Labor Sec’y Walsh: Economy Heading to Recession ‘Hasn’t Come up’ in My Talks, ‘Don’t Know What a Recession Will Look Like’

On Friday’s “CNN Newsroom,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stated that the economy heading towards a recession “hasn’t come up in a conversation I’ve been in” and that he doesn’t know “what a recession will look like in pandemic times.”

Co-host Jim Sciutto asked, “Is it the White House view that the U.S. economy is headed towards a recession, even a brief one?”

Walsh responded, “I don’t think we’ve ever — that hasn’t come up in a conversation I’ve been in, what we’re doing is just continuing to move our economy forward. What’s interesting — I’ve been in this job as Secretary of Labor now for almost a year and a half, and I’ve gone back and looked at the records of recessions. I’ve looked back at 2008 and 2001 and gone all the way back. And as you mentioned, we’re living in a very different, difficult time, a very challenging time. I don’t think — it’s very difficult to predict what a recession will look like, if we are in a recession. I know that we’re seeing wage growth. Now, obviously, it’s not keeping up with inflation, but if we bring inflation down, the wage growth is good. We have to continue to move forward. We’re seeing companies open. We’re seeing independent people creating their own businesses. You still see — I go around the country, all over the place, you see cranes happening everywhere. You have economic development, building still happening, houses are still being sold. So, I think what we have to do — I’m not — this is — what I’m saying is that the president is not taking a wait-and-see approach. But I think, literally, this is a kind of month-by-month approach to see how we’re moving forward. So, I don’t want to say we’re going to be in a recession because we’re doing everything we can to get our economy and bring inflationary costs down.”

Sciutto then followed up, “I get you don’t want it, but are you concerned that the Fed is hitting the brakes too hard?”

Walsh responded, “No, I view this — I look through the lens of being in my former job, and quite honestly, I don’t know what a recession will look like in pandemic times. But I’m still looking at these investments that are being made around the country with development, economic development, people going back to work, people shopping. … We just need to continue just to monitor this as we move forward. The Fed will make the decisions that they feel are necessary. But I know the president and his team and our team will make the right decisions to bring the costs down for people at their table.”

Follow Ian Hanchett on Twitter @IanHanchett