US recovery from the economic crisis caused by the Covid-19 epidemic received a major boost Thursday with the labor department reporting 4.8 million Americans got back to work in June, a record single-month gain. This was also much more than the expected 2.9 million.
Lay-offs and job losses have also continued and another 1.4 million claims were filed last week for unemployment benefits.
President Donald Trump focused on the June job numbers, calling them “historic”. He went on to say at a news briefing, “Today’s announcement proves that our economy is roaring back. It’s coming back extremely strong.”
The US economy is indeed opening but not equally. Some states in the south has slapping back restrictions as they witness a surge in daily infections. And economists have warned that June numbers do no reflect the impact of the second round of shutdowns forced by the new infections, which, public health officials fear, could spread to other parts of the country.
The June jump comes on the back of the stunning turnaround first seen in the situation in the May numbers, which had shown 2.7 million new jobs had been added instead of the steady losses that had come to be expected every Thursday, when the labor leased its weekly jobs report.
