WASHINGTON (AP) — A surge in U.S. hiring last month — 916,000 added jobs, the most since August — coincides with growing optimism that a blistering pace of job growth will continue as vaccinations increase and federal aid fuels economic growth.
Some economists even predict that by year’s end, the nation could recapture just about all the roughly 20 million jobs that were lost to the pandemic recession. Yet that’s hardly a foregone conclusion. Up to 10 million more jobs are needed for the job market to regain its pre-pandemic level.
Even in normal times, it would be hard to get all those jobs back quickly. And these aren’t normal times.
