Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Is joining us now is Acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue live from Washington. Great to have you with us again. Let's start with, of course, the hurricanes and the strikes, because there was a beat when it comes to the headline number. But how much of that was simply a rebound from the jobs that we saw lost and as a result of the hurricanes and those strikes.
Yeah, absolutely, that's right. You know, last month we said that the numbers that came out were largely affected by the tragic hurricanes, the fact that there were tens of thousands of workers on strike. Now that we are past that, this month we saw the numbers rebound again. And we often look at averages. So the three month average, even including that month of relatively low growth because of you know, aberagal factors, is still one hundred and seventy three thousands.
So the picture of this economy, as we've said over and over again, is one of a historic recovery of consistent job growth. And as you all remarked just before this, the unemployment rate remains really low, not just as an absolute number, but in the face of really record high levels of labor force participation, and those are all signs of an economy that is not just recovered, but has been consistently strong and stable and continuing to grow.
Yeah, good context there. Of course, we're talking about a slate rise in the unemployment rate, but historically still very low levels. But talk to us about the revisions. This is a puzzle that we were just trying to solve. You had a very small revision to last months, the last month's number just thirty six thousand jobs revised there for October's number that came in at just twelve thousand.
The narrative there was, of course that that was going to be noisy when you think about all the different factors weather, strikes, etc. But a small revision, and how are you thinking about that?
I mean, I always say this, You know, revisions are really part of the jobs numbers. We report new data when we get it because it's important to be accurate, and it's also important to be timely, So we put out numbers when we have them, we revise them each month. It's also notable that not only were the last two months small, they were also upward revisions. So I always say the revisions can go up or down. It depends on what data we get. And that's also why we
look at averages. You know, you look at the you know, the story of this economy from twenty twenty two, when it was hot and recovering and everyone el said it was going to crash. It did not. It reached a more steady state in twenty twenty three, and we've definitely seen that continue in twenty twenty four. And I think the takeaway is, you know, this has been an amazingly
fast recovery. It's also been really broad based because we've always said that when you prioritize workers, when you priortize vulnerable populations, the economy is stronger. It's not just good for those individuals, but also we will be you know, handing off the strongest economy in history. And those were all not inevitable outcomes.
And while you could.
Appreciate the historically low unemployment rate, the fact that it has been taking higher and if you round, you're getting closer and closer at four point three percent, how concerned are you about where the labor market is weakening? And how fast am I weakend from there?
Yeah?
I mean it's still you know, four point one to four point three percent since the summer. That is still, as we've just said earlier, historically low. It was not anticipated to get that low as quickly as it did. I think, you know, what this also tells you is that economic policies matter, leadership matters, and that is a big part of why we've seen the kind of recovery that we've had, and what comes next is going to depend also in large part on whether there is a
continued focus on vulnerable populations, on working people. Again, you know, this is story of this economy with real wages up and wages going up while inflation is falling is also not promised, but very much central to the Biden Harris vision of what makes an economy good, what makes an economy strong, and so you know, I think hard to say what's to come, but those things, you know, that vision is I think a really important part of how we make sure that the economy does well for everybody.
The other strength in the data was with the weekly earnings growth picture, where it registered at about seven tens of one percent higher. And even though it's really the focus is on jobs here, the wage growth wondering how much that signals to you that they're still persistent underlying inflation under the hood.
Here, well, the average wage growth over the year is four percent, right, it translated into more concrete numbers, it's like four thousand dollars for an individual person working, even after taking into account inflation, so you know, more money
in workers' pockets. I've said that a whole bunch of times because that's also really fundamental how we think about you know, all of these things are numbers, but at the end of the day, for working families, for individuals, it's about how you feel when you get home at
the end of the day. And that's why our commitment to creating not just a large number of jobs over sixteen million since this administration came into office, but also good quality jobs with workers have a real voice, you know, have a real ability to make a good living, to be able to retire to the end of a career with security, have all been really fundamental too, And so I think when you put up wages against inflation, you know, it's a consistent story too that we shouldn't have to choose.
Workers shouldn't have to choose right between having a good job where they can afford things and our ability to tackle inflationary pressures. The trend in this economy has also been up on wages and down on inflation.
All right, Secretary, we really appreciate you braving the cold for us. Stay warm out there, that is, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue