The US economy added only 12,000 jobs in October, significantly below economists' expectations of 100,000 new positions. The data and data collection methods have been greatly impacted by Hurricanes Milton and Helene and even ongoing labor strikes.

Acting US Secretary of Labor Julie Su emphasizes the underlying strength of the job market following these distorted labor figures.

"The job market is not weak," Su tells Yahoo Finance senior reporter Jennifer Schonberger, noting that the broader economy remains positive as gross domestic product (GDP) grows, inflation declines, real wages increase, and the unemployment rate remains steady.

The US Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported the unemployment rate to have held steady at 4.1% while hourly wages grew 4.0% year-over-year, in line with expectations. The acting labor secretary points to the unemployment rate, which has been "at, near, or below 4% for the longest stretch since the 1960s."

"The simplest way to describe it is that this was a short reporting period, because we're here talking about this on the first of the month. Sometimes it's... almost a whole week later. And so overall, the picture of the labor market remains what we've been saying," Su acknowledges.

"There's no question this last month the numbers were affected by the devestation of the hurricanes," she later adds. "And so, I expect that we'll be coming back here next month talking about the resilience and the strength of this labor market."

She highlights that 16 million jobs have been created since January 2021 under the Biden administration's guidance and pro-union stance.

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This post was written by Angel Smith