Hiring picked up last month as states lifted restrictions and stepped up vaccination efforts, with the government reporting on Friday that the American economy added 379,000 jobs last month.
The pace of hiring in February was an improvement over the gains made in January, but progress is still painfully slow given that nearly 10 million fewer jobs exist today than did a year ago.
The Labor Department’s report comes as Congress is considering a $1.9 trillion package of pandemic relief intended to carry struggling households and businesses through the coming months.
Analysts have offered increasingly optimistic forecasts for growth later in the year. But millions of workers are still relying on unemployment benefits and other government assistance, and first-time jobless claims rose last week.
The unemployment rate in February was 6.2 percent, down from the previous month’s rate of 6.3 percent. But as the Federal Reserve and top administration officials have emphasized, that number understates the extent of the damage.
More than four million people have quit the labor force in the last year, including those sidelined because of child care and other family responsibilities or health concerns. They are not included in the official jobless count.
“We’re still in a pandemic economy,” said Julia Coronado, founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives and a former Federal Reserve economist. “Millions of people are looking for work and willing to work, but they are constrained from working.”
Recruiting sites have had an increase in job postings in recent weeks. Tom Gimbel, chief executive of LaSalle Network, a Chicago staffing firm, said the employers he speaks to are “absolutely ready to hire.”