WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Friday's strong monthly jobs report suggests the United States may return to pre-pandemic employment levels earlier than once expected, said White House economic adviser Jared Bernstein in an interview with Reuters.
The Labor Department reported Friday that the United States added 850,000 more jobs in June, ahead of analyst expectations and a sign the economic recovery may be accelerating.
More than 22 million jobs evaporated when schools and businesses were shut down in March of 2020 to try to stem the spread of the coronavirus; the United States is now about 6.7 million jobs below pre-pandemic levels.
Graphic: The jobs hole facing Biden and the Fed - https://graphics.reuters.com/USA-ECONOMY/JOBS/jbyprzlrqpe/chart.png
The Biden administration has focused on getting Americans vaccinated and pumping stimulus money into the economy to keep businesses and households afloat.
The Congressional Budget Office's new economic forecast, released Thursday, "shows that the unemployment rate, in their expectation, hits 3.6% by the end of next year," Bernstein said. "That's close to a 50-year low," he said.
Previously, the year-end CBO unemployment rate forecast was about 5%, he noted.
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