May jobs reports signals Fed’s soft landing: US Labor Secretary

The US added 272,000 jobs in May, a hotter-than-expected figure. Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su joins Yahoo Finance’s Jennifer Schonberger to discuss the state of the labor market and what it could indicate for the Federal Reserve’s next interest rate decision.

Su notes that along with the 272,000 new jobs, the unemployment rate has sat at or below 4% for 30 months, the longest period since the 1960s. She says that these figures indicate a “continuation of a very solid year and a very solid economic recovery.”

As for the Fed’s next interest rate move, Su says, “I don’t think there’s any way but to say that the numbers don’t lie and say that this is a soft landing. Strong job growth, low levels of unemployment, high labor force participation rate. It’s all the things that you would want,”

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This post was written by Melanie Riehl

Video Transcript

Well, the main jobs appear to coming in hotter than expected.

The US adding 272,000 jobs.

That was well above expectations for more on the state of the labor market.

Yahoo Finance is Jennifer Schonberger is standing by with acting labor secretary, Julie Su Jennifer.

Take it away.

Hi, thank you so much as I am here with acting Labor Secretary, Julie Su for more on this morning jobs report secretary.

He always great to see for to thank you the report stronger on many metrics, but the unemployment rate taking up to four percent.

We haven’t seen that level since January 2022.

The same time, the labor force participation rate fell and the household survey showed a drop of 408,000.

So are these signs of weakness to come?

I don’t think so, Jennifer, you know, the numbers speak for themselves, right?

272,000 jobs created last month and the unemployment rate is still at or below 4% for the longest stretch since the 19 sixties were 30 months straight now.

And to be honest, many people thought that even 4% was too low.

To get to, we would never get there.

Certainly not as quickly as we got there and not for as long of a time.

And real wages are you continue to be very solid and the prime labor force participation rate take up a tiny bit and you know, again, overall, just a very solid month ainu of a very solid year and a very solid economic recovery.

What about the fact that where we look at the job growth and where it’s coming from, it seems to be the government sector, health care sector month after month.

What is that saying about the job?

So remember the each month it has been very broad based across many sectors.

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So yes, health care, yes government, but also professional services also construction, also leisure, hospitality, the overwhelming majority of growth that we’ve seen has been in the private sector.

And so there’s just it’s just overall such a strong, steady, stable, you know, continued growth that I think this is certainly the coveted soft landing that many people said wouldn’t happen.

And again, just going to none of this was promised none of this was inevitable.

It happens because of steady leadership and that is what you know, President Biden’s economic agenda has always been about this broad based growth, investing in America, creating more good jobs, creating more opportunity.

And we are seeing the results of that in the numbers.

So you think we are here, we have gotten this off landing.

Yeah, I mean, you know, it’s such a hard answer just because we’re always keeping an eye on what’s going to happen.

Right.

We’ve got to continue to do the good work.

We got to continue to, you know, invest in, in good jobs.

We have to continue to make sure that there’s safe roads and bridges and bring manufacturing home.

All of this work is the continued work of this administration.

But yes, I don’t think there’s any way but to say that the numbers don’t lie and say that, you know, this is a soft landing, strong job growth, low levels of unemployment, high labor force participation rate, all the things that you would want.

How much of this is the immigration golden Sachs had some stats out this week.

They said they think that 80,000 jobs per month last year were immigration this year?

They expect to tell one of around 50,000 how much you think immigration is adding to the story?

Well, immigration has always been a part of our, our labor force, right?

Part of our talent pool that’s been throughout history.

And certainly immigrant workers are part of the story too.

Now, the majority of the jobs that have been created have gone to native born workers.

So I think that’s important too.

And what it really tells us is instead of an economy where we have a shrinking pie that has to be divided up among more people.

We are seeing a bigger pie overall.

That’s what the job growth demonstrates.

Right.

That’s what the over 15 million jobs created since the president has come into office.

The most of any president in that same time period tells us when you create a bigger pie, there’s more for everybody.

How do you see President Biden’s new executive order on the border impacting the labor force?

Well, we don’t really see an impact in the labor force at all.

I will just say as the acting labor secretary, I think it’s important to emphasize that all workers, regardless of status have the protection of labor laws.

And that’s why we keep talking about good jobs that we want everybody to have a good job.

That’s why this summer I’m going to, you know, I just launched our good job summer tour, going to cities across the country to talk about the jobs that are being created to talk to working people and their families about the impacts of those good jobs.

And to really highlight that this is fundamental to the president’s vision of how we build a strong economy and strong communities.

One major highlight of this report is the women’s participation in the workforce hitting another record high for a second month in a row.

Secretary, what is this to?

I know we’ve talked about this year that women have in so many ways powered the economic recovery that we’ve seen.

And as you said, yet again, the labor force participation rate for women reach another all time high.

This is the highest since this data was collected first in 1948.

And as you also noted the second time, the second month in a row and actually the third month total since this president has come into office.

So this is what an equitable recovery looks like.

This is what it means to create opportunity for all.

And historically, we know that women come into the labor market when there are supports for them.

And one of those supports is when the wages are higher.

And that you know that there are good jobs of women, women look for work and they’re finding it.

And if we were to have were more affordable in this country, when we see even higher numbers and what would that mean for economic growth?

Yes, I mean, I, you know, I also will never get tired of, of citing.

We did a study here that demonstrates that if this country invested in child care, like truly, you know, affordable, reliable child care, which we know remains a challenge but also good jobs in child care, which would help with the supply of child care, then it would allow about 5 million more women to come into the labor force.

And that would generate $775 billion of economic activity a year.

So I always say, you know, we can’t just talk about can we afford child care we have to recognize that.

How can we afford not to invest secretary?

Thank you so much as always for so great, so wonderful.