Statement by Acting Secretary of Labor Su on December jobs report

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su issued the following statement on the December 2023 Employment Situation report: 

“Today, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that the American economy added 216,000 jobs in December, and the unemployment rate held steady at 3.7 percent, continuing the longest stretch of unemployment below four percent in more than 50 years. Today’s numbers demonstrate an economy that’s growing at a strong and steady pace, which was a consistent story throughout 2023. 

“In the past year, jobs grew by an average of 225,000 a month, totaling 2.7 million jobs created in 2023. We also experienced this sustainable growth across many industries. For example, in construction, an average of 16,000 jobs were created each month last year, and manufacturing job growth remained steady throughout 2023. In addition, last year, we marked historic milestones. Labor force participation among prime-age women hit an unprecedented high, and the annual rate of unemployment for Black workers was 5.5 percent, the lowest annual unemployment rate for Black workers since we started tracking this data.   

“The stable economic growth of 2023, along with evidence pointing to a broad and equitable recovery, was not pre-ordained. It is the result of President Biden’s vision that when we do right by workers, our economy does well, and our country gets stronger. In the Biden-Harris administration, we also know that we have more work to do. Looking ahead to 2024, we will continue to focus on creating high-quality jobs and investing in all of America’s workers so that our economy grows from the middle out and the bottom up.”

EDITOR'S NOTE: This statement has been edited to correct the number of jobs in construction added per month on average in 2023. It is 16,000, not 1,000.