morning, overall unemployment has dropped a fraction to 8.2%. slight dip mostly because americans stopped looking for work. the number 120,000 jobs, the economy added far short of 200,000 that was expected. what do you think is behind this slowdown? are you concerned about this number, or is this good news? >> well, i think the general summary of most of what we're seeing in the economy right now is that we are making progress, but we still have a long way to go because we're coming back from the deepest recession and downturn in our economy in 80, 90 years. but i think that you know, you can -- we always try to make sure that we don't overcelebrate a month when the numbers are better than expected or overemphasize when they're a little bit worse than expected. the bottom line though is that our economy in the first three months of this year has created over 600,000 jobs. it's well ahead of the projection in our estimates, our budget of 2 million jobs. the unemployment rate was 9.8% in november, 2010, just to remember, 9.8%. it is now 8.2%. actually, the unemployment rate also came down for women from 8.2 to 8.1%. so i think that -- i think that overall this first three months, this first quarter of 2012 showed significant progress for our labor market. 600,000 more jobs created, unemployment rate falling, but it's just not good enough for this president because he's not going to be happy. we're not going to be satisfied until we get all the way back to where we were before this terrible economic crisis we fell into took place. >> karen wants to jump in. but let me ask you both because the numbers, obviously are what they are right now. also long-term unemployment is not good. i believe since december, it's at 40%, which is an extremely high rate. if you look at 1981, '82, back in those days, it didn't surpass 25%. so there's a bigger picture here that creates a big challenge for this administration. >> you are absolutely right and we've been very focused on it. in fact, if you went back to when the president put out his american jobs act in september, he had four categories an one of them was addressing not just unemployed workers but long-term unemployed workers. that's why is, for example, we have made such a major focus he has on getting infrastructure construction jobs back. that may help more men than women jobs but it deals was those facing over 16%. >> can those numbers be turned around? >> the thing i want to remind people, there is much that is in our control. let me just mention two things that the president proposed in the american jobs act that were not passed. things that were passed that were very helpful were the payroll tax cut, $1,000 per family, the unemployment benefits extended helped millions of women. the veterans tax credit helped men and women coming back. let me tell you two things that were not passed. a simple provision to spend $30 billion to prevent teacher layoffs. we have lost since the end of the recession, since the end of the recession over 230,000 teacher and education jobs. they are almost 70% female jobs, but even more importantly, they affect the quality of education of our young people. that is not about some big global technology, a globalization trend. that is just a simple issue of priorities. had we passed the president's initiative there, we would be adding dramatically more teacher jobs supposed to still losing state and local government jobs. secondly, the infrastructure initiatives, the last time i was here, the one thing that was always bipartisan was infrastructure, was bipartisan support that we need to modernize our roads, bridges, et cetera is totally under our control. those twos common sense provisions would be bringing the unemployment rate down and those are totally in our control. those are things the president promoted, pushed for, fought for. and were rejected. our labor force is not as strong, our economy is not as strong because those things were not passed and again, as i said, the proposal for teacher layoffs was one that particularly hurt women in the workforce. >> so are you saying republicans are getting in the way of job creation? >> i'm saying that the partisanship that we perceive particularly from the house of representatives i think has blocked us from having a stronger job market, and again, i didn't go through the whole list. i mentioned two common sense things that were in our control that this president proposed in september that would make things stronger. that said, we still saw the unemployment rate go to 8.2%. we still have seen 600,000 jobs created in the first three months of this year, and we still are going to have a long way to go, because again, the deep hole the economic hole the president inherited was very deep, and he wants to see progress, but he's nowhere close to satisfied. >> karen, you wanted to jump in. >> i wanted to remind gene which he knows there's lots of women-owned construction firms out there and those numbers are growing. we've actually done a women's contracting role to give them more access and opportunity to the federal contracting projects that are out there. but i want to talk about the manufacturing jobs, and this is something that gene and the president ves really put a focus on. and we've created 400,000 manufacturing jobs and yesterday, i was out in green bay, wisconsin on the factory floor of a millworking, a woodworking company with the owner and you know, it was a family business so the son, the daughter, the wife, everybody's on the factory floor. and they are telling me about more and more orders that are coming in. we are really seeing in my travels and in our small business world that these manufacturers who are part of american supply chains have capacity and are growing and are adding people. and as they do, maybe it is a slower track, but it is a more stable foundation. and one of the things we're seeing is that big companies who have these small manufacturers in their supply chain are noticing this. and they are bringing products and services and production back to the united states because they see they can have a supply chain of the same cost, better quality, faster turn around. that's a trend that's very positive. >> cece? >> just one number very quickly which is we have now created 456,000 jobs in the past 25 months, the strongest 25-month period since 1995, 17 years. so if it you want one area of real hope, progress, in our economy, that turn around in manufacturing jobs is very significant. >> cece. >> i just wanted to add in terms of the labor market for women which is that many people talked about the fact that men disproportionately had lost jobs in the downturn but the other side of it is that as we go through the recovery, men's employment has recovered much faster than women's. there are many factors but two that we can point to in particular. one is that while men are leaving unemployment, women have been slower to leave unemployment. and the second is what gene was just mentioning is that women have disproportionately lost jobs because they are employed in the public sector. even given that they're disproportionately losing jobs in the public sector. that's sort of hampering the recovery in the labor market for women and i think till we see state and local governments start to recover, i think that's going to slow down the recovery for women as a whole. >> joe, we were talking earlier about flexibility in the workplace. that applies not just for women but for men in your company. and is there a way to track whether that has increased productivity, profit? is there proof behind the philosophies you put in place? >> oh, absolutely. first of all, we started as an accounting firm. so we've got accounting and metrics and quantification for anything you like. so that's not a problem for us, okay? analysis. gene would be in heaven in our firm. analysis would be what we're really good at. but to me there's a couple of things to pivot back as somebody who is on the hiring side of all that data, not on the policy side of the data, you know, job creation is a good thing period. as long as there's job creation, you should feel good about the country. so i start with that. back to your point on s.t.e.m., part of the 18,000 is heavily weighted in technology and engineering and what we do as mathematics obviously as accountants. there is a lot of value creation. as a part of that program that you're talking about is flexibility and accountability. so first of all, it starts with strength of conviction. first you have to believe. once you believe in what you're doing, you believe it's the right thing to do because there's a business imperative. then you can get into what the choices are. so flexibility. i think the best example of flexibility is there's two people who work for me in this room today, jennifer fisher is there and catherine metcalf is somewhere, my chief of staff and communications. the three of us have not been standing in the same room, the same building or the same city to do any preparation for their meeting. it was all done in three different cities, different time zones using electronics. i don't know if they're home, if they're at the office, if i'm at home. it doesn't matter. what matters is you're productive. that's what matters. and so the ability -- [ applause ] and so the ability to create an environment where people can be productive is what gives them the choice. that's what choice is. i'm married to a person who has a career in technology. and the first thing we do every sunday evening is plan our schedules for the next week. who is going to be out of town, what city are you going to be in. we synchronize outlook. with who's got this child covered. >> now my girls know we're not the only crazy household. it's okay. it's a lot of negotiating. >> so there's lots of accountability around. the first thing is strength of conviction, flexibility. flexibility is more state of mind than anything else. you have to believe it can work because if you start with the premise it cannot work, it won't work. and to the testament to the brave men back in the early '90s who you know were skeptical because part of what we dop is professional skepticism as auditors, it worked and it worked because it worked with women who wanted to take the risk and it worked with the men who were willing to take the risk and ultimately serve. we have lots of data on productivity. the fact that we have moved our percentage of people on those arrangements, we don't even call them arrangements anymore or worry about where you are and how you're doing it anymore. we've moved past that in our arena to a virtual model and we really rally around the marketplace and where value is being created. that's where it starts, at the macro level and at the earlier level. you have to make commitments. there has to be financial commitments. so we do all that great resourcing and tracking and do things giving back. so we announced this morning we made our second commitment of $60 million of services and resources we'll be providing pro bono to not for profit organizations. and the focus of that -- that takes our commitment back up to over $110 million over the last five years. the focus of is we think of their future is our future. that's about going to low income school districts and getting the children into the school believing that not only should they go to high school, but they should go to college. and when you're in high school, 60% of the people are girls. i'll never forget the story and really this is about putting a face. i went to my old neighborhood in the south bronx called adlai stephenson in the poorest district in the united states. i'm sitting with a young lady. and the first thing she did was she looked at me. i was dressed like this. and first of all, she didn't think we had anything in common because i was dressed like this. so we opened up yearbook from 1974. it was quite a stylish period. my god, what i looked like. it was frightening, okay? not to mention my nice moustache that i had in the day with the chains and the flared pants and the bad hair. oh, my goodness. but anyway, and i said that's me. and she goes you're kidding. that can't be you. and i go that's me. she said well how did you get from that picture to here and then we got into a conversation of hope and opportunity. and that's what philanthropic things we do are. to me that's where it comes from. >> i have a request though because you've made so many changes in terms of flexibility except have you guys noticed when a guy goes to his baseball match and leaves work early, it's like you're so amazing. oh, it's so great. and then if a woman leaves she's just a mom. can they just be dads? >> we don't want to change that though. i like the ahs. >> it's unbelievable, isn't it? >> so true. >> it is. >> our next program we've got, i just made a mental note of that. >> thank you. cece and karen especially, but i'd love insight from all of you. in my research, i found that women are not so good at negotiating for themselves on the most part. there's some good ones out there but overall not good. i just wanted to know from your own experience, from your own personal outlooks where you think women can do better in terms of inserting themselves into this economy, stepping up and closing the gap when it comes to leadership positions and salaries. karen, you look ready to go. >> first of all, i think we need a round of applause for mika's book. >> thank you. >> because it's about stepping up and saying, it's okay to go in and ask for a raise. it's okay to be powerful. it's okay to be the boss. and it's okay to run a business, to own a business. it's okay to do all these things. we do them. this is our space. and if we own this space, we don't think somehow we've wandered into a bad place when we know what we're worth and we know what it is that we need to get paid. so thank you for writing the book. >> well, thank you. i'll just say the advice there is not to worry when you're talking to people, negotiating, trying to accomplish something. don't worry about whether or not they like you. worry that they respect you and command that in every way that that you communicate whether it's how you sit, how you hold yourself, how you use your voice, the words you choose. it's not for them to feel comfortable. awkward moments are fantastic when you're negotiating, by the way, fantastic. let the moment breathe. and expect something back. and it will come. do you agree? >> absolutely. i -- when i first started negotiating for buy is businesses i got very, very tired because i had up all night with the kids and he came in the negotiating table and they said we want this and i said no. well, i was used to no, you can't have more cookies, no you can't stay up late at night. and i realized you know, the benefit of what we call the irrational no. somebody said well, when did men learn that? i said women learned it from their kids. men apparently are born knowing about the irrational no. we need to take all these lessons we are learning from every part of our lives and let them be with us in the workplace and as we go forward to be all the things we need to be. >> see seecece? >> i guess i would add two things. the people that i admire most in terms of how they live their lives are those who have -- when given an opportunity or a choice, they have followed what they just wanted to do. they didn't worry about, as you were saying, what are others thinking about it or is it literally in my life trajectory because we can't control many things in the future but they followed their heart and what they wanted to do at that time. the second was and i think this goes with the negotiating, don't be afraid to ask. if you don't ask, you won't get it. you just have to be willing to ask. i think that goes even in terms of organizing the workplace. i have a friend who was a lawyer in a high paid firm and a very high powered firm and had a child and she wanted to spend more time with her child but still wanted to be a full-time lawyer. she worked out an arrangement with her firm. she was the first to do so but she worked it out, negotiated it and it worked great for her and for the firm. she was working part-time 60 hours a week but it gave her more time with her family and allowed her to be a great lawyer. >> go ahead, gene. >> i will at this moment speak as a man and say that. >> okay. >> if there is -- if there's one place that i do see just living life continuing sexism, it is the labeling of by incredibly aggressive ambitious men labeling other women as too ambitious, too aggressive. >> there's another word i think. >> and no, and i think that is -- i think that is extremely unfortunate and i think that, you know, i mean for women have to not obviously let that get in their way of negotiating but i think men have to also check themselves because i have -- i just never ever hear somebody call a guy you know, he's too ambitious. >> right. >> but you do hear that. i think that is something where you know, we have to -- men have to be very careful about you know, unconscious or subconscious biases. i'm going to make a bet about something though and fib me, cece, i have no analysis for it. it's just a hunch. i think the revolution of young women in competitive sports in the last 20, 30 years is going to change the culture. i see it in the young women in my life, and i think that that may have a very positive impact on the degree of women who feel more comfortable fighting for themselves. >> getting in the game. >> being competitive and not thinking there's anything wrong with that. >> two athletes in the room, listen up. you make a good point and i also think the fear of being that word whether it's a males in the room imposing it upon the woman or the woman being worried about it, that's the clutter in your brain getting in the way of being able to reset relationships, the minute you walk in the room, you're thinking about the last problem you had with the person and the drama around it and this and that. you've got to learn to be like guys and reset. you want to know why they're so good at it? because they don't remember anything, okay? so just like block it all out. it's okay. you can have a bad moment with someone and then go in there and get your money. you know what i'm saying? got to reset, just kind of unclutter the brain because those are great for personal relationships but the advice i give you about respect can apply to any relationship you have in life. joe, i actually wanted to ask you because from your vantage point, on this very issue, do you see women coming to the table and negotiating differently than men and in ways that they could improve? >> i see them certainly the behavior has changed over 20 years. >> it's evolving. >> it's evolved and it doesn't happen overnight. so it's definitely changed. i get yelled at almost every day by somebody on my staff. it used to be the men would just yell but now they both yell equally. i would say yes. we did a few things though. we have trainings like men and women as colleagues, men and women as buyers. you sort of learn a little bit about the dna of each other that's just a little bit different. you have to learn what the signals mean, what's the relevance of certain things. there was a conversation once, and i apply it in my own life with my wife but didn't think about it. we're all learning about each other though. it's not women just learning about men. we're all learning about each other. and one of the big debates was men are you know prioritize things and women maximize things. i had actually thought of that before and it gave me this great example. when you're sitting at home and decide i'm going to the gas station and get gas and my wife will say while you're at it stop off at the drugstore. no, i'm just going to get gas and coming back and i can't go to the drugstore because it's not on my list. it wasn't there to do because we prioritize things. and women have figured out no, but the drugstore's right next to the gas station. and that's a really productive way to look at things. well, that was just this aha moment that came out of this conversation. >> there you go. >> things like that having changed the conversation and created a sense of awareness of the two groups. so basically i think we're well on our way to where a place that's far better than it was 20 years ago. >> certainly some exciting things have happened in this administration in just the past few years and i'd like to end with some final thoughts from each of you on where we are today and what still needs to be done and by the way, why this very conversation is important to this country's economic future. perhaps even vital. gene, i'll start with you and go right down the line. >> well, i think as i've said, i think that you want whether it's a sports team or an economy or a company, you want to be at full strength. if you're not at full strength, you will not perform, as well. i think one of the advantages the united states has for all of our problems is that i think compared to japan and other competitors we do have more women in the workforce and i think that is one of our great competitive advantages. and i think there's still barriers to overcome and that policy matters. karen runs the sba. for whatever reason, and i don't understand it, but if it was not for sba, so many more women would not get loans. why? such a higher% and of women are able to get loans from sba, be successful, run businesses, do returns. but they're turned down in disproportionate numbers at banks. i don't know, but i know that's a smart policy thing for us to be doing. it tears down barriers for women but it also is important for job creation so i really do think it is about being a nation at full strength and being conscious of what the barriers are and making sure that for those of us who are on the policy side we are tearing down the discriminatory barriers, tearing down the barriers that are just -- that just exist and are aware and when we're doing policy, be aware where something that is a disproportionate impact. if you're cutting programs, remember that when you're looking at something like the earned income tax credit or the child refundable tax credit, that is going to disproportionately hurt women who are working and struggling to stay out of poverty. and to be, you know, conscious of that as you're thinking at every step line by line of the budget, where your values, what's best for the economy, and in a lot of those cases you have to be very, very conscious of what the impact on young and older women are. >> karen? >> well, as mika said and jean has just said, i want the women out there particularly the women entrepreneurs to know one thing which is that we are there for you across this administration. you'll hear from the president in a minute but his commitment to an inclusive policy, set of policies around entrepreneurship, around access and opportunity is very clear. and we know that that is foundational for making a competitive america. but if you're a woman and you have a small business or you're thinking about being an entrepreneur or you're a young person and you're thinking what am i going to do, this path to being able to own and grow your own business is a place that you can own and we will be there to help you whether it's advice, counseling, access to credit, and just that encouragement to say that you know, you can be powerful, you can be the boss and you can be successful. >> joe? >> sure. and i want to just start just by saying that i was recently in davos as the world economic forum representing our firm. i have to tell you, and we shouldn't lose sight of this, america is still the envy of the world. just got to pause when you make that statement because sometimes we dwell on all the things we can do better and there are lots of them but we're still the envy of the world in virtually every dimension. my view is quite simply, this century will be marked in my opinion and those of my partners by the country whose laws and economic institutions not only create growth but distribute the fruits of that growth in a way that all of its citizens believe is just. and given the percentage of those citizens that are women, that makes a difference. so to me, i believe. i believe america will be that country. >> cece finally? >> well, i'm an eternal optimist and i think we've seen dramatic changes in the last 30, 40 years in our economy and our labor force, and i think we've come a long way. we still have a long way to go but i think we've come a long way. the reason i say i'm an optimist is because i think the economic reality is in order for us to be competitive we need all hands on deck and using every productive citizen. i believe that economic reality will get more firms to be adopting flexible workplaces, more women being more assertive and seeing they have opportunities. i'm pretty optimistic we'll get there. >> we'll leave it there, gene, karen, joe and cece, thank you very much. thank you, everybody. [ applause ] >> just over 30 years ago, president reagan nominated sandra day o'connor to be the first woman on the u.s. supreme court. today, on c-span2, justice o'connor now retired, talks with the three women who followed her to the court. route bader ginsburg, soia sotomayor, and elena kagan live on c-span2 starting at 6:30 eastern.