Transcripts For CSPAN Washington This Week 20140405

And it takes a lot to do that. Our role has been to try to influence the government the way that we can. Are there ways of putting together projects, Infrastructure Projects in countries like africa in which even private sector investors would feel comfortable . Would we think that is definitely possible . You would take on the risk . A good chunk of the risk. We would provide information, ontheground insight about the risks. The other part of the question is the judicial reform you do not need to be there anymore because the private sector would go there instead. There is the potential to make money, but if you are fearful you are going to get ripped off, you do not go. There are many countries in the world that have a lot of work to do in terms of rule of law, there is no question on that. Do you play a role in on trying to influence that . Not specifically, but we on otherher hand can help countries and we have done it over and over in many Different Countries be more fair in deals with private sector companies. We have are doing business report. We have been working on this for a long time. Look, in countries all over africa, the leaders are telling me the same thing. Understand. Ing we we will not develop the country based on aid. We need the private sector. Every african country i go to knows this and they know there are things they need to do. Again, i would say you could not generalize across africa. There are places where governance is very strong, places where it is very weak, even within specific countries where there are regions. That is the kind of information we can bring to the table to bring in private investors at the end of the day. Dr. King, will dr. Kim, what should i have asked you, or what did you expect someone to be asking you . Nobody asked me about ukraine. [laughter] you have a minute to talk about the ukraine. [laughter] we met with the prime minister, and it is a difficult situation. Directed directing the government could you are not advising them on governance. What they need his help in terms of implementing reform. This government passed through parliament and ambitious set of reforms. It even tackle jewel theft. Lessen thehelp them blow on the poorest of some of these reforms that we know they have to take. We are in active negotiations with them to figure out what we can do to provide some sort of funding so that, for example, when and if they remove their fuel subsidies raised subsidies prices on consumers, 44 . When they do that, they have and weect the poorest, are working to see how quickly we can move the money. Two are so much. Thank you. Thank you so much. Thank you. [applause] [captions Copyright National cable satellite corp. 2014] [captioning performed by national captioning institute] and tomorrow here on cspan, jason furman will be our guest on newsmakers, the chair of the White House Council on economic advisers and he will talk about the minimum wage, income inequality, the Health Care Law, and restoring Unemployment Benefits. Let me tell you why i think extending Unemployment Insurance is a job creator. About just because providing relief for millions of people that are working really hard to try to find a job, but it has two real economic benefits. One is you cannot get Unemployment Insurance unless you are looking for a job, and looking for a job means you are in the labor force. In the labor force means you are keeping those people connected so that as the economy continues to recover, they will be there to get the job that is good for our economy overall, and in addition the purchasing power itself will boost the economy. Economists at cbo, jpmorgan, and our own estimates from the council of economic advisers have all said extending Unemployment Insurance would add to growth and create jobs. What happens if the house fails to act on the senate bill . I do not want to speculate. Two weeks ago, most people would have told you it will not pass the senate, and now it looks set to pass the senate with a real bipartisan vote. Thingot want the the that we should be doing next is the house passing the bill. Jason, knowing the new unemployment numbers, the longterm unemployed is coming down, which we would think this is a good time, but is this because the people losing their benefits or is this Something Else happening . I have been looking at the numbers to see if we have seen an effect of the expiration, and i personally have not seen it there. Were generally seen pretty small moves in the Household Survey in the last couple of months. I think what that tells you is are ate bigger forces work in the economy, and theyre lowering the Unemployment Rate. The Participation Rate has stabilized over the past year. Were creating about 200,000 nearly 200,000 jobs a month. Theou can watch more with chair of the White House Council of economic advisers tomorrow at 10 00 a. M. And 6 00 p. M. Eastern right here on cspan. Lets take a case like hsbc, which got a 1. 9 billion dollars settlement, sort of levied at them, i guess it would be one year ago. Part of the deferred prosecution agreement was they admitted they had laundered as much as 850 million for a pair of central and south American Drug cartels. We are talking about, not only did they commit minor financial infractions, technical infractions, but an organization that was operating at the top of the illegal narcotics air amid. This is a major criminal enterprise, they admitted it, and if they did not find the evidence to put those people in jail, that is on them. That is a failure of the regulatory system. That youve someone know is guilty, who has admitted they are guilty, who are in league with truly dangerous and violent people, and helping them out with the worst kind of behavior that a bank could be involved with and nobody does a single day in jail, that is outrageous. It is even more outrageous when you look at it in comparison with who does go to jail in america, and that is people who are at the very bottom of the , peopledrug pyramid call with illegal possession, selling dime bags on the corner. Those people go to jail for realtime, five years, 10 years, and at the same time they were letting hsbc off with a total walk. Nobody pays any individual penalty in that case. Matt taibbi. His latest, the divide sunday on q a. According to new numbers, employers added 192,000 jobs in march and the Unemployment Rate remained at 6. 7 . The joint Economic Committee heard testimony from the bureau of labor statistics about the report. This is 45 minutes. We will call the joint Economic Committee to order. The vicechairman is not here yet. Chairman brady went to dallas to attend a funeral of ray hutchinson, his friend and also husband of the former senator kay bailey hutchinson. In his absence, he asked me to preside this morning. I was hoping we would have a bit of the minnesota mafia starting off the hearing. Senator club which are will be here shortly. The recovery that began in june 2009 is now nearly five years old, yet and nbc news poll found 57 of Americans Still think the economy is in a recession. This is likely due to persistent weakness in our labor market. The fact that nonfarm payrolls increased by 192,000 and the official Unemployment Rate remained unchanged at 6. 7 last month is positive news, but it is simply not enough. I agree with Janet Yellens recent assessment of our economy. In a speech on monday she said, theres been steady progress, but there is no doubt that the economy and the job market are not back to normal health. By several measures, the recovery from the most recent recession is far below the average over the last 50 years. Here at the joint Economic Committee, we refer to that as the growth cap. Since the recession ended in june 2009, real gdp growth has 9 Percentage Points below the average recovery. Private Payroll Employment growth is more than 5 Percentage Points below recovery. Real disposable income of a family of four grew by 13,000 less than it did in average recovery. Clearly, our economy is underperforming. We should be doing better than five consecutive years of below average. In her speech, chair yellen cited a number of statistics indicating that our labor market is weaker than the official Unemployment Rate would suggest. More than 7 Million People are working parttime, even though they would prefer fulltime jobs. The falling Unemployment Rate has not sparked a significant increase in real wages. Real average earnings are up by less than one percent since the recession ended. Nearly 36 of the unemployed have been unemployed six months or longer. I will say that again, more than one third of the unemployed in this country have been unemployed for six months or more. The labor force Participation Rate has fallen to 63. 2 . Only half of this decline can be attributable to democratic factors. Some may blame the housing bubble for this persistent weakness. While the collapse of the housing bubble has some lingering effects, it is not the main factor, let alone the only factor. What is unique about this recovery is the combination of the economic policies the president pursued. From 1992 to 2000, federal spending declined as a percent of gdp and the private sector created more than 37 million jobs. Under president obama, federal spending reached a high of funny 4. 4 of gdp, and remains above its postwar average. President kennedy and president reagan passed tax cuts. They encourage new Business Investment. This committee has shown a correlation between new Business Investment and the creation of new private sector. In contrast, president obama increase taxes on successful small businesses, capital gains, and dividends. Reagan and clinton took a balanced approach toward environmental, health, and safety regulations. The Obama Administration has pursued an aggressive agenda of Regulation Without weighing costs and benefits. President s reagan, kennedy, and clinton have pursued International Trade agreements. There are several trade opportunities on the rise and are proven job creators, but the administration has not fully engaged in this issue. There has been bipartisan support in the past. I am confident there is bipartisan support in congress for trade agreements today. President s kennedy, reagan, and clinton did not burden people with the cost of retirement programs. In contrast, president obama has pushed forward the Affordable Care act on partyline votes. The Health Care Law has increased uncertainty, raised taxes by nearly half 1 trillion, undermines the medical Device Industry that is so important to our home state of minnesota, and is causing millions of americans to lose access to some of the Health Insurance plans they like. The policies America Needs now are well known. Stable prices, a gradual decline in federal spending, tax reform that encourages new Business Investment, balance regulation, and trade liberalization. It is the best way to strengthen our economy. It is time the Administration Work together with republicans and democrats. With that, i look forward to your testimony. Senator klobuchar. Thank you very much. Sorry i was a few minutes late. I was in a dentists chair. How much more fun to be here with all of you. It is great to be here. Representative paulson is chairing the meeting. As well as the commissioner. Good to see you again. I would like to welcome the assistant commissioner for the office of Current Employment analysis. I am pleased we are having this hearing on the Monthly Employment situation. I think we know that these hearings give us an opportunity to dig deeper into the numbers. March, as we discussed, saw a gain of 192,000 nonfarm gains. All of the job gains in the private sector. Something we like to hear. Recent Economic News has been encouraging. The economy has grown for 11 straight quarters. The 2. 6 growth over the course of 2013 exceeds the gains of 2011 and 2012. Manufacturing, the engine of innovation, it generates 90 of all patents. It has rebounded. Adding more than 600,000 jobs since february 2010. Exporting has been another bright spot. Exports are growing, exceeding the prerecession peak. All of this is good news. We have a lot of room to go. We also have accomplished much in terms of the private sector adding jobs. I think back to the first half of 2009, when we shed more jobs in this country. We were losing jobs at a rate of 700,000 per month. We shed more jobs in one month than people in vermont. Five years later, we are adding jobs. We have recorded 49 straight months of private sector job growth. With this months gain of 192,000 private sector jobs, we have regained all of the 8. 8 million private sector jobs lost during the recession. This is the month that we finally got to where we were. Now i hope we are going to expand from there. The number of unemployed workers per job opening has decreased from seven in july 2009 to 2. 46 in january 2014, approaching the prerecession level of roughly two unemployed workers for every job opening. The Unemployment Rate at 6. 7 is down nearly a full 1 . The Unemployment Rate is better. 4. 8 in the state of minnesota. For most workers, the job market is better today than it has been in years, but we all know the recovery has not reached everyone, particularly the longterm unemployed, those who have been out of work for more than six months. Nearly 4 million americans have been out of work. This committee has discussed long periods of joblessness to significant damage to our nations productivity, and we are pleased the senate is moving forward to pass an extension of Unemployment Insurance. I hope the house will as well. It will help people like linda her husband from little falls, minnesota, who lost their jobs and are both over 55. They need some support if they continue to look for work. Linda wrote me, Encouraging Congress to extend unemployment. She wrote, i feel it be people who are jobless are being forgotten. We have to approach this issue from all sides. Obviously there are openings in some parts of the country and certain industries, and we need to make sure the workers are trained to do those jobs. That is a major part of this. Skills training. The second part of it is to continually increase our exports. The third part is to get more kids to go into math and science and engineering and technology. The next is Immigration Reform. It would be very helpful to the economy. Decreasing the debt by 160 billion in 10 years, 70 billion in 10 years according to the cbo. One of the things i will ask you is about the unemployment with veterans. With young people, where we are as we move forward. We have made some improvement. With more to go. Our focus is on longterm policies that create jobs in the short term. While laying the groundwork for prosperity in the longterm. I am very much looking forward to hearing about the numbers today. I want to get some analysis from all of you. Thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you. With that, Erica Groshen is the 14th commissioner of the bureau of labor statistics. She was Vice President of the Statistics Group at the Federal Reserve bank of new york, and has been a visiting assistant professor of economics at columbia university. She earned a phd in economics from harvard university. She earned a bachelors degree in economics and mathematics from the university of wisconsin madison. I was a mathematics major as well. Welcome back to the committee. You are recognized for five minutes. Thank you. Mr. Chairman and numbers of the committee, thank you for the opportunity to discuss the data we released this morning. Nonfarm Payroll Employment rose by 192,000 in march, and the Unemployment Rate was unchanged at 6. 7 . Employment increased in professional and Business Services, health care, and mining and logging. Incorporating the revisions for january and february, we can increase employment by 37,000, monthly job gains have averaged 178,000. Prior to march, employment growth averaged 183,000. All of the growth occurred in the private sector. Which has now exceeded its Employment Level in december 2007. That is when the most recent recession began. This is a milestone. The private sector lost 8. 8 million jobs due to downturn. It has now gained 8. 9 million jobs since the Employment Level of february 2010. However, Government Employment is down since the recession began. Therefore, total nonfarm employment remains below its december 2007 peak. In march, employment in professional and Business Services rose. It was in line with the prior 12 month average. Within the industry, temporary help services added 29,000 jobs. Health care employment rose by 19,000. With gains in ambulatory services. In the prior 12 months, job growth and health care average 17,000 per month. Most of the growth was occurring in ambulatory care. Employment in mining and logging rose by 7000, led by gains in activities for mining. Employment in food and services and drinking places continue to trend up in march. This industry has added 300,000 jobs. Employment continued to trend up in construction in march. It is up by 151,000. Employment in other major industries, including manufacturing, wholesale trade, and retail trade changed little in march. Average Hourly Earnings for all employees on private payrolls edged lower by one cent. After rising by nine cents in february. Over the past 12 months, average Hourly Earnings have risen by 2. 1 . In comparison, from february 2013 to february 2014, the Consumer Price index rose by 1. 1 . In march, the average work week for all employment increased to 34. 5 hours. Offsetting a decline over the prior three months. Turning now to our survey of households, the Unemployment Rate at 6. 7 was unchanged in march. The number of unemployed persons remained at 10. 5 million. The number of unemployed persons who had been jobless for 27 weeks or more was also little changed. These individuals accounted for 35. 8 of the unemployed. Both the civilian labor force and the total employment increased in march. The labor force Participation Rate and the employment to population ratio changed little. Among persons who were neither working nor looking for work in march, 2. 2 million were classified as marginally attached to the labor force. This was little changed. The number of discouraged workers who believe that no jobs were available for them edged down over the year. 698,000 in march. In summary, employment rose. By 192,000 in march, and the Unemployment Rate was unchanged. At 6. 7 . My colleagues and i will be glad to answer your questions. Thank you. Let me start. Federal reserve chairwoman janet yellen mentioned earlier this week when she gave a speech , she listed signs of weakness in the u. S. Labor market. She indicated that conditions were worse than the Unemployment Rate would suggest. Chairwoman yellen specifically mentioned meager increases in the labor and compensation and average of little more than 2 per year since the recession. The large number of parttime workers, more than 7 million who want fulltime work. Many more than one would expect when you have a 6. 7 Unemployment Rate. Could you explain why the Unemployment Rate does not convey the same extent of weakness as these other labor market indicators . The Employment Situation contains the release that we release today. It contains over 1000 numbers. All of them give you a different perspective on what is going on in the labor market. There is no one number that will convey all facets of what is the largest market in the country. It is really important for educated users like yourselves to look at many different measures. That is what janet yellen has done. Some part of the answer to the question lies in not only what the numbers have been doing, but how they are compared to what is normal for the economy. That is all the preface. We have had a lot of improvement lately. Since the recession was over, but we have not fully returned to prerecession levels. So, for example, the number of people who are parttime for economic reasons, who would like a fulltime job but do not have one or had their hours cut, has come down dramatically since the recession began. But it is still much higher than prerecession levels. This is a measure of underutilization of labor in the economy. That continues to be high. The Unemployment Rate is still much higher than its prerecession levels. Do you have thoughts on why those indicators might be weak . I guess we are more about counting the way things are. Than on dividing this up. But we know that the labor market is large and complex. What happens when you have this big decline in aggregate demand is that this underutilization of labor goes into many different ways. It goes into people working fewer hours. It works into people being unemployed. It spreads throughout the labor market and it takes a while for all of these different parts of the labor market to return. Maybe you could explain the linkage that exist between private investment and Economic Growth on the one hand, and then you have labor demands and employment. And the labor force Participation Rate. Well, we know we have had a lot of, during the recession, the biggest hit in the recession immediately was a big increase in job destruction. We had a huge number of layoffs of workers. At the same time, we had a slowing in hiring. We now returned to normal in the job destruction rates by most measures, but we have not returned to normal in job creation rates. Job creation rates have not been high enough to absorb all of the slack that has remained in the labor market. Is it fair to say that the slower Economic Growth is the root cause of the problems . The Unemployment Rate has been declining because more people are disengaged from the labor market . Going to be Labor Force Participation, the estimates are about half of the decline in the Labor Force Participation is due to demographic factors. That would not be associated with the slowdown. Half of the remaining part, and this is what we have done largely at the Federal Reserve. Rather than at the bls, estimates are that half the remaining part is due to changing behavior of various demographic groups. For example, young people enrolling in college. Staying in high school longer. Women no longer increasing their Labor Force Participation. The remaining quarter seem to be associated with a downturn in the economy. There is an assumption that as the economy improves, that part will generally go away. We will see a slower decline in Labor Force Participation. So it is not that much of a decline by these estimates. Due to the slower economy. Thank you, commissioner. Thank you very much. Welcome. We have talked about how there have been some improvements over the last few months. We have looked at our weekly and monthly report. They have been affected somewhat by the cold weather. Did that have a negative impact the last few months, as i look at 10 more inches of snow for minnesota this morning . Yes. We see some evidence that is consistent with the weather having an impact on the last few months. Particularly in hours. We have now in march for covered most of the decline in hours that we have seen. That is the clearest part. The impact on job creation is harder. I think it had a very temporary effect. The recession was especially tough on younger workers. We know that. They have faced high levels of unemployment. Older workers have faced longer durations of unemployment. What is the Unemployment Rate for workers who are 20 to 24 years old . How about the longterm Unemployment Rate . The Unemployment Rate for 20 to 24yearolds declined over the year from 13. 3 to 12. 2 in march, and of those people in that age range, 31 were employed. You may not have this right now, but what it was previous to the recession, the year before the recession, that age group . Much lower. See if i got it. We will get it. It clearly has to be a focus. Older workers, what is the rate for workers 55 and older . 4. 7 . Did that improve over last year . Yes. It was 5. 5 a year ago. Did you know how that was prerecession . No. Women now have more about 500,000 more jobs since the recession began, while men still need to add one million jobs to return to the december 2007 level. Is that right . Yes. They called it the mancession . I still think we have an issue, and i touched on this with the longterm unemployed, and issue with some of the wages that people make, even though they have jobs they are not able to support their families. And one of the ways we know works is education. The twoyear or Fouryear College degree makes a big difference. What is the Unemployment Rate for College Graduates now . Ok, lets see. Let me see if we got ok. That is ok, you can give it to me later. I am just trying, i would always ask this every month to find out where we were. Here we go, Unemployment Rates for College Graduates. 3. 7 . Ok, and do you know what it is for high school or people who did not complete high school . 7. 5 for High School Graduates with no college, and 11 for those without a high school diploma. Have there been any trends on that over the last two years . All of these have been declining since the recession was over. How about the veteran Unemployment Rate . We have had a focus across the country on private employers focusing on trying to employ some of our postgulf war ii veterans and make sure we are getting people employed that left, especially while the numbers when they left, the numbers were high, and the recession happened, and then we had trouble getting them employed. Where is that for veterans . Focusing on the Unemployment Rate for gulf war veterans, that is 6. 9 . Do you know where was before . Last month it was 9. 2 . This is a huge drop, all these drops could be that these numbers are volatile. I was meeting more over the long term it is improving. For many years, it is around the same as our nations Unemployment Rate. That is a big shift. For a long time it was a number of Percentage Points above the nations Unemployment Rate. This is some of the best news of the report. Thank you very much. I think i am out of time. I had one last question. Rural areas, is there a difference in unemployment numbers between rural and urban . Yes, there is. And i think i have that. Ok. Yes, the Unemployment Rate for urban areas was 7. 5 , but for rural areas it was 6. 7 , so lower in the rural areas than urban areas. Surprising. Thank you very much. Appreciated. Youre recognized for five minutes. Thank you very much. There is a purported education or skills job gap, and its just it is suggested it poses a hindrance to employment and may relate to a decline in labor force Participation Rates in the employment to population ratio. When the economy is growing at a healthy pace and demand for labor is strong, our skill differentials is as great as a factor as getting a job offer as when there is an excess of labor . Perhaps that is a subjective question it is, but if you have any idea, i would appreciate it. Generally speaking, the lower skilled people have bigger increases in their Unemployment Rate during recessions than higher skilled people. The wages of higher skilled people and employment of higher skilled people are preserved much more than lower skilled people during recessions. Using that suggestion, do you believe we have a longterm structural problem with in terms of what senator klobuchar referred to in terms of matching the skills up with education, and, therefore, is it something that is structural in a way that we have to respond to differently than we are, and are many of these people permanently displaced . Do you see some change in that . Is a growing economy helping, whatever you think . Sure. So generally speaking bls does not have data about specific skills required for Job Vacancies that employers are trying to fill. However, we would say that from what we can see there does not appear to be a larger than normal mismatch between the skills employers are seeking and those that jobseekers have. One of the reasons why we say this is because we have not seen an increase in wages, and that is what you would expect if you had a big, sudden mismatch between what employers were demanding and the skills the workforce had. You would see an increase in wages for workers who had those skills. We are not seeing that. There may be other reasons as well. You are talking about basic supply and demand. Wage growth has been stagnant even in areas of decline. But if you had employers, a group of employers who really wanted to get workers with a certain skill, you could expect they would start poaching each others workers and the response would be employers would raise wages to retain them. Do you think there has been some conversation about there is a population in our country that has not been well prepared for retirement. We know that. Even young people going towards 55yearolds, we have seen a lot of elderly people who might otherwise wish to be retired or not engaging in the labor force. There is also a suggestion there is a displacement of that for younger people who might enter that same workforce, for those same jobs. Can you talk about that, do you think that is the case, or what that may look like on the ground . The increase in Labor Participation among Older Workers seems to be an important part of that is the jobs that they are in our increasingly ones that one can do later in life, so they are less likely to be bluecollar jobs where the physical demands become difficult for people at older ages. This is seen as an important factor in an increasing participation. The ones that people entering the workforce would also be likely to take . Usually, the sort of crowding out that people think about has not been seen as that much of a factor in whether or not you have overall wage employment growth. When you have a growing economy, then you can accommodate all workers. Growth helps everyone. Growth helps everyone. Thank you. Mr. Cummings, youre recognized for five minutes. Commissioner, the Unemployment Rate, the Unemployment Rate among africanamericans had been declining, last month it increased to 12. 4 , and why did the rate of unemployment for africanamericans increase in march . Do you have any idea . While it did increase, our point estimate of it went up, this was based on a smaller sample that is not significant. I suggest this is noise around a high level. Clearly, the Unemployment Rate for africanamericans is high, but this particular tick up is probably noise, although it will take another couple months for us to see if it sticks or goes higher. When we look at the situation with latinos, we see the Unemployment Rate has gone down significantly. Is that accurate . Not in this particular month. But overall . The change over the years, a decline of 1. 3 Percentage Points, whereas the decline for black and africanamericans is. 8 . So todays report says in march the Unemployment Rate for hispanic workers is 7. 9 . Right. And 5. 2 Percentage Points lower than the peak . Lets see. The peak was 16. 8 . For hispanics, i have a decline of 4. 3 since january 2009. That is significant, is it not . Yes. Do the numbers tell us anything . This is consistent with what has been happening throughout the labor market, and since they had a particularly large increase in unemployment over the course of the recession, you would expect them to have a larger decrease when the labor market returns to normal. I was at the university of maryland law school, which is where i went to school, and they were telling me that law schools throughout the country are having less and less people apply. And they said there were reasons for that. And one being people did not have the money. And, two, they do not see the jobs. I will ask this question when you all come in. Somebody watching this right now, they do not have a job, what would you tell them . Certain areas of the country that are doing well, what areas might one graduating from high School Getting ready to Enter College want to go into, because i think more and more people are concerned that when they get out of college they will not have a job. So based upon the numbers i know you do not give a lot of advice, but, putting the numbers out there, what would you say to young people who are trying to figure out their way and who do not want to go back and live with their mother and father after they get out of college . The main thing main advice i would give them is to get a good education, that there is one thing that is under peoples control and has a very Important Role in determining peoples Unemployment Rate is how much education they have. So that would be the main thing. Then that choice of industry makes a difference. We project that occupations and Industries Related to health care will add the most new jobs over the next 10 years. So we think health care and social assistance jobs we project them to add nearly 1 3 of all new jobs, 15. 6 million new jobs between now and 2022. We also project large gains in construction jobs, primarily to reflect recovery from the very severe downturn we had in construction jobs. Are there any regions of the country that you would tell them that they might one to travel to . Of late, the regions that have had the most job growth have been in the south and the west. For instance, the average lets see the average change in the employment in the south has been adding about 49,000 jobs per month from january 9 to february 14, and the west has been adding 32,000 jobs per month. These are the areas where we see most of the job growth regionally. Thank you very much. Thank you, mr. Chairman. And thank you, commissioner, for being here today, to provide what i think is a positive report with a fair amount of evidence that things are getting back on track after a winter slowdown. There was some very good news in the numbers reported, some good things to build upon. My question is keeping with my friend and colleagues, more direct questions as opposed to advice, is trying to disaggregate some of this data. Do you compile any analysis of of how jobs break down between low, middle, and highskilled in terms of their profile . Those are subjective categorizations, that do you disaggregate your data, and you observe any trends that are relevant . Ok. Lets see. Lets see. I am looking for or while youre looking for that, i will add another question, which is the concern i have is the headline in unemployment number and subsidiary numbers that flow from that are largely affected by choices people are making about the type of jobs they want to pursue. Do you compile any data about trends in the standard of living of average jobs, which would effectively be an aggregation of the low, middle, and highskilled composite, if you will . Yes. So lets see ok. If it is easier, you can get me the information after the fact. Right. We have been finding the largest over the year employment increases have come in professional and Business Services. These industries have relatively high earnings at high skills. That is right. So those are growing. The next highest gains are in industries that have the lowest average earnings, leisure and hospitality. Would that lead us to continue we continue to see this barbell job creation where we are creating highskilled jobs at a decent rate, reflecting the countrys Competitive Position in Industries Like technology, medical devices, etc. , and that the income driven by those highskilled jobs is creating an amount of lowskilled jobs, but we continue to see a hollowing out of middleskilled jobs . Is the data suggesting that is accelerating or decelerating . Yeah, i would say it is continuing, certainly by industry. It is a little more mixed by occupation, but got it. You talked about this ratio, the framing the job distraction rate over the job creation rate. The impact of technology on the workforce here is obviously fairly profound as it relates to those two statistics, the job creation rate and the destruction rate. Do you have a few on what that ratio is, based on is Technology Creating more jobs relative to the numbers it is destroying, or is it going the other way . Do you have a view on that . The simplest question is that by and large it is now on it is balanced. Any net change we have seen for the economy as a whole, the amount of churn in the u. S. In the dynamic u. S. Economy is very high. For every job, every net job we create, we probably destroyed eight or nine jobs, and we have and we have a huge number of a huge ame time we have number of jobs creating nine ss jobs for every got it. Getting back to one of the we have, the stem jobs if we want to focus on those, much faster than total employment during this time. 5. 1 between 2009 while total employment 1. 5 . Y just grew by thats faster than for other jobs. Followup with some other questions, but thank you. Thank you commissioner for the time to be here and testifying this morning and i know that senator and i will be ready to head back to several inches of snow in thank everybody for being here this morning. Adjourned. S chair of the ers counsel of economic advisors. 10 00 a. M. Sunday at and 6 00 p. M. On cspan. It has to do with procurement medals, specifically purpose madeeart the United States so many purple heart medals that we wr still giving out that same of purple hearts today. Ny american who is wounded today in afghanistan receives a purple heart that was forged for was going to invade japan. American and japanese strategies at the end of World War Two tonight at eight eastern. History tv this weekend on cspan three. More now on the economy and Unemployment Rate. This is about 45 minutes. Joining us now to talk about the economy the wall street economics reporter for the publication good morning. Your colleague writes about the numbers but writes about a ilestone being reached when it comes to actual jobs. What is that milestone . Its that the private sector now made up the loss of jobs incurred during the recession. Ou can look at that as a positive milestone but a pretty depressing milestone too because he recovery has been going on for five years and of course the population has been growing so were talking about raw numbers jobs that have returned to the economy but that has not up with population growth had we not d we had had that downturn. Long to it took us that get there and when you talk bout government jobs were still at a loss. Ultimately, the figure that we see yesterday break it down. What does it mean is this 6. 7 is a high unemployment historically. Weve kind of downgraded our own expectations about ourselves been e the job market has weak so for so long we started good thing t as a its se its not 8 , but nowhere near where it should be. It still feels like a pretty tough job market out there. Other main figure is the net employment gain for the 192,000. Ch is now that number is positive in fears se there was some that theres been some weak data during the winter months. How much en a debate of that is weather related. To see the march number come out relatively solid at least dam n some of the fears we were heading downward again. Progress is steady but a long to go. To look at the 192,000 figure. Correctly, tand it the government had about 200,000 obs a month had to be created to see some economic recovery in the economy overall. We see that number this month does that mean a trend might be months . In future the trend has been happening. Average has been about 178,000 which is just about breaking even in terms of with population growth, maybe a little bit more, for the rate going down but modestly still. It doesnt necessarily important future butng for the at the very least its telling veering back into a downturn. Sectors that ain did well as far as job creation is concerned . That was one Positive Side of report. The job growth was relatively broad based. Been some discussion about the types of jobs that are being created. So the only sector i believe lost jobs is manufacturing, which is something to keep a atch for because manufacturing tends to be cyclical but one month so theres nothing to necessarily. Restaurants and bars with healthcare at 19,000 jobs and construction 19,000 jobs. The construction, again, that led to some relief that the falling arket wasnt off the cliff again. Related t downturn was to winter. Some economists say the nature job created remains rimarily focused on the low wage and low benefit sectors. Growth been lot of job in those sectors but those arent the kinds of jobs that we about when we think about the reemergence of the american middle class. Those arent the kinds of jobs progress in peoples income and lives. Part of the figures that came a revising of earlier figures from this year, what happened . These figures get revised all the time. But the revisions were positive. Factor that led those delaying of some of corn serpbz that maybe the and r it wasnt a factor the economy was weak ebing. Positive. Ons were were on a steady trend but very and a questionnt of what folks are going to do about it. Going to do anything about it or private sector on the verge of burst of hiring. Some economists believe this is will ar where the economy 2 growth the pattern. Can tweet us at cspan wj us at journal org. Cspan what are economists saying. They tend to point instead of pointsitives they tend to to the lack of negatives. O you remember last year was riddled with congressional year we ttles and this dont have that. Agreement budget that congress came to recently emoves some of that budgetary uncertainty and some of this the fiscal time that incurred wains this year. Some of the risk is from overseas and people are the slowdown in china. Urope seems to be recovering from a much deeper hole than we ever got into. Strepbts in ns in the economy. Consumer spending has been up. Ing but well see. To be been a tendency very positive at the beginning of the year and then those xpectations get kind of torn apart by year end. Well see if this is the year out. We finally break our guest with us until 8 30 ur first call froms steve who is from east chicago, indiana. Morning. Caller good morning cspan. About to ask a question as far as jobs in our city in east chicago. Small town and not many as far as s area and the unemployment, i want to ask to the gentlemen does think republicans will think this time loyment around . I really do think that they extent the unemployment in the and especially east chicago area. Its very hard. Jobs. Listen for its like 1,000 people looking for 20 jobs that might be out there. Hard. S kind of whether a kind of jobs would you be looking for . Something hike i look for inustrial job, security, put for labor. Its just hard because so many people are looking for the same jobs. F absolutely. I me just start by saying hink its frustrating for viewers and readers the way edia covers these kinds of reports. You see the mood of improvement and people are saying things are but the etter experience of people every day what the caller just described. His is an element of a discorrect with the numbers. Thats because the headline umber with 6. 7 doesnt tell you about the people that have dropped out of the labor force, he people that are long term unemployed and all of that means that just the caller pointed out up having like a thousand applicants per position. Ive heard figures a lot higher for certain jobs. Thats one thing. Number two, unemployment is higher in certain areas than in the smaller towns. And sometimes the harder it is to get a job. As far as extending Unemployment Benefits theres an argument to be made on both sides. Economists who argue that Unemployment Benefits a disincentive for people to look for work. People say youre not going to not to a job because nemployment is relatively modest you and cant survive on it. F a job opportunity arises unemployment might be able to benefit gap and be a and that he an on going political debate. Whether the republicans will report it i crystal ball. Question was asked about jobless benefits. Heres what he had to say. Me tell you why i think unemployment is a job creator. Its not just about providing relief for millions who are really hard to try to find a job, but it has two real benefits. One is you cant get unless ment insurance youre looking for a job. Looking for a job means youre in the labor force. Force means that youre keeping those people connected so that when the economy continues to recover, theyll be there to get the jobs. Thats good for our economy overall. In addition, the purposing power f those Unemployment Insurance benefits itself will boost the economy. Jp morgan at cbo and and our estimates has all said Unemployment Insurance adds to growth and creates jobs. If you want to see the full go to the website or watch tomorrow at 10 oclock after this program. Any takeaways from that . As he pointed out theres an argument when we talk about fiscal stimulus any kind of to boost Economic Growth. Research ignificant that points out that stimulus works best when targeted those who have the least because likely to spend it. Nd least likely to save by e ument is backed economic research. For such this problem a long time if you keep extending the pen fits youre itself ling the problem and creating the jobs. Its a stop gap solution at best. But it could be in that positive economy. This is washington, d. C. And ralph, alking to independent line. On, sir. Caller hi. Pedro, i think it might be useful if people go to the statistics bor website and reads the jobs report for themselves. Here who is sort to stone feed us this but we need to have a more conversation if we look at the tables. I want to bring attention to manufacturing employment. Talk of a manufacturing renaissance in ats country, but if you look the numbers theres been barely any increases. Million, 12 9 million. So its happening in output is ng is that growing very rapidly. Rejuvenation and manufacturing is coming from the roductivity and not from the employment. Pedro, would you agree with that . I think thats fair statement. All. Nt know about but coming from a very deep hole again, but so theres been improvement. A question of a trend. I agree calling it a renaissance is a vast overstatement and would lot a lot more years of a more creativity investment in expert growth before you could a renaissance of the if it were a true renaissance then an wouldnt have unemployment problem because wed have people clamoring for he kind of training that would get them into those jobs very quickly and as of right now, for paths are not there most people. Interesting, i was in chicago this week with chair and she was visiting a Manufacturing College there, Community College focused on manufacturing activities. It was fascinating. Of course r those its a p. R. Exercise but at the same time at the same time for students that we talked o, it seemed like by focusing really specifically on one task network ing within a that kind of already had contacts within the industry and job, these them to a people were able to get work. Agree with the caller that facturing has been manufacturing profits have been booming but employment is yet booming. Not so the information about unemployment yesterday how does the it ral reserve look today . Well, i think the way it looks at it, it looks at it over long run, right . Oh on the it from 0 one hand it justifies the feds employment growth is continuing because the 192,000 a relief. At least there were a basic trend ask falloff in that trend. The fed feels against that can continue the amount of bonds its been big which is the way its been Economic Growth lately. What janet said in her speech many ways this job market is worse than in any recession weve had. She said that, she pointed to the long term unemployed and the number of fall out of the labor force. So many people that have been out of a job for so long that reduce their chances of returning into the labor market. Documenting that there is actual discrimination between with the same qualifications and a gap in the resume people will go towards theyll think this is something wrong with you. Its not that theres something the jobs arent there. One of the figures that came for esterday looking population of marthas employed, 58. 9 , but if you add the labor force thats 63. 2 . Right. s another important number that as an ointed out indication that were not spirit is city and the oak on my not operating at its potential is the number of socalled involuntary parttime workers. Who are working parttime jobs even though they would hike to work fulltime but they cant position. Low mebody on twitter, skilled jobs are in short supply specially those who want 40,000 a year. Thats right. The education thing is people pointecause to education as a factor and i think it is. You dont same time close the skills gap in a 1 to 2 year period. For the person who is unemployed the crisis is in emergency. Think about ed to education in the long term but also need to think about how to soon for s really those people who dont have them. Heres chuck from alabama republican line stkpwhreufpl job the whole thing of this market and the economists first of all, im 75 and i would one economist who ever went on here and started a usiness and ran it on their theory. I mean, what we really are right here in the whole country is in denial. Number one, clinton and the passed naftan they and wto, they shipped the jobs which is 20 years ago nd yet the press is so ishonest they wont tell the truth even when money goes in motors it general goes overseas. Ago you could get five jobs any morning if you were willing to work. Has nk this whole thing become a smoke screen. The problem is the government. Ill wait for your comment. You for your call. First as nafta in trade, f all, it was passed under president clinton but it had bipartisan support and the free trade agreements had bipartisan support. In issue. Ink its by opening the country up to having having trade agreements that dont have ny restrictions or conditions on the kind of Labor Conditions that are going to be faced by overseas we are workers against basically people that you cant compete against because theyre for lot less and for even more hours and under conditions. To point to nafta in particular to of the jobs didnt go mexico. They went to other parts of the world where we dont have agreements so its a question of whether or endorse a somewhat protectionist totally where to put reements require an onus on other kreufz to or ate her labor standards embrace the doctrine of free trade but willing to live with be consequences which might. Gher unemployment youre on. Caller you touched on this at the beginning. Nature of the new jobs being created. 23 an hour. E i took a job during the holiday 8 an hour and now got a semi permanent job for 9. 50. Lot of people in this country are in the same boat for me. At less than half the wages we used to be working nd cant make ends meet and were just compiling debt upon debt upon debt. 60,000 in debt and all struggling to make ends meet. Focus on the new jobs being created, i think most for are less ing than half of what we used to work. And ill get off the phone and make a nice comment on this. What kind of business were you in before and what are you doing now . Im actually a stem guy but im old. Im 51. Engineering degree and ive gone on interviews and they look at me like im crazy over 50 it seems. Thats another topic you might older n, the pride of workers over age 50. Im going to get off the phone ecause this guest is really great. I appreciate the kind comments. Right. Thats absolutely you can see that in the lack of have seen that we because not only are people who wage e jobs unable to get the ases because, come on, boss can always tell you people are always waiting for your jobs and willing to work for less and yucker. Thats what a bad job market does. Make it an employers market rather than seekers market. Have all the leverage. That story that the guest just over and over d where people lose their jobs and theyre unable to either get that n the same industry used to pay them what they did and even if they do theyll get paid less. The underemployed about . Y that we hear is. It its a real problem. We have basically an economy thats working beneath its potential. Because there g is a debate about whether people are dropping out of the labor demographics of because simply theres retiring baby boomers that are just ready hit retirement i think. Heres a lot Older Workers entering the job market now than younger ones. What ctually suggests might be happening is that its ally hard for both middleage ort of grouped where youre in the sweet spot. But for very Young Workers its to enter because there is always somebody more xperienced willing to take the same starting entry level salary and for older ones there is a person willing to take less. And he said 51 is old. Isnt that crazy . That bear itself out hen you hit that age that bracket that youre considered old . Im not an employer myself so certainly dont think so. But i think because employers power in theirof hands they can pick and choose. Ph. D. , an intern with a so i can get one because there of unemployed ph. D. s. That a what a bad job market does. It leaves everybody in a worse off condition. Were talking about unemployment. Yesterday. Eased 6. 7 . Gure is talking about the economy overall. Ohio on our on, independent line. Good morning. Caller good morning. Goes your third one among this fro trade. We used to have fair trade and the numbers ing today were like 7. 7 billion trade deficit. Done, sir, weve polluti slavery and pollution. You cant even go to beijing pictures ive seen. I hear people paying a thousand home the day before. Get over their little irks, you and start asking your are you fair trade or free trade. We used to compete with the with the same regulations as what we had. A downward is on spiral if we keep letting the 400,000 a make year and paying his people a hour. An its our fault. Unless we start telling our are sick thiss we have free trade ask go back to the fair trade i dont know what people. An hour dollar more than i did 30 years ago. How does this what is it on doing on it . The Obama Administration has pretty much the same stance that every Administration Free trade lifts all votes and leads to economic in the long run. It just means that youre opening up some industries over another. Really just opening up competition with lowskilled workers. Its not like were letting in scientists in droves. Workers dont have a lobby as strong as the american association. They dont have anything fighting for them on the trade front. Issue is a difficult one because there is evidence that completely shutting your borders to trade is not ben firl either. You have to strike the right balance. Caller pointed out, if youre going to pit an american is er against someone who orking like 14 hours a day for miserable wages then this is no competition. That e of the statistics came out yesterday takes a look t the actual weekly earning as workers. 838. 38. H it was talk about offall about increases in pay. Re they get more hours of week of work . The latest figures were that an increase in hours but decrease in wages. Itsverall picture is that really been relatively steady. Generally you see an increase in an increase you see look at thatpeople as a positive incentive. At one point they wont have to any harder and take on more workers. A long are flat for time. The description that your caller said hes making a dollar more with a you maybing thy yea the ago and that has been trajectory of american salaries point about nother inequality about ceo pay. Daily etting almost headlines about what wall street making, 10 million a strike a blows a n the head because theyre unfathomable. Michigan, neil, joins us from there. Good morning, neil. Caller good morning. Was just wondering if politicians want to try to raise 10 minimum wage from 7 to an hour and i make four times. Worth 12 moreas but i dont think thats going to happen. I had, i was oint up north working north of cincinnati and it was a coal place. They were going to hire i think jobs there were parttime. It didnt say how many hours they were or anything like. Was waiting here in line talking about age. Be 65 next month and theyre trying to work me like im a 21yearold. Industry . Your i test drilling and welles, stuff like that. Because you mentioned it, say in to 10 an hour. Would you would you react to that if wouldnt bother me. I think its worth it. Nce in a while well get into prevailing wages on federal projects, but the company i work they always try to worm their way out of paying that. Thanks, neil. This is some evidence that the minimum wage does kind of that bumps other at least at the bottom end. There are other countries where servant wages are indexed to do minimum wage. Trickles to many different types of salaries. Thats not the case here. Its nimum wage debate interesting that the minimum key economic the debate that were having. Ecause with the unemployment problem being so big its a small pocket of that. Theres a l, relatively small number of people earning the minimum wage is raising the minimum wage fantastic for those earning it but doesnt do anything for dont have a job. The conversation needs to be toader about what we need to to get the country back to full vibrantsy. The employer has a stake in well. Hi, there. Caller i was just calling in of your other e callers earlier. Hi. You cant listen to the television. Your o ahead with statement or comment. Caller good morning. Really responding to one of your earlier callers. Okay. To the in regards extension of the unemployment benefit. My daughter lost her job back in october and her benefits are said to expire in june and its important. Shes getting really nervous. Nd looking for employment and its very important that we get that extension. Looking forward to you having a guest on your show that that because we hardly its nything about it worrisome for her. Shes worked all her life and now shes without a job. Know. T to what is holding that piece of legislation up . Whats holding it up is politics. I feel for her daughters situation. Its a terrible worry to have ones head. Am i going to be able to have an and put food on the table. Uncertainty. L as far as whether it will happen or not i have no idea. Republican response this week thats a weekly feature, its senator tim scott the republican from South Carolina talking about the top tick of jobs. To say. At he had as we all know the most facing our sue nation is job creation. Unfortunately its been that way for the last six years. But instead of tackling unemployment and under politicians o many are focused only on the effects mipoliticals. Get a hand ke folks up but more importantly that a Solid Foundation of the as poverty io grew up in know the hard choices facing so many families every night. Business ownerll i know the importance of ensuring that the next americans is the most well trained, best educated workforce the world has ever seen. There are currently 4 million jobs in america, including 65,000 in my home state of South Carolina. These are good jobs that for a lude y of reasons, including a lack of workers their industry go unfilled day after day and week after week. Hats 4 million families that could sleep a little better at night and thousands of usinesses that could become more profitable and offer more opportunities for their employees. Tackle this problem head on. More responsive and efficient system will ensure our workforce ompetes and weubz in the 20st century. More ureaucracy means resources helping those in need getting caught up in the quagmire. Im not sure what the message was. Ob training, as i said, its a long Term Solution but you wont dont cure a skills a 2 to 3 year period. Its long Term Solution for a term problem. Regarding the notion that there all these jobs just waiting to be filled and people dont skills, i would push back against that notion. Because my reporting suggests he he when the economy is boom asking there are enough find a way es will to give you those skills. If there is enough for them to train youoods theyll for the job until youre ready it. O that idea is just it doesnt make sense given the amount he evidence that we hear from your callers about how difficult it is to find a job and how competitive it is. Doesnt square with the notion that employers are out that are ng job fairs empty and nobody showing up for them this is james from kentucky. Thanks for waiting. Go ahead. I dont understand whats going on. I live in kentucky and they have to advertise on tv to try to get people who want to work and another thing peop these people, where the politicians at . This. E these old men up im 80 years old. These old men we got up there get somebodyut and up this that can do something. Theyve been up there so long they own the country and they are doing this and they never get out and see whats on. G another comment. So many people on disability and theyre running a business and he business, theres nothing really wrong with them that they job. T be having a really i think these politicians get a couple of people at each city and to get out and going on with s the money. Thank you, sir. The caller really represents the level of dissatisfaction. Through common theme out the program is the keened of of dismay and dissatisfaction that people have with their own government. Not sure of the way to fix it. Government to for be more responsive to peoples needs. Learly there is a sense that ed hington is really detach and the dome that sits behind us much. Doing taking a look at the demographics. 5. 8 . Though we see a consistent number, its different amongst are. The africanamerican jobless rate is a shame. 12 and were talking about european level unemployment in mid crisis. T rose by just as much as proportionately as the average obless rate but its so much higher that its gone up 12 . Thats one of the problems that demographics 0 hispanics unmoment h higher rate, its something hike 81 2 799. Higher than the national average. Of eally these kinds roblems suggest that you need targeted measures that really kind of address the problems they have specifically rather than simply kind of spending for its own sake. From eph, Republican Pennsylvania caller thanks for having me. Issue address the last he just talked about this and that is the only way to help used to be that we had manufacturing in inner cities. Oday its lost because your corporation whether its black and decker have moved overseas the product cheaper. We need to put these people to work. We needthat is made uncertaintyr business. You have 2 trillion sitting on the sideline the canopy invested until the certainty is there. It is appallingly been sitting on the Keystone Pipeline for five years. The administration should be embarrassed by this. I appreciate pedros writing on this. Lets start of the final point. Highlystone pipeline is politicized. I would rather not touch that. As far as regulations, you are that a ton from businesses. Here are two sides businesses will always complain about rules costing them something. That to comply with certain regulations and it will incur cost. Yet taken with a grain of salt. There are enough complaints about obamacare or environmental legislation that is to be something there. At the same time, i think if you had a booming economy that uncertainty would be secondary to the prospect of profits. The regulatory requirements play a secondary role in returning the recovery. Host these figures came out about the economy. With an excellent we should be looking at to gauge her we are in the economy . Will see if Economic Growth in the First Quarter grows. Economist want to see if it picks up. We will look at the same monthly reports. The jobs number is the key one. When you have a job, life is a lot better. Ost mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker. The speaker pro tempore for what purpose does the gentleman from maryland seek recognition . Mr. Hoyer mr. Speaker, i ask unanimous consent to speak out of order for one minute for the purposes of inquiring of the majority leader the schedule for the week to come. The speaker pro tempore without objection. Mr. Hoyer thank you, mr. Speaker. Im now pleased to yield to mr. Cantor, the majority leader. Mr. Cantor mr. Speaker, i thank the gentleman from maryland, the democratic whip, for yielding. On monday the house will meet at noon for morning hour and 2 00 p. M. For legislative business. Votes will be postponed until 6 30. On tuesday and wednesday the house will meet at 10 00 a. M. For morning hour and noon for legislative business. On thursday the house will meet at 9 00 a. M. For legislative business. Last votes of the week are expected no later than 3 00 p. M. On friday, no votes are expected. Mr. Speaker, the house will consider a few suspensions next week, a complete list of which will be announced. In addition, mr. Speaker, the house will consider three bills from the Budget Committee. The first bill, h. R. 1871, the baseline reform act, authored by representative rob woodall, would require c. B. O. And o. M. B. When scoring legislation to assume that the baseline does not increase or decrease for Discretionary Spending, which they do now. This practice added 1. 2 trillion to the baseline in 2013. The second bill, h. R. 1872, the budget and accounting transparency act, written by representatives Scott Garrett representative Scott Garrett, brings offbudget onbudget to bring a more accurate of this had accounting. Finally, the house will pass a budget resolution on time for a fourth consecutive year. The republican budget, under the leadership of chairman paul ryan and the Budget Committee members, will adhere to the agreedupon spending limits and balance in 10 years, as we did last year, increase Economic Growth and job creation, create opportunity, lessen the middleclass squeeze, cut wasteful Government Spending and strengthen our entitlement programs. And with that i yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for that information. Its wonderful news that that budget is going to do all of those things, i want you to know. And were pleased that a budget is coming forward. We may not be pleased with the budget but breezed that its coming forward. We had budget levels for fiscal year 2015. Theyll adhere to the ryanmurray agreement. I assume that also means that it will adhere to the firewall division between defense and nondefense Discretionary Spending as well, is that accurate, mr. Leader . Mr. Cantor id say for that fiscal year hes correct. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for that information. I tell my friend, the majority leader, the wall street journal had an editorial about , 14 paragraphs. I disagreed with the first 13 paragraphs but i did agree with the last paragraph. It said, but the ryan outline does the service of showing the policy direction in which republicans would have if they regained control of the senate next year. And then it goes on to say, Senate Democrats dont want to declare themselves without any votes but they favor higher taxes, much more spending, for anything other than defense. Voters will have to decide on the direction they Want Congress to go. So, mr. Leader, as i said, we welcome debate on this budget. We do believe it expresses the priorities of your party and as you know we differ with those priorities in many instances so i think the American People will get a spirited, informative and educational debate on the ryan budget. And i think that will do much to inform them of the priorities of both parties. As i say, we look forward to that budget. Unemployment insurance, mr. Leader, is being considered on the senate floor. Im not sure whether cloture vote i dont i know the cloture vote has been taken. I dont know if the final vote is taken. Do you know if the Senate Passes that bill either today well, today, whether or not that bill might be on the floor next week, and i yield to my friend . Mr. Cantor mr. Speaker, i thank the gentleman for yielding. First, id ask the gentleman just to refer to a letter by the National Association of state work force agencies dated march 19 to the majority and minority leader in the other body. And this letter essentially lays out a case for why their bill is unworkable. Again, these are the folks that are in the business of administering these programs. Id also say to the the gentleman, i think the gentleman knows our position on that bill. It doesnt create any jobs. And right now we are in the business of trying to see how we can get people back to work for an america that works for more people, and id say to the gentleman, i look forward to joining him in focusing in on that. With that i yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his comments. Im informed by the Ranking Member of the ways and Means Committee that the we also have a letter from the secretary of labor, or one of the people that works with him, indicating that in fact they believe this would be workable but very frankly notwithstanding the letters, let me ask the majority leader, mr. Speaker, if in fact we made a perspective which, of course, would clearly be workable and made it five months perspectively rather than three or 3 1 2 months retrospectively d a month and a half prospectively through may 30, would that be an acceptable alternative, mr. Majority leader . Mr. Cantor mr. Speaker, id say back to the gentleman, it is my opinion that what the gentleman asks for is a continuance of the status quo. We want to get people back to work. We are in the business of job creation. We want to provide a better environment for businesses to hire folks. We want to help those folks who are chronically unemployed access the skills necessary to fill the job openings today. As the gentleman knows, im sure his district is not unlike mine and other districts, there are a lot of job openings left unopen because the work force doesnt have access to proper training and skills. I look forward to joining with the gentleman in looking towards the future to how we can help those who are out of work get a job. And with that i yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his response, mr. Speaker. But it seems to me it begs the question. My question was, yes, we want to get people back to work. Everybody on this floor wants to get people back to work. I dont think theres any doubt about that. Hopefully we would be at full employment. However, one defines that, whether its 3 , 4 unemployment, which would be transition employment or unemployment, but, yes, we want everybody back to work. The issue is that i ask, mr. Speaker, is if we dont get everybody back to work and we havent gotten everybody back to work, 192,000 new jobs this past month, thats good but its not good enough. And thats why we have continuing 6. 7 unemployment. My question, mr. Speaker, to lets rity leader, was assume for argument that the letter to which he refers is accurate i dont accept that premise, but accepting that premise for the minute, would the majority leader be ameanable rather than do as the senate does making to retrospective so the 3 1 2 months that would have gone from january 1 or december 29, i suppose, of last year to today and paying that back simply extending for five months while people continue to look for employment that have been unable to find it because there are three times as many people looking for jobs as there are Jobs Available and were adding 72,000 excuse me 72,000 people on a weekly basis to the unemployed rolls, so if we made a prospective, that would save an awful lot of , ple the pain and suffering i yield to the gentleman. Mr. Cantor mr. Speaker, id say to the gentleman, were looking to try and fix the problem. And i would also refer the gentleman to the fact that the emergency Unemployment Insurance that the gentleman speaks of was in place for the ngest time, im told, in history that it was in place for an emergency. As the gentleman well knows that we have in place six months of Unemployment Insurance benefits for those who are out of work, and i know that those who are out of work beyond that who are deemed chronically unemployed want most is an opportunity to get back to work. Thats where i believe we ought to focus our efforts and really help people get back in to a job so they can support themselves, their family and create a better future. So i hope the gentleman will join us in refocusing a way from accepting the status quo as the new norm and instead trying to enhance the prospects for the pursuit of happiness for the American People. And we are about an america that works for everybody, including those that are chronically unemployed. I yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his comments. As he knows we have an agenda that does just that, it is called make it in america, expand manufacturing, give people the kind of jobs that have good benefits, have good security in the long term. Theres no disagreement on that, mr. Speaker. The only the only disagreement seems to be while we are trying to get that done whether or not we try to assure that those whove fallen through the cracks do not find themselves in dire circumstances because we have eliminated the safety net that we constructed. And i would say to the gentleman, this is the longest time in history and we are going to hear a lot of information from members of the ways and Means Committee longest time in history that weve had this level of longterm unemployment. One of the reasons for that is obviously the dislocations in the marketplace and that we experienced the deepest recession that anybody, maybe ralph hall is an exception, that anybody in this auto body has experienced. In this body has experienced. In other words, we had the deepest recession that we had in the last administration that carried over into this administration was the deep depression, and you have to be 90 years or older to have really remembered and experienced that. Theres a lot of pape out there and all im saying we agreeing, there is no disagreement. We want to get people back to work. As i told you and he we havent done it as vigorously and thats as much my fault as anybody. I want to do that. Youre focused on your skills act. Clearly we want to make sure people have the skills to get employment. But i would hope that we could look at, assuming the Senate Passes this bill, to give relief to some 2. 8 Million People who are in dire straits, increasing by 72,000 a week, get them some support while we are trying and hopefully together to create the kinds of jobs and skills necessary to get them out of the hole that they are in. F i might note there are 193 democrats who have signed a discharge petition to bring the Unemployment Insurance to the floor. , i might do one other issue last week we had the Sustainable Growth rate. We extended it. We worked together to get that done. Without going into it at length, i know the gentleman and i have had discussions about the Sustainable Growth rate, the socalled doc fix. We put a temporary patch on it. That was in my opinion the wrong thing to do. It was the right thing to do temporarily, but it was the wrong thing to do. The gentleman knows that fixing the Sustainable Growth rate is now from a scoreable standpoint less expensive to do than its been in over five years. I would hope that, mr. Leader, working together we could address this issue at some time before this Congress Adjourns sine die. We need to fix this and fix it permanently. Yield to my friend. Mr. Cantor i say to the gentleman, we, too, would like to see the s. G. R. Overhaul replaced with something that works. Our physicians caucus on the majority side of the aisle has put a lot of work into this issue together with the ways and Means Committee and energy and commerce committee, have come up with a plan. As the gentleman knows that has bipartisan support. The problem is how to pay for it. As i think the gentleman would agree, we cant go and continue to incur costs without finding out ways to pay for it. That seems to continue to vex many of the problems around here is trying to discover bipartisan pay fors. And we made a commitment to continue to work with those members who are most engaged in this issue, and look forward to continuing to work with the gentleman to try and find those pay fors so we can put in place a longterm plan to give some certainty to our providers under medicare. Yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his comments. I look forward to working with him. I would observe as he well knows and i have discussed with the speaker, the pay fors cled included in the temporary patch were as illusory as any other we could find. We simply accelerated dollars. We didnt pay for it. We simply put the debt off a month or he so and collected the money early and pretended that that was going to pay for it. Whether thats any more real than doing any of the other options that have been suggested i think is questionable, but i look forward to working with the gentleman. Because i mentioned it every time but i want to mention it in slightly different context, will i bring up commep Immigration Reform again comprehensive Immigration Reform again. Majority leader agrees broken system, we all agree, we ought to move forward. But we are going to be considering the budget. The budget we dont think is paid for. Well have a discussion about that as we go down. We think it increases the deficits. Not balanced in 10 years, but that aside the comprehensive Immigration Reform c. B. O. Released its score on our bill, h. R. 15, which we think is a bipartisan bill. Found that it would reduce the deficit by 900 billion over the next two decades. Including 200 billion over the first 10 years. Therefore comprehensive Immigration Reform in our opinion is not only the right thing to do, it is economically the smart thing to do. That is in the context of a bill that was brought to the floor this week that increases the deficit by nearly 74 billion dealing with the a. C. A. Its a bit ironic during a time of enormous deficit that is we have been ulling willing to unwilling to bring to the floor a bill that is scored by the c. B. O. As close to 1 trillion positive reduction of our deficit in the coming 20 years. So i would hope that we could look at that, as i say its not only the right thing to do, but its supported across the board. The bill that the Senate Passed by a 6832 margin. Supported by the chamber of commerce. Supported by the aflcio. Supported by growers, farmers, ag interests, as well as farm workers. Supported by the Faith Community across the board, and supported by 70plus percent of the American People. You would think in the context of that broad base of support that we could bring a bill which has such positive effects for human beings for individuals for our country as well as a positive economic effect. I would hope very sincerely that once we get past the budget and come back after the easter break that we address comprehensive Immigration Reform. I yield to my friend if he he has any comments. I yield back. Mr. Cantor i say to the gentleman, as he he knows, both speaker, i, and others have said we reject a comprehensive approach taken by the senate, and also as the gentleman correctly states, we are in favor of trying to fix a very broken, antiquated Legal Immigration system, as well trying to do something to stop ilLegal Immigration. We just had an issue about the president s insistence on first of all saying its his way or the highway. And secondly, the gentleman and i have talked before about the growing frustration that Many Americans have as well as members on our side of the aisle about the seeming disregard for the law by this administration in selectively implementing laws that have passed. Spectly as it relates to specifically as it relates to the Affordable Care act. How would one know provision that is would be upheld, implemented, executed in whole or not given the situation surrounding the a. C. A. . Those are the kinds of challenges we face. And would also note to the gentleman that the kind of thing that he refers to, comprehensive immigration, we reject that notion that the senate bill, and we reject comprehensive efforts that have been undertaken over the last several years because they havent worked so well. Instead we should be looking to try to do the things that we agree on. What about Border Security . Border security itself. If we can agree to say thats going to be our position, we are not negotiating on comprehensive bill that weve got to take care of that. What about the kids . The gentleman knows im very focused on trying to do something that we can agree on, but without saying that that has to be a precursor to something that the president insists or otherwise we cant even have the discussion. So again weve got a lot of issues regards to immigration. And i would say to the gentleman i understand his frustration. I think that we have plenty of people who are also frustrated given how things have gone with this white house. I yield back. Mr. Hoyer i thank the gentleman for his comments. I want to say onboarder security, h. R. 15, which we refer to as comprehensive bill, as you know included the Border Security provision passed out of the Homeland Security committee, chaired by your republican chairman, passed out on a voice vote, essentially unanimously, is