A recovering US outpaces other major economies

Associated Press

WASHINGTON

As a brutal winter yields to spring, the U.S. economy is showing renewed strength as other major economies appear desperate for help.

Europe is clinging to a fragile recovery. Japan just imposed a tax increase that threatens its shaky economic comeback. And China’s troubles are rattling the global economy.

The resilience of the U.S. economy, after a growth-chilling winter, was evident in Friday’s jobs report from the Labor Department. It said employers added 192,000 jobs in March and 37,000 more than in January and February than previously thought.

With the economy making steady gains, the Federal Reserve has been scaling back its bond purchases, which have been intended to lower interest rates to spur growth.

“The U.S. is certainly doing better than Europe or Japan right now,” says Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at IHS Global Insight.

Just as the Fed reduces its stimulus in the United States, the European Central Bank is considering further steps to help the 18 countries that use the euro currency. The eurozone emerged from a recession — its second in six years — last spring. But the recovery has been faint.

Japan’s economy, enduring a two-decade slump, received a jolt last year from “Abenomics.” That’s the name for policies pushed by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to try to spur inflation and generate growth by getting consumers and businesses to spend now, not later.

But Japan’s efforts to invigorate the economy through government spending have strained its finances.