Live on Bloomberg TV

00:00First of all sir I know you've been unwell the last couple of days. Can you tell us if you're okay. I'm doing all right. Yeah I feel a lot better. Thank God I'm vaxxed and boosted because this thing it's texture. Your immune system. I feel good. So thank you for that. You're a good man for giving us some time. I've agreed to shorten up the interview just so you don't have to do much today. So let's start with this one here. The jobs report your assessment said the view from the White House at the moment. Certainly it's a good jobs report. Three hundred ninety thousand jobs. We're seeing good gains there. One thing that we looked at from when the president took over we had 10 million people out of work in America. Sound of and fifty five thousand. That's a good number. We're seeing steady and stable growth here in the jobs reports. But we know as they say every month we have more work to do. This this this what outpaced what the expectations were. But certainly we know there's work to do. We know we're still dealing with inflation which we're still dealing with an economy that that people are concerned about. And the president's laid out a plan for you know the numbers. Well one point nine jobs for every unemployed person in America. Right now the quits rate is elevated. That's a sign of confidence. The unemployment rate is lower today but still a decent level of three point six percent of the work. Most people are concluding has a fair bit of bargaining power here. So secondly with that in mind what kind of approach would you like to see in the talks with unions representing the workers on the pulse on the West Coast. We talked about this a few times over the last few months. What's your view now. I think that those conversations are going steady. I've been staying in contact with the folks out on the West Coast right now. I think it's it's on a good pace and they just need to continue to have those negotiations. Obviously anytime you have in negotiations like reports whether it's on the West or East Coast but in this case on the West Coast we want to keep a close eye because we know the impacts that if it doesn't go well what'll happen. But I feel pretty good about our full confidence where they're headed on those conversations. Can you give us some idea of why you're confident based on the conversations of last month what the developments actually are specifically. Yeah. I've spoken to both the companies and the unions and neither one that really said that there's any obstacles that they're really concerned about right now. What they're doing is they're having the negotiations that they have every few years. And you know and certainly I think they of all the parties know what the American people have gone through over the last couple of years with supply chain issues and what's happened in the ports. So I think they also understand the importance of getting a contract done. Secondly was just finally because I know you have to run. We've had some warnings this week from some big players. Jamie Diamond talked about a hurricane coming to the economy. We heard from Elon Musk of Tesla. Reuters reporting that he sent an insanity map pausing hiring potentially cutting 10 percent of the workforce. Are you seeing much more of that in the conversations you've set you have with corporations week to week day today. No I don't think they ever really brought that up fully. But I'd say you know the president has been very very focused on making sure that we continue to tackle all the inflationary challenges and the challenge of the economy. I mean this is an all hands on deck approach that includes government and corporations working collectively together. I think that we're kind of like we're we're in a marathon here. This isn't a sprint. It's a marathon. And we have to just continue to move forward one day at a time.

No schedule data available.

BTV Channel FinderWatch BTV in your area

Labor Secretary Walsh on May Jobs Report, Port Talks

US Labor Secretary Marty Walsh says there's still work to do on the economy even though the May employment report outpaced expectations. Speaking with Jonathan Ferro on "Bloomberg The Open," Walsh also says he is "confident" about the West Coast ports’ labor-contract negotiations. (Source: Bloomberg)

More From Bloomberg The Open
All episodes and clips