Labor data is starting 2024 on a high note, adding 353,000 jobs to the US economy and growing average hourly wages by 4.5% year-over-year in January.
United States Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su weighs in on January's job report results, noting the national unemployment rate to consistently sit below 4% for nearly two years.
"When I travel the country... wherever I go, I see workers looking for jobs, finding them, but more importantly, feeling a sense of security," Secretary Su tells Yahoo Finance. "Feeling like now when they join an apprenticeship program, when they go to a job interview, they're getting a job that is not only a job, it's a good job that's going to allow them to support themselves, support their families, and get a little bit of what the president calls breathing room."
Secretary Su also comments on inflation and growing workforce participation by American women,
For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live.
Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.
BRAD SMITH: The US labor market seeing a red hot jobs report for the month of January. The economy adding 350,000 jobs, blowing past economists' expectations.
We've got Julie Su, acting Labor Secretary, joining us now for a closer look at the labor market here. What is the tenor like inside of the White House, as you digest these numbers once again, Julie?
JULIE SU: That's right. So this month's report crushed expectations, 353,000 jobs created, remaining low levels of unemployment. It's been under 4% now for two years straight. The jobs report says 3.7%. We continue to see labor force participation high, meaning, that people are in the labor market. And when they're looking for work, they're finding work.
The other thing to note is that the wage growth was also higher than expected. It's 4.5% over the year. And so the wage growth is also consistently beating inflation. So all around, a very, very strong report that demonstrates that President Biden's economic policies are working. And we have a very strong economy at the moment.
SEANA SMITH: Julie, I'm curious. If we want to pick out one number within this print that wasn't too impressive, or maybe didn't surprise here to the upside, that would have been labor force participation. It remained flat on that month-over-month basis. Why do you think we've seen labor force participation stall at this level?
JULIE SU: So for prime age workers, the number ticked up a little bit. And I will tell you that I certainly see when I travel the country. I was in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. I was in Columbia, South Carolina. I've been in Las Vegas, Nevada.
Wherever I go, I see workers looking for jobs, finding them. But more, importantly, feeling a sense of security. Feeling like, now, when they join an apprenticeship program, when they go to a job interview, they're getting a job. It's not only a job. It's a good job that's going to allow them to support themselves, support their families, and get a little bit of what the president calls breathing room.
This is the economy that we want to build. People who want to work can find work. And there are good jobs.
BRAD SMITH: How do you believe that prints like this also help with the White House in trying to get the messaging across to the American public, as well? Because it seems to be this disconnection of everyone, certainly, and for right reasons, focusing on inflation that was a much larger issue, and the Fed then enacting its own policy pathway. And then now, looking at where we're talking about here this morning, a soft landing versus, perhaps, even a no-landing type of environment.
How does that trickle through to the messaging that the White House is looking to convey to the American people, as well?
JULIE SU: Well, as the president says, we are all laser focused on bringing down prices. Obviously, that has a direct impact on American families. So do wages. The cost of things is one part of the equation. The other is what people make, and making sure they make enough for not just the basics, but to be able to afford a life and enjoy the good things in life.
I think the other part of this is that consumer confidence, surveys are turning on that too. I think the bigger piece is that the American people want to know that when they drive on roads and bridges, they're safe. They want to know that, when they turn on the faucet, they're going to get clean drinking water. They want to know, when they sit down and power up their computers, that they have high-speed, reliable, affordable internet.
Those are all the priorities of this administration. And 2024 is going to be a big year, as we continue to deliver on those things. And I think people will feel more of the investments that are being made in the investing in America agenda.
SEANA SMITH: Secretary, one encouraging piece-- one of the encouraging pieces of this print has been the fact that women continue to enter the workforce. And for the third month in a row, I believe we saw more women entering the workforce than men.
What do you attribute that to? And what kind of improvement do you expect, hopefully, to continue to see on that end, as you look ahead to 2024?
JULIE SU: Yeah. Thanks for that question. I've said, women have really powered this economic recovery. And when we think about what happened to women in the workforce during the pandemic, it was devastating. We really saw the dangers of, obviously, not just the pandemic, but a society in which there wasn't reliable, affordable childcare, where there aren't paid leave policies.
Those are policies that the president has also called for. And I think we know that, if we invested in childcare and paid leave policies and the like, it could bring more women into the labor force, even than we have now. And we're already at beyond pre-pandemic levels in terms of women's labor force participation rate. But it would bring maybe five million more women into the labor force, as one study shows. And that could drive as much as $775 billion a year in economic activity.
So women are coming back. Women are the hearts of their families. They're also now making money to support their families. And at the same time, we have more work to do to support working women.
BRAD SMITH: Labor Secretary, when we think about the productivity that a lot of economists are also focused on here, there's been continued discussion, both here on our air, but also within some of the notes that we're reading about that productivity, and then the layering on as well of things like generative AI, advanced technologies. How are you tracking that figure to get a better read on where the output is increasing, as a result of some of the technological investments that are being made here at the countrywide level.
JULIE SU: Yeah. So the information sector is one in which we saw significant growth in this jobs report. We are very focused. The president issued an executive order about AI to make sure that, as more artificial intelligence gets developed, deployed, and used, that it is both safe and secure.
And we know that it can't be safe or secure unless it does right by workers. We've seen that at negotiations at the bargaining table from Hollywood to health care workers thinking about what is the impact of AI going to be in the workplace.
What we know is that when workers have a seat at the table to design a technology that's going to be beneficial to them, there is a way to harness the good things about technology while really mitigating the harms.
SEANA SMITH: Secretary, when it comes to the growth that we could be seeing over the next few months, from your position, what you have been hearing from so many Americans, from your colleagues there, what do you think is the biggest challenge to that future job growth at this point?
JULIE SU: Well, we know from, not just this jobs report, but what we've seen over the last two years, last year, more jobs were created under President Biden than any single year in the prior administration. And today's report really does demonstrate that we are making significant progress. That a vision of an economy from the middle out and the bottom up, where we don't leave anyone behind, where we focus on working people and working families, where we are focused on job creation and investments in America, including jobs that don't require a four-year degree. And then we put in place training programs, apprenticeship programs, and other things to connect people, who might have been left out to those jobs. Those things are working.
So Bidenomics is going to be about continuing what we've been doing, continue to build on that progress. We do have more work to do. And we're going to stay at it.
SEANA SMITH: Secretary Su, we really appreciate you taking the time. Thanks so much for joining us here this morning on "Yahoo Finance."
JULIE SU: Thank you.
