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Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.

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Speaker 2: Is joining us now is Acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue

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Speaker 2: live from Washington. Great to have you with us again.

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Speaker 2: Let's start with, of course, the hurricanes and the strikes,

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Speaker 2: because there was a beat when it comes to the

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Speaker 2: headline number. But how much of that was simply a

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Speaker 2: rebound from the jobs that we saw lost and as

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Speaker 2: a result of the hurricanes and those strikes.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that's right. You know, last month we said

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Speaker 1: that the numbers that came out were largely affected by

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Speaker 1: the tragic hurricanes, the fact that there were tens of

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Speaker 1: thousands of workers on strike. Now that we are past that,

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Speaker 1: this month we saw the numbers rebound again. And we

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Speaker 1: often look at averages. So the three month average, even

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Speaker 1: including that month of relatively low growth because of you know,

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Speaker 1: aberagal factors, is still one hundred and seventy three thousands.

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Speaker 1: So the picture of this economy, as we've said over

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Speaker 1: and over again, is one of a historic recovery of

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Speaker 1: consistent job growth. And as you all remarked just before this,

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Speaker 1: the unemployment rate remains really low, not just as an

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Speaker 1: absolute number, but in the face of really record high

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Speaker 1: levels of labor force participation, and those are all signs

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Speaker 1: of an economy that is not just recovered, but has

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Speaker 1: been consistently strong and stable and continuing to grow.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, good context there. Of course, we're talking about a

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Speaker 2: slate rise in the unemployment rate, but historically still very

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Speaker 2: low levels. But talk to us about the revisions. This

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Speaker 2: is a puzzle that we were just trying to solve.

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Speaker 2: You had a very small revision to last months, the

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Speaker 2: last month's number just thirty six thousand jobs revised there

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Speaker 2: for October's number that came in at just twelve thousand.

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Speaker 2: The narrative there was, of course that that was going

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Speaker 2: to be noisy when you think about all the different

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Speaker 2: factors weather, strikes, etc. But a small revision, and how

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Speaker 2: are you thinking about that?

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Speaker 1: I mean, I always say this, You know, revisions are

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Speaker 1: really part of the jobs numbers. We report new data

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Speaker 1: when we get it because it's important to be accurate,

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Speaker 1: and it's also important to be timely, So we put

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Speaker 1: out numbers when we have them, we revise them each month.

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Speaker 1: It's also notable that not only were the last two

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Speaker 1: months small, they were also upward revisions. So I always

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Speaker 1: say the revisions can go up or down. It depends

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Speaker 1: on what data we get. And that's also why we

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Speaker 1: look at averages. You know, you look at the you know,

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Speaker 1: the story of this economy from twenty twenty two, when

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Speaker 1: it was hot and recovering and everyone el said it

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Speaker 1: was going to crash. It did not. It reached a

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Speaker 1: more steady state in twenty twenty three, and we've definitely

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Speaker 1: seen that continue in twenty twenty four. And I think

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Speaker 1: the takeaway is, you know, this has been an amazingly

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Speaker 1: fast recovery. It's also been really broad based because we've

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Speaker 1: always said that when you prioritize workers, when you priortize

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Speaker 1: vulnerable populations, the economy is stronger. It's not just good

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Speaker 1: for those individuals, but also we will be you know,

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Speaker 1: handing off the strongest economy in history. And those were

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Speaker 1: all not inevitable outcomes.

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Speaker 2: And while you could.

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Speaker 3: Appreciate the historically low unemployment rate, the fact that it

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Speaker 3: has been taking higher and if you round, you're getting

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Speaker 3: closer and closer at four point three percent, how concerned

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Speaker 3: are you about where the labor market is weakening? And

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Speaker 3: how fast am I weakend from there?

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Speaker 2: Yeah?

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Speaker 1: I mean it's still you know, four point one to

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Speaker 1: four point three percent since the summer. That is still,

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Speaker 1: as we've just said earlier, historically low. It was not

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Speaker 1: anticipated to get that low as quickly as it did.

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Speaker 1: I think, you know, what this also tells you is

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Speaker 1: that economic policies matter, leadership matters, and that is a

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Speaker 1: big part of why we've seen the kind of recovery

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Speaker 1: that we've had, and what comes next is going to

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Speaker 1: depend also in large part on whether there is a

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Speaker 1: continued focus on vulnerable populations, on working people. Again, you know,

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Speaker 1: this is story of this economy with real wages up

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Speaker 1: and wages going up while inflation is falling is also

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Speaker 1: not promised, but very much central to the Biden Harris

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Speaker 1: vision of what makes an economy good, what makes an

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Speaker 1: economy strong, and so you know, I think hard to

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Speaker 1: say what's to come, but those things, you know, that

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Speaker 1: vision is I think a really important part of how

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Speaker 1: we make sure that the economy does well for everybody.

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Speaker 3: The other strength in the data was with the weekly

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Speaker 3: earnings growth picture, where it registered at about seven tens

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Speaker 3: of one percent higher. And even though it's really the

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Speaker 3: focus is on jobs here, the wage growth wondering how

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Speaker 3: much that signals to you that they're still persistent underlying

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Speaker 3: inflation under the hood.

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Speaker 1: Here, well, the average wage growth over the year is

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Speaker 1: four percent, right, it translated into more concrete numbers, it's

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Speaker 1: like four thousand dollars for an individual person working, even

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Speaker 1: after taking into account inflation, so you know, more money

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Speaker 1: in workers' pockets. I've said that a whole bunch of

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Speaker 1: times because that's also really fundamental how we think about

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Speaker 1: you know, all of these things are numbers, but at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day, for working families, for individuals,

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Speaker 1: it's about how you feel when you get home at

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Speaker 1: the end of the day. And that's why our commitment

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Speaker 1: to creating not just a large number of jobs over

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Speaker 1: sixteen million since this administration came into office, but also

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Speaker 1: good quality jobs with workers have a real voice, you know,

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Speaker 1: have a real ability to make a good living, to

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Speaker 1: be able to retire to the end of a career with security,

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Speaker 1: have all been really fundamental too, And so I think

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Speaker 1: when you put up wages against inflation, you know, it's

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Speaker 1: a consistent story too that we shouldn't have to choose.

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Speaker 1: Workers shouldn't have to choose right between having a good

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Speaker 1: job where they can afford things and our ability to

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Speaker 1: tackle inflationary pressures. The trend in this economy has also

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Speaker 1: been up on wages and down on inflation.

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Speaker 2: All right, Secretary, we really appreciate you braving the cold

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Speaker 2: for us. Stay warm out there, that is, Acting Labor

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Speaker 2: Secretary Julie Sue