Economy : US unemployment falls to historic low

In the US, unemployment surprisingly fell further at the beginning of the year and has reached its lowest level in more than 50 years.

Economy : US unemployment falls to historic low

In the US, unemployment surprisingly fell further at the beginning of the year and has reached its lowest level in more than 50 years. The unemployment rate fell to 3.4 percent in January, the US Department of Labor announced in Washington on Friday. That's the lowest unemployment rate since May 1969.

At times, the Corona crisis had led to a significant increase in unemployment and the rate had risen to over 14 percent in 2020. In December, the unemployment rate was still 3.5 percent. US President Joe Biden summed up his government's economic plan as working.

In addition, the US economy created many more jobs in January than expected. Outside of agriculture, 517,000 jobs have been added, the Department of Labor announced on Friday in Washington. Analysts had expected an average of only 188,000 new jobs. The increase in employment in the two previous months was also revised upwards by a total of 71,000 jobs.

"More people are entering the workforce, looking for jobs and getting jobs: a positive sign for the health of our economy going forward," Biden continued. The 80-year-old stressed that inflation had fallen over the past six months, fuel prices had fallen significantly and food price increases had also slowed. In contrast, real wages rose - albeit rather moderately. Average hourly wages rose 0.3 percent month-on-month in January, according to the US Department of Labor. The increase in the previous month was revised from 0.3 to 0.4 percent. Compared to the same month last year, hourly wages increased by 4.4 percent at the beginning of the year.

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