‘It’s the best time to find a new job which pays a higher wage,’ economic council deputy director says

(ABC 6 News) – Unemployment is at its lowest since the beginning of the pandemic, according to the February Jobs Report Friday.

The Biden-Harris administration touted 678,000 non-farm jobs added in the last month – a number which outpaced the anticipated gain of 440,000 payroll additions.That brings unemployment to 3.8 percent, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. In February of 2020, just before COVID-19 hit the U.S., unemployment sat at 3.5 percent.

Bharat Ramamurti, the Deputy Director of the White House National Economic Council, said there’s “a lot of positive economic news out there.”

“There’s a record of jobs created last year, we’re at more than 7 million jobs created since the president took over, and we’re seeing what many describe as the best labor market ever, which means that it’s the best time to find a new job, which pays a higher wage,” Ramamurti said.

President Joe Biden visited Minnesota and Wisconsin Wednesday to speak about his infrastructure law, which includes bridge and transport system repairs, as well as a billion-dollar cleanup of the Great Lakes.

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“Well, the infrastructure bill is projected to create millions of jobs over the next ten years, and we’re already starting to see money go out the door and start helping communities, including in Minnesota,” Ramamurti said.

The numbers come in sharp contrast to the 37 percent approval rating Americans had for Biden’s economic policies, according to CNBC’s quarterly survey.

Ramamurti said Biden’s next challenge will be to encourage manufacturers to create more products in the United States to help lower inflation.

“Manufacturing is coming back to the United States, and that means not only good jobs here, it also means lower transportation costs for goods,” he said.

Ramamurti called back to Biden’s State of the Union commitment to invest in ports and cracking down on issues in the ocean shipping industries.

The President plans to use “all the authority he has” to convince shippers to transport U.S. goods to other countries, he said. Biden may also be able to gain further authority with Congress’ help, he added.

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The president has committed to maximum sanctions for Russia and its oligarchs, while limiting the cost to American citizens, but Ramamurti admitted that the agricultural market could be affected moving forward, as seen in the gas and oil markets in the past weeks.

Still, the job market gains mean more families have “the safety and security of income coming in,” he said.