At long last, there's hope, says Biden after over 9 lakh new jobs created in US in March

As the US economy created over 900,000 jobs in March this year after the pandemic recession, US President Joe Biden on Friday said the first two months of his administration has seen more new jobs created than in the first two months in any administration in history.

The March increase in jobs in - the most since August - was nearly double February's gain of 468,000, the Labour Department said Friday. The unemployment rate declined from 6.2 per cent to 6 per cent.

Even with last month's robust increase, the economy remains more than 8 million jobs short of the number it had before the coronavirus pandemic erupted a little over a year ago. But with the recovery widely expected to strengthen, many forecasters predict enough hiring in the coming months to recover nearly all those lost jobs by year's end.

“This morning, we've learned that our economy created 900,000 jobs in March. It means the first two months of our administration has seen more new jobs created than in the first two months in any administration in history,” Biden said in his address to the nation.

But there is still a long way to go to get the economy back on track after the worst economic and job crisis in nearly a century, he noted.

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“But my message to the American people is this, help is here. Opportunity is coming. And at long last, there's hope,” he said.

Biden said that the new economic strategy that his administration has launched, one focused on building from the bottom up in the middle out, and one that puts government on the side of working people.

“And that rewards work, not wealth. When we invest in the American people, it's not just those at the top that make our economy grow. They're the ones that make it grow. Ordinary Americans,” he said.

“We saw the economy gain traction in March, as the American Rescue Plan moved and got passed, bringing new hope to our country. And we're going to continue to implement that law in the weeks ahead,” he said.

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By April 7, over 130 million households will have gotten their $1,400 per person rescue check. Funds are on their way to local communities to put educators, health care workers, home health care aides, police, firefighters, sanitary workers back on the job, he told reporters.

While significant progress has been made, but the fight is far from over, he said. “We know that vaccines are safe and effective. We're vaccinating more people than any other country on earth. We also have progress on jobs and progress on vaccinations. But in the face of this great news, I need also to make this clear and direct statement in American people,” he added.

“The progress we've worked so hard to achieve, can be reversed. On the economic front. The benefits and the impact the American Rescue Plan are temporary by design. It is a rescue plan. But as we get the economy back on his feet, we need to do the hard work of building back better not just for a while, but for good. Not just the short term, but for good,” he said.