Julie Su, nominee to function Secretary of Labor, arrives for her confirmation hearing within the Senate Health Education Labor & Pensions Committee on Thursday, April 20, 2023.
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WASHINGTON — The U.S. economy saw the smallest jobs increase in July since December 2020, but Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su said the number reflects what experts increasingly imagine see as a “soft landing” for the U.S. economy.
Nonfarm payrolls increased by 187,000 last month, barely below expectations, and the unemployment rate fell barely to three.5%.
“That is an example of what slow and regular growth looks like,” Su told CNBC’s “Squawk on the Street” on Friday.
“This remains to be lower than 4% for the longest stretch for the reason that Nineteen Sixties,” Su said of the unemployment rate, which has remained low for the past 18 months.
She also touted the “very high labor force participation rate, especially amongst prime-age employees aged 25 to 54.”
The proportion of ladies within the labor force rose to 49.9% in July, a rate seen only twice before in public data: Dec. 2019, just before the pandemic, and 2009, when it rose in consequence of the high variety of men who lost jobs within the Great Recession.
Despite the encouraging numbers, Su said the federal government can still do a greater job of supporting a smooth transition for girls back to work within the post-Covid economy.
“I believe that what it should take to further increase labor force participation goes to be addressing a number of the structural issues that keep employees out of the labor market,” said Su. Securing childcare that’s inexpensive and reliable will probably be crucial, she added.
