Labor Secretary says jobs ‘still positive’published at 14:56 British Summer Time
14:56 BST
Bernd Debusmann Jr
Reporting from the White House
Image source, Bernd Debusmann Jr / BBC
Here at the White House, we’ve so far seen National Economic Council Director and Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer outside, doing TV hits to discuss the jobs figures.
Chavez-DeRemer rushed inside the West Wing after her TV interviews, and declined to speak to a large group of reporters who were standing nearby.
But moments before, she was on Fox Business, noting that while the jobs “underperformed, just a bit”, they are “still positive”.
“Almost half a million jobs have been created since the president took office,” she said, instead laying the blame for the figures on the Fed and Jerome Powell for not lowering interest rates.
“It’s going to take some time, but when everybody is working for the American people and the American worker, and somebody chooses not to, and is instrumental in those decisions that effect the market, that effect the wage growth….do your job.” She said Powell “should be embarassed” by the jobs report.
She also denied that tariffs have anything to do with the slowing job market.
“Tariffs are working,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “Companies are investing in the American workforce. We’re seeing consumer confidence up, and real wages up, year-over-year.”