On the backdrop of jobs growth outpacing estimates in February, the US Bureau of Labor Statistics also reported the national unemployment rate to have risen from 3.7% to 3.9% — a level not seen in over two years — while the national average hourly wages steadily sits at 4.3%. "The unemployment rate remains under 4%, so now it's been under 4% for over two years running. It has not been like this for over 50 years," US Acting Secretary of Labor Julie Su tells Yahoo Finance's Jennifer Schonberger in Washington, D.C., attributing consistent jobs growth as a product of President Biden's "strong, steady leadership with a vision." Secretary Su weighed in on Biden's State of the Union address — the sitting president summarizing the economic progress made under his administration. In theme with International Women's Day (March 8), she also discusses the prominence of women in the US workforce and the challenges they still face. "Women's labor force participation rate for prime-age women in the last month was almost at the all-time high again, almost matched that what you talked about last spring. But, yes, the pay gap remains persistent. And we have to do everything we can to end that," Acting Secretary Su states. "It's unfair — we see that women, even if you have the same level of education, you're working in the same type of job, in the same industry, women's pay statistically is lower than that of men. Now, some of that is old-fashioned discrimination, and we have to address that, but some of it is really the occupational segregation that persists." For more expert insight and the latest market action, click here to watch this full episode of Yahoo Finance Live. Editor's note: This article was written by Luke Carberry Mogan.

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