The economy added 379,000 new jobs in February, more than doubling the 175,000 economists predicted, and signals that the economy is heating up under the Biden administration as they work to control the spread of the coronavirus.
The unemployment rate also fell from 6.3% to 6.2%.
Restaurants and bars account for the most of the job gains in February. Professional and business services, Health care, retail, and manufacturing, also added jobs.
The sectors that lost jobs included state and local government, education, construction and mining.
“The first jobs report of the Biden Administration shows the US economy is starting to heat up. There is [now] a strong possibility of rapid economic acceleration this spring and summer,” said Josh Lipsky, director of the GeoEconomics Center at the Atlantic Council, according to the Hill.
“But the hopes for growth and job gains could quickly get blown back off course if virus variants spread and limit vaccine effectiveness,” he added, saying the relief measure could ensure a smoother recovery.
