much stronger than expected jobs report for the month of May, 139,000 on that top line non-farm payroll number, though a bit of a slowdown from April, the unemployment rate holding steady at 4.2% and average hourly earnings clocking in at nearly 4%, jumping up from what we saw in April. For more insight on this morning's report, I want to welcome into the program, Labor Secretary Laurie Chavez DeRemer. Madam Secretary, it's great to see you on this warm, uh, morning in Washington.

Well, I'm excited to be here. It was another great day for the jobs report.

Well, let's talk about your reaction to the jobs report and the state of the health of the job market now.

Well, 139,000 beating expectations for the third month in a row. I think President Trump should pat himself on the back for that leadership and giving us the latitude to go out and work very hard for this jobs report. Um, what we're seeing is hourly you mentioned, um, hourly wages are up as well. Um, this is key for the American people. This is something that has been holding steady, unemployment is holding steady. So, we're we're we're solid on solid footing and we should expect them to keep growing month after month.

And this jobs report coming when tariffs were full blast, uh, just this past week we learned that job openings actually increased more than expected. Do you think that this pace of job creation can continue per month as we go through the year?

Well, if President Trump continues to double down on these types of negotiations and I understand that he's leveling the playing field with these tariff talks and companies continue to invest tens of trillions of dollars, we're going to see, you know, the labor participation rise. We're going to see job growth increase. We're going to see unemployment decrease. And, you know, for instance, I was just with the president last week in, uh, Pittsburgh, um, to talk to the steel workers. The investment there, 14 billion dollars and another 14 billion. They couldn't have been more excited for their local communities to know that the president is fighting on behalf of them. Those are labor jobs. Those are blue collar jobs. Those change people's lives.

You mentioned the labor force participation, right? We did see that drop a bit. Based on what you just said, do you expect a rebound in that? And what do you owe to the drop that we saw at the time?

Absolutely. We we were briefed this morning, uh, by, uh, BLS, uh, Labor Statistics. I mean, really it's statistical noise. Um, it's just what, .2%? So we're seeing that. Um, that that doesn't surprise, I don't think anybody who pays attention to these numbers. What we did see is the increase in the job numbers, the actual increase. Um, as I tour around America at Work, I I I think we talked about it last time. Um, I've been on to 13 states. Um, I am seeing the private sector investing in their local communities as well and working with our community colleges, with our career and technical education systems. They're building centers of excellence in order to have the skilled workforce that they need for their sectors. We saw construction jobs go up. We've seen healthcare jobs go up. We're seeing manufacturing jobs hold steady, but still better than under the Biden administration. So this is an exciting time, uh, for the president. It's an exciting time to see a half a million new jobs since the president took office. Um, and again, I would expect these numbers to continue to climb.

As a labor participation rate dropped, we saw earnings increase. We've also seen immigration drop. I'm curious with all these factors in play, could we see a tighter labor market with higher wages as we go through the year?

Well, I would imagine with what almost 4%, we've seen the hourly wage increase. That matters to, you know, the the everyday worker that they can keep more money in their harder, uh, of their harder money in their own pockets. Um, and and if the labor market does tighten, we're going to create more jobs. That's the focus of this president with our executive orders. 1 million new apprentices. Um, we're going to be, we're going to be focused on spending a lot of those, uh, grant dollars for AI. I'm to focus that. We're training the new native born, uh, Americans are taking most of these jobs. That's what we've seen since the president. Native born Americans have these jobs, these job increases. And then we have young people who are native to AI. And so when we skill them, you can imagine the trajectory that we're going to have in building, uh, the workforce.

Members of the Federal Reserve are expecting that inflation will increase and unemployment will go up as a result of the tariffs, whether that's short-term or long-term. But if we look at the solid jobs report this past month, um, at the same time, we also saw inflation drop in the month of April. Is the Fed wrong?

Well, I think the president is doing a good job about really the holistic approach and the three-legged stool. You know, as the president and and and on top of that, I I I want to talk about this big beautiful bill, because as the president works with Congress in order to secure permanent tax cuts, that also will continue to support the economy. What I know is that the one big beautiful bill that the president is is pushing, it is good for the American people and that is going to create the one big beautiful workforce. And that's the doubling down of the leadership from this president and allowing us to have the latitude to go out and work with private sector jobs in order to create that. So while he'll work with the Feds and while he'll work with the Treasury, um, they'll determine on what's best for the American people and where the pressure comes from there.

Do you think if we do see a hundred percent expensing and depreciation for, uh, for factories and depreciation, I should say, made permanent in this tax bill, what kind of job creation could we see as a result of that, particularly in the manufacturing arena?

Well, when a company can release some of their capital funding to invest right in those manufacturings and have a write-off which this bill, um, allows for, I think it's just another doubling down and that the president has the focus of the American people and the American business at heart. He wants people to flourish. Businesses are wanting to flourish in this country, and that's why you're seeing companies onshore. That's why you're seeing companies come back and invest billions if not trillions of dollars, and that adds up, and then they're going to need that workforce. And so that's my part of the equation where I can come in behind the president, behind commerce, behind treasury and say, we're going to create that workforce, we're going to skill these American workers, and they're going to be ready to go on day one.