Economics
U.S. Labor Market Nears Pre-Covid Levels, But Recovery Is Uneven
- Professional services are above Feb. 2020, while leisure lags
- Overall, U.S. job market is still missing 1.4 million jobs
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By many measures, the U.S. labor market is nearing a comeback to its pre-pandemic levels, two years after the Covid-19 virus plunged the economy into a steep downturn.
The jobless rate, at 3.8% in February, is close to its 2019 average. Transportation firms and utilities have more employees than before the pandemic, and nationwide manufacturing hours are slightly above what they were in February 2020.