Labor Sec’y Walsh: I Disagree with Fed that More Unemployment ‘Might Be Good,’ I Want ‘More Money’ in the Economy

During an interview aired on Thursday’s edition of Comedy Central’s “Daily Show,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stated that while “the Fed has said, at some point, having a little bit of unemployment might be good,” he wants “to do everything I can to get more people working.” And that he wants to see the last two months of job gains continue, which would mean “more money” going into the economy.

Host Trevor Noah asked, “[I]t’s an interesting time. The administration wants to get people working, and more importantly, the administration wants to get people working in jobs that actually allow them to earn a living, which is key. Because I think many people have jobs, not everybody can earn a living from the jobs that they have. And so, at the same time, you have the Fed, who is trying to shrink how much money people can earn. It’s a really good time to be in the job market right now, because you can earn a lot of money. But it seems like, in trying to control interest rates, there are conflicting interests. How do you deal with this?”

Walsh responded, “The Fed has their own plan and they’re working to bring down inflationary pressures that everyone in the audience and around the country are feeling. And President Biden rolled out a plan as well to deal with inflation. One is gas, and we’ve seen, for nine straight weeks in a row, gas prices come down. I’m of the camp that a good-paying job is important for America, it’s good for people. And I know that there are some — the Fed has said, at some point, having a little bit of unemployment might be good, I actually want to do everything I can to get more people working. We’ve had two amazing months in a row of job gain in the United States. I want to continue to see that trend. I want people to move from jobs that are paying mediocre into better-paying jobs. I want to see people use their power with their companies to earn better wages. At the end of the day, it’s about keeping people working, and that moves our economy, more money into the economy, and I think the president wants to see these jobs still being created.”

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