President Biden delivered another strong jobs report with 311,000 new jobs created, unemployment at 3.6%, and labor force participation at a pre-pandemic high.
The numbers via the Bureau of Labor Statistics:
Total nonfarm payroll employment rose by 311,000 in February, and the unemployment rate edged up to 3.6 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported today. Notable job gains occurred in leisure and hospitality, retail trade, government, and health care. Employment declined in information
and in transportation and warehousing.
….
Among the major worker groups, the unemployment rate for Hispanics (5.3 percent) increased in February. The unemployment rates for adult men (3.3 percent), adult women (3.2 percent), teenagers (11.1 percent), Whites (3.2 percent), Blacks (5.7 percent), and Asians (3.4 percent) changed little over the month.
…
In February, the labor force participation rate was little changed at 62.5 percent, and the employment-population ratio held at 60.2 percent. These measures have shown little net change since
early 2022 and remain below their pre-pandemic February 2020 levels (63.3 percent and 61.1 percent, respectively.
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A really good part of this jobs report is that more people are returning to the labor force:
The best news in the job report? More people are looking for work.
419,000 people entered the labor force in February.
The unemployment rate went up b/c more people are looking for jobs, not b/c of layoffs.This is good news. More workers are returning. pic.twitter.com/yphqeu1WCA
— Heather Long (@byHeatherLong) March 10, 2023
Anyone looking for signs of a pending recession is not going to find them in this jobs report. As the nation inches closer to the 2024 election with no recession on the horizon, the odds of President Biden winning a second term continue to grow.
By this point, politically, Republicans may have to hope for a recession, but American presidential history suggests that without economic trouble incumbent presidents tend to win second terms.
It is looking more and more like President Biden and the Democrats have fueled a post-pandemic boom with their policies. There is still work to be done on continuing to lower inflation, but should this boom continue, the United States could be on its best economic course since the 1990s.
The Biden boom is real, and it is rolling over Republican hopes for 2024.
Jason is the managing editor. He is also a White House Press Pool and a Congressional correspondent for PoliticusUSA. Jason has a Bachelor’s Degree in Political Science. His graduate work focused on public policy, with a specialization in social reform movements.
Awards and Professional Memberships
Member of the Society of Professional Journalists and The American Political Science Association