Trump says positive jobs report could be driven by people staying in US due to coronavirus

Speaker Pelosi takes jab at president, saying she will 'continue to listen to the experts'

Donald Trump has called the February US jobs report "incredible," saying Americans travelling domestically rather than to global destinations could be helping the economy - despite a stock market slide that has continued into March.

The US economy added 273,000 jobs in February, the Labor Department said on Friday, beating expectations and boosting the president's top claim for why he deserves a second term. Another boost for Mr Trump came with the report putting the unemployment rate at 3.5 per cent, a 50-year low that was down from 3.6 per cent in January.

"The job numbers were tremendous," he told reporters before departing the White House to tour tornado damage in Tennessee. "They were shocking to the people that were analysing them."

"A lot of people are staying here and they're going to be doing their business here. And they're going to be travelling here, and they'll be going to resorts here," he said before suggesting, without supporting data, that the coronavirus outbreak and fears are providing a boost to the US economy.

"Maybe that's one of the reasons the job numbers are so good," Mr Trump contended, a day after discounting a World Health Organisation coronavirus mortality rate projection as a "false number" based solely on an admitted "hunch."

"We've had a lot of travel inside the USA," he said.

Only that the February jobs data was compiled based on payroll data from the second week of February. The virus outbreak did not become a serious matter for another few weeks, meaning the March jobs report will be a better indicator of the outbreak's effect on workers and employers - and the broader economic picture.

Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi issued a statement that appeared to take a swipe at the president, whom she and others have said has downplayed the threat from the virus too much.

"Americans need a smart, strong and science-based response to this epidemic," she said. "House Democrats will continue to listen to the experts and continue to work to ensure every community is receiving what it needs to combat this urgent public health crisis."

There were some warning signs inside the Labor Department's report. One was a dip in wage grown, to 3 per cent from 3.1 per cent in January.

Democrats acknowledge most fundamentals of the American economy are solid, but warn of a possible "manufacturing recession" while arguing Mr Trump's economy policies have mostly benefited the wealthiest individuals and largest corporations. They point to sluggish wage growth as evidence that middle- and low-income workers have not really felt the benefits of his policies.

The president again suggested the virus will dissipate "sooner rather than later," though he did not provide any indication why he thinks so. He again blasted the Federal Reserve for not doing more - even after it cut a key interest rate to deal with virus fears and the market slide.

"I've got a Fed that is not exactly proactive," Mr Trump said. "And I'm being very nice when I say that. I think what should happen is the Fed should cut and the Fed should stimulate. And they should do that because other countries are doing that."

"It puts us at a competitive disadvantage ... because it's our dollar that everyone uses," the economist in chief said. "Why should Germany have an advantage over us in interest rates? ... We have a higher rate, and it's ridiculous right now."

Mr Trump and some top White House economic advisers have for years pressure the Fed to slash rates, while also contending it remains independent of the executive branch.

The central bank has at times made rate cuts, though never deep enough to please the president, who has regularly slammed the entity and its chairman, Jerome Powell.