Labor Sec. Walsh: ‘If We’re in a Recession, Companies Would Be Laying People off Rather than Hiring Them’

EXCERPT:

WALSH: "Well, certainly something out there today we’re hearing, if we’re in a recession, companies would be laying people off rather than hiring them. We saw people hiring not at record numbers, but in big numbers, obviously. I think a lot of companies are still growing, a lot of companies are still adding people on. We have seen all the jobs that were lost pre-pandemic recovered from the pandemic. We saw the unemployment rate 3.5% today, the day before the pandemic was 3.6%, so we’re seeing lowering numbers there and we’re seeing people go back to work. In certain areas we’re seeing education, local education numbers going higher, we've seen retail up, and manufacturing, quite honestly, is probably for me one of the most exciting, biggest surprises we have because we have seen not just that industry recover since the pandemic, but we have seen that go beyond that. And then now with the Chips Bill that the President will sign into law next week, we’re going to have the opportunity to really create more opportunities for manufacturing in the United States, particularly around semiconductors."