Speaker 1: Bloomberg Audio Studios, Podcasts, radio news. Right now, we want
Speaker 1: to turn back to the labor market. The US economy
Speaker 1: added just seventy three thousand jobs in July, below almost
Speaker 1: all estimates. And joining us now and please just say
Speaker 1: we have Labor Secretary Lori Chavez d Ramir. Great to
Speaker 1: have you with US. Secretary. Let's just start with these numbers,
Speaker 1: because the figure that we got that was below all
Speaker 1: estimates in the Bloomberg survey of economists to start.
Speaker 2: What's your reaction, Well, certainly, we know they could have
Speaker 2: been better, but you know, we look at the positive
Speaker 2: because we still have a net positive almost a half
Speaker 2: a million new jobs since the President took office. Where
Speaker 2: did we see some of these you know gains. We
Speaker 2: saw them in healthcare, we're seeing them in construction. We
Speaker 2: are seeing the revisions I knows something to talk about,
Speaker 2: and they were unexpected, those revisions. But most of those
Speaker 2: sixty two percent of those were in education and seasonal workforce.
Speaker 2: So you know, we sometimes see the numbers catch up
Speaker 2: to what's on the ground. But I can tell you
Speaker 2: why we're positive is because the President is delivering on
Speaker 2: these trade deals, these tariff deals, understanding new countries are
Speaker 2: moving forward and wanting to be at the table. And
Speaker 2: why does that matter to the American business owner? As
Speaker 2: you all know, I've been on my fifty state tour.
Speaker 2: I just returned from several states. A lot of these
Speaker 2: business owners had some uncertainty and understanding what was going
Speaker 2: to happen. But now that the one big, beautiful bill
Speaker 2: is done, I feel like the table has been set
Speaker 2: and we're seeing those investments happen. So we've seen positive
Speaker 2: job growth for sure, and they've been for the American workforce.
Speaker 2: Native born workers are taking the lead. All job gains
Speaker 2: have been native born workers.
Speaker 3: I mean, with all due respect the positive job growth.
Speaker 3: The most positive months you saw were still what the
Speaker 3: Trump administration was calling the Biden economy. Right for the
Speaker 3: first few months, when we saw those big numbers, that
Speaker 3: was the Biden economy. Now that the Trump policy is
Speaker 3: taking effect, you're seeing downward revisions of two hundred and
Speaker 3: fifty eight thousand over the last couple of months, only
Speaker 3: seventy three thousand jobs added. And it looks like, not
Speaker 3: just to me, but to participants in this market, that
Speaker 3: today's week payroll numbers are a direct result of the
Speaker 3: conscious policy to limit immigration, and I'm just wondering if
Speaker 3: that trade off is delivering the kind of benefits you
Speaker 3: want to see to US born workers.
Speaker 2: Well, I can tell you this, I've been a business
Speaker 2: owner for twenty years. When we make decisions, we look
Speaker 2: at all aspects, and there's certainly snapshots. But what has
Speaker 2: happened on the ground, the one big beautiful bill by Congress,
Speaker 2: the President leaning in and keeping the promises made by
Speaker 2: negotiating fair trade deals for the American workforce. And now
Speaker 2: what we need is the Federal Reserve to jump in
Speaker 2: and lower those interest rates. I talked to businesses just
Speaker 2: yesterday who said, you know, we've invested in our American workers,
Speaker 2: We're paying attention to our facilities. We're wanting to invest
Speaker 2: in borrow more money, but they're concerned with borrowing that
Speaker 2: more money. So that's another leg of the stool that
Speaker 2: can be done. We should all be rowing in the
Speaker 2: same direction.
Speaker 3: But is it the only leg of the stool that matters,
Speaker 3: Madam Secretary, Because we had a three month run rate
Speaker 3: adding one hundred and fifty thousand jobs, and now that
Speaker 3: those policies that this administration has put into effect are active,
Speaker 3: we're looking at a run rate a three month run
Speaker 3: rate of thirty seven thousand, So it's drastically fallen. And
Speaker 3: what it looks like is the policies that you're putting
Speaker 3: into place are reducing job growth.
Speaker 2: Strong job growth has happened three point nine percent over
Speaker 2: the last year. Consumer confidence is up, unemployment is holding
Speaker 2: steady again. Almost a half a million new jobs have
Speaker 2: been added since President Trump has leaned in.
Speaker 3: I can tell you this.
Speaker 2: It's not the only leg of the stool for interest rates,
Speaker 2: but it's one of the important legs right now because
Speaker 2: as businesses now know that the table is set with
Speaker 2: the one big beautiful bill, they know that they can
Speaker 2: have the right offs for their businesses. They understand that
Speaker 2: they will have the skilled work for MY job on
Speaker 2: the ground is provide that workforce. They're asking me, and
Speaker 2: I'm asking them to invest in their workers, invest in
Speaker 2: their companies, invest in their businesses across the country to
Speaker 2: grow this economy. And that's what they're looking for now.
Speaker 2: They want those interest rates down, and Jerome Pale should
Speaker 2: do that. The President has leaned in for a reason,
Speaker 2: and that's to keep those promises that he made. We're
Speaker 2: going to continue to see over time those numbers go up.
Speaker 2: But what we've seen federal jobs have been down. That's
Speaker 2: what the President promise. We've seen local economy. We've seen
Speaker 2: eighty four percent of the job growth has been in
Speaker 2: the private sector. Why because the President has said that
Speaker 2: he is investing in the American worker first. That's what
Speaker 2: we're all about. I want these workers trained. We're seeing
Speaker 2: it in AI. We're leaning in with our federal and
Speaker 2: state partners together to say, let us give you the
Speaker 2: workers that you need for market demands and your respective states.
Speaker 2: I think that that's the focus that needs to be well.
Speaker 1: Secretary, I want to talk about some specific industries here.
Speaker 1: One of the interesting stats out of this numbers report
Speaker 1: that is that without healthcare, actually the last three months
Speaker 1: of payroll gains, it would have been negative in May,
Speaker 1: negative in June, and negative in July. And then you
Speaker 1: take a look at manufacturing shedding another eleven thousand jobs.
Speaker 1: You take a look at the six months change shedding
Speaker 1: twenty eight thousand jobs. What are the specific policies that
Speaker 1: the administration has and is putting in place to revive
Speaker 1: the manufacturing sector, because so far it looks like it's
Speaker 1: continuing to shrink.
Speaker 2: Well, I think that that's probably what we just talked about.
Speaker 2: Those trade deals are now coming online again. I was
Speaker 2: just in Japan last week with the Secretary of Treasury
Speaker 2: and that trade deal came in. We see the European
Speaker 2: Union has come in. We're seeing other countries as well.
Speaker 2: It's that certainty that we have to give businesses that
Speaker 2: that is being done, and then as well that they're
Speaker 2: going to have the workforce. So what do we have
Speaker 2: to do. I'm working with the Department of Education. I
Speaker 2: am working to skill those that workforce. We're working with
Speaker 2: our community colleges, our technical schools. Businesses are investing in
Speaker 2: centers of excellence. They just need a quarter turn for
Speaker 2: those workers to be trained and ready to go. One
Speaker 2: of those ways is executive orders to work with our
Speaker 2: state partners in order to get them trained and really
Speaker 2: lean in and have them right there on the ground.
Speaker 2: So when you see the uncertainty or the numbers drop
Speaker 2: over time, it's a snapshot in time. It doesn't make
Speaker 2: a trend. We're seeing it over time. The President has
Speaker 2: this right. The American business owner is believing in what
Speaker 2: they see and now with this one big beautiful bill,
Speaker 2: and if interest rates drop. I think that you're going
Speaker 2: to see more and more investments. I really couldn't be
Speaker 2: more clear. When I'm talking to these business owners on
Speaker 2: the ground. I've visited twenty states. They are all excited.
Speaker 2: They all understand their marching orders now, and that's to
Speaker 2: invest in the American worker. And we're going to continue
Speaker 2: to double down and do just that.
Speaker 3: Well, it does look like we're going to see interest
Speaker 3: rates cut at the next meeting, at least the market
Speaker 3: is pricing that in Madam Secretary, and we're looking at
Speaker 3: rates drop really across the curve today. The ten year
Speaker 3: down around four twenty five is relatively low. With that
Speaker 3: backdrop and the tax policy of the One Big Beautiful Bill,
Speaker 3: and the deregulation that this administration has promised, what kind
Speaker 3: of jobs growth do you expect us to get back
Speaker 3: to this year.
Speaker 2: Well, I'm making the assumption that with all of those
Speaker 2: being in play, when I think about the deregulatory framework
Speaker 2: that the President also has asked us to do, the
Speaker 2: Department of Labor has just issued sixty three deregulatory actions
Speaker 2: in Trump administration, one thirty deregulatory actions were done over
Speaker 2: the four years. We've already done sixty three in the
Speaker 2: first six months, and we're going to be looking to
Speaker 2: our companies to weigh in on this, because what does
Speaker 2: the President want, modernization, streamlining, cost cutting. He wants to
Speaker 2: be an ally for the American workforce, not an adversary.
Speaker 2: And for far too long, you know, the Department of
Speaker 2: Labor or any other agency has not said, we're going
Speaker 2: to be your partners. So we will continue to go
Speaker 2: around the country. We will continue to lean in on
Speaker 2: interest rates, on investments from companies on the worker because
Speaker 2: we want to keep more money in their pockets. And
Speaker 2: we're seeing that consumer confidence. Wage growth is up, so
Speaker 2: there's a lot of positive here. We'd like to see
Speaker 2: better numbers, but we're going to continue to double down
Speaker 2: so those numbers continue to grow.
Speaker 1: All right, Secretary, have to leave it there. Really appreciate
Speaker 1: your time this morning. That is Labor Secretary Lori Chavez
Speaker 1: de Rimer