U.S. unemployment rate lowest since coronavirus “The rate of interest rate hikes is likely to accelerate.”

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Last month, the U.S. unemployment rate hit the lowest level since the coronavirus outbreak. President Biden praised it as a historic day for the US economic recovery, and as employment conditions improve, the US Federal Reserve is expected to raise interest rates faster.

Correspondent Kim Jong-won from New York delivers.

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The U.S. unemployment rate stood at 3.9% last month, down 0.3% from the previous month.

In February 2020, just before the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. unemployment rate fell to the level of being fully employed, reaching a 50-year low of 3.5%.

For the first time since the Corona crisis, the unemployment rate surpassed Wall Street's expectations last month and entered the 3% range again, and it was evaluated that the economy had returned to pre-coronavirus.

[Joe Biden/President of the United States: I think this is a historic day for our economic recovery. The national unemployment rate fell below 4% today to 3.9%. It is the largest decline in the unemployment rate in US history in one year.] The 

average hourly wage also exceeded market expectations, up 4.7% from last year.

The U.S. central bank, the Federal Reserve, is expected to raise interest rates sooner.

The Fed, which has already expressed its intention to raise interest rates earlier than expected last month, at a faster rate than expected, could advance the timing of rate hikes as the unemployment rate has returned to pre-coronavirus levels and wages have risen sharply.

As part of its austerity policy, the Fed plans to end asset purchases by March of this year, and markets are predicting a rate hike soon after that.