is recovering from a labor market affected by the Omicron variant. A song of this hiring across US surged last month. The Labor Department reported on Friday that payrolls grew by 678,000 in February, exceeding the predictions of analysts of around 440,000 jobs. That is an increase of 200,000 from the previous month. 

The unemployment rate fell to 3.8% as more workers found jobs. This is the lowest jobless rate since February 2020, right before the pandemic took hold of the economy. Expert Nick Bunker says, "There's very strong levels of demand for workers. This year could be one where we, by many metrics, get back to pre-pandemic levels."

Leisure and hospitality companies added 180,000 jobs as more restaurants and bars continue to open. Professional and business services firms added another 95,000 jobs. In the construction and healthcare sectors, 60,000 jobs were added each while the transportation and warehousing sector added nearly 50,000.  Meanwhile, analysts at Morgan Stanley said in a report, "February marked the tenth consecutive month with payroll gains in excess of 400,000, the longest run of such robust job growth on record going back to 1939."

Source: CBS News