Dive Brief:

• Last week's June jobs report calmed a lot of nerves, considering the May report had only 11,000 new jobs, causing many to worry that the U.S. economy was huffing and puffing. But according to the Atlantic, the 287,000 jobs added in June brought smiles to many faces, especially the face of Tom Perez, the U.S. Labor Secretary.
• Perez, in fact, told The Atlantic that the June report is a clear signal that the economy continues to move in the right direction, and he added that employee-boosting programs, such as paid leave, will prove even more beneficial in the long term.
• The Atlantic also reports that economists see job growth and labor-force participation increases as indicators that the tightening job market would produce better pay for many American workers and that those who dropped out of the workforce during the recession were returning to work.

Dive Insight:

The article notes that wages, in fact, have been growing, with average hourly earnings rising by 2.6% over the past year. On the downside, the labor-force participation rate is up and down, (down in April and May and up slightly in June). Perez told the Atlantic that issues such as mandated paid leave, raising the minimum wage and improving infrastructure are longer-term actions that could boost that number.

“The public policy intervention that we could do that would do the most to hasten the pace of labor-force participation increases is to pass paid leave,” Perez told The Atlantic. “You look at other countries and what they do in investing in paid leave, and their labor-force participation rates are higher because they understand the importance of paid leave as part of their economic competitiveness.”