On Friday’s broadcast of “CNN Newsroom,” Labor Secretary Marty Walsh stated that he hasn’t “seen what the impacts” of the Federal Reserve rate hikes are, and “All I know is that every month, we’re seeing more and more jobs added to the economy.”
Walsh stated, “I think what we’re seeing is a slow, steady transition into a strong economy. I think we’re seeing, in this report, obviously, 261,000 jobs is great. Some of the highlights: 173,000 jobs in manufacturing combined since the beginning of the pandemic. We’re over where we were pre-pandemic. We’re seeing, in warehousing and trucking, 700,000 jobs over. So we’re seeing other industries grow. But we’re seeing a slow and steady economy now moving forward. And I think, hopefully, what I would predict — well, I’m not predicting anything, hopefully, what we see in the next few months is consistent job growth, but continuing strength, [a] strong economy. We have to continue to do everything we can to bring down inflationary prices.”
Host Jim Sciutto then asked, “[W]hat are the rate hikes doing to your department’s assessment of the economy?”
Walsh responded, “I mean, again, I haven’t seen what the impacts are. All I know is that every month, we’re seeing more and more jobs added to the economy. We’re seeing, in different sectors, growing and getting stronger. We still haven’t seen some of these sectors responding. I mean, the…leisure and hospitality sector is still way below where it was pre-pandemic. I don’t know if that has any impact on what the Fed’s doing. We’re looking in government as well, particularly in local government, and in education, we’re seeing those numbers have not returned to pre-pandemic levels. So, there are certain sectors that haven’t returned to where we were pre-pandemic. But, again, the Fed is doing what they need to do to fight inflation.”
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