CNBC's Jim Cramer on Friday raved about the May jobs report, saying the 2.5 million jobs added last month was evidence the U.S. economy was bouncing back from the coronavirus-induced devastation.
"We're back," he said on "Squawk Box." "I think there were a lot of people who felt that the layoffs would be permanent, and it's obvious that there's so much demand that people have to bring people back."
The nation's unemployment rate in May declined to 13.3%, according to the Labor Department.
Economists surveyed by Dow Jones had anticipated that nonfarm payrolls would drop by 8.3 million and the jobless rate would increase to 19.5% from April's 14.7% rate on 20.7 million job losses.
"There were many people who thought this would be the historic beginning of the depression, 20% layoff. We'd start looking back to comparing it to [1931, 1933] and that's off the table," Cramer said.
The "Mad Money" host noted that the unemployment rate is still nearly 13.5%, but "you praise 13.5% when you're looking for 20%."
"I don't want to be political about this at all. This is a great number for Republicans. This is a great number for Democrats. This is a great number for the country," Cramer added. "Let's call it as it is: It's joyous."
Cramer said he was encouraged by the sectors that added jobs such as travel and leisure and construction. "America wants to do things and employers are not only just ready to hire people back, but they want the country open."
However, outside the Covid-19 hotspots there appears to be less concern about the threat of the virus in other parts of the country, Cramer said. That's a "dangerous perception" to have, he warned. "But it must be the perception."
At the same time, he noted that not every region of the country was hit as hard by the pandemic as New York-New Jersey region. He said that could help explain why there's reason to be hopeful about the economic recovery going forward.
Referencing comments made last month on "Mad Money" by Norwegian Cruise Line CEO Frank Del Rio about demand for trips in 2021, Cramer said Friday, "It's a firm and optimistic view that the American people had, maybe well ahead of Wall Street, about what can happen here."