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

one point four percent down. Industrial is up two hundred thirty six points, a gain of one point three percent, and nastack is up seventy five points, a gain of one and a half percent. The tenure up a four thirty seconds, that yield one point three six percent, Gold lower little change down point one percent, dropping a dollar thirty benounced to thirteen sixty and crude oil up eighteen cents of arral it is now at a forty five thirty one for West Texas Intermediate. That's a gain of

four tenths of one percent. I'm Charlie Pellott, and that's a Bloomberg Business Flash. This is Taking Stock with Pim Fox and Kathleen Hayes on Bloomberg Radio. It's been our rollercoaster, Ryan in the labor market the last couple of months. At least, that's the picture we get from the Department of Labor's monthly employment report. We saw in June that jobs searched by two d eight seven thousand, but they

had risen only eleven thousand the month before. So which month, which set of numbers tells the true story of where the economy is and where it's heading and is it really that volatile lately? We're gonna put this question out of Chris lou He's Deputy's secretary at the Department of Labor. Chris, welcome back to the show. Thank you for having me. So I'm sure you've gotten that that question all day long. Why so volatile? I mean, it's it's frequently a bit volatile,

but this is extreme. Well, Kathleen, Look, it's one of the reasons why we don't put too much stock on any one month's numbers. If you look at the three month average, it's about a hundred and seven thousand jobs created per per month. If you look at the year as a whole, it's about a hundred seventy two. So I think it's best to take these numbers in the aggregate and realize that with any individual month, UH, they're

going to be fluctuations. Now, not often as much as this, but it does show the strength of the U S economy, the resilience of of the U S economy, and so there's a lot of good in these numbers. Chris Lew I'm wondering if you could tell us where there's been any kind of meeting or conversations that you've had in terms of the strength of the US dollar and what

that's doing to US businesses. You're right, you know, it's important to note that these numbers predated Brexit, and while these are very positive numbers, it shows, um, you know, it continues the longest economic recovery and history. There are certainly headwinds, and one of those headwinds is the strong US dollar, weakening global demand, and you know, the uncertainty that Brexit creates. So we continue to watch what happens

not only overseas, but other headwinds here in the United States. UM, but we know what we can do. We know, for instance, infrastructure spending is a great way not only to create good paying jobs, but also uh, to help businesses shift their products in the most efficient manner. So there are lots of things we can do. We can increase the minimum wage, we can enact paid leaf policy. So we're going to focus on what we can hear, always with

an eye towards um other issues, other factors. Well, you know, but I PM, let's let's follow up on Pim's question though on on the strong dollar, because that's certainly against the pound. Uh. You know, big big move after Brexit, and we know that many US manufacturers say this, this hurts them. It hurts us their ability to sell their goods overseas. Now, Uh, there are frequently rumblings, uh, in

in Washington, in academia. It's not the most popular view, but a lot of people say, you've gotta you've gotta do something about how currency arrangements are conducted around the world. Is there ever any talk about that within the administration? Well, look, you know, if those conversations are happening, they're not happening

at the Department of Labor. We're focusing on what we can focus on, which is to try to provide skills to workers that they can take advantage of this growing economy, and uh, the currency issues are what they are, and as they said, there are always going to be headwinds that we're going to face, not only overseas but here UM and certainly the strong dollar makes it more challenging

for U S. Exporters. But when you look across the board, not only today's numbers, that a lot of the other important indicators, whether it's consumer spending, whether it's auto sales, whether it's on initial unemployment claims UM. It shows the

continued resilience of this economy. But they're always headwinds. Chris Luke, could you speak to the issue of the Federal reserves debate over whether to raise interest rates if the economy is as well, not robust, but as healthy as it is made out to be, at least by this Job's report with twenty five basis points of an increase really damage the U S economy. You know, we we we make it a practice not to opine on what the Federal Reserve should should not do. That's really in their prerogative.

What I can tell you is this, just as good as these numbers are, there is more work to be done. As we say, all the time. Um, the wages are the unfinished business of this recovery. For on an annualized basis, wages have grown two point six percent, and that's one of the highest that's been in a long time. But that really doesn't make up for the wage tagnation that most workers have faced over the last couple of decades. So we know we need to do more on that.

I'm not prepared to say that we are at full employment and I'll leave that to others, but We're going to continue focusing on providing skills to workers so that they can compete for the job on century you know it, We're all for that. I think in this country, let's provide the skills, you know, let's boost community colleges for example. There that's been going on for a while now, but we still see a big gap. We still see, for example that Java's claims, you know, our way down, but

there's a lot of jobs that aren't getting filled. Is there something lacking? This has been talked about and steps are taken, but we still have a big skills gap. Does it have to start in in junior high two? People in need to get educated better? What needs to be done Chris, You're right. This is not something that we can do after somebody has finished high school, finished

community collegees. This needs to be a whole of government approach that really starts all the way from pre K up through high school, through community colleges, through colleges, through the workforce system. Last months, there were five point eight million open jobs in this country. About ten percent of them are in the I T sector. Those are great paying jobs and when Secretary President I travel around the country, we meet with companies all the time that are ready

to hire, but they can't find the skilled workers they need. Likewise, we talk to job seekers who want to to get these jobs but lack the skills. And so what we've been focusing on is how do we retool the workforce system in this country to be more responsive to the needs of industry and not only train people for the

jobs of today, but the jobs of tomorrow. So that it requires working with our partners in the federal government on how you improve our education system, how we make greater use of community colleges, how we ensure um greater use of technology like online training bootcamps, coding bootcamps to help people get the skills they need you know. I think one of the other big challenges we have in this country is that there used to be a time when you could train for a job once and then

you never needed any more training. That's not the economy we live in right now. So we need to create a culture in which people are willing to get trained throughout their entire life. Thank you for spending time with us and sharing your views. Chris leu is, Deputy Secretary of the U. S Department of Labor. Joining us from Washington, d C. Home the Bloomberg and one oh five point seven h D two. You're listening to taking Stock. I'm pim Fox, my co host Kathleen Hayes, and this is Bloomberg.

Good jobs growth in June after pretty dismal jobs growth in May. What's going to happen for the rest of the year. What does it mean for FED policy makers? What does it mean for the markets? That's coming up on taking Stock