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A little less an hour ago, we got US jobs data coming in at two hundred and six thousand. The unemployment rate goes from four percent to four point one percent, with a big revision for the months prior. For the Biden administration's take on the US jobs report, we are joined now by Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Sue. Julie, let me just get your first take on these numbers.
It's another very solid jobs report, two hundred and six thousand jobs created, bringing the total since President Biden came into office to nearly sixteen million. I've been here before talking about the unemployment rate. We had an unemployment rate out of below four percent for the longest stretch since Neil Armstrong step foot on the moon, and it's ticked up slightly now, partly because we also see an increase in labor force participation rate among prime age workers. People
coming into labor market looking for jobs. It's taking them a little bit longer to find them. But we're seeing a balance between supply and demand when it comes to workers looking for jobs and employers finding what they need. All signs of a strong, steady economy.
The obvious flaw in some of these numbers. Secretary, So you might be the fact that we've had big revisions for the months prior one hundred and eleven thousand, when you look at some of the months prior, do you look at today's data and say, you know, we might expect another revision that perhaps some of the rosiness of it seems to kind of be undermined with each next month of data that comes in and some of the revisions that come in.
I'm so glad you asked that question, because revisions are part of.
The numbers that come out. They've always been part of the numbers.
It's why we're able to put out numbers every single month and then adjust them to make sure that data that comes in later is incorporated into it. That's why we don't just look at one month's data. That's why we look at trends. If you look at by any measure, since twenty twenty one, when the president came into office, if you look at the last three months trend no matter how you slice it, the pie is getting bigger.
There are more jobs in the economy, more workers are getting these jobs, and the real wages are up so that that means that more working people are also having breathing room to be able to live.
Those are all not accidents.
Those are all very much fundamental to President Biden's vision of how you build a strong America.
But it is an unemployment rate that did move higher July four point one percent. And this is what a lot of people have pointed to that rarely does a labor market move in a linear fashion. The concern is if unemployment is moving higher, then a nonlinear move could be what's next on the cards? What gives you the confidence that that strength will continue and you won't see a precipitous move that goes from slightly soft to something more pernicious.
I mean, I guess I'll answer it this way.
Four point one percent still remains a very very low unemployment rate. Our economic recovery under President Biden has been the most robust anywhere in the world, and so that four point one percent, it is slightly up from before. But looking at all historic measures, especially looking at recoveries from past economic crises, it is athlete historic in nature, and that did not happen by accident.
Right, It was not inevitable.
Most people bet against it, but President Biden said, if we invest big in America, we can pull ourselves out of the pandemic, prevent economic.
Scarring, and those investments.
One reason I'm confident is that those investments are just getting started. The presence Investing America agenda is putting more money into communities for roads, bridges, clean drinking water, for high speed, reliable internet. We are tackling our climate crisis. We're putting more wages into workers' pockets. Just this past week, a million more workers became eligible for overtime pay because
of this president's economic policies. Just this past week, we put in place the first nationwide proposed standard to protect workers from the hazards of heat.
All of these are forward.
Going policies that make me confident that building an economy in which no one gets left behind and workers do well is not only possible, it's the only option for this president, I.
Think for this market.
There's a lot of uncertainties about twenty twenty five. I know there's a lot of drama happening in DC this weekend with Team Biden and what happens with that and the election itself.
It's always periods of uncertainty.
I'm not going to ask you about that directly because I know that you don't want to talk about it. But when you think about this labor market and what we call the fog of twenty twenty five, how do you deal with that and think about that with still the outcomes unknown and again, as you say, policy is still needing to work out, how do you think about that policy when again we don't know what twenty twenty five looks like.
No, we don't know.
You're right, but I'm happy to talk about it because if we want to talk about the fog, the real fog is let's look back.
At twenty twenty.
In July this day in twenty twenty, the unemployment rate was almost twelve percent.
For July fourth, Americans were told to stay.
Home, stay away from people because we had a pandemic that was out of control with no national strategy to address it.
This president has turned that all around.
We've been talking month after month about is the jobs number too high?
Is it too hot? Is it going to cool?
And each time the answer is that we are moving to a stable, steady economic growth economy. And that is exactly what the President said could be done with the right vision, with the right economic strategy and the right delivery. So there's no drama here on this side. We know that what we have put in place is working, and we just know that we.
Have to keep at it.
And Julie, I know you've discussed this idea before that yes there is strength. However, it is not necessarily an American populace that sees that strength. A lot of these sentiment surveys that we see tend to show a weakening, and they've showed a real substantial weakening, and the more recent ones we've got, some of the explanations have been because of medical uncertainty that we were just discussing of
not knowing what things look like. So does the messaging need to change, especially at this very crucial moment where Biden's survival is put into question for this election? Is the current messaging working? You think? On this labor market and the strength of the economy, I mean, I can.
Say what I see right one is again I come here to talk about the jobs numbers, and I'm very proud to say again, none of these numbers, non of these outcomes were inevitable. They required solid leadership and strong economic strategy.
We've seen past recoveries. They were not like this.
Right, The jobs that have been created under this president are more than have been created under any president in the same time period in history. When you look at what he and we inherited that is, it's really incredible. But I also think this is why I travel the country, right, this is why I've launched Good Job Summer, where I'm going across the country to talk about the need for
good jobs in every single community. And what I see there is workers who want to work, Americans with tremendous talent that they want to put to use, and training programs, community college connections, investments that.
Are creating those good jobs.
We see them in the job's numbers, but I see them when I travel and what the real impact is and I think we see those sentiments surveys starting to turn to But when I talk to American workers and America's families, they see a president who cares about them, who sees them, who knows that they're not invisible, and is willing to do the hard work to make life better for them.
Secretary, who, we really appreciate your time this morning. Hopefully you can enjoy a little bit of the July fourth festivities. Acting US Labor Secretary Julie Sue There