Speaker 1: Let's continue the discussion now because joining us is Acting
Speaker 1: Labor Secretary, Julie Sue joining from Washington.
Speaker 2: Secretary.
Speaker 1: Great to speak with you again today. I want to
Speaker 1: talk about the response rate. We were just having that
Speaker 1: conversation with Mike McKee. So just how low was the
Speaker 1: response rate, of course, in the wake of Hurricanes Helene
Speaker 1: and Milton, and what would you.
Speaker 2: Expect it to pick back up?
Speaker 3: Yeah, So the overall picture of this economy remains one strong, steady,
Speaker 3: stable growth. We have seen positive job growth every single
Speaker 3: month under this administration. And as you noted, there were
Speaker 3: a couple of big factors that make this last.
Speaker 2: Month and anomaly.
Speaker 3: There were the devastating hurricanes, which meant that there were
Speaker 3: jobs that people, you know, businesses that were closed.
Speaker 2: You know, we saw this because the.
Speaker 3: Federal government was on the ground working with state and
Speaker 3: local officials to do everything from the search and rescue
Speaker 3: to reopening roads, to making sure people had access to
Speaker 3: water and to power, and so those same businesses that
Speaker 3: might have ramped up in the last month on hiring,
Speaker 3: we're not doing so. At the same time, the other
Speaker 3: big indicators are still really stable. Unemployment rate remains at
Speaker 3: four point one percent. We've said this again and again
Speaker 3: that most predictors were that that number could not go
Speaker 3: down to that for many, many years after the pandemic,
Speaker 3: and it's been steadily at near or below four percent
Speaker 3: for for a very long time. GDP growth is up
Speaker 3: to wages continued to be up. Wages have outpaced inflation
Speaker 3: for seventeen months straight.
Speaker 2: And so there are a couple factors.
Speaker 3: That you know that you know certainly you know we
Speaker 3: expected that they would affect the numbers for last month's report.
Speaker 2: Well, Secretary, if we look at.
Speaker 1: What wasn't as impacted by some of these effects that
Speaker 1: we're talking about on the weather, I mean, we still
Speaker 1: had big downward revisions to this September and August payrolls report. Obviously,
Speaker 1: this is going to be a bit of a noisy report.
Speaker 1: And looking ahead, I mean you'd take a look to
Speaker 1: October or what we're going to get the next time around.
Speaker 1: How big would we expect those revisions to be.
Speaker 3: Yeah, again, you know, there were anomalous situations that affected
Speaker 3: this report. But even with those revisions in the prior
Speaker 3: couple months, the three month average and we often look
Speaker 3: at averages because we don't want to make too much
Speaker 3: of any one month.
Speaker 2: As you said, some of them can be noisy.
Speaker 3: The three month average for the prior three months is
Speaker 3: still a one hundred and forty eight thousand jobs grown.
Speaker 2: In the economy.
Speaker 3: And again, you know, if you look at overall indicators,
Speaker 3: I mean, people have been predicting a downturn for a
Speaker 3: long time this economy, and it just has not. That's
Speaker 3: not what's happened. And that doesn't happen by accident. You know,
Speaker 3: it happens because of steady leadership. And again, the vestments
Speaker 3: that we've made in America in manufacturing and construction and
Speaker 3: clean energy are having an.
Speaker 2: Effect, and that is one.
Speaker 3: Of the key reasons for the strength of the economy
Speaker 3: that we've had. Those investments will continue and they are,
Speaker 3: you know, that's part of the impact that we've seen
Speaker 3: over the last really three and a half years.
Speaker 4: The administration has guided that this would be a noisy
Speaker 4: report already, and of course this morning was indeed quite noisy.
Speaker 4: I want to go to the unemployment rate because one
Speaker 4: reason it did hold steady was the decrease in the
Speaker 4: labor force participation. If we can hone in there, how
Speaker 4: would you characterize the impact of the hurricanes in participation, right.
Speaker 3: I mean, it's, as you noted earlier, we don't have
Speaker 3: granular data about that, but I think it's you know,
Speaker 3: it's a rational conclusion that the impacts of the hurricanes
Speaker 3: were devastating. I mean, they were devastating to human life.
Speaker 3: They were devastating to those communities in the southeast, but
Speaker 3: they also are showing up in the jobs report said
Speaker 3: that the overall labor force participation rate also remains, you know, steady,
Speaker 3: it's a it's at historic highs. So when we talk
Speaker 3: about the economy, we have to look at trends, and
Speaker 3: the trends overall on all major indicators, h you know,
Speaker 3: continue to signal an economy that's very strong.
Speaker 2: And there is nobody who's.
Speaker 3: You know, reassessing the overall healthy economy based on based
Speaker 3: on these numbers, which are really affected by by a
Speaker 3: couple of things that happened last month.
Speaker 4: I'd also love for you to go into the impact
Speaker 4: of the strikes as well. Obviously the Boeing strike as
Speaker 4: well as others, have impacted that manufacturing number, but the
Speaker 4: Boeings latest union endorsed the latest offer. Do you expect
Speaker 4: there to be enough votes to approve the current deal
Speaker 4: and ultimately end the strike, and on what timeline.
Speaker 2: Right.
Speaker 3: So, I've said a lot of times collective bargaining works,
Speaker 3: and there is no better example of that than when
Speaker 3: workers at the bargaining table get a an unprecedented offer
Speaker 3: and where the demands that they've had, you know, they
Speaker 3: get a chance to sit down at the table and
Speaker 3: help to shape the future of their jobs and the
Speaker 3: future of their employer and the future of their industry.
Speaker 3: It is true that the tens of thousands of workers
Speaker 3: being on strike are also one reason for the jobs
Speaker 3: numbers that we see this month.
Speaker 2: And you know, the workers will decide. You know, they
Speaker 2: have been demanding.
Speaker 3: Makeup in wages and other working conditions for what's been
Speaker 3: over a decade of not having them, and so they
Speaker 3: now have an offer before them.
Speaker 2: And it was a.
Speaker 3: Privilege to help bring the parties together to help move
Speaker 3: those talks along. And they'll vote. They'll vote on Monday.
Speaker 1: And of course, Labor Secretary, you've of course been involved
Speaker 1: in ending other strikes, You're involved in these negotiations as well.
Speaker 1: We're counting down to that vote. What is still at
Speaker 1: issue here, because of course we've had a lot of
Speaker 1: conversations about wages increases.
Speaker 2: We know that there's been.
Speaker 1: A lot of daylight between these two sides when it
Speaker 1: comes to the issues of pensions, for example, what is
Speaker 1: still left to be resolved right now?
Speaker 3: I mean, you know, these issues of retirement, security of benefits,
Speaker 3: you know, making sure that workers can go to the
Speaker 3: doctor without breaking the bank. All of these things are
Speaker 3: fundamental to a good job, and in unions workers usually
Speaker 3: have those things. They're not something that every worker gets
Speaker 3: to enjoy. And so at the bargaining table all these
Speaker 3: issues come up again. These parties have not bargained for
Speaker 3: over a decade, and now that they've been able to
Speaker 3: do that, the workers have been able to surface issues
Speaker 3: that have.
Speaker 2: Been, you know, on their minds for a very long time.
Speaker 3: And they now have an offer that addresses the issues
Speaker 3: that they brought to the table. And I really need
Speaker 3: to give credit to both parties for coming to the table,
Speaker 3: for doing the hard work.
Speaker 2: These things are never easy. They often take all night.
Speaker 3: I've been at the table all night, so you know,
Speaker 3: this is the process of collective bargaining. It doesn't always
Speaker 3: look pretty from the outside, but we have seen the
Speaker 3: results time and time again, from auto workers to actors,
Speaker 3: you know, all across the industry where workers are seeing
Speaker 3: really historic gains, and that is a part of the
Speaker 3: picture of the overall economy.
Speaker 2: You know.
Speaker 3: President Biden and Vice President Harris have said from day one,
Speaker 3: we can't build the economy that we want if we
Speaker 3: don't do right by working people. And the fact that
Speaker 3: wages continue to be up and wages exceed inflation are
Speaker 3: signs of that working families have more money.
Speaker 2: In their pockets and that's a good thing
Speaker 4: Our thanks to Acting Labor Secretary Julie Sue, we do
Speaker 4: have to leave it there.