On The Money — Job growth booms in February

Happy Friday and welcome to On The Money, your nightly guide to everything affecting your bills, bank account and bottom line. Subscribe here: digital-release.thehill.com/newsletter-signup. 

Today’s Big Deal: The U.S. added a huge number of jobs in February, and that’s just the start of the good news. We’ll also look at the growing momentum behind a ban on Russian oil imports and more frustration within the Senate Democratic caucus.

For The Hill, we’re Sylvan Lane, Aris Folley and Karl Evers-Hillstrom.  Reach us at slane@digital-release.thehill.com or @SylvanLane, afolley@digital-release.thehill.com or @ArisFolley and kevers@digital-release.thehill.com or @KarlMEvers.

Let’s get to it.

Economy adds 678K jobs in February

The U.S. added 678,000 jobs and the unemployment rate dropped to 3.8 percent in February, according to data released Friday by the Labor Department.

• Unprecedented demand for workers and resilient consumer spending helped power another strong month of job growth in February. 
• Economists expected the U.S. to add roughly 400,000 jobs last month, far less than the actual haul in the February jobs report, and push the jobless rate to 3.9 percent. 

“If we see more numbers like this moving forward, we can be optimistic about this year. Employment is growing at a strong rate and joblessness is getting closer and closer to pre-pandemic levels,” said Nick Bunker, economic research director at Indeed.

“In these uncertain times, we cannot take anything for granted. But if the recovery can keep up its current tempo, several key indicators of labor market health will hit pre-pandemic levels this summer,” he said.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) said the U.S. saw “widespread” job growth in February led by a surge in service sector hiring — a promising sign for industries still recovering from the onset of the pandemic.

Sylvan breaks it down here.

Read more: Biden argues jobs report shows US can tackle inflation | TheHill 

NOT OFF THE TABLE

White House eyes reducing Russian oil imports

President Biden is considering steps to reduce U.S. imports of Russian oil, the White House said Friday, as bipartisan support in Congress for a ban on the imports grows amid the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

“We are looking at options we could take right now to cut U.S. consumption of Russian energy, but we are very focused on minimizing the impact to families,” White House press secretary Jen Psaki told reporters during a briefing Friday afternoon. “If you reduce supply in the global marketplace, you are going to raise gas prices.” 

• The White House has not taken banning Russian oil imports off the table, but officials have seemed cool to the idea, arguing that it would raise domestic energy prices.  
• Biden likes to coordinate his penalties on Moscow with European allies, who are averse to restricting Russian oil and natural gas due to their reliance on Russian energy.
• But the idea has drawn bipartisan support, including from Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) who this week said that she is “all for” a flat-out ban.

Psaki on Friday would not say whether Biden would sign a bill to ban Russian oil imports should it pass, offering only that the administration remains engaged with Congress.

Read more from The Hill’s Morgan Chalfant. 

BBB BACKLASH

Dems frustrated with latest Manchin pitch on Build Back Better

Senate Democrats are feeling exasperated with Sen. Joe Manchin’s (D-W.Va.) latest proposal on a scaled-down version of President Biden’s Build Back Better agenda that would leave out big social spending initiatives like expanded child care, universal pre-kindergarten, national paid family leave and long-term home health care.

He argues that the nation can’t keep adding to the deficit when inflation is running at a 40-year high. But that stance is fueling tension with leading Democratic progressives and liberal advocacy groups. 

“If he wants to focus on an economic package, then he needs to remember child care is an economic issue,” said Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) when asked about Manchin’s pared-down proposal.

• Manchin is proposing that his colleagues choose one 10-year program to focus on and devote the other half of revenues raised from tax reform and prescription drug reform to deficit reduction and fighting inflation. 
• He is suggesting limiting new spending to climate programs instead of an array of social spending initiatives, but most Democrats don’t want to let go of those proposals.

Senate Health Committee Chairwoman Patty Murray (D-Wash.), who is leading the effort to pass funding for expanded access to child care and universal pre-kindergarten, said her priorities “are all part of dealing with inflation.” 

Alexander Bolton has more on the backlash here.

ANOTHER ONE

Microsoft suspends new sales in Russia amid invasion 

Microsoft Corp. is suspending new sales of its products and services in Russia, the software giant announced Friday. 

Microsoft joins a growing list of U.S. tech companies, including Apple and Dell Technologies, in cutting Russia off from key technologies following Russian President Vladimir Putin’s violent invasion of Ukraine and subsequent Western sanctions against Russia.  

“Like the rest of the world, we are horrified, angered and saddened by the images and news coming from the war in Ukraine and condemn this unjustified, unprovoked and unlawful invasion by Russia,” Microsoft president Brad Smith wrote in a blog post.

• Smith wrote that Microsoft is “stopping many aspects of our business in Russia in compliance with governmental sanctions decisions.” 
• He added that Microsoft is attempting to protect Ukraine’s cybersecurity against a series of attacks carried out by the Russian government. 

Karl has more on the Microsoft announcement here.

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ON TAP NEXT WEEK

Tuesday  

• The House Financial Services Committee holds a hearing entitled “The Inflation Equation: Corporate Profiteering, Supply Chain Bottlenecks, and COVID-19″ at 10 a.m. 
• The House Small Business Committee holds a hearing entitled “Overview of the Small Business Innovation Research and Small Business Technology Transfer Programs” at 10 a.m. 
• The Senate Committee on Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs holds a hearing entitled “Examining Mandatory Arbitration in Financial Service Products” at 10 a.m. 

Wednesday

• The House Small Business Subcommittee on Innovation, Entrepreneurship, and Workforce Development holds a hearing entitled “Skill, Upskill, and Reskill: Analyzing New Investments in Workforce Development” at 10 a.m. 
• The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) holds an open meeting to consider whether to propose amendments regarding cybersecurity risk management, strategy, governance, and incident disclosure at 10 a.m.
• The House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Consumer Protection & Commerce holds a hearing entitled “Changing Times: Revisiting Spring Forward, Fall Back” at 10:15 a.m. 

Good to Know 

A group of 10 Senate conservatives led by Republican Steering Committee Chairman Mike Lee (R-Utah) are threatening to hold up a government-funding measure and possibly trigger a federal shutdown unless they can vote on an amendment to defund President Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandates. 

Here’s what else we have our eye on: 

• The Internal Revenue Service intends on hiring 10,000 employees in an effort to address a backlog of nearly 24 million tax returns. 
• Tech companies have sought to deplatform RT, Sputnik and other Russian state media dispensing disinformation about the invasion in Ukraine. 
• In a break with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Russia’s second largest oil company called for the country’s invasion in Ukraine to end.

That’s it for today. Thanks for reading and check out The Hill’s Finance page for the latest news and coverage. We’ll see you next week.