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DOL's Lu on Need for Culture of Continuous Job Training (Audio) · Bloomberg Intelligence

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  Speaker 1: This is a Bloomberg Business Flash from Bloomberg World Headquarters.
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  Speaker 1: I'm Charlie Powlett. Stocks for hire as stronger payroll growth
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  Speaker 1: calms concerns that slowing momentum in the job market would
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  Speaker 1: weigh on the economy. Our coverage continues here on Bloomberg Radio.
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  Speaker 1: Lots of reaction to today's report. We've got the SMP
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  Speaker 1: up twenty nine now to twenty seven again there of
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  Speaker 1: one point four percent down. Industrial is up two hundred
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  Speaker 1: thirty six points, a gain of one point three percent,
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  Speaker 1: one and a half percent. The tenure up a four
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  Speaker 1: thirty seconds, that yield one point three six percent, Gold
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  Speaker 1: lower little change down point one percent, dropping a dollar
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  Speaker 1: thirty benounced to thirteen sixty and crude oil up eighteen
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  Speaker 1: cents of arral it is now at a forty five
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  Speaker 1: thirty one for West Texas Intermediate. That's a gain of
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  Speaker 1: four tenths of one percent. I'm Charlie Pellott, and that's
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  Speaker 1: a Bloomberg Business Flash. This is Taking Stock with Pim
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  Speaker 1: Fox and Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio. It's been our rollercoaster,
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  Speaker 1: Ryan in the labor market the last couple of months.
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  Speaker 1: At least, that's the picture we get from the Department
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  Speaker 1: of Labor's monthly employment report. We saw in June that
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  Speaker 1: jobs searched by two d eight seven thousand, but they
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  Speaker 1: had risen only eleven thousand the month before. So which month,
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  Speaker 1: which set of numbers tells the true story of where
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  Speaker 1: the economy is and where it's heading and is it
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  Speaker 1: really that volatile lately? We're gonna put this question out
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  Speaker 1: of Chris lou He's Deputy's secretary at the Department of Labor. Chris,
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  Speaker 1: welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me.
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  Speaker 1: So I'm sure you've gotten that that question all day long.
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  Speaker 1: Why so volatile? I mean, it's it's frequently a bit volatile,
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  Speaker 1: but this is extreme. Well, Kathleen, Look, it's one of
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  Speaker 1: the reasons why we don't put too much stock on
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  Speaker 1: any one month's numbers. If you look at the three
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  Speaker 1: month average, it's about a hundred and seven thousand jobs
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  Speaker 1: created per per month. If you look at the year
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  Speaker 1: as a whole, it's about a hundred seventy two. So
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  Speaker 1: I think it's best to take these numbers in the
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  Speaker 1: aggregate and realize that with any individual month, UH, they're
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  Speaker 1: going to be fluctuations. Now, not often as much as this,
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  Speaker 1: but it does show the strength of the U S economy,
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  Speaker 1: the resilience of of the U S economy, and so
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of good in these numbers. Chris Lew
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  Speaker 1: I'm wondering if you could tell us where there's been
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  Speaker 1: any kind of meeting or conversations that you've had in
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  Speaker 1: terms of the strength of the US dollar and what
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  Speaker 1: that's doing to US businesses. You're right, you know, it's
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  Speaker 1: important to note that these numbers predated Brexit, and while
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  Speaker 1: these are very positive numbers, it shows, um, you know,
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  Speaker 1: it continues the longest economic recovery and history. There are
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  Speaker 1: certainly headwinds, and one of those headwinds is the strong
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  Speaker 1: US dollar, weakening global demand, and you know, the uncertainty
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  Speaker 1: that Brexit creates. So we continue to watch what happens
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  Speaker 1: not only overseas, but other headwinds here in the United States. UM,
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  Speaker 1: but we know what we can do. We know, for instance,
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  Speaker 1: infrastructure spending is a great way not only to create
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  Speaker 1: good paying jobs, but also uh, to help businesses shift
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  Speaker 1: their products in the most efficient manner. So there are
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  Speaker 1: lots of things we can do. We can increase the
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  Speaker 1: minimum wage, we can enact paid leaf policy. So we're
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  Speaker 1: going to focus on what we can hear, always with
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  Speaker 1: an eye towards um other issues, other factors. Well, you know,
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  Speaker 1: but I PM, let's let's follow up on Pim's question
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  Speaker 1: though on on the strong dollar, because that's certainly against
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  Speaker 1: the pound. Uh. You know, big big move after Brexit,
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  Speaker 1: and we know that many US manufacturers say this, this
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  Speaker 1: hurts them. It hurts us their ability to sell their
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  Speaker 1: goods overseas. Now, Uh, there are frequently rumblings, uh, in
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  Speaker 1: in Washington, in academia. It's not the most popular view,
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  Speaker 1: but a lot of people say, you've gotta you've gotta
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  Speaker 1: do something about how currency arrangements are conducted around the world.
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  Speaker 1: Is there ever any talk about that within the administration? Well, look,
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  Speaker 1: you know, if those conversations are happening, they're not happening
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  Speaker 1: at the Department of Labor. We're focusing on what we
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  Speaker 1: can focus on, which is to try to provide skills
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  Speaker 1: to workers that they can take advantage of this growing economy,
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  Speaker 1: and uh, the currency issues are what they are, and
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  Speaker 1: as they said, there are always going to be headwinds
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  Speaker 1: that we're going to face, not only overseas but here
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  Speaker 1: UM and certainly the strong dollar makes it more challenging
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  Speaker 1: for U S. Exporters. But when you look across the board,
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  Speaker 1: not only today's numbers, that a lot of the other
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  Speaker 1: important indicators, whether it's consumer spending, whether it's auto sales,
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  Speaker 1: whether it's on initial unemployment claims UM. It shows the
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  Speaker 1: continued resilience of this economy. But they're always headwinds. Chris Luke,
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  Speaker 1: could you speak to the issue of the Federal reserves
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  Speaker 1: debate over whether to raise interest rates if the economy
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  Speaker 1: is as well, not robust, but as healthy as it
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  Speaker 1: is made out to be, at least by this Job's
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  Speaker 1: report with twenty five basis points of an increase really
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  Speaker 1: damage the U S economy. You know, we we we
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  Speaker 1: make it a practice not to opine on what the
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  Speaker 1: Federal Reserve should should not do. That's really in their prerogative.
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  Speaker 1: What I can tell you is this, just as good
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  Speaker 1: as these numbers are, there is more work to be done.
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  Speaker 1: As we say, all the time. Um, the wages are
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  Speaker 1: the unfinished business of this recovery. For on an annualized basis,
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  Speaker 1: wages have grown two point six percent, and that's one
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  Speaker 1: of the highest that's been in a long time. But
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  Speaker 1: that really doesn't make up for the wage tagnation that
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  Speaker 1: most workers have faced over the last couple of decades.
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  Speaker 1: So we know we need to do more on that.
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  Speaker 1: I'm not prepared to say that we are at full
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  Speaker 1: employment and I'll leave that to others, but We're going
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  Speaker 1: to continue focusing on providing skills to workers so that
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  Speaker 1: they can compete for the job on century you know it,
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  Speaker 1: We're all for that. I think in this country, let's
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  Speaker 1: provide the skills, you know, let's boost community colleges for example.
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  Speaker 1: There that's been going on for a while now, but
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  Speaker 1: we still see a big gap. We still see, for
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  Speaker 1: example that Java's claims, you know, our way down, but
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  Speaker 1: there's a lot of jobs that aren't getting filled. Is
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  Speaker 1: there something lacking? This has been talked about and steps
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  Speaker 1: are taken, but we still have a big skills gap.
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  Speaker 1: Does it have to start in in junior high two?
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  Speaker 1: People in need to get educated better? What needs to
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  Speaker 1: be done Chris, You're right. This is not something that
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  Speaker 1: we can do after somebody has finished high school, finished
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  Speaker 1: community collegees. This needs to be a whole of government
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  Speaker 1: approach that really starts all the way from pre K
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  Speaker 1: up through high school, through community colleges, through colleges, through
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  Speaker 1: the workforce system. Last months, there were five point eight
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  Speaker 1: million open jobs in this country. About ten percent of
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  Speaker 1: them are in the I T sector. Those are great
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  Speaker 1: paying jobs and when Secretary President I travel around the country,
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  Speaker 1: we meet with companies all the time that are ready
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  Speaker 1: to hire, but they can't find the skilled workers they need. Likewise,
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  Speaker 1: we talk to job seekers who want to to get
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  Speaker 1: these jobs but lack the skills. And so what we've
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  Speaker 1: been focusing on is how do we retool the workforce
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  Speaker 1: system in this country to be more responsive to the
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  Speaker 1: needs of industry and not only train people for the
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  Speaker 1: jobs of today, but the jobs of tomorrow. So that
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  Speaker 1: it requires working with our partners in the federal government
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  Speaker 1: on how you improve our education system, how we make
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  Speaker 1: greater use of community colleges, how we ensure um greater
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  Speaker 1: use of technology like online training bootcamps, coding bootcamps to
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  Speaker 1: help people get the skills they need you know. I
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  Speaker 1: think one of the other big challenges we have in
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  Speaker 1: this country is that there used to be a time
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  Speaker 1: when you could train for a job once and then
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  Speaker 1: you never needed any more training. That's not the economy
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  Speaker 1: we live in right now. So we need to create
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  Speaker 1: a culture in which people are willing to get trained
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  Speaker 1: throughout their entire life. Thank you for spending time with
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  Speaker 1: us and sharing your views. Chris leu is, Deputy Secretary
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  Speaker 1: of the U. S Department of Labor. Joining us from Washington,
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  Speaker 1: d C. Home the Bloomberg and one oh five point
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  Speaker 1: seven h D two. You're listening to taking Stock. I'm
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  Speaker 1: pim Fox, my co host Kathleen Hayes, and this is Bloomberg.
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  Speaker 1: Good jobs growth in June after pretty dismal jobs growth
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  Speaker 1: in May. What's going to happen for the rest of
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  Speaker 1: the year. What does it mean for FED policy makers?
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  Speaker 1: What does it mean for the markets? That's coming up
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  Speaker 1: on taking Stock