Latest / Sid & Friends In The Morning / Keith Sonderling | 06-24-26

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Keith Sonderling | 06-24-26 · Sid & Friends In The Morning

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Joining us right now on the phone the Acting Secretary
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: of Labor, Keith Sunderling, who, by the way, whose parents
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: are Holocaust survivors. We can't get away from this topic,
• 0:09
  Speaker 1: but I do want to get away from the topic
• 0:11
  Speaker 1: of anti Semitism just for a moment with you. You know, Keith,
• 0:14
  Speaker 1: this is something that Larry Kudlow has been saying. We're
• 0:17
  Speaker 1: seeing it mostly in the markets. I know, we've had
• 0:19
  Speaker 1: some ups and downs, but the US economy seems to
• 0:22
  Speaker 1: be a lot stronger than people say. And that starts
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: and ends with the jobs. We've had some good jobs
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  Speaker 1: reports recently, right.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, well, good morning, and thanks for having me, and yes,
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  Speaker 2: exactly right. You know, people just continue to doubt the
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: President Trump's economy. They try to make it worse than
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  Speaker 2: it sounds. But we're seeing from the Department of Labor
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  Speaker 2: is great job numbers is just look at the last
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  Speaker 2: three months of job reports. We've seen two months have
• 0:49
  Speaker 2: tripled economists expectations. In last month's doubled economists expectations. So
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: we continue to add new private sector jobs, which is
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  Speaker 2: exactly what President Trump promised when he ran for office.
• 1:00
  Speaker 2: Over nine hundred thousand new private sector jobs in President
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  Speaker 2: Trump's second term, and that's really significant if you look
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  Speaker 2: back at what the Biden administration was doing, they were
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  Speaker 2: adding a lot of jobs in the federal sector. So
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  Speaker 2: President Trump promised to right size the federal sector down
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  Speaker 2: three hundred thousand federal jobs, and the private market is
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  Speaker 2: up nine hundred thousand jobs. And we're seeing growth in
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  Speaker 2: the right places exactly where you would want these private
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  Speaker 2: sector jobs, in construction, in manufacturing, in all these industries
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  Speaker 2: that left. President Trump promised to bring them back, and
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  Speaker 2: all those investments we're seeing in the US are starting
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  Speaker 2: to pay off.
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  Speaker 3: Mister Seth Tarry, years and years ago, when I was
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  Speaker 3: involved in Ellis Island, we used to have a system
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  Speaker 3: where if we needed electricians, we bring in five thousand
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  Speaker 3: electricians or plumbers or et cetera, et cetera at some place.
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  Speaker 3: With President Trump bringing all these new companies in all
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  Speaker 3: these new industries, they need some immigration, but we want
• 2:02
  Speaker 3: people that come in. We want immigration to people that
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  Speaker 3: want to work and be loyal to America. Is there
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  Speaker 3: any talk about getting that done.
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  Speaker 1: Well.
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  Speaker 2: Our talk is really focused on the American worker right
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  Speaker 2: now and making sure American workers have these skills for
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  Speaker 2: these new high skills, high paying trade jobs that the
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  Speaker 2: President has been brought to the United States. And what
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  Speaker 2: we've seen is just from the education system, the complete
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  Speaker 2: lack of understanding or caring, frankly, of where these jobs
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  Speaker 2: are going in the skills American worker needs. And most
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  Speaker 2: college graduates, you know, go four years, have a lot
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  Speaker 2: of debt, and then they only have about thirty percent
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  Speaker 2: of the skills they need for day one of that jobs.
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  Speaker 2: So the President signed an executive order within his first
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  Speaker 2: one hundred days to revamp the skills trade, to go
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  Speaker 2: back to registered apprenticeships, to go back to employers being
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  Speaker 2: the teachers of the employees, and getting kids out of
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  Speaker 2: high school tremendous opportunities, having them earn while they learn.
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  Speaker 2: So a big part of what we're doing in the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Labor is we're taught talking to the companies
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  Speaker 2: that are making these historic investments into the US and
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  Speaker 2: making sure that as they are making these investments, as
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  Speaker 2: they're building these plants, they're telling us the jobs and
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  Speaker 2: the trades that they need. And then we're going to
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  Speaker 2: local high schools and making sure that they have those
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  Speaker 2: programs there, bringing back shop class, bringing back a lot
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  Speaker 2: of these skilled trade jobs that have gone and really
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  Speaker 2: encouraging people to take registered apprenticeships right out of high
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  Speaker 2: school and earn while they learned without any student debt.
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  Speaker 2: So that's how we're tackling it. We want the American
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  Speaker 2: worker to get the first opportunity, and they haven't for
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  Speaker 2: a long time. So we're really focused on skilling the
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  Speaker 2: American worker first to get them into these high paying jobs.
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  Speaker 1: And it's a great way of life. We're speaking with
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  Speaker 1: the Acting Secretary of Labor. He's really just recently thrown
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  Speaker 1: into the job, Keith Sunderling. You know, you mentioned construction
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  Speaker 1: as one of the areas that's growing, and you know,
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  Speaker 1: you can't talk about jobs in America without talking about AI.
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  Speaker 1: And everyone's worried about AI killing off jobs. But I
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  Speaker 1: have to tell you, mister Secretary, you look at cat Pillar,
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  Speaker 1: you look at some of these other companies, Dear, the
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  Speaker 1: building of these AI data centers is absolutely boosting construction
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  Speaker 1: jobs in this country right now. So don't throw the
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  Speaker 1: baby out with the bathwater, sir.
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  Speaker 4: No.
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  Speaker 2: A lot of it too is you look where these
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  Speaker 2: tech companies need to hire. They need electricians, they need plumbers,
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  Speaker 2: they need HVAC to build these data centers. There's about
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  Speaker 2: one hundred and forty thousand jobs shortage right now in
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  Speaker 2: the trades just to build these data centers as well,
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  Speaker 2: So they create a lot of jobs related to construction,
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  Speaker 2: related to manufacturer. Especially when these data centers come online,
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  Speaker 2: operating them takes a lot of skill. But to your
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  Speaker 2: point about the you know, the AI and the job loss,
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  Speaker 2: you know, there's a lot of fear, in a lot
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  Speaker 2: of doom and gloom. What we're really trying to do
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  Speaker 2: is work directly with companies who are thinking about implementing
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  Speaker 2: AI or the companies that are designing AI to actually
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  Speaker 2: see what the parameters of what they're trying to do.
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  Speaker 2: Opposed to what you hear in the news that AI
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  Speaker 2: is just going to replace everyone's job and if there's
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  Speaker 2: going to be no jobs for students coming out of
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  Speaker 2: high school or college because AI is going to do
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  Speaker 2: all the work. You know, we want to just make
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  Speaker 2: sure that American workers and the current workforce and students
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  Speaker 2: have those skills so they can use this technology to
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  Speaker 2: their advantage. They can use it to be more productive,
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  Speaker 2: to have safer work environments. So that's a big goal
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  Speaker 2: of ours. Is to get rid of the fear and
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  Speaker 2: see what these products can and can do. And that
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  Speaker 2: can't happen without those open lines of communications that we're
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  Speaker 2: having with tech companies and businesses who want to implement this.
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  Speaker 2: But the most important thing is that American workers have
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  Speaker 2: these skills, because, as you both know, in China they're
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  Speaker 2: starting to teach Ai in the second grade, and we
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  Speaker 2: need to be competitive and be the same.
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  Speaker 5: It's the Secretary, Fernando Matteo. I have a very I
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  Speaker 5: think a very important question for all small business owners
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  Speaker 5: throughout the country. We know that the toughest start, the
• 5:48
  Speaker 5: toughest times a small business man has is the first
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  Speaker 5: year or two when he opens his small business. I
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  Speaker 5: know that President Trump is very much for the workers,
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  Speaker 5: very much for small businesses. What can the president do
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  Speaker 5: or what can you do as a secretary to make
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  Speaker 5: a recommendation if you start a small business in this
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  Speaker 5: country the first year, the first two years, when it's
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  Speaker 5: the most difficult, you get federal tax breaks.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, you know, from from a small business perspective, what
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  Speaker 2: we're really trying to do is, you know, with the
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  Speaker 2: working families tax cuts, what we've seen is some of
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  Speaker 2: the largest the largest tax cut in our country's history,
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  Speaker 2: and a big part of that is how do we
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  Speaker 2: put not only more money in workers product gets, but
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  Speaker 2: how do we allow businesses to take advantage of that too,
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  Speaker 2: and you know exactly full expenses of you know, taking
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  Speaker 2: the full depreciation tax credits for research and development of
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  Speaker 2: factory tax credits. This is really going to help small
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  Speaker 2: business owners get off the ground where a lot of
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  Speaker 2: the money they would have to be paying in taxes
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  Speaker 2: and now they can reinvest in their business and they
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  Speaker 2: can reinvest in their workforce. And we're seeing it too
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  Speaker 2: for for workers. With no tax on tips and no
• 7:02
  Speaker 2: tax on overtime, it would really impact small businesses. If
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  Speaker 2: you think of small businesses out there where you have
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  Speaker 2: less staff and you're going to have to provide overtime,
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  Speaker 2: or in the restaurant industry, starting a restaurant where a
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  Speaker 2: lot of the workers are going to be making their
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  Speaker 2: money on tips. With the no tax on tips and
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  Speaker 2: no tax on overtime, that's just more take home pay
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  Speaker 2: for the workers, which is going to allow these people
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  Speaker 2: to stay in small businesses and grow with the company.
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  Speaker 2: But really, you know a part that's not talked about.
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  Speaker 2: It's just a big expensing of equipment and research and
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  Speaker 2: development that is going to allow small businesses to really
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  Speaker 2: prosper without having to pay those taxes that would otherwise
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  Speaker 2: bury a small business.
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  Speaker 1: We're speaking with Acting Secretary of Labor Keith Saunderling. You know,
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  Speaker 1: when I was an executive producer at CNBC, I had
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  Speaker 1: a relatively private meeting with one of your predecessors, Tom Perris,
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  Speaker 1: who was a Labor secretary and a President Obama, and
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  Speaker 1: I just asked him point blank, I said, sir, why
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  Speaker 1: aren't you in charge of the Department of Education. You know,
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  Speaker 1: I believe in intellectual attributes and pursuits. My father for
• 8:03
  Speaker 1: many many years a tenured professor of theology and philosophy,
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  Speaker 1: So I am not anti intellectual in any way. This
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  Speaker 1: is a big part of my life as well. However,
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  Speaker 1: I don't think a government education department should be separate
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  Speaker 1: from our labor department. The only thing we should be
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  Speaker 1: overseeing from the government as far as education is concerned,
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  Speaker 1: is are we teaching our kids the skills you just
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  Speaker 1: mentioned Chinese kids and second grade level are learning AI
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  Speaker 1: Is there any discussion about this, because we know we're
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  Speaker 1: trying to basically get rid of the waste in government.
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  Speaker 1: The Education Department is going under these big reviews. Is
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  Speaker 1: there any discussion about merging your agenda the Secretary of
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  Speaker 1: Labor with one of an education agenda and maybe combining
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  Speaker 1: these departments. Anyone talking about this or is just me
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  Speaker 1: Jake Novak being crazy?
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  Speaker 2: No, Actually, you know exactly what we're doing. And you
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  Speaker 2: know President Trump doesn't just agrees with you and doesn't
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  Speaker 2: like to talk about it. So it's already happening. This
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  Speaker 2: has been one of the key agendas for the President
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  Speaker 2: on the Department of Education. Number one obviously sending it
• 9:01
  Speaker 2: back to the States. But we do have now America's
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  Speaker 2: Talent Strategy for the Golden Age for the American worker,
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  Speaker 2: and that is a document that we created with the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Commerce and the Department of Education, Department of
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  Speaker 2: Labor to do exactly what you're saying, to have Industry
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  Speaker 2: led curriculum. Employers are the ones who know exactly the
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  Speaker 2: workers they need, the types of equipment they're going to
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  Speaker 2: be working on. So instead of the teachers and the
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  Speaker 2: teachers' unions dictating what the curriculum is, we want industry businesses,
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  Speaker 2: the people who are going to hire them, the people
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  Speaker 2: who are going to keep them employed, the people who
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  Speaker 2: can train them, to actually dictate what that educational curriculum
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  Speaker 2: should be, not just in community colleges, but going down
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  Speaker 2: to high school. So we have what's called an interagency
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  Speaker 2: agreement with the Department of Education, and that means the
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  Speaker 2: Department of Labor is going to help assist the Department
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  Speaker 2: of Education not only with that curriculum, but actually funding
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  Speaker 2: the states. So a lot of that is going to
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  Speaker 2: come here, and that allows our experts here who are
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  Speaker 2: in the workforce, whose stakeholders are industry, to be able
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  Speaker 2: to dictate how that money should be go out and
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  Speaker 2: how it's just spent, and what that curriculum should be.
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  Speaker 2: So you had a lot of foresight during the Obama
• 10:07
  Speaker 2: administration when you talk to the secretary, because the President
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  Speaker 2: is moving on this as well, and the partnership has
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  Speaker 2: already occurred, and we actually have moved many of the
• 10:19
  Speaker 2: Department of Education staff physically to our building here in DC.
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  Speaker 2: So that's occurring and you, I guess could have written
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  Speaker 2: this couple of years ago for us. So that's exactly
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  Speaker 2: what President Trump wants to do, exactly what we're doing now.
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  Speaker 1: Well, it was a humbling moment. Keith Sunderling, the acting
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  Speaker 1: Secretary of Labor, thank you so much for joining us
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  Speaker 1: this morning, and I got to say you, I'm encouraged
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  Speaker 1: by what you're saying. Definitely feel better about our future
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: right now. Thanks for listening to Sit In Friends in
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: the Morning. You can hear sit in Friends in the
• 10:48
  Speaker 1: Morning weekday mornings.
• 10:50
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• 10:51
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• 11:03
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• 11:08
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• 11:11
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• 11:12
  Speaker 3: What the heck is going on here