U.S. Treasury: “Inflation was lowered without weakening the job market… economic soft landing in progress”
Biden: “2.7 million new jobs last year… more than any previous administration”
US Treasury Secretary Yellen
[AP 연합뉴스 자료사진. 재판매 및 DB 금지]
While the number of jobs in the United States showed a surprising increase last month, Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen diagnosed that the U.S. economy was making a soft landing.
In an interview with CNN on the 5th (local time), Secretary Yellen said, “It is rare to lower inflation without weakening the job market, but we have had an unemployment rate below 4% for 23 consecutive months.”
“What we are witnessing could be called a soft landing,” he said. “I hope that continues.”
Regarding the increase in average hourly wages in December of last year compared to the previous month, he said, “Wage increases are now outpacing the rate of inflation,” and “American workers are getting ahead (economically), and the progress of middle-class families is noticeable.”
Secretary Yellen said, “There was a lot of pessimism about the (US) economy, but it all turned out to be unfounded. A year ago, most (experts) thought we would fall into a recession, but that clearly did not happen.” emphasized.
Regarding the outlook that the Federal Reserve (Fed) is less likely to cut the benchmark interest rate early as the job market is still stronger than market expectations, he said, “If you look at the labor market, economy, and inflation, the Fed will make a good decision.” “I came,” he said, but did not give a specific answer.
Previously, the Ministry of Labor announced on the 5th (local time) that the number of non-agricultural jobs in the United States increased by 216,000 in December last year compared to the previous month. This is a level that exceeds the employment increase of last October (105,000) and November (173,000), as well as the 170,000 expected by market experts.
The unemployment rate in December (3.7%) was also below expert expectations (3.8%).
President Joe Biden said in a statement on this day, “A total of 2.7 million jobs were created in 2023, which is more jobs than any previous administration’s record for a year,” and “Inflation over the past six months has fallen to the 2% level before the COVID-19 pandemic.” “Even in a declining situation, strong job creation continued,” he said.
“Worker wages are higher than they were before the pandemic began,” he said. “Last year was a good year for American workers, and I will not stop fighting for American workers and families.”
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2024-01-06 09:10:03
#Treasury
