Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, podcasts, radio News.
Speaker 2: Is joining us now is Acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue
Speaker 2: live from Washington. Great to have you with us again.
Speaker 2: Let's start with, of course, the hurricanes and the strikes,
Speaker 2: because there was a beat when it comes to the
Speaker 2: headline number. But how much of that was simply a
Speaker 2: rebound from the jobs that we saw lost and as
Speaker 2: a result of the hurricanes and those strikes.
Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, that's right. You know, last month we said
Speaker 1: that the numbers that came out were largely affected by
Speaker 1: the tragic hurricanes, the fact that there were tens of
Speaker 1: thousands of workers on strike. Now that we are past that,
Speaker 1: this month we saw the numbers rebound again. And we
Speaker 1: often look at averages. So the three month average, even
Speaker 1: including that month of relatively low growth because of you know,
Speaker 1: aberagal factors, is still one hundred and seventy three thousands.
Speaker 1: So the picture of this economy, as we've said over
Speaker 1: and over again, is one of a historic recovery of
Speaker 1: consistent job growth. And as you all remarked just before this,
Speaker 1: the unemployment rate remains really low, not just as an
Speaker 1: absolute number, but in the face of really record high
Speaker 1: levels of labor force participation, and those are all signs
Speaker 1: of an economy that is not just recovered, but has
Speaker 1: been consistently strong and stable and continuing to grow.
Speaker 2: Yeah, good context there. Of course, we're talking about a
Speaker 2: slate rise in the unemployment rate, but historically still very
Speaker 2: low levels. But talk to us about the revisions. This
Speaker 2: is a puzzle that we were just trying to solve.
Speaker 2: You had a very small revision to last months, the
Speaker 2: last month's number just thirty six thousand jobs revised there
Speaker 2: for October's number that came in at just twelve thousand.
Speaker 2: The narrative there was, of course that that was going
Speaker 2: to be noisy when you think about all the different
Speaker 2: factors weather, strikes, etc. But a small revision, and how
Speaker 2: are you thinking about that?
Speaker 1: I mean, I always say this, You know, revisions are
Speaker 1: really part of the jobs numbers. We report new data
Speaker 1: when we get it because it's important to be accurate,
Speaker 1: and it's also important to be timely, So we put
Speaker 1: out numbers when we have them, we revise them each month.
Speaker 1: It's also notable that not only were the last two
Speaker 1: months small, they were also upward revisions. So I always
Speaker 1: say the revisions can go up or down. It depends
Speaker 1: on what data we get. And that's also why we
Speaker 1: look at averages. You know, you look at the you know,
Speaker 1: the story of this economy from twenty twenty two, when
Speaker 1: it was hot and recovering and everyone el said it
Speaker 1: was going to crash. It did not. It reached a
Speaker 1: more steady state in twenty twenty three, and we've definitely
Speaker 1: seen that continue in twenty twenty four. And I think
Speaker 1: the takeaway is, you know, this has been an amazingly
Speaker 1: fast recovery. It's also been really broad based because we've
Speaker 1: always said that when you prioritize workers, when you priortize
Speaker 1: vulnerable populations, the economy is stronger. It's not just good
Speaker 1: for those individuals, but also we will be you know,
Speaker 1: handing off the strongest economy in history. And those were
Speaker 1: all not inevitable outcomes.
Speaker 2: And while you could.
Speaker 3: Appreciate the historically low unemployment rate, the fact that it
Speaker 3: has been taking higher and if you round, you're getting
Speaker 3: closer and closer at four point three percent, how concerned
Speaker 3: are you about where the labor market is weakening? And
Speaker 3: how fast am I weakend from there?
Speaker 2: Yeah?
Speaker 1: I mean it's still you know, four point one to
Speaker 1: four point three percent since the summer. That is still,
Speaker 1: as we've just said earlier, historically low. It was not
Speaker 1: anticipated to get that low as quickly as it did.
Speaker 1: I think, you know, what this also tells you is
Speaker 1: that economic policies matter, leadership matters, and that is a
Speaker 1: big part of why we've seen the kind of recovery
Speaker 1: that we've had, and what comes next is going to
Speaker 1: depend also in large part on whether there is a
Speaker 1: continued focus on vulnerable populations, on working people. Again, you know,
Speaker 1: this is story of this economy with real wages up
Speaker 1: and wages going up while inflation is falling is also
Speaker 1: not promised, but very much central to the Biden Harris
Speaker 1: vision of what makes an economy good, what makes an
Speaker 1: economy strong, and so you know, I think hard to
Speaker 1: say what's to come, but those things, you know, that
Speaker 1: vision is I think a really important part of how
Speaker 1: we make sure that the economy does well for everybody.
Speaker 3: The other strength in the data was with the weekly
Speaker 3: earnings growth picture, where it registered at about seven tens
Speaker 3: of one percent higher. And even though it's really the
Speaker 3: focus is on jobs here, the wage growth wondering how
Speaker 3: much that signals to you that they're still persistent underlying
Speaker 3: inflation under the hood.
Speaker 1: Here, well, the average wage growth over the year is
Speaker 1: four percent, right, it translated into more concrete numbers, it's
Speaker 1: like four thousand dollars for an individual person working, even
Speaker 1: after taking into account inflation, so you know, more money
Speaker 1: in workers' pockets. I've said that a whole bunch of
Speaker 1: times because that's also really fundamental how we think about
Speaker 1: you know, all of these things are numbers, but at
Speaker 1: the end of the day, for working families, for individuals,
Speaker 1: it's about how you feel when you get home at
Speaker 1: the end of the day. And that's why our commitment
Speaker 1: to creating not just a large number of jobs over
Speaker 1: sixteen million since this administration came into office, but also
Speaker 1: good quality jobs with workers have a real voice, you know,
Speaker 1: have a real ability to make a good living, to
Speaker 1: be able to retire to the end of a career with security,
Speaker 1: have all been really fundamental too, And so I think
Speaker 1: when you put up wages against inflation, you know, it's
Speaker 1: a consistent story too that we shouldn't have to choose.
Speaker 1: Workers shouldn't have to choose right between having a good
Speaker 1: job where they can afford things and our ability to
Speaker 1: tackle inflationary pressures. The trend in this economy has also
Speaker 1: been up on wages and down on inflation.
Speaker 2: All right, Secretary, we really appreciate you braving the cold
Speaker 2: for us. Stay warm out there, that is, Acting Labor
Speaker 2: Secretary Julie Sue