Unemployment rate fell to 6% as states eased restriction on businesses

In March  U.S. hiring kicked into a higher gear as employers added a booming 916,000 jobs amid falling COVID-19 cases, a relaxation of business constraints in many states and a growing number of Americans receiving vaccinations.

On Friday the Labor Department said that the unemployment rate dropped from 6.2% to 6 %, the lowest in a year. The advances, the most since August, were again driven by substantial gains at restaurants and bars, as well as construction and education.

Infections continued to fall through the first half of March, and many states – including Texas, Florida, Arizona and Louisiana – have lifted all occupancy limits on restaurants and other businesses. That has promoted the outlets to recall more furloughed workers or step up hiring. OpenTable reported a sharp rebound in online restaurant reservation, which are back to pre-pandemic levels in Texas.

Leisure and hospitality added 280,000 jobs, including 176,000 at restaurants and bars, the hardest -hit sector in the crisis. Education, both public and private, added a total of 190,000 jobs, as many schools reopened. Professional and business services added 66,000 jobs; transportation and warehousing 48,000; and retail, 28,000.

The $900 billion COVID relief package, passed by Congress in December, likely bolstered hiring, in part by renewing the Paycheck Protection Program, which provides forgivable loans to small business, Oxford Economics says.

A broader measure of employment- that includes part-time workers who prefer full-time jobs and discouraged Americans who have given up looking as well as the unemployment-fell from 11.1 % to 10.7% even more sharply than the drop in the unemployment rate