White House reacts after mediocre jobs report

[00:00:00] Speaker 1: All right, we want to turn to our other big story this morning. We just got the September jobs report, and it fell short of economists' expectations. Employers added 29,000 jobs, and the unemployment rate just barely ticked up to 4.2%. Both July and August, employment numbers were also revised downwards. Let's bring in CBS News business producer Emily Pandice, who's at the New York Stock Exchange for us this morning. Emily, good to see you. So, what do you make of these numbers? [00:00:26] Speaker 2: Hey, good morning, Vlad, Adriana. It's great to be here. So, really, this is, as you said, you know, a little bit of a job gain. The unemployment rate staying kind of the same. This is a very mediocre jobs report. The good thing here is that the unemployment rate actually went up for a good reason. It's because more people entered the labor force, more people are looking for a job. That is a good thing overall, and that's kind of why that, even if they haven't found a job just yet, that's a good thing overall for the economy. And, you know, this continues to show the economy is good on paper. 29,000 jobs is not nothing. It's not the, quote-unquote, blockbuster jobs report we had last month. But, you know, in sectors like health care, in sectors like manufacturing and construction, jobs continue to be added. And one report we saw earlier this week showed that layoffs are down quite a bit from this time a year ago. So, overall, we're still in that low-hire, low-fire place in the economy where things are still going okay for right now. [00:01:24] Speaker 3: Talk about, you know, the jobs reports from July and August because they were revised down. So, what do you make of that? [00:01:33] Speaker 2: So, that means that the economy didn't add nearly as many jobs as we thought it did. It actually added 60,000 fewer jobs than we anticipated. There were some things, especially in the August jobs report, that seemed a little, I mean, not off. But I think a lot of people were surprised by the number of jobs that were added in the hospitality sector, all those restaurant jobs that we thought were maybe going to be added earlier in June and July when the World Cup was happening. I think the other important thing in this jobs report, too, is, and this is something we all have been feeling throughout the economy for years now, is that there's this tension between how much money people are taking home in their paychecks and how quickly the cost of goods and services are rising. So, in this September jobs report, wages rose annually just 3 percent. But remember, in last month's inflation report, prices were up 3.4 percent year over year. So, that's kind of leading to those, like, still not great consumer confidence numbers that have been dropping. Like, that's that tension that people feel where it's like, well, the economy is good on paper, but people still might not feel good about it. That's exactly the tension we're seeing playing out there. [00:02:40] Speaker 3: Especially when they're checking out at the supermarket. Emily Pandeyes, thank you so much. [00:02:46] Speaker 1: All right. For more on this, I want to bring in CBS News Senior White House and Political Correspondent Ed O'Keefe. Ed, any word from the White House yet to this latest jobs report? [00:02:54] Speaker 4: Yeah. So, the White House saying in part, look, the president has grown. More than a million private sector jobs under the last year and a half or so. In September, the private sector added jobs, which they did, 29,000, but that was below estimates. Labor participation rose. The White House says, while President Trump has shrunk the federal bureaucracy to the lowest level since the 1960s, the economy added 9,000 manufacturing jobs, 12,300 factory construction jobs. They say proof the president's re-industrial adjacent agenda is working. The wages are up over the past year, core inflation is down, and everyday Americans are reaping the rewards of the strong Trump economy. It's on the inflation number there that people might quibble, but core inflation being the one, if I'm not mistaken, that doesn't include gas prices or energy prices. It's technically correct, but obviously it's the energy prices that are driving up the price of everything else for the most part. So, yes, the argument he makes, of course, is on paper, and when you measure things, the economy remains strong. The issue for him politically, and this is what he's dealing with as he's out on the road this entire month, is Americans don't think that overall, and they think he's doing a pretty poor job of managing the economy to the extent that any president can. [00:04:06] Speaker 3: So, he is going out on the road, like you just said, and going to be really just trying to shore up excitement for Republicans ahead of the midterms, but this comes at a time where some Republicans are trying to create distance between themselves and the president. What can we expect from this campaigning of the president coming up? [00:04:23] Speaker 4: So, look at where he went last night and where he's headed in the next few days as indicators of where his head is at on who it is he's trying to help out here. It was Texas and Oklahoma last night to deal with the Ken Paxton U.S. Senate campaign against Democrat James Tallarico, and then up to Oklahoma where they have a maybe more competitive than expected gubernatorial race, but also he wanted to help out his preferred opponent there. He heads to Mobile, Alabama today, which, if you look at the map, is just west of the Florida Panhandle, which is a very Republican area of the Sunshine State, where they're holding competitive gubernatorial, congressional, and to some extent, Senate races, and if they don't turn out those Republican-based voters that live in those parts of the country, they're going to have a worse night than they're fearing right now. There are some official events happening there in Mobile today. There's a big bridge just being open. The transportation secretary is also down there for that, so he gets a chance to be presidential and political on that trip. Dayton, Ohio tomorrow night, Republican area of the Buckeye State that, of course, has been trending Republican for the last 12 years or so. But John Husted's in a tough re-election fight for his Senate seat. Vivek Ramaswamy as well. Monday, it's to Nebraska. There'll be other stops as well throughout the next 32 days. I'm losing track. 32 days. I thought he was counting. Where's the whiteboard? It's somewhere up in New York. Okay, we'll send it back to you. We're keeping it dry before we get up there. [00:05:40] Speaker 3: Okay, perfect. [00:05:41] Speaker 4: Thanks, Ed. [00:05:42] Speaker 3: Thanks.