US Job Market Recovering At Pace 2 Years Faster Than Expected - Biden

The US job market is recovering at a pace two years faster than predicted by economists, with filings for unemployment benefits falling almost 90% from a year ago, President Joe Biden said Wednesday

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 24th November, 2021) The US job market is recovering at a pace two years faster than predicted by economists, with filings for unemployment benefits falling almost 90% from a year ago, President Joe Biden said Wednesday.

"Last year, there were 21 million unemployment insurance claims before the Thanksgiving holiday," Biden said in a statement issued by the White House ahead of Thursday's Thanksgiving holiday. "Today, there were 2.4 million."

Biden said 5.6 million jobs were created since he took office in January, pushing the unemployment rate down to 4.6% from a high of 14.7% in April 2020 after the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic. The Federal Reserve says the United States will reach maximum employment with a jobless rate of 4% or below.

"This is a historic jobs recovery ... two full years earlier than experts predicted was possible," Biden added.

The president's remarks came after weekly statistics from the Labor Department on Wednesday showed just 199,000 Americans filing for jobless benefits last week the lowest since 1969.

Biden also noted that the economy grew at a faster rate in the first three quarters of the year than in any year in nearly 40 years.

He cited rankings from the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development that showed the United States as the only major economy that has exceeded its pre-pandemic level of gross domestic product.

The economy shrank by 3.5% in 2020 due to business shutdowns associated with the pandemic. This year, GDP has grown at an annualized rate of 3.5% in the first quarter, 3.6% in the second and 2.1% in the third.

"We have more work to do before our economy is back to normal, including addressing price increases that hurt Americans' pocketbooks and undermine gains in wages and disposable income," Biden said.

The president authorized on Tuesday the release of 50 million barrels of crude oil from the US Strategic Petroleum Reserve in a bid to cool gasoline prices, retailing at seven-year highs at the nation's pumps.

It was the first coordinated release of crude reserves among consuming countries that included Britain, China and India, aimed at bringing more supply onto a market where output had been squeezed by producers grouped under the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries.