Data shows waning COVID impact on U.S. jobs searches

Washington Center for Equitable Growth CEO Heather Boushey and White House Council of Economic Advisers Chair Cecilia Rouse join White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki for Equal Pay Day during the daily press briefing at the White House in Washington, U.S. March 24, 2021. REUTERS/Jonathan Ernst

WASHINGTON – Data in the U.S. Labor Department’s April jobs report shows people are out looking for work, with fewer citing COVID-19 as keeping them from their searches, White House economic adviser Heather Boushey said on Friday.

U.S. job growth was below expectations last month, the report on Friday showed.

Nonfarm payrolls increased by 266,000 jobs in April, compared with a rise of 770,000 in March and far lower than the 978,000 jobs economists had anticipated.

But Boushey told MSNBC in an interview that other data in the department’s report showed some bright spots, including fewer barriers from the coronavirus.

“We are seeing this strong, steady stable progress to get back to normal,” she said in an interview.

“There are indications throughout this report that people are increasingly searching, increasingly ready to get back to work, not saying that COVID is preventing them from getting a job, and I think that is all movement in the right direction,” she said.