jobs, a little interest there. we saw gains if retailers. in the hospitality sector. the reality of those are the folks getting hit hardest who may not have built up a savings and are seeing other income levels. how concerned are you about that impact and is enough being done to help those lower income workers? reporter: certainly, the secretary of labor is concerned about the working person in this country. that s why the president was focussed to pass the american rescue plan. a lot of that money given out, people complained about getting an additional $300. these are the folks that benefitted from that, were from low wage jobs, making sure we had rental assistance, focus on people with low wage jobs. so there has been a lot of emphasis on that. president biden is talking about those folks in low wage jobs with the ability to move into the middle class.
about 20% in america have access to paid leave. for lower income workers, middle income workers, they just don t have it and they have to make tough decisions. and usually for children, a parent has to quit their job. and it is hard to get rehired, and when they do they tend to be at a bottom rung, a low wage. it happens to women overand overagain and it s why two-thirds of minimum wage workers are women. it s a sticky floor and they can t get off of it. i m going to keep fighting for it. we can t be in the package today, but it will be in the next one tomorrow and i will keep working until we get it done. one of your colleagues was quoted assaying we re not going to let one man tell millions of women in this country they can t have paid leave. speaking of senator manchin. she is quite right, neither
president boyden can show leadership. we don t know where buttigieg is. president biden focused on the wealthy and on corporations whispering them to pay their fair share. when it comes to middle class americans, lower income workers, blue collar workers, he s screaming at them loud and clear, pay more than your fair share because inflation, the gas prices, all of the things that are more expensive and not getting better in a build back better program initiative isn t working. it s build back broke. american people are feeling it every day. what we need to have is leadership. conservative free enterprise principle. i don t think this administration is doing it. i don t think they care. shannon: i think they care about america. we want our economy to improve. but the president keeps dividing in some ways and he keeps talking about top wage earners and top corporations and people who are not paying their fair share. we dug up the numbers.
with not the model that we had for 30 years. it s like really promising. and people starting businesses, moving, in saying they don t want to maybe do these service jobs that they had to do. where they were not willing to do it for $12 an, hour they ll do it for 20. that s to me is an exciting future, that we might be entering into. i think you. ray i think it s an exciting future, i think a lot of things that are happening right, now especially if you look at where wages are, growing their growing among the lowest income workers. people work in hotels and restaurants. that s a fantastic thing. i think it would offer a synthesis, which is at the same time you are seeing, a critique of 30 years of of liberalism. rebels think about a quality agenda, how do we redistribute goods are created. we need an abundance agenda. how do we make stuff, so we can distribute it later. derek thompson, great reporting, great discussion, thanks so much. thank you. coming up, so where did those
nursing homes because that s been a real problem in the pandemic. and so they have to take and then being sick. last month, from the bureau of labor statistics, 1.6 million people reported being sick. that s a lot of sick people, and so, you know, just can t go to work. so, i think it s all of those things, and it s also pay. i mean, i think lower income workers realize, because of the pandemic, they re taking some risks here, and they want to be compensated for it, and given the environment they re in, they can ask for those higher wages and they ll get it. okay. moody s mark zandi, i enjoyed the chat. past the president s infrastructure bill, prepare for a midterm reckoning. that s the message from a group of house members in swing districts, and one of them joins me next. bers in swing districts, and one of them joins me next. there are beautiful ideas that remain in the dark.