The daily business briefing: March 5, 2021

The February jobs report is expected to show modest hiring gains, the Senate starts debate on coronavirus relief bill, and more 

Kamala Harris in an elevator
(Image credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty Images)

1. Jobs report expected to show modest gains

The Labor Department is expected to report Friday that hiring rebounded modestly in February as the winter coronavirus surge eased. Economists expect the data, the first indication of the employment picture since President Biden took office, to show that U.S. employers added 180,000 jobs in February, better than the 49,000-job increase in January but not enough to make a dent in the 2020 losses due to COVID-19, with the nation still down 10 million jobs from pre-pandemic levels. Analysts expect much bigger gains in the spring, after falling infection levels and increasing vaccinations lead more states to lift restrictions and let more businesses fully reopen. "The scope for a brisk acceleration is clear, though we expect the biggest gains to come later in the spring as the reopening broadens," Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at Pantheon Macroeconomics, wrote ahead of the report.

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Harold Maass, The Week US

Harold Maass is a contributing editor at The Week. He has been writing for The Week since the 2001 debut of the U.S. print edition and served as editor of TheWeek.com when it launched in 2008. Harold started his career as a newspaper reporter in South Florida and Haiti. He has previously worked for a variety of news outlets, including The Miami Herald, ABC News and Fox News, and for several years wrote a daily roundup of financial news for The Week and Yahoo Finance.