The U.S. labor market added 142,000 new nonfarm jobs in August, while the unemployment rate fell 0.1% to 4.2% over the same period. This figure was below economists’ expectations of 165,000 new jobs in August.

To learn more about the employment numbers and the state of the labor market, acting U.S. Secretary of Labor Julie Su speaks with Jennifer Schonberger, senior reporter at Yahoo Finance. She concludes that the slowdown in job growth is “part of the transition from the breakneck pace of job growth that we saw in the early years of the recovery.”

“By all appearances, the labor market remains very strong, especially when you combine that with our strong GDP growth, the fight against inflation and labor force participation. Here, too, the number of women in the labor force broke the last record we set in May,” says Su. “Overall, the economy’s indicators point to strong, robust growth, not a recession.”

Su also addresses a possible strike by Boeing (BA) factory workers later this month and general union fears about AI and automation.

“The parties are at the table and negotiating. We’ve said from the beginning that this administration supports collective bargaining. We believe unions are good for this country, and the labor market data shows that we can build an economy where workers come first, where workers do well, and supporting collective bargaining is part of that. And that’s why we encourage them to stay at the table,” Su says of the negotiations with Boeing.

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This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.