Labor secretary pressed on why many GOP-led states have stronger job markets
Marty Walsh dodges question about why Republican states lead in labor participation on 'Varney'
Labor secretary pressed on why many GOP-led states are doing better with job creation
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh dodges a question about which states are bouncing back in the job market.
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh joined "Varney & Co." Friday to respond to the May jobs report, which fell short of expectations, detailing a 61.6% labor participation with 559,000 new jobs added. But when pressed on why many GOP-led states are doing better with job creation and economic recovery than their Democrat-led counterparts, Walsh was unable to answer, saying he didn't "have the facts in front of [him.]"
MARTY WALSH: We've seen over 540,000 jobs added in the last four months here in the United States. We've seen the greatest growth in the last 40 years in our economy. We've seen people going back to work. We're coming out of a pandemic… We're going in the right direction.
We still have a ways to go, but we're going in the right direction. And I don't feel we should be penalizing people that aren't working now.
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FOX BUSINESS HOST STUART VARNEY: But those GOP-run states, all 25 of them are doing well. In fact, most of them are doing better than the 25 Democratic states, which are still keeping the $300 a week.
WALSH: Well, I mean, I'm not going to get into a debate with you on that right now because I don't have the facts in front of me. I would probably argue that I wouldn't agree with that statement...
But I am focused on what we're talking about today, is the job plan. I'm talking about the growth that we have been talking about, that President Biden's plan is working. We're going to continue to move forward here.
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We saw growth in hospitality and leisure and restaurants, the largest growth for the last two months. And that's a good thing. A lot of the restaurants and businesses that we're saying that people aren't coming back to work because of the $300 are actually in those industries.
And we're seeing those industries coming back, which is a great thing to do for our country, to see those industries coming back, seeing hospitality come back, seeing travel come back. It's great to see that.
Labor secretary says 'too early' to stop federal unemployment benefits
Labor Secretary Marty Walsh argued it's too early to have the conversation about extending or halting weekly federal unemployment benefits following the May jobs report.