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Latest Economic News: America is Winning Again
More than six million jobs were created last year, the largest number of any year on record;
Last year the US economy grew 5.7%, which was the highest rate of growth in almost 40 years;
For the first time in 20 years the US economy is growing faster than China's;
The unemployment rate fell from 6.2% in the beginning of last year to 3.6% in March;
2021 saw the biggest drop in people receiving unemployment benefits in a single year, from 18 million at the start of the year down to only 2 million;
There are fewer jobless claims right now than any time since 1968;
Since Biden took office 1.36 million small business jobs have been created.
Unemployment rate at record low
The US labor market is booming at unprecedented levels, adding 431,000 jobs in March alone. This has brought unemployment levels to a new pandemic-era low of 3.6% according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The unemployment rate before the pandemic was 3.5%, equaling the almost 50-year low record first set in 2019. Americans are not having to look far to find a job.
Long-term unemployment plunges
Not only have unemployment rates decreased, so have long-term unemployment rates, which are harder to lower. The Labor Department’s monthly report outlined long-term unemployment was reduced by 274,000 in March to 1.4 million.
A year ago, long-term unemployment reached 43.2%, a little shy of the all-time 45.5% record set in 2010 during the global economic crunch. Long-term unemployment has been reduced to 23.9% as of March 2022, nearly matching pre-pandemic levels of about 19%-20%.
US economy booms back to life
These gains have proven to be a strong first-quarter showing for the labor market, with an average monthly increase of over 500,000 jobs.
The US economy is only 1% or 1.6 million jobs short of pre-pandemic levels, which suggests the country is on track to recover 8 years faster than it took to come out of the Great Recession.