Treasury Secretary Jacob J. Lew said Sunday that the nation’s economy “is moving strongly in the right direction” after months of “pretty sustained evidence” that the jobs outlook is improving.

A surge in hiring pushed unemployment to a six-year low of 5.9 percent, the Labor Department said Oct. 3. The 248,000 gain in payrolls followed a 180,000 increase in August that was bigger than previously estimated.

Lew, speaking on ABC’s “This Week” program, also said it’s “very important” that protests in Hong Kong “be resolved through peaceful discussion.” The Obama administration has been communicating with Chinese officials through national security channels, and President Barack Obama “dropped by” when Foreign Minister Wang Yi was in Washington earlier this month, Lew said.