December's jobs report landed with a thud. The U.S. economy added just 50,000 jobs last month, wrapping up 2024 with one of the weakest years for employment growth in decades. While President Donald Trump keeps touting economic wins, investor and entrepreneur Kevin O'Leary isn't buying the hype.

"The job number was soft," O'Leary said during a Friday NewsNation interview. "Fifty thousand was soft. I mean, there's no getting around it. You wish it was 150,000."

Small Businesses Are Sitting on Their Hands

So what's going on? O'Leary points to small business owners who are basically frozen, waiting to see how policy shakes out before they commit to new hires. And that matters more than you might think.

"Seventy-two percent of jobs created in America are created by companies between five and 500 employees," he explained. "They are the economy."

The big concern right now? Tariffs. Small business owners are waiting on a Supreme Court ruling that could decide whether they'll get rebates on tariff costs racked up during emergency trade actions. Until there's clarity, many are in full wait-and-see mode, which means limited hiring and cautious spending.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics data backs up O'Leary's read. The U.S. added just 584,000 jobs in all of 2024, the lowest non-recession total since 2003. Most of those gains came from health care and hospitality. In December alone, leisure and hospitality added 47,000 jobs while health care and social assistance contributed 38,500. Manufacturing and retail? They actually shed jobs.

Navy Federal Credit Union Chief Economist Heather Long called it a "jobless boom," telling CNN that without health care and social assistance, the U.S. would have posted net job losses last year. ZipRecruiter's Nicole Bachaud had an even grimmer take, noting that rising long-term unemployment suggests that "unemployment is increasingly becoming a permanent state rather than a temporary transition."

O'Leary's Betting on Energy and 'Winner States'

Despite the gloomy jobs picture, O'Leary says he's optimistic about 2025, particularly when it comes to energy infrastructure. "Everybody's been talking about power... and we all know the Chinese are killing us in creating faster power generation by a factor of 4x," he said.

He recently visited Utah to scope out new investment opportunities, and he came away impressed. O'Leary praised state leaders there for cutting through red tape and making it easier to attract capital. "There are winner states and there are loser states. I wouldn't be going to California... but there I am in Utah," he said.

That infrastructure-focused investment approach aligns with growing interest in private real estate, especially among accredited investors looking to park capital in lower-volatility, income-producing assets. When business slows and hiring stalls, capital doesn't stop moving. It just gets more careful about where it goes.

O'Leary wrapped up his interview with characteristic humor and optimism. "I had steak for breakfast, steak and salad for lunch, and steak for dinner," he joked about his Utah trip. "I'm very optimistic."