is apparently known as dating sunday. we're curious about exactly what that means. but first, the december jobs report is out, and it was much, much

better than expected. hi everybody. i'm dionne lim. welcome to getting answers today , the labor department announced that the nation's employers added a robust 216,000 jobs last month. the unemployment rate that held steady at 3.7. it's the 23rd straight month that joblessness has come in below 4. so joining us now live to break it all down. and what this means is julia pollack chief economist at ziprecruiter julia, thanks for being here. all right. we do have a lot to get to today. so let's start off with the latest data from the bureau of labor and statistics. it exceeded expectations when it came to job growth. the door the dow from what we know apparently soared as a result today. what are some of those other key takeaways from the report that we can get? i think we're having a little bit of an audio issue on your end. i'll give you just a moment

to adjust your audio. okay know obviously with our work at home culture and doing a lot of zoom the past couple of years, undoubtedly we still have technical issues. oftentimes that mute button is still on. there we go. i can hear you now. >> can you? >> okay, great. i just i usually use a yeti speaker, but i'm moving back to the laptop. so here we go. um this is this is the beauty of live tv. >> so let's get right to it. >> this was a very mixed report. yes, the top line number looked like a blockbuster when the report first dropped, but under the hood, uh, there are very mixed signals in this report. uh, the household survey is much weaker, showing a 638,000 decline in the employment level in a large drop in labor force participation. so you have strong gains in the establishment survey and strong wage growth data, but some iffy employment and participation related data in the household survey. >> yeah, i think we can maybe use the firm cautious optimism

here and knowing that optimism, i know inflation is improving at least over last year. i remember prices at the supermarket, for example, those were skyrocketing. but even so it seems like we are still not where we need to be or where the government would like us to be when it comes to those rates. >> so i would differ on that. uh, the pce inflation rates that the fed, uh, target the last six months on an annualized basis came in at 1.9. that is a hair below their target. uh, so the inflation has dropped very rapidly. and is pretty much all the way back to where it needs to be. uh, the good news for workers is that price growth is coming down faster than wage growth. and so as of the middle of the year, wage growth has flipped positive after 25 months of negative wage gains and, and, uh, and finally, workers should see their purchasing power expand again. yeah. >> and to get specific from what i gleaned from that report, it

shows that the wages have increased more than 4% compared to other years. is that where we should be? it doesn't seem like a lot when it's on paper. you see that four number? yeah >> right. >> so year over year wage growth is 4.1. and inflation is now around 3.1% year over year. so workers are getting pretty strong wage gains. um, because productivity growth is so high. and we should be able to sustain wage growth like this without it, you know, adding more inflationary pressure to the labor market. uh, typically nominal wage growth of around 3.5% is what the fed would want to see with 2% inflation. uh, that gives workers a 2% bump. that should keep their wages, uh, you know, level of prices. but an additional bump as well to reward them for productivity growth. >> you know, while we're on the topic, julia, can you shed some light into which sectors, for example, saw that growth primarily right. >> so over the last six months,

uh, only three major sectors have been responsible for 92% of the job gains. those are healthcare for the government and leisure and hospitality. in this report, the breadth of job gains ticked up. a little bit. so we actually saw pretty strong growth in, uh, professional business services and in construction as well. but overall over in the back half of the year, wage growth was unusually narrowly concentrated in just those big cyclical industries. and elsewhere, high interest rates are having an effect. they're holding back investment and growth. >> and this is very appropriate because you mentioned construction and the job growth there. does that correlate to what we're seeing with the home market. because right now home sales have slumped. it has been that way for the past several years. and i think that's due in part because of interest rate hikes. what do we find from today's report that affects home buyers? >> absolutely. so that, you know, that market is kind of in

a deep freeze. uh, but there is a lot of construction taking place of apartment buildings and also of, uh, fact eateries. so spending on manufacturing construction has risen more than 60% since the pandemic. and we are building lots of ev factories and, and, uh, microchip factories. we're not really seeing it yet trickle into employment data manufacturing employment has been very weak all year. uh, but hopefully when financial conditions improve and become more favorable, we will see that factory building translated to factory jobs. >> it is, of course, the beginning of the new year. what do you see forecast for the remainder, especially with such a strong report coming out right off the gate. >> so i think that job growth will continue to slow in the coming months. >> uh, just given the fact that monetary policy is starting to have a take a toll and, and bite you know, have bite. uh that

will continue until the fed feet off right pedal and allows investments to bloom again. >> and as you're talking, we're seeing video of these now hiring signs. it seems like there are more of those out in the marketplace. what does this exactly mean when you boil it down to the, uh, let's say john smith, who goes to the supermarket and have, you know, families that have everyday expenses. what can we expect on that day to day level? >> what we're seeing is that in the slave market, employers are hanging on to the workers. >> they've got layoffs. you know, despite all the layoffs in the news are actually historically very low. there are about 20% fewer layoffs than firing taking place each month than was normal between 2016 and 2019. so if you've got a job, you're in a privileged position and you are experiencing more job security than was usual. but if you're unemployed, the rate of hiring has fallen substantially. it's actually dropped to the 2014 rate. and

you may be finding a little bit more difficult to find a new job than than it has been in recent months. so that means you're going to have to search a little harder to put in more effort into your resume. and application materials, and prepare for interviews, because you may have to do a few more of them, uh, and search for a little longer. >> all right. julia pollack of ziprecruiter, we appreciate that insight. thank you for joining us. >> thanks so much. >> well, coming up, it has been a struggle for the tahoe ski resorts due to a lack of snow this year. but things could be changing. up next, we'll talk with one of our favorites, kevin cooper cooper, about the impact the big snowstorm headed to the sierra this weekend and the impact it could h

look outside from our camera at zephyr cove. you can see there the south end of lake tahoe, about three miles outside the state line on the nevada side of the border. how tranquil and beautiful is this? you can see it is fairly calm, but things are about to change as we learn from meteorology. drew tuma today on midday live. >> let's show you the forecast. heavy snow is on the way today and later this afternoon. this evening, if you may think of going to tahoe, you'll be just fine. we have clear skies out there and we have dry conditions. things rapidly go downhill tomorrow morning. heavy snow moves in here. winter storm warnings go into effect. do not try to travel there tomorrow. it's just going to be an absolute mess on sunday. we have some leftover flurries, but we do expect a lot of sunshine and we start to dry out from the snow. but here's that winter storm warning. it begins very early tomorrow morning, 4 a.m, 1 to 2ft of snow, very likely snow rates could go at two inches per

hour. that is blinding snow at times. the snow levels down to 2000ft. this is a cold storm and those winds could gust up to 55mph. so at times travel could be difficult if not impossible. possible to cross 80 and 50, especially. >> all right. difficult on the roads. but i can hear my friends who ski cheering as we speak. joining us live right now is our go to guy when it comes to all things tahoe. we are talking about kevin coop cooper. there he is in his bright red jacket. he's the director of communications and pr for california mountain resort company. they own several sierra resorts. coop always a pleasure to. >> yeah, good to see you guys. so thanks for having me on. right before this storm, the calm. >> oh, boy. wow, he is so animated. as always. all right, coop, it's been a very quiet winter in the sierra. not a lot of snow. i had a friend who was lamenting about how her ski resort weekend was going to be over, but there must be a lot of excitement now about what's coming. >> absolutely. you know, mother

nature just sometimes just takes a little bit of time, you know, to kind of get it all together. taylor two winters last year, we had all the snow starting early november and then going all the way through june. two years ago, we had all of our snow in december this year, it looks like we're really starting to get into a groove as we move into january 2024. looks to sit up really good. we're looking at the gfs and the euro models and they're all starting to show significant snow going through the end of the month, which will just be a great bonus to the resorts, the economy and the snow tables and the pack here in california. >> yeah, who could forget last year? i remember every single day we had video from the ski resorts and it was blinding. white was it is a cold storm because drew mentioned that we could be hitting what, near zero degrees on sunday. what does that mean when it comes to skiing and the forecast? >> great question. and what that is, is this is a really nice storm coming out of the gulf of alaska. it's got a nice big pacific moisture fetch to it. so

that's the moisture that's coming in. but the low pressure is going to bring cold into it. so we're looking at elevations where the snow is going to start right around 2000ft. that's on the west slope. so that's your dodge ridge bear valley down in fresno towards china peak. then it's going to move itself up over into the sierra. but we're looking at significant snow probably 14 to 18in. that's conservative at the crest. and we could see even more than that if the system slows down and really settles in on the basin and the western slope, and we need it for both water. but we also need it for the ski resorts themselves, they'll be able to open up more terrain, but there's going to be a lot of work to do. this is going to be a big storm. travel challenges out there i-80, highway 50, state route 88 all going to be challenged over the next several days. >> yeah. let's talk a little bit more about that, because obviously there are benefits for the snowpack. we certainly need the precipitation. but for those who are on the roads, do you have any suggestions on those who want to hit the roads and head to the sierra? >> yeah, another great question. and what here guys, what do you

want to do is slow down, check your car, have that emergency road kit, have your flares, extra water in there. make sure if you're in an ev car you're charged up. you have a full charge before you approach the mountain, the summit you want to have that extra charge in there. you also two wheel drive chains have those tensioners be ready to go and put the chains on before you get to this year, make sure that those chains fit. have your cell phone charged up. have that extra water and food in the car, and a flashlight. it could be challenging. caltrans does the best as chp does the best to keep those mountain passes, you know, open and clear as best as they can. however we saw it last year, mother nature shut those roads down multiple times with left people stranded up on the summit. we don't want to see that. we want you to get here safe and enjoy the skiing and riding and all the activities here in the sierra. >> oh yes, we watched all of that on our cameras and it was never good to see people stranded or people in a precarious situation. what about the overall landscape of what these resorts are planning to do when it comes to the climate? because it has been so, i guess

for lack of better, more meteorological terms, kind of funky due to some of this global warming. >> absolutely. we call it low tide right now. so here that's a great question because the mountain operations teams have a lot to do. we're working on machine made terrain right now. right? a lot of machine made snow. mother nature is giving us about anywhere between 15 and 20in so far this season. so with this natural snowfall, what i like to call the natural when it comes in, they're going to need to work that snow. and what they're going to try and do is refresh the terrain that is currently open. they'll subsidize it with machine made, but they're also going to be looking to see what they can open safely. so that's the big kind of look at it. the mountain operations teams, they're professionals. this isn't their first rodeo. what they'll do is they'll try and make sure they can open as much as they can, as safely and as quickly as possible. so that's what's going to kind of happen. also with this snow load we're looking at two inches an hour, possibly three inches an hour. we might see avalanche mitigation go into effect for the first time this season. so just level set your

expectations. go to the website, check out the snow reports and see what's going to happen on the mountain. this also has winds, so we could have some wind holes. but i'll tell you what the stock level is high and we're getting ready to ride some cold smoke pile this weekend. >> i've never heard of that. the stock level. i might have to use that in my day to day vocabulary. hey talking about now the actual guests of these ski resorts. yes, let's be honest, the price is not cheap. oftentimes some resorts are charging as much as $250. what do you think people can do to offset those costs and still have an awesome season? >> take a look at all the different resorts out there. i mean, there are a lot of different options and i'll just talk about the past resorts in themselves. those are the western slope resorts. that's dodge. bear and china peak have a little bit more reasonable pricing. but here's the best thing you can do. always go to the website by early. so pre-purchase your pass or your ticket 2470 two hours in

advance. that's where you're going to get the best deal. look for the three packs in the four packs out there. again, that's what your best deal is. and then really what happens is in this happened years ago, the ski industry, we did this probably about five, six, seven years back. we really shifted day tickets into the passes. so as you go into the springtime, depending on the resort that you want to go to, just look at the pass selection. you can get a midweek pass, a full season pass. they're all multiple resort passes. that's where you're going to save your money three days and you've paid for your pass, so that's the way to do it. but if you're coming up for the day, purchase in advance. take a good look out there, see what the ticket prices are, pick the resort you want to go to, and there's a big difference. i mean, some of the small resorts boreal you've got, you know tahoe, donner, diamond peak, mount rose, homewood those have very reasonable prices. and the west slope resorts dodge bear which dodge ridge opened up today. but bear and china peak, they're also very reasonable for the pricing for a day ticket. oh those are great tips. >> thank you so much. we are so stoked to have you on our show once again. >> awesome.

>> great to hear you say stuff. you guys take care. we'll see you out on the mountain. >> sounds like a plan. thanks, goop all right, moving on. the first sunday of the new year, that is usually the busiest day of the year for dating apps. so ahead, we'll speak with a

(box thuds) (water boils) (packet tears) (tea bag clanks) (water pours) - listening to people that drink bigelow tea is so important to my family, because making that perfect cup, it's the reason we do what we do hi, guys! - hi! - hey! - so what are you guys drinking? - constant comment. - when i'm drinking bigelow tea, it's just a moment for me. it's just me time.

- that's what a cup of tea is. - it is. - a moment for you, someone you love. - aw! (customer sighs) - it tastes really great. - yes! it was always bigelow tea - wow! that's what my family hopes for. cheers. - cheers. (bright upbeat music) on that list. joining us now is jolene beaton with it's just lunch san francisco to talk about something called dating sunday. jolene. thanks for being here. >> thank you so much for having me. >> all right, jolene, i have been off the market for 18 years, so please enlighten me to what this dating sunday entails. >> so similar to it's just lunch , where we find that it's our busiest time of year. singles are making a new year's resolution to find love. uh- the dating sites and apps also see an uptake in new members and so

dating sunday is because it is the highest time of users. the week after new year's. >> aha! that makes a lot of sense. after all the hubbub of the holidays, now it's time to focus on yourself. now, along with this influx, let's talk about dating scams because those are oldest time you say there are actually new ways when it comes to technology and how that's being used to prey on people who are looking for a relationship. >> yes, unfortunately, lately the scams are alive and well, and with the i being becoming so strong, what we've seen is bots creating, you know, fake profiles, pictures to get singles to share personal details with them. they are asking for credit cards. oh that is crazy. >> i is scary for a number of reasons. maybe it'll be taking our jobs soon. who knows? you know, the federal trade commission reports that 70,000

singles actually fell victim to these dating scams in 2022. do you have some other methods besides ai and ai bots asking for money? what other mmos are there? >> so the overseas prince, who wants you to send him money is uh- is gone. now. what these con artists are doing is they are doing scams where they're trying to teach you how to invest in cryptocurrency. or they might say, hey, i need your help. there's a package stuck, you know, in customs. and so the scam is always the same, though, while they're strike up a conversation, they will use emotional connection to build rapport. or they will always ask you for money though. >> oh, boy. so what do you suggest that people who are looking for love do short of a google search, there must be more. >> i would say definitely stick to trusted sites or matchmaking companies. um, you're right,

you're always going to want to do a google search. um even if it says the name of the company that they work for or there seems to be a lot of details that they're giving you. i would still go ahead and look into that because you do want to see are they married? do they have children? are they who they say they are? um, you can do a reverse image search to see if the photo is real or fake. i would say always meet in a public place. you know, we set up our dates for clients. so we know where they're meeting. we know for how long. i check in with them after their dates. so you might want to have someone know where you're going. uh- most importantly, never, ever send any money. it is a big red flag. if someone is asking you for money or to invest in something just after connecting with you on a dating site, do you have some suggestions on how people can really optimize their profile? >> also, because this is a little bit of the flip side, is that yes, you need to be diligent in seeking who you want

to date, but also putting your best self out there while being authentic. >> i do. this is probably my favorite thing. i would say take a lot of photos, you know, intentionally for your profile. they professional is great, but they don't have to be ask your friend the next time you're out with a great background or you have a great outfit on and have about 4 to 6 photos that show you in your hobbies or interests , as well as really clear. no sunglasses, um, no hats. you know, just be you. and also, the more information, the better. you need to have people be able to strike up a conversation with you. and so tell them who you are and so that they can engage. um, my final thought would be ask people questions and get to the date immediately. you know, it's assume if you are matched online, that it's because you both have some things in common

and are interested and then the next step would be to set up a date. if someone is not willing to set up a date, then that might be your vetting system right there. >> julie, before we go, let's talk about success also because i remember when online dating started, dating apps came onto the scene. i thought it was absurd that my friends were participating, but i've been to a number of tinder weddings, for example, people who've really ended up tying the knot. do you have some insight into how successful online dating in the world has become? well i'll you know, i'm a matchmaker for a very well known nationwide matchmaking service. >> and i met my boyfriend on tinder, so i love dating apps. i think they are an incredible way to meet people as well. and, um, and i think i hear a lot of success that way. >> all right. jolene i appreciate you for, uh, for taking the time to speak with us. enjoy your dating. sunday >> thank you. you, too. >> a reminder for everyone watching right now. you can

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wait in san francisco's fillmore district will soon close and be turned into housing. safeway entered into an agreement with aligned real estate, which will turn webster plaza into a mixed use development with housing and commercial space. the grocery store on webster street is expected to shut down in march.

now, according to the chronicle, employees will be reassigned to another store in the san francisco area. the closest safeway to that location is in the castro. certainly a story we will continue to follow as it all develops. well thanks so much for joining us for this edition of getting answers, everybody. we'll be here every weekday at 3:00 answering your questions from experts around the bay area. we leave you now with a very beautiful and ♪ tonight, breaking news just in from the supreme court involv involving donald trump. and a major winter storm about to slam the east. what the supreme court is saying about donald trump's appeal about being taken off the ballot in some states.