Employment resumes in the United States, but without overheating

The recovery of the labor market continues, but less quickly than hoped. The United States created 560,000 jobs in May, which allowed the unemployment rate to fall from 6.1% to 5.8% of the working population.

This figure can be explained in particular by the 292,000 jobs found in tourism, hotels and restaurants: companies in these sectors are reopening their doors with the end of the Covid-19 crisis, more than half of the adult population being vaccinated. In addition, more than 100,000 jobs in education are added as schools reopen.

The US economy has recreated 14.7 million of the 22 million jobs destroyed at the start of the pandemic, but it is still 7.2 million behind in this regard compared to January 2020.

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The May figure was eagerly awaited by all observers – economic, political – after the disastrous performance of April: the country had created that month only 266,000 jobs, much less than the million hoped for. The release of the disappointing statistic had put President Joe Biden in trouble, with Republicans accusing his massive stimulus package of being costly and ineffective.

The road will be long

Today’s figure is a relief, even if it is lower than the 670,000 job creations expected by economists. “It’s historic progress”Mr Biden said on Friday, June 4. “No other major economy in the world is growing as fast as ours. No other great economy creates jobs as quickly as ours. “, added the Democratic president in the run-up to the G7 in the United Kingdom.

The Republicans have naturally not made this analysis, while they blame Joe Biden, with the weekly unemployment benefit of 300 dollars (245 euros), to encourage Americans to refuse jobs. “Another bad jobs report – 100,000 jobs less than experts estimate, tweeted Republican House Leader Steve Scalise (Louisiana). This is what happens when you pay people not to work. What did the Democrats expect? “

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The San Francisco Federal Reserve (Fed), which worked on the subject in the summer of 2020 to assess the impact of the Trump measures ($ 600 at the time), had not found a significant effect. On the other hand, there are more than eight million unfilled jobs and twenty-five federated states have decided to no longer award the contested $ 300 bonus: from June 12 for Alaska and Missouri, June 26 for the Florida, from July 19 for Indiana. The program is due to end in early September.

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