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Congressional Democrats call for $50,000 of student debt to be canceled
Democrats from the Senate and House of Representatives spoke outside the Capitol on Feb. 4, reigniting their call to have President Joe Biden forgive up to $50,000 in student debt.
WASHINGTON (AP) - U.S employers added just 49,000 jobs in January, a sign that that the viral pandemic retains a tight grip on the economy nearly a year after it triggered a painful recession.
The tepid increase followed a decline of 227,000 jobs in December, the first loss since April. The unemployment rate for January fell sharply from 6.7% to 6.3%, the Labor Department said Friday. About half the drop occurred because some of those out of work found jobs, while others stopped looking for work and were no longer counted as unemployed.
RELATED: Jobless claims fall to 779,000; layoffs grind on
The figures reflect a faltering job market, slowed by a viral pandemic that is still causing consumers to avoid traveling, shopping, dining out, attending entertainment venues and engaging in other forms of face-to-face contact. Nearly 10 million Americans remain unemployed.
The US Department of Labor Building on March 26, 2020, in Washington, DC. - The economic shutdown caused by the coronavirus pandemic sparked an explosion of Americans filing for unemployment benefits. (Photo by Alex Edelman / AFP) (Photo by ALEX EDEL …
Some states and localities re-imposed restrictions on businesses in December as cases spiked. Some of those restrictions were loosened in January, though perhaps not in time to affect the jobs report, which measures employment in the middle of each month.
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As hiring has slowed, many employers have continued to lay off workers. The number of applications for unemployment benefits, though declining for the past few weeks, remained at an elevated 779,000 last week.