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Washington (AP) - The US labor market continued its recovery in March after the severe Corona slump with great strides.
The unemployment rate continued to decline - employment rose more strongly than it has been in a good six months, according to the Ministry of Labor.
US President Joe Biden attributed the positive developments to a massive corona aid package passed in March and the successful vaccination campaign.
At the same time he said in the White House: "We still have a long way to go."
Because there can be no talk of a complete recovery on the job market, many millions more people are still unemployed than before the corona pandemic.
"Today's report also reminds us of how deep the hole we started from," said Biden.
"After a year of devastation, there are still 8.4 million fewer jobs today than in March last year."
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The unemployment rate fell compared to the previous month by 0.2 percentage points to 6 percent.
Employment rose significantly more than analysts expected: Outside agriculture, 916,000 new jobs were added in March.
That was a lot more than in the months before.
An average growth of 660,000 jobs was expected.
A particularly large number of jobs were added in March in sectors that had previously been severely affected by restrictions on public life.
280,000 jobs were created in the leisure and hospitality sectors.
However, employment there is still 3.1 million jobs or 18.5 percent below the pre-crisis level of February 2020.
The labor market, criticized by Biden, is likely to have been boosted by the relaxation of the corona restrictions in states such as Texas and Mississippi.
Biden appealed to the Americans to pull themselves together for a few more months and stay on the "home straight" in the fight against the pandemic.
“Too many Americans pretend the fight is over.
He's not, ”said Biden, recalling that more than half of the population still needs to be vaccinated.
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According to the CDC health authority, 30 percent of the population has already received at least one dose of vaccine.
More than 153.6 million vaccine doses were given.
Biden's team of experts was alarmed this week due to the increasing number of new corona infections detected every day.
© dpa-infocom, dpa: 210402-99-68243 / 2