Hoyer: Defeating Pandemic = Jobs Recovery

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that 379,000 new jobs were created in February. “With 379,000 new jobs in February, the monthly jobs report shows that our ability to recover jobs depends on our ability to defeat this pandemic,” Rep. Steny H. Hoyer said.

The vast majority of hiring last month came in the food service and hospitality sectors, highlighting that link even more directly, Mr. Hoyer said.

“The report also laid bare the challenges we face. State and local governments facing budget challenges shed 70,000 education jobs even as they work to reopen schools safely,” he said. “Nearly 10 million fewer Americans are working than when the pandemic began one year ago, and the labor force has shrunk by an astonishing amount over that time.”

While measures that Congress passed over the last year clearly helped, the last relief bill from December is nearing the end of its course, with emergency expanded unemployment benefits for more than eleven million workers expiring soon.

“For American workers and small business owners who have been struggling, help, at long last, is on the way. Democrats in Congress are delivering on our promise to send the president legislation that will help us reopen our economy safely, help those struggling to get by while out of work, and get Americans back to work in jobs that pay well and offer opportunities to get ahead,” he said.

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