US Labor Secretary Says Fed Needs to Cut Despite 'Solid' Jobs Data

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Watch US Labor Secretary Says Fed Needs to Cut Despite 'Solid' Jobs Data - Bloomberg on Dailymotion

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00:00Let me first ask you about the headline numbers. It was a blowout. We were only expecting 51,000

00:05in our survey and far more than double that is what we got. How strong is this economy?

00:12Well, 119,000 new jobs. I think that is a solid report for the American people and for the

00:18workforce. We have seen over and over again, you know, that we want to have these gains.

00:25And it's those investments by this administration and this president,

00:28I think that's what you're seeing come online. So this was a solid report for the September numbers.

00:34We'll have to see how November numbers come out in mid-December. But I think that this is good for

00:40the American people. We know that more people are wanting to work and they're actively seeking those

00:45jobs. And so it is my responsibility to make sure that we have that skilled workforce. And so I think

00:50that you're going to see consumer confidence. And again, with prices coming down, energy prices,

00:55gas prices, we're seeing, you know, real wages go up. Blue collar wages have gone up

01:02over the last 60 years. And I think that that's the exciting part of this is that we're seeing people

01:06who are wanting to get on the ground, have the skills that they need and get in that workforce.

01:11Secretary Shavisda Riemer, you might sound very similar to those who don't want this Fed to cut,

01:17that this is a healthy labor market. The president, though, even jokingly yesterday,

01:21was saying Scott Besson would be fired had he not been able to get this Fed to cut.

01:26So in your view of this labor market, is it strong enough that it doesn't need assistance from the Fed?

01:34Well, I think the president has been pretty clear on this issue. We did see the two rate cuts.

01:39I think the Fed does need to go ahead and cut again. You know, when I travel around the country

01:44talking to businesses, which I have hit 36 out of 50 states on my 50 state tour before,

01:49you know, the Democratic shutdown happened, those business owners are wanting to borrow more money

01:54at a cheaper rate to invest in their workforce. That is what they're asking. And so I think another

02:00rate cut is exactly what we need to really grow this workforce. I mean, we see GDP is up 4.2 percent.

02:08I think that that's positive growth. And we want to see more private sector jobs come online. Out of

02:14the 119,000 jobs we saw, 97,000 of those jobs have been in the private sector, which is way different

02:21than the Biden administration when we saw they were all government jobs. So I think we're on the right

02:24track. It does seem like inflation is a concern. We heard that from Walmart today that it's got to pass

02:31through these tariff costs somehow. Are you not worried that we have a rise in inflation that hits lower

02:37income workers especially hard if we continue to cut rates? Well, I think what happens when you're

02:45talking to the American families every day, they want affordability. So they look for ways in order

02:50to provide for their families. As a former Congresswoman and as a former mayor, I know how

02:54important that is each and every day. What we want to do is grow this workforce so they can have more

03:00money in their own pockets. These policies that came forward with the working family tax cut

03:05are going to start to hit no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on social security.

03:11I think that that's what people want to see is more of their hard earned dollars

03:14in their own pockets for their own choices. We've seen again, these real wages go up almost $700.

03:21And I think that that's going to be key way different than the Biden administration.

03:24You know, when, when wages were down almost 3000. And so, you know, to be have $700 more

03:30in a family's pocket that matters to the American people. I don't we lose some of those dollars if

03:35we continue to see 3% plus inflation on top of the inflation that we saw during the Biden

03:40administration prices continue to climb for everything from food to housing. Isn't that a

03:47concern if we continue to cut rates that we that we throw more fuel on that inflation fire?

03:54Well, actually, food prices have been down. Energy prices have been down. We've heard over and over

03:59again. Our Thanksgiving meal is going to be less than it was under the Biden administration. So

04:04while we have seen oftentimes that, you know, some prices have gone up, whether it's in beef and

04:12and some of the other sectors, we have seen housing. We certainly want to address the housing costs

04:18because people want to be able to afford their homes. I think that the Fed rate cutting

04:22will give us exactly that. So I'm standing behind the president on this. I think we need another rate

04:27cut. It's been a little bit secretary again, too long down that runway. But we need to cut that

04:32rate. Part of what you're saying, you want to cut the rate because you want more private sector

04:36hiring. We hear you loud and clear on that. But we have to say this latest job support,

04:40government jobs grew. Do you want to see that reverse? Why is it growing when this is a government

04:45that's been trying to cut back on what you say was a Biden administration that only supported

04:50the economy through hiring via the government?

04:52The job, the government jobs haven't grown. The only portion of government jobs that has grown

04:59in this last report that is showing have been at the state and local level, not at the federal level.

05:04Over 2 million private sector jobs have come online. And that has been for native born.

05:10We are seeing massive amounts of the private sector out of these 119,000 jobs, 97,000 of those were in

05:16the private sector. We're going to do more and more with the private sector to grow this economy.

05:21What opposite than what the Biden administration did where they were all federal jobs.

05:25That isn't what the mandate was when they elected President Trump. It was to grow the private sector

05:30economy. And that is exactly what's happening. One of the other things the president is talking

05:34about is sending middle to lower income Americans rebate checks from the tariffs, which have been

05:41behind a lot of the inflation that we've seen. So giving some of that money back to those

05:46earning a little bit less. Do you support that, you know, $2,000 check push?

05:53Well, certainly the president has been in consultation with his economic team. I think

05:57this is one way to give back to the American people. You know, people work hard for their money. And when

06:02they provide that to the government, they have a contract that that's going to be spent wisely.

06:06These dollars that were coming in from tariffs to give back to the American people. And I think that

06:10that that is a good plan that the president has set forth. He will continue in consultation with

06:15his economic team and what he determines. You know, he's a man of the people. I say this. You

06:21see on my building, I hang his banner because he is the president of the working family. He is the

06:27president for the men and women of this country. Every decision I make at the Department of Labor

06:32is through the lens of the men and women who have built this country and they deserve

06:35to be taken care of. And that's exactly what the president has been doing.

06:39Ms. Secretary, before we let you go just quickly, I know we're looking for a little bit of guidance

06:43on some of the tax code changes, specifically who's going to be exempted from overtime tax or who's going

06:49to get that overtime tax exemption. Do you have any clarity on that or at least a timeline of when we can

06:54expect the Labor Department to come out with those clarifications?

06:59Well, I'll be working with Treasury Secretary and certainly through the Department of Labor. I would

07:04imagine that with those policies in place from the working family tax cut that we'll start to see

07:08stuff in the first and second quarter. But any specifics I don't have on an actual release date.

07:15But again, 119,000 jobs, I think is a solid report. I'll be looking forward to see what the numbers are

07:22for November, which will be released in mid-December. And I know the economists all got it wrong on this.

07:28And so this is a good for the American people that we saw a solid report of 119,000 jobs.

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