In an interview with Bloomberg on Friday, Acting Labor Secretary Julie Su responded to the July jobs report by saying that the number of jobs in July was “still above 100,000. It’s still broad-based,” adding, “Generally, this is an indicator that the economy remains strong.”
Host Katie Greifeld asked, “You actually spoke to us back in June and said you were working on your definition of a soft landing. Would you still say that today, as you’re analyzing these numbers?”
Su replied, “[L]Look at the three-month average. The three-month average growth is still at 170,000 cases. Remember, we’ve been talking for a year about the numbers being too high, getting too hot, and we were always planning on moving to a more sustainable, stable level of growth. The numbers came in below expectations, but they’re still over 100,000 cases. It’s still broad-based. We saw growth across multiple industries. We saw growth in construction, we saw growth in health care, we saw growth in leisure and hospitality. There was a dramatic decline in one industry, information. But generally, this is an indicator that the economy continues to be strong. And when you look at other things, like the labor force participation rate, the labor force participation rate for prime-age workers is at an all-time high, and we continue to know that we have work to do to maintain a strong economy. But the three-month average is still above the numbers that we need to have to have a sustainable, strong labor market in a strong economy.
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