Speaker 1: Let's turn back to this morning's jobs data. Jobs growth
Speaker 1: accelerated in September, showing signs of a stabilizing labor market
Speaker 1: before the government shutdown. Joining us to discuss we are
Speaker 1: pleased to say, is the US Labor Secretary Lori Chavez Dreamer.
Speaker 1: Miss Secretary, thank you so much for your time this morning.
Speaker 1: Let me first ask you about the headline numbers. It
Speaker 1: was a blowout. We were only expecting fifty one thousand
Speaker 1: in our survey, and far more than double that is
Speaker 1: what we got. How strong is this economy?
Speaker 2: Well, one hundred and nineteen thousand new jobs. I think
Speaker 2: that is a solid report for the American people and
Speaker 2: for the workforce. We have seen over and over again
Speaker 2: that we want to have these gains, and it's those
Speaker 2: investments by this administration and this president. I think this
Speaker 2: is what you're seeing come online. So this was a
Speaker 2: solid report for the September numbers. We'll have to see
Speaker 2: how November numbers come out in mid December, but I
Speaker 2: think that this is good for the American people. We
Speaker 2: know that more people are wanting to work and they're
Speaker 2: actively seeking those jobs, and so it is my responsibility
Speaker 2: to make sure that we have that skilled workforce, and
Speaker 2: so I think that you're going to see consumer confidence.
Speaker 2: And again with prices coming down energy prices, gas prices,
Speaker 2: we're seeing real wages go up. Blue collar wages have
Speaker 2: gone up over the last sixty years, and I think
Speaker 2: that that's the exciting part of this is that we're
Speaker 2: seeing people who are wanting to get on the ground,
Speaker 2: have the skills that they need and get in the workforce.
Speaker 3: Secretary Sharvis Drimer, you might sound very similar to those
Speaker 3: who don't want this FED to cut that this is
Speaker 3: a healthy labor market. The President, though even jokingly yesterday,
Speaker 3: was saying Scott Bessen would be fired had he not
Speaker 3: been able to get this FED to cut. So in
Speaker 3: your view of this labor market, is it strong enough
Speaker 3: that it doesn't need assistance from the Fed?
Speaker 2: Well, I think the President has been pretty clear on
Speaker 2: this issue. We did see the two rate cuts. I
Speaker 2: think the FED does need to go ahead and cut again.
Speaker 2: You know, when I travel around the country talking to businesses,
Speaker 2: which I have hit thirty six out of fifty states
Speaker 2: on my fifty state tour before you know, the Democratics
Speaker 2: shut down happened, those business owners are wanting to borrow
Speaker 2: more money at a cheaper rate to invest in their workforce.
Speaker 2: That is what they're asking, and so I think another
Speaker 2: rate cut is exactly what we need to really grow
Speaker 2: this workforce. I mean, we see GDP is up four
Speaker 2: point two percent. I think that that's positive growth. And
Speaker 2: we want to see more private sector jobs come online.
Speaker 2: Out of the one hundred nineteen thousand jobs we saw,
Speaker 2: ninety seven thousand of those jobs have been in the
Speaker 2: private sector, which is way different than the Biden administration
Speaker 2: when we saw they were all government jobs. So I
Speaker 2: think we're on the right track.
Speaker 1: It does seem like inflation is a concern. We heard
Speaker 1: that from Walmart today that it's got to pass through
Speaker 1: these tariff costs somehow. Are you not worried that we
Speaker 1: have arise in inflation that hits lower income workers especially
Speaker 1: hard if we continue to cut rates.
Speaker 2: Well, I think what happens when you're talking to the
Speaker 2: American families every day, they want affordability, so they look
Speaker 2: for ways in order to provide for their families. As
Speaker 2: a former congresswoman and as a former mayor, I know
Speaker 2: how important that is each and every day. What we
Speaker 2: want to do is grow this workforce so that they
Speaker 2: can have more money in their own pockets. These policies
Speaker 2: that came forward with the working family tax cut are
Speaker 2: going to start to hit. No tax on tips, no
Speaker 2: tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security. I think
Speaker 2: that that's what people want to see is more of
Speaker 2: their hard earned dollars in their own pockets for their
Speaker 2: own choices. We've seen again these real way to grow
Speaker 2: up almost seven hundred dollars, and I think that that's
Speaker 2: going to be key, way different than the Biden administration.
Speaker 2: You know, when wages were down almost three thousand and so,
Speaker 2: you know, to we have seven hundred dollars more in
Speaker 2: a family's pocket. That matters to the American people.
Speaker 1: Don't we lose some of those dollars? If we continue
Speaker 1: to see three percent plus inflation on top of the
Speaker 1: inflation that we saw during the Biden administration, prices can
Speaker 1: continue to climb for everything from food to housing. Isn't
Speaker 1: that a concern if we continue to cut rates that
Speaker 1: we throw more fuel on that inflation fire.
Speaker 2: Well, Actually, food prices have been down, energy prices have
Speaker 2: been down. We've heard over and over again our Thanksgiving
Speaker 2: meal is going to be less than it was under
Speaker 2: the Biden administration. So while we have seen oftentimes that
Speaker 2: some prices have gone up, whether it's in beef and
Speaker 2: some of the other sectors, we have seen housing. We
Speaker 2: certainly want to address the housing costs because people want
Speaker 2: to be able to afford their homes. I think the
Speaker 2: FED rate cutting will give us exactly that. So I'm
Speaker 2: standing behind the President on this. I think we need
Speaker 2: another rate cut. It's been a.
Speaker 3: Little bit Secretary again, Preto long.
Speaker 2: Down that runway, but we need to cut that rate.
Speaker 3: Part of what you're saying, you want to cut the
Speaker 3: rate because you want more private sector hiring. We hear
Speaker 3: you loud and clear on that. But we have to
Speaker 3: say this latest job support government jobs grew. Do you
Speaker 3: want to see that reverse? Why is it growing when
Speaker 3: this is a government that's been trying to cut back
Speaker 3: on what you say was a Biden administration that only
Speaker 3: supported the economy through hiring via the government.
Speaker 2: The government jobs haven't grown. The only portion of government
Speaker 2: jobs that has grown in this last report that is
Speaker 2: showing have been at the state and local level, not
Speaker 2: at the federal level. Over two million private sector jobs
Speaker 2: have come online, and that has been for Native born.
Speaker 2: We are seeing massive amounts of the private sector. Out
Speaker 2: of these one hundred nineteen thousand jobs, ninety seven thousand
Speaker 2: of those were in the private sector. We're going to
Speaker 2: do more and more with the private sector to grow
Speaker 2: this economy, opposite than what the Biden administration did, where
Speaker 2: they were all federal jobs. That isn't what the mandate
Speaker 2: was when they elected President Trump. It was to grow
Speaker 2: the private sector economy, and that is exactly what's happening.
Speaker 1: One of the other things the President is talking about
Speaker 1: is sending middle to lower income Americans rebate checks from
Speaker 1: the tariffs, which have been behind a lot of the
Speaker 1: inflation that we've seen. So giving some of that money
Speaker 1: back to those earning a little bit less. Do you
Speaker 1: support that, you know, two thousand dollars check push.
Speaker 2: Well, certainly. The President has been in consultation with his
Speaker 2: economic team. I think this is one way to give
Speaker 2: back to the American people. You know, people work hard
Speaker 2: for their money and when they provide that to the government,
Speaker 2: they have a contract that that's going to be spent wisely.
Speaker 2: These dollars, though, are coming in from tariffs to give
Speaker 2: back to the American people, and I think that that
Speaker 2: is a good plan that the President has set forth.
Speaker 2: He will continue in consultation with his economic team and
Speaker 2: what he determines. You know, he's a man of the people.
Speaker 2: I say this. You see on my building I hang
Speaker 2: his banner because he is the president of the working family.
Speaker 2: He is the president for the men and women of
Speaker 2: this country. Every decision I make at the Department of
Speaker 2: Labor is through the lens of the men and women
Speaker 2: who have built this country, and they deserve to be
Speaker 2: taken care of. And that's exactly what the President has
Speaker 2: been doing.
Speaker 3: Miss Secretary. Before we let you go, just quickly, I
Speaker 3: know we're looking for a little bit of guidance on
Speaker 3: some of the tax code changes, specifically who's going to
Speaker 3: be exempted from overtime tax or who's going to get
Speaker 3: that overtime tax exemption. Do you have any clarity on
Speaker 3: that or at least a timeline of when we can
Speaker 3: expect the Labor Department to come out with those clarifications.
Speaker 2: Well, I'll be working with Treasury Secretary and certainly through
Speaker 2: the Department of Labor. I would imagine that with those
Speaker 2: policies in place from the Working Family Tax cut, that
Speaker 2: we'll start to see stuff in the first and second quarter,
Speaker 2: but any specifics I don't have on an actual release date.
Speaker 2: But again, one hundred nineteen thousand jobs I think is
Speaker 2: a solid report. I'll be looking forward to see what
Speaker 2: the numbers are for November, which will be released in
Speaker 2: mid December. And I know the economists all got it
Speaker 2: wrong on this, and so this is a good for
Speaker 2: the American people that we saw a solid report of
Speaker 2: one hundred and nineteen thousand jobs.
Speaker 3: Miss Secretary, thank you so much for joining us this morning.
Speaker 3: That is the Labor Secretary, Laurie shavesder Rima. And of
Speaker 3: course tomorrow, don't miss another important conversation Fed Governor been
Speaker 3: my Ron on Bloomberg surveillance that will happen at eight
Speaker 3: thirty am Wall Street Time,