Washington (AFP)

Donald Trump praised Thursday the "spectacular" employment figures recorded in June in the United States while ignoring the resurgence of the Covid-19 pandemic which could however jeopardize the economic recovery.

The US economy created 4.8 million jobs last month, an all-time high for a single month, and the unemployment rate fell to 11.1% from 13.3% in May, the department said. Job. As in May, these data are better than expected by economists.

"Today's announcements prove that our economy is starting to buzz again, in some sectors we are putting out the flames and it is working very well," said the Republican president, who is banking on the recovery of the economy. severely damaged by the coronavirus pandemic, to be re-elected in November.

During a brief speech to the press gathered at the White House, he promised "a superb third quarter", opportunely a little before the presidential election in November.

"The good thing is that these numbers will come out just before the election, so people will be able to see them," he said.

- "Work not finished" -

The Secretary of the Treasury, Steven Mnuchin, was more measured, stressing that "the work is not finished".

"I will be worried until we get everyone back on the job market," he said.

The improvements in the job market "reflect the continued recovery in economic activity that had been interrupted in March and April in an effort to contain the coronavirus pandemic," said the Ministry of Labor earlier.

Not surprisingly, the leisure and hospitality sectors benefited the most from the recovery after being stricken.

"Significant job gains" were also recorded in the retail trade, education, health services and in the professional and commercial services sector.

In addition, unlike in May, black workers also benefited from the improvement in employment even if the gap with white workers remains significant (15.4% unemployment against 10.1%).

However, it is difficult to conclude that the labor market has recovered from the shock wave caused by the health crisis since the data were collected during the first half of June, that is, - say before the new outbreak of coronavirus cases.

The layoffs recorded in the spring were so massive that the gain of 4.8 million jobs still leaves millions of Americans unemployed.

A total of 17.8 million people were still unemployed in June, 12 million more than in February before the spread of the new coronavirus.

The unemployment rate remains well above the 3.5% established in February, when it was at its lowest level in 50 years.

- Neutral at the end of June? -

Between May and June, many federated states gave the green light to the reopening, in particular of restaurants and other places of leisure, after weeks of confinement which were to stem the new coronavirus.

But important foci of the disease have reappeared in the south and west, in California, in Florida in Texas and in Arizona forcing in certain cases to resume containment measures.

With an uncontrolled pandemic, the nascent recovery in employment could thus have stalled in neutral at the end of June.

As a sign that jobs are still struggling, new weekly claims for unemployment benefits totaled 1.427 million last week, ending on June 27.

The number is down slightly from the previous week but only because the figures for the previous week have been revised up to 1.482 million.

In addition to those who lost their jobs in the spring, millions of Americans also had to accept part-time employment.

The number of people working part-time for economic reasons, that is to say involuntarily, fell in June but remains twice its February level.

© 2020 AFP