According to one report, the US was able to add 216,000 jobs in December and held the unemployment rate steady at 3.7%. However, that same report found that job growth slowed overall in 2023.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen stated on Friday that the US economy reached a “soft landing,<\/a>” a phrase used to refer to an event in which the central bank is able to ease inflation and cool off a hot economy without creating an economic disaster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWhat we\u2019re seeing now I think we can describe as a soft landing, and my hope is that it will continue,\u201d Yellen said on Friday.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe American people did it,\u201d she added. \u201cThe American people go to work every day, participate in the labor market, and form new businesses. But President Biden <\/a><\/u>has tried to create incentives that give Americans the tools they need to help this economy grow.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Yellen\u2019s comments follow a US job report that showed an unexpectedly strong job growth for the month of December, when the US economy<\/a> added 216,000 jobs to the market. Those numbers exceeded forecasts. However, the year of 2023 showed 2.7 million jobs (225,000 a month) added to the workforce, which was down from 4.8 million (399,000 a month) from the year 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere has been a lot of pessimism about the economy that\u2019s really proven unwarranted,\u201d she\u00a0added<\/a>. \u201cA year ago, most forecasters believed we would fall into a recession. Obviously, that hasn\u2019t happened.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n The pull back from the post-COVID surge may be a result of the Federal Reserve\u2019s efforts to pare back job and wage growth in order to reach the \u201csoft landing\u201d effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Yellen\u2019s announcement that the US economy has reached a \u201csoft landing\u201d may do little to assuage Biden supporters, who have turned away from the commander-in-chief in recent months.<\/p>\n\n\n\n