Early Friday, the government announced that the economy had created 850,000 jobs last month – a welcome recovery from the slowdown in job growth over the past three months and a sign that overall economic growth is over. strong than in the first quarter of the year. We still have about seven million jobs less than pre-pandemic employment levels, unemployment among black and Hispanic workers remains desperately high, and millions have yet to re-enter the workforce. But if policymakers remain stable, we are also poised to lay the groundwork for a more inclusive and resilient recovery – much more robust than what we experienced after the Great Recession, despite the fact that jobs have been much more affected.

Recovery from recessions can often be characterized by an explosion in pent-up demand, but the current boom has little precedent. If the Federal Reserve is correct in forecasting that economic growth will reach 7% in 2021, it will be the strongest performance since the recovery from the double-dip recession of the early 1980s. But this good news is no accident. .

It may upset supporters who do not want to give any credit to this administration – or the previous one – but this reopening validates last year’s political experience of being bolder, more generous, and quicker in times of crisis.

The early successes of this recovery stem from how Congress and the Federal Reserve, our nation’s central bank, approached the pandemic recession using a new approach: go early and go deeper in political support. As the economy came to a halt, policymakers resisted popular misconceptions and handed households and businesses loose cash assistance. Congress passed stimulus with the general mantra that the cost of doing too little was greater than potentially doing a little a lot.

In the last recession, when the federal government did less, people in their early working years were still dropping out of the labor market six years after the recovery started, and the labor share in national income fell to a low. all-time low in 2014. Mortgage defaults and foreclosures have remained near record highs. By 2011, the gap by which unemployment of blacks exceeded that of whites had reached a decades-high.

This time around, we see the benefits of policy making that are not stingy. Companies that had to use funds to pay their employees and cover essential operating expenses typically did so; workers who were unemployed received additional cash assistance, which they fed back into the economy to cover necessities and, yes, to buy products from home.

The current explosion in growth and hiring has had a less welcome companion, inflation. The Fed’s preferred indicator for consumer inflation rose 3.9% in May from a year ago – and could rise in the coming months – fueling intense speculation among followers of the conventional economics as to whether we will see a return to the high inflation of the 1970s or a loss. confidence in the US dollar.

Nevertheless, it should be remembered that there is a deliberate reason for this new political approach. After years of reflection, the Federal Reserve last year codified a new approach to monetary policy with the promise to seek a “broad and inclusive” achievement of maximum employment: to keep credit cheap and accessible. long enough to produce a strong labor market that could reduce social disparities and increase productivity.

This easier approach to monetary policy was accompanied by the fiscal stimulus enacted in 2017 – the significant tax cuts signed by the last administration – and carried out during an expansion, in defiance of the traditions of fiscal conservatism celebrated by the leaders of both parties.

The new framework won. Right before the pandemic, there was stable, non-inflationary growth, stronger wage growth for low-wage workers, and the narrowest gap on record between black and white unemployment rates.

And now, the first evidence shows that the new, more generous economic framework – now enforced by the Biden administration in its own way – is being proven once again.

Wealth is on the rise and the difference between the richest 1% and the poorest 50% is narrower than in the last crisis.

This will be the first recession in which consumers of all income and wealth levels emerge with a stronger financial position than when they started. Growth is booming and consumer confidence in June hit its highest level since February 2020.

Consumer confidence is on the rise.

Households have used the various sources of cash support – like stimulus payments and unemployment benefits – to feed their families or consolidate their savings and keep their homes and cars, even as millions of jobs have been lost . The Census Bureau reported a drop of more than 30% in the number of Americans suffering from hunger last year, a marked departure from the increase in hunger and poverty that typically accompanies a recession.

Defaults on a range of consumer loans such as mortgages, auto loans and student loans fell from already low levels last year, reflecting both cash support and effort policies that allowed some loan repayments to be temporarily withheld during the pandemic.

Mortgage foreclosures and personal bankruptcies are at an all time high. Consumers spend money but don’t get into much debt and keep a lot of savings.

People are looking for work, but many are waiting for something better.

Companies complain about labor shortages, but millions of people are actively looking for work. A recent survey by the placement platform Indeed showed that workers are looking for a job but not on an urgent basis – a reflection of health issues, challenges with childcare and the fact that some have provided a financial cushion, this which gives them a way to say no to bad, low-paying offers.

Others have more financial leeway because of the income of a working spouse. Political support does not discourage work, but rather gives workers stronger bargaining power. This can disrupt business models that have become dependent on a plentiful, cheap labor force, but those that adapt are likely to be more productive.

Workers in the leisure and hospitality industries, who have suffered the most from pandemic job losses, see the biggest pay increases, and the gap between black and white unemployment rates has widened shrunk at a rapid rate.

Yet political support was far from complete. Too many workers have still fallen through the cracks. As documented in a recent Bloomberg article, millions of people have had difficulty claiming unemployment benefits, and the effectiveness (and generosity) of benefits varied widely from state to state. The most recent census reading showed an increase in hunger. The distribution of income and wealth in the US economy is still very uneven. Positive news on some fronts does not mean mission accomplished.

Inflation is on the rise, but looks subdued over the long term.

Most of the price spikes consumers are experiencing this year are clearly linked to supply chain disruptions or readjustments made during the reopening. These account for most of the surge in inflation to date.

More conventional policy advisers who are very clearly concerned about inflation on TV may be correct that we will see more persistent inflationary pressures, but markets are generally voting with the Fed’s assessment that the heat from this moment will be largely transitory. Interest rates are still low, with little indication that the creditworthiness of the United States is in question.

We could very well see a slightly higher execution rate on wage growth and inflation in the coming years, and the Fed might have to raise interest rates at some point to control it, but this would most likely be because we have reached full employment faster than in recent economic cycles, an indicator of success.

While the policy response to the pandemic was flawed, having a bolder Congress and a more generous Fed is paying off. The economic scars typically associated with job loss during a recession have been reduced. And now we can emerge with healthier and broader consumer activity, the key to fueling our economy.

Amidst all the terror and cynicism vying for our attention, the good news this summer shows that we can truly learn from our mistakes and make policies that improve people’s lives.

Julia Coronado, a former Federal Reserve Board of Governors economist, is the founder of research firm MacroPolicy Perspectives and a professor at the University of Texas at Austin.

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