The deadly coronavirus pandemic has not only affected the healthcare systems but has also put a major strain on the global economy. In a recent development, it was revealed that the US economy added only 199,000 jobs in December. Also, the unemployment rate fell to 3.9 per cent. This comes as a major setback for analysts as they had expected a massive gain n payrolls.
A Labor Department report further revealed that the number of unemployed people dropped by 483,000 in December and by 4.5 million in the entire 2021.
Increases were seen in job gains for November and October. As per the data, the economy gained an average of 537,000 positions a month in 2021.
Michael Pearce, senior US economist with capital economics, in a report said, “The muted 199,000 gain in non-farm payrolls and the more muted increase in labor force participation suggest that worker shortages were becoming a bigger restraint on employment growth, even before the Omicron surge in infections, which could knock hundreds of thousands off payrolls in January.”
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This comes at a time when consumer prices in the US surged by 6.8 per cent in November for the first time in decades. This was the highest annual inflation rate since June 1982.
Inflation has been a matter of concern since the pandemic has hit the globe.
The energy index saw a surge of 3.5 per cent in November as the gasoline index increased by 6.1 per cent. The food index saw an increase of 0.7 per cent as the index for food at home rose 0.8 per cent.
Acknowledging the current scenario, US President Joe Biden said, “Today’s numbers reflect the pressures that economies around the world are facing as we emerge from a global pandemic, prices are rising.”
Deeming inflation as “a real bump in the road,” he said that “price and cost increase are slowing, although not as quickly as we’d like.”
(With inputs from agencies)
