temporary help now. 2000 is the peak and we have dropped from that. in 1990, it was a one million -person industry. it has grown a lot and changed a lot. we have never seen a drop like this before, but temporary help has never been this big. >> financial indicators indicating we are headed in the right direction, do you think we have seen the worst in whatever you want to call it, recession, depression, or compression. i call it compression with the job losses and shrinking. >> the trend is encouraging. i don't want to predict, because it's like anything else because things can change going forward, but the trend is encouraging. >> with some positive news, the trend is encouraging. thank you for your testimony and hard work. this meeting is adjourned.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by national captioning institute]. . feel better about looking for 1." we heard from the city of cleveland earlier. let's go out to las vegas where jeff simpson is on the phone, jeff simpson is on the phone, executive editor of "in las vegas." so much of what we read about your city has to do with the housing market. how are things? guest: the morning.

our housing market is complicated because we are losing population, or at least not gaining population as fast as we were for most of the past few decades. we have paced the nation in terms of population growth, and that really prop up our housing market, but that growth has slowed down. last year we were about flat, and it looks like 2009 is going the same way. so between that and the rapid depreciation of our homes, has really been sort of a one-two punch along with the subprime mortgage crisis and the very high number of foreclosures we have had. and so it has been a very tough housing market here, and that has contributed greatly to our unemployment rate. which in las vegas is 12.3%. the state is 12%.

many of those unemployed folks were connected in one way or another with the housing industry, many of them construction workers and a lot of them, a lot of other folks connected directly or indirectly to those businesses. host: what could be a turning point for las vegas? what are local and state folks trying to do? guest: the biggest turning point will be the broader national economy. we are still a tourist-based economy. so the natural -- so the national downtick today, just a 10th of a point, still in the encouraging signs nationally can help us if folks believe around the country that times may have hit bottom and might be rebounding. that will improve consumer confidence and make people more likely to take a weekend trip or

a visit to las vegas. that obviously helps us. secondly, if the jobless rate actually does start to drop, we will have people with more money to spend when they get here, and folks in las vegas, obviously there would be more folks working here as well. so we would have an increase in employment or a rebound in the unemployment numbe let's tomorrow and look at the latest unemployment records. then a discussion about secretary of state hillary clinton's tour of africa with the assistant of state for african affairs. we will look at legislation that will get the federal government control over to the loans. our guest will be william shaffner.

a little later, a discussion about the resignation of senator mel martinez. "washington journal" live on c- span. >> is today the senate confirmed judge sonia sotomayor as he knows supreme court justice. it begins october 5. it this saturday on c-span what highlights from the senate floor debate at 7:00 p.m. eastern on "america and the course of " coming this fall, into the home to america is higher score, the supreme court. the phenomenon of facebook and the success of this social networking site and hal it tore into the stands apart. -- and how it toward two best friends apart. >> and now a briefing on said it -- hillary clinton posed africa trip.

-- and now a briefing on hillary clinton's africa trip. this is 10 minutes apar. >> welcome to the briefing. happy friday. i have one thing for you. i'll give you an update about the africa trip. she has been touring south africa today. she is holding meetings with the prime minister did the foreign minister. -- she is all the meetings of the prime minister, president, foreign minister she is scheduled to give a speech. she is scheduled to attend a national woman's day dinner. with that we are ready to take your question.

>> anything on the pakistani taliban leader? >> we have not been able to confirm anything at this time. >> there is the fight against taliban and al qaeda. how important? >> they have been responsible for a number of atrocious terrorist attacks. we will continue to work with other countries to fight terrorism. this is one individual who has been responsible for carrying out heinous acts. we will continue to go after those people who do that. >> the foreign minister has said -- >> [unintelligible] a do not want to speculate about

what is may or may not mean. this is a long-term struggle. we are going to continue to try to confront that challenge as best we can with their partners around the world. we realize this is going to be a long-term struggle. >> [unintelligible] >> as i suggest today and the date before, i was not privy to the conversation that the president -- former president had. he was on a humanitarian issu mission.

we want to continue on the path. >> do you have any more on the degrees for the two journalists? >> we will try to get that for you. i've not heard anything yet. my understanding was that there was going to be some type of government briefing with president clinton. that is not in the schedule at this time. >> the note the time of his recollections and what happened? -- do you know the time of his recollections and what happened? >> is dependent upon the schedule. >> on guantanamo can you confirm that portugal said it was taking two guantanamo detainees? >> portugal has announced it

will release them from the guantanamo bay detention facility. we are grateful for the government and portugal. -- and the leadership they exhibited. this position has help facilitate discussions. we are encouraged so many of our allies held our efforts to close guantanamo bay facility. we hope richter to go -- with a particle continue to act with us. >> will they take them into custody? >> we are still figuring out the details. it is an important step of portugal has agreed to take. >> do you have anything on the reports published by the "washington post" today saying that i ran is not able to

produce a nuclear bomb before 2013? >> he been was standard practice, we do not talk about intelligence matters. we do not want to go any further on that. >the only thing i can tell you s that i really do not have an update. the embassy is still trying to get information. we do not have the information yet. we were not able to confirm. there is no reason to doubt all the reports that have evolved that they are hiding a bomb. we do not have come from asian -- we do not have confirmation. >> this is on switzerland's about the agreement between the u.s. and the swiss government on how to deal with the ubs.

it seems there is some hold up that the agreement is not final and there are still issues to be worked out. i am wondering if the agreement is in danger of falling apart? >> i am not aware that it is in danger of falling apart. beyond that i do not have anything to add. >> can you give us an update? you do nothing the agreement is in danger? >> i am not aware that. >> isn't obama's a chief counsel saying that hot blood -- that hoat [unintelligible] they are trying to put space in

the political process in an intimate fashion. can you elaborate on this issue? have you changed your issues toward hezbollah? >> but me be very clear. hizbollah is a terrorist organization. we do not make any distinction between the political and military wings. that is our policy. until they will stock carrying out acts of. until they stop carrying out acts of terrorism, there is no reason. >i have not seen this. i can tell you u.s. policy is there seem to be moderate elements that are changing? >> that remains to be seen. i am not an expert on hezbollah.

our policy has not changed. >> [unintelligible] >> the u.s. government policy is this. i have not seen remarked. i am sure she is not saying the united states is making a distinction between the two branches. >> are you opening of the door to the possibility that if certain members of hezbollah were to announce violence of the united states could do business? >> it appears she may have been speculating on what may happen if hezbollah did this or that, but they have not done this or that. our policy has not changed. w>> is there a difference in opinion between state department and the white house on this? obama was talking about how there could be certain members

of hezbollah that are changing their tune. >> our policy is very clear on hezbollah. the question of whether not there are people inside of that organization that may want to take a different approach were tracke, it could very will be. in terms of dealing with them as an organization, it is a force of instability in the region. >> there were reports of election monitors who were harassed and give a commission and some were detained. do you have anything to say about that? >> what i recall is that the july 29 elections -- there were international observers that

said the elections were generally orderly and calm. the issued a preliminary assessment. beyond that, i really do not have an idea. >> [unintelligible] >> absolutely. happy weekend, everyone. >> this week and sees impose a newsmaker, lamar alexander on health care, the economy, and legislative priorities when congress returns. >> the democrats are feeling the fire by saying it a punch, punch back. they are raising the issue. they are calling protesters names. everybody needs to settle down.

good manners are a good thing. first amendment rights are important. if you shoot someone down, you are distorting -- destroying that person and what they have to say. we should not be calling these protesters and names. -- names because they do not like being dumped in a government program. they are scared. they are wary. they saw congress tried to run through a bill they did not like and they wanted to find out more about the wanted officials to know how they felt about it. good manners are important. other than that, we have the right to say how we feel and most of us are rigorous exchanges. b>> this sunday at 10:00 a.m. and 6:00 p.m. eastern. >> now a panel discussion on a

concerted college literature. it is part of the 31st natural conservative student conference. this is just over an hour. >> welcome. the foundation is a premier organization to educate students on the principles of limited government, strong national defense, and values. it also host a campus lecture series. we have many speakers. for more informations about this, i urge you all to go to www.yaf.org. now for the moderator. dr. lee edwards is a distinguished fellow at the

heritage foundation, and professor of politics, and chairman of the victims of communism memorial foundation. his works have been translated into many languages. he was the founding director for journalism at georgetown university. he is the past president -- >> yes appeared on many television radio programs and has been published in many articles of the wall street journal, human events, and the american spectator. he has a bachelor's in english from to university and a

graduate work and has received his ph.d.. he currently resides in virginia. i ask you to join me in welcoming one of the best intellectuals in the conservative movement, dr. lee edwards. [applause] >> thank you. good morning ladies and gentlemen. it is a beautiful day in washington and a great day to be alive. especially if you are a young conservative. [applause] we sitting here on the stage and you sitting there in the audience are agreed on one thing, books. they can change a life and even the course of history. they certainly made a profound difference in the life of ronald reagan. in mid october of 1965, my wife

and i spent two days traveling with reagan in southern california when he was considering whether to run for governor of that state. at the end of the second day, reagan took us up to a winding road to his home in the pacific palisades overlooking los angeles to service -- to serve us some iced tea and cookies. while he and nancy were in the kitchen, i walked over to the bookcases and and began examining the tight. they were almost without exception works of history, an ex -- economics, and politics. they included the road to serfdom, of a good witness" -- and a local of the road to witness".

that is not good enough for me. i began taking out the books on the shelves and looking at them for the. white women not to. i said it was ok. -- my wife told me not to. i said it was ok. here i realize it was the personal library of a serious, thoughtful individual who had arrived at his conservatism the old fashion way, one look at the time. history is filled with examples of books that inspired and motivated for good and for evil. without crop marks's manifesto marxism might have remained an obscure theory and not become the power that caused the death

of an estimated million victims in the 20th century. without "common sense " quit the merkel parliament and of have been inspired to challenge the greatest military power on eart. some posted gutenberg modernists argue that new media have rendered books and irrelevant. in our 247 society you'd hear the comment i do not have time to read. as one u.s. president was want to say, "poppycock" in recent

survey of conservatives should books have made a lifelong difference in their actions. one said -- sally said it was the party for college curriculum but it gave credence to my own views which on campus were seen as on popular and even radical. economics was a lesson to serve as a guiding light not only throughout college board. but throughout my career. every american student should read "one day in the life of the bond in the savage." he said that it explains why we fought the cold war and why we won it. barry goldwater's saidlay the

foundation for all that is good and worthwhile and the modern conservative movement. i am happy to note young americans foundation agrees with goodman's assessment and published a paperback edition back in 1990. maybe it is time for another edition. let me at the titles of a couple my favorite books. of " the roots of american order." it is a story of the house by cities, athens, rome, jerusalem, london, and philadelphia shaped america. "days gone by." this is a beautiful written autobiography by the founder of the american service of

movement. "ethnic america." our foremost black intellectual examine some of the ethnic groups, jewish, irish, african- american, that make america and suggests why some have had a greater impact than others. let me be clear about one thing. a book is a book is a book. it is not a step or a scrap or fragment. a book contains thousands of words, hundreds of pages, which permit the author to thoroughly developed his ideas and arguments were characters in a novel. it does not have to be printed on paper. audio books prove that. our like to say a few complimentary words about the kindle, the electronic reader.

the candle is about the size of a book. it weighs less than a pound. it can hold more than 200 books and offers access to several hundred thousand titles at about $10 a pop. i must confess, i prefer the printed and bound book. there is something tactile and titillating about holding a book in your hands like holding your wife in your arms. successful breedinreading requis three things, sense of self discipline, a personal library, and good guidance. the might add that you also need a good lamp, a comfortable chair, and your favorite non- alcohol and beverage.

i realize that self discipline is not a popular virtue these days. for conservatives, self discipline, the ability to apply yourself to a goal, is vital if you want to learn what is really important and apply that knowledge in your lives. the building of a small personal library, and i emphasize small, will take time. it will be impeded by the fact that we live in an age that is reluctant to except the idea that something such as books are better than others. conservatives know that sound books about the human condition and about the civil and social order that arouse healthy and a little reaction to preserve

order, justice, and freedom. i do not hesitate to suggest the reading the right fbooks --all of you having given a bookmark listing 101 books in the heritage died. -- guide. one of the best books is a "how to read a book on " it was first published in 1940 and revised and updated many times. here are a couple of axioms. passive reading is impossible. we cannot read with our eyes immobilized and our minds as the. -- asleep. do not try to understand every word or page of a difficult book the first time through.

breaking down your reaction will help you remember the thought of the author. i can attest that ronald reagan followed this advice. books, especially history and philosophy, should be read in relation to each other. you cannot properly understand the federal estate unless you also read the declaration of independence in the u.s. constitution. the best book reward you into ways. there is the improvement in your reading skill. more importantly, you become wiser about yourself and about the great and enduring truths of human life. what difference can books make? i like the answer of jeffrey nelson a former college president, now executive vice president of isi. books of the right kind by men

and women of the imagination are indispensable in the flourishing of order, freedom, justice, and the authentic progress of civilization. so, let the reading began. first let me introduce our panel. harry crocker, a former journalist and speech writer who spent the last several years as a book editor handling mostly critical books here in washington, d.c. the author of several best- selling historical works including his latest book "the political incorrect guide to the civil war." it has been praised by the "washington times" among others for its great scholarship, storytelling, and great fun. a graduate of vanderbilt university, dr. benjamin is a

senior at the discovery institute in washington university and the st. paul center for physical theology. his most recent and provocative book is "10 books of that screwed up the world." dr. elizabeth cantor is the editor of the conservative book club, a contributor to human events. she is a ph.d. in english at the university of north carolina in chapel hill. it held inspired her to write " the politically incorrect guide to the english and american literature." please join me in welcoming our first panelist, harry crocker. [applause]

>> i've worked in the book business most my working life. i remember [unintelligible] was once asked -- there are using recommend a book for christmas -- i asked him a book he would recommend. he said, for you americans, i think you should start with the bible and shakespeare and work your way up from there. likewise, i think we need to start with the bible. i the myself to more less 10 books. it seems to me fundamental to read the bible, aside from whatever divine nature we might be privy to, we cannot be a bitter person in western

civilization without the bible. i'm not overly concerned with what religion he may choose. i think it is important to read the king james. they are all good. it is fundamental to read the bible. [applause] i also think the most important subject is history. history is experience of all this. wilder rant who wrote the history [unintelligible] said a western civilization is caesar and christ. i think it could read virtually

any roman historian -- you the all-star was caesar's commentaries, especially if you like action. there is something about the roman world. it is very important to understand. when i was growing up in 1960, one early thing that clung to me was this fear of decline. in large part, it is driven by military history. this was during the vietnam war. i'd seen the fall of saigon. i thought this could be it. it could be a social upheaval. for me, when i grow up to the an active participant a public affairs, michael was to stop

this. my goal was to stop its decline. when the books are rightead, there is one by montesquieu -- it was about the decline in the romans. you cannot find a poke. an equally good one is by machiavelli. it deals a some the same questions. these are both practical books. they are trying to draw eternal lessons about government. you should also read into the grain of salt, the decline and fall of the roman empire. he can read the whole thing with his tremendous. tertial must have read the whole thing when music -- churchill may have read the whole thing

when he was in india. [unintelligible] he is very right about a lot of things, too. it is splendid reading. and then burkeeveryone would lis book on their list, but i hope all of you have read and absorbed. if you have not, i encourage you to do so. the first time i came to washington and that started interacting with my fellow conservatives, i thought you must not have read this book. there is a party that was thrown by a famous person right now. he had a celebration the french revolution party, because it was a great show of libertarianism and democracy. i said you have got to be kidding. i thought it was crazy then and i think it is crazy now. it seems to be vital and

crucial and true, things that people take the wrong way. the age of chivalry is gone. how many conservatives today actually have no problem with that? how many of us today would say -- the great thing about burke is that he is so [unintelligible] never more [unintelligible] it kept the spirit of an exalted freedom. who talks like that now? he also supports things like a dignified obedience, a subordination of the heart.

sometimes in a celebration of freedom we detract a more important baseline value. burke is rate of pointing out how to do is predict pugilism and monarchy were essential to government -- how feudalism and monarchy were essential to government. we should think about that, too. [unintelligible] burke talks about --a local some of its, "fear both keying in subjects should be extinct in the minds of men [unintelligible] it forms a political code of all

power, standing on its own." get rid of these ties between people and you have only brute force. he warned us that if we took away tradition was one the most bible things in life. he said in this scheme of things, making but the man, a queen is but a woman, a woman is but an animal, and an animal is not the highest order. i do not think many of us want to go there. i think you should read "the life of johnson." he has almost biblical authority. he, too, like a burke is fun to read. he tells us the first liberal

was the devil. he is a great reminder of something -- especially those involved in politics -- you can forget it predict it is a famous line a loce "[unintellig] politics is not the be all and end all of life. i heartily agree with russell kirk. the conservative mind is essential reading. all politics are really moral questions. that is very true. we americans to some of the bible and shakespeare. if you want the participants in politics, you need to learn about leadership in a good way

to learn about it is shakespeare's henry the fifth. henry the fifth was a rousing, ststirring battle cry of a play. it ends on a very downer note. i think that is important, too. it reminds us that all political lives end in failure. with this image, that is the nature of politics and the nature of life. i figure that is very true as well. my ninth book -- one thing we forget about is that we conservatives are already -- always play defense -- with the what kind we do we forget about

what society would really like to have. i think you should live to fiction, novels, books that deal with individuals and how they live their lives. the book that always work for me is a by a war poet, tremendously brave officer, almost unbelievably brave. he rode a -- wrote a trilogy novel called the complete memoirs of george schritstaqn. it is very autobiographical. poetry's very sarcastic. the book is completely the reverse.

it is beautiful. it is beautifully written. it shows an incredibly tolerant thought. [unintelligible] it shows a young man growing up in england and learning country's ports and leading what to my mind a life lived in a truly conservative society, a society where politics is very remote. the people naturally have a christian order to their life. it is a book from the early 20th century. we've been -- it may be that we need the active duty and politics. the goal is not to make it all hyper political. i often hear people say you should go to the school board

and get more women involved. i disagree. better to abolish the school board and have volunteers. [applause] my last book is a book by george orwell. several these people i mentioned one of card-carrying conservatives. i think it is still worthwhile. orwell's political journalism -- if you look of these things out -- as outstanding examples of style. i'm a professional book editor. i would say 02 or well. orwell is honest. he is very honest. his a painful honesty makes

many -- he defends conservative values. crucially, as we go down this path, it is a sense of language as it should be. orwell is one of these first really great authors who is focused on how the pasteurization of language is a political act. that is my short list. i'll take questions after we all. thank you very much. [applause] >> i'm going to give you really

good, great books and really great, evil books. i'll start with the latter. that way there are more exciting in the worst sense. it easier to get into sometimes been a really good book about the things. as dawn to recognize, there is always a question about what the state of our soul is. i wrote one book called "the 10 books the script the world." my editor many as five more to that. it is really 15. there are several very good reasons to read great comic evil books. you need to understand that evil and degeneration in society is the result of great intelligence gone awry.

that is the deformation of what makes the smallest team in. we need to understand that great, bad things can only be caused by a great man. great evil men write great comic evil books. we live in evil times. we need to understand those books that have most malformed our current culture. we do not want to excuse people as people do when they get caught by saying that i made a mistake or i did something stupid. it is evil and we need to understand what deep and profound evil is. what should you read to know some the most profound teachers of evil? machiavelli's book is one of the best of all time.

he is an influential author. if you've ever studied the history of england, you understand how far machiavelli went in destroying england. thomas,'s "leviathan." i almost do not have to open a newspaper by reading this. it is the textbook, it is the heart of modern liberalism. it is focused on rights rather than virtu. it opens up exactly what is going on now. that is a book published in 1651. it is important to read to people who have been dead for long enough to be wise. the second discourse is written in the middle of the 1700's.

rusoo gives us the text before the sexual revolution and destruction of the family. he is also the grandfather of marxism. you should go back to the sources, even further back and some of the most famous books and russo gives us the self destroying man. we have all too many of those. charles darwin "the descent of man." it is the source of the reduction of human beings from being made in the image of god to being just another animal that should be treated just as we treat animals. if you want to know what goes on behind our comprehensive health care push, you should read the decent a man. that will form the spirit of them.

let's get to some good books. great, good books are sold changing. they are the things that will let you know you have a soul and what it was made for. college is a time when you will have enough leisure, i hope, you have to make their leisure, to study these great books. i'm going to list two to begin with that had the most effect on me. it was like getting slammed by an intellectual to buy for. reed donte's "divine comedy" again and again. it read it with a translation and commentary by one of the great minds of the 20th century, dorothy sayers. her commentary ialone is an insight into what it means to

have a universe ordered by wisdom in love. plato's "republic." cannot say enough about it. i felt as if i was wrong and dry after reading a. what you understand is that the order of your whole is a reflection of the order of the regime in which to live. if you live in a this ordered regime, to almost cannot help to have a disorders sold and this order soles make dis ordered regimes so that they are reciprocally related. you have a relationship between the city and the sole and plate to provide an astounding analysis -- and soul and plato provide an astounding analysis. we are now at the point of extreme democracy followiallingo

tyranny. reid proverbs -- reed proverbs -- read robbers. we hold wisdom at a minimum. everything is passion based. proverbs 3 introduces you to the kind of practical wisdom about human things that should find the basis of our way of life. i agree absolutely with dr. crocker that our imaginations need to be retrained. they are almost entirely correct. our imaginations should be trained by wisdom not by twittering and the equivalent of

a morning cartoons that has become our news services. you need something that deeply passions your imagination. a highly recommend shakespeare because he compels you to slow down. you cannot speak -- spare. if you do, you should feel as if you have violated it. i would read as much jane austen as possible. that means everything she wrote. jane austen needs to be read. what is so wonderful about her is the fact that there are marvelous movies othat are done on her novels. there is nothing wrong with movies. if you watch sense and sensibility or pride and prejudice, you will be trained to love only a great movie.

-- as to be trained to only love a great novel. you have a distaste for what is aware, chief, and dollars. the bogor and the cheap in a thoughtless is what role does now. -- the vulgar and the cheap and the palace is what rules us now. on that note, i will leave you. [applause] >> it is a great privilege to be able to talk to you. i'm not going to give you a list. partly because this book is essentially full of reading lists, eight of them, one for each of the first eight

chapters it goes to the whole history of literature written in english. instead of telling you are urging you to read certain books, what i want to do is try to persuade you on a theory of how to pick books. essentially, i'm going to make the case that not just those that if you want to stamp all the politics, it is absolutely crucial that you not spend these formative years of your life reading political books, especially if they do not read about the contemporary politics. there is plenty of time for you to read about contemporary politics later. the books that you ought to be reading down our classic.

books that made it into the canon not for political reasons but for reasons of quality, because they were the best books. they were the books that were superior in truth and goodness and beauty. and talking from plato to elliot that the central to college curriculum up until about the time the you all were born. you probably have heard the story of how in 1987 students marched across a campus with jesse jackson chanting. from the late 1980's was the time when people reconfigured the requests. they got rid of the bad old dead white male and replace it with

others picked for their gender or their politics or their ethnicity or their sexual orientation or for some sort of victim status. not all the classics completely disappeared. colleges still taught aristotle, shakespeare, but they began to teach those classics really differently. and when to give an example about shakespeare. traditionally, for 400 years, literary critics and intelligent readers said three things about shakespeare -- they said he was universal, he is not of an acre. they said he mirrored nature. there is something real about what shakespeare put in his place.

-- plays. thirdly they said "beautiful poetry." english professors were still teaching shakespeare for those reasons. they wanted to put their students in touch with something that was universally interesting that taught things about human nature in the way you cannot get anywhere else and that was a fabulous example of a peaceful work of art. in the late 20th century, professors started teaching shakespeare in a different way. chaser became an example of -- shakespeare became an example of what is a presence in western society and in some cases they said it actually causes the evils of western civilization.

of the a couple of quotes from professors. ." -- i will give you a couple " from professors.

.

[captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2009] [captioning performed by the national captioning institute] >> i do believe, and i hope people have argued with me, i do believe we should be gracious in

our arguments with the left. we should listen. i reach far more liberals by listening to their arguments, and when they do throw a few facts out, i'm able to answer them, or i try to point by point, i promise them i will get back to them, i do believe we should be gracious. we should not be arrogant and condescending. that's part of who we are. i think most often people argue with that tone and tenor. there are some who are satirical and they are sarcastic, and they are successful in that for our cause, and they throw some of these bombshells into a discussion, and they go to a liberal campus where a -- where students have never heard this concept before, and you know what they do?

they create discussion and debate and energy where it has never existed before. they open up the free exchange of ideas. >> i appreciate the clarification. >> my name is brian hacket. i attend the college of new jersey in new jersey. how would you respond to republicans, many of whom are in the new jerseyian republican party, who say we can't within if we act conservative. how do we win when conservatives want us to ignore conservatives and run democrat-like and therefore not win? >> where are all the women, by the way asking questions? i need more women up here. i have been here, and not many women are asking questions.

nobody will notice when you get up and do it. go on. that's a problem that the republican party has because a lot of these establishment types say is the only way we can win is by reaching out to the middle, and i would ask them to look at george h.w. bush's campaign when he broke the no new taxes pledge, and as a result, conservatives did not vote for him and we got bill clinton. there are ways in which we need to be more effective -- conservatives need to be effective in reaching out to moderates because there are some intensely liberal areas. and we still want to win. we want to win everywhere. conservatives want to win everywhere. i think that's fine in certain areas, but across the board, as conservatives, we need to continually articulate a conservative message. because if we don't, then the

republican party, which is aside from conservativism, the republican party will be controlled by moderates, and we will lose the pillars, the pillars on which the republican party has been founded, and it will fall apart. when there is no difference between republicans and democrats, people are going to vote for democrats. they are just more cozy, they have mastered that language that we haven't always mastered. >> thank you. god bless you. >> hi, kate. i'm lisa castle from the kings college. i agreed with what you were saying about sarah palin and how the left has viciously attacked her. as conservatives, it's ruthless to join in on that when she is a lot of what we need. but i do have another question.

part of me asks this -- why did she run for vice president? she stepped down from her gfership for bankruptcy -- governorship, for bankruptcy, and her family. why did she run for vice president? sarah palin has such momentum in the republican party, i think she could have hired attorneys to defend her. >> i don't think she has a lot of money. first of all, why did she run for vice president. because she cares about the future of this country, and she knows she has the ability to articulate the views of average americans and further our beliefs and further policies according to our principles.

no human being, no good, moral, decent human being could have ever anticipated what happened to her. we knew she would be attacked, but never to the degree and with the viciousness with which she was. now, she believes -- she would have to stand up here and say this -- but her family was perfectly well provided for by herself and her husband. her husband took a leave of absence from his job to care for their baby and their family. by the way, the family, even though the teenage daughter should have been completely off limits and still off limits. when i said she stepped down because of her family, i mean because of the attacks that came

as a result of her being the biggest threat that the liberals see out there. they went after her with everything. i cannot understand how people say she should have just stayed and fought and hired the best attorneys. the woman doesn't have money. she will. god bless her, she will have lots of money, and i congratulate her for that. i hope she makes millions and millions. she deserves every penny of it. but she didn't have money. she would have had to declare bankruptcy because she was not defended by the state of alaska. and all of these ethics charges that were brought up against her, they have been dismissed. they are frivolous. we can argue after wards. they have all been dismissed. they have been shown to be frivolous, and she did exactly the right thing by protecting the future of her family. she could never have anticipated the attacks her children are receiving, her daughters, and

her son, to attack this little baby is disgusting and horrific. i would say, i'm going to step out. but the conservatives who say, she's going to get out she should stay out, you should look and see what campaign they are working on. they are working for a different presidential candidate. whether you are for her or against her, she adds to conserve tism. her voice is important. she expands our numbers, and she is a valuable force within our movement, and we should want her to stay in. thank you so much. >> the university of wisconsin. it relates back to that. you had given us a speech about how liberals are so hypocritical and why they usually don't win or why sthe should win. after the first six months of barack obama's presidency, what do you think personally is the most hypocritical thing he has

done so far. >> i'm not sure i know, really, or his administration. >> i think i would change my speech topic next time to say, "why liberals lie," because it is not just the hypocrisy, it is the flagrant bold lie. i don't use the word "lie" very often. i make my kids use the word "fib," because i don't like the word "lie." but they lie! a tax on cigarettes is a tax on the working class, that's what it is. as soon as they float that balloon, we need to be all over that. we cannot have a value-added tax in the united states of america. i say it is incredible. you guys clearly already know

what the value-added tax is. i would say the lies are the economy. and certainly this foreign policy is horrific. the fact that we are going around the world repeatedly bowing before rulers of other countries and apologizing for america's transaggressions instead of saying, have you noticed, we are the most generous country in the world? we come to your aid, and we defend you. we defend you, send you our resources, and defend you when your country is in peril. that's what barack obama should be pointing out instead of begging for forgiveness. >> thank you. >> my name is lois daniels. the left has pretty much celebrated their victory over sarah palin since she stepped

down. is there something she can do besides public speaking to send them the message that she has not been defeated? if so, then -- if not, then what? >> she is finishing her books. she will certainly be giving a lot of speeches around the country. i think what she needs to do right now is to write editorals on substantive policy issues, because she is a smart woman. she should go beyond the energy issue, which she is very good on. she should be talking about economics. she should be talking about foreign policy. she's great on national defense. i believe she is focused on what this administration is doing to gut national defense. we find every turtle crossing under the road, we are cutting our national defense. we're cutting all of our

weapons. we are cut -- cutting missile defense. i think she needs to be outspoken on those issues. i think maybe not so much on the social issues, but she's very good on those as well, and she has already established herself there. so i would like to see her broaden and talk about some of the issues she has talked on. the left is going to know very quickly that sarah palin is not going away, because she will be all over the place. >> thank you. good answer. >> my name is travis. i attend george washington and i'm also president of the young america's foundation chapter here at george washington. as a g.w. student conservative, i want to extend a warm welcome to you. i am glad to see this many conserve siffs at the foundation. >> the one and only time this many are here. >> my question to you is we talk

about more and more women being active in the conservative movement and more active in the party. when are you going to run for office, and when can we expect to vote for you. >> i like what i'm doing. i like criticizing people in office rather than running for office. it's more fun. let's talk about women in public office. this is what you do. instead of saying, "whatever!" you shift the topic. i probably grate on some of you when i say we need more women and why don't we have more women up there. i respect that and i appreciate that, because we conservatives don't believe in quotas. we believe that the best person should be in the job. i love what margaret thatcher said when she was asked, don't you owe the feminist movement for where you are, and she said,

no, it has nothing to do with other women, it's me. i truly believe that. i believe for some women -- reason women in our society need an extra push to run for public office. i'm not saying all of you. i run this -- i started this training program for women in virginia to get involved in politics. and it's a first-class -- i'll ask, how many of you will consider running for office? maybe one will raise her hand. after eight months of training, one day a month, i bring them all back, and i say now how many of you would consider running for office. everyone raises their. -- hand. i don't know what this is. i haven't figured it out. but i do believe it is important for the republican movement to have high-level prominent women articulating our message.

i've heard a lot of these women this week say, where are we going to get the women speakers? there is something, we identify with somebody like ourselves. actually attractive, articulate women bring more moderate men into the party, and that's a great thing, too. i think we need to show that we are diverse in thought and in who is within our movement. it is only a good thing. we draw more women into the movement when we have articulate, courageous conservative women out there articulating our message. i do understand a lot of women choose not to because they are at home raising their families, and it is all consuming. well, look, it is all consuming being a man having a career and being a father and a husband. we, as women right now don't have a choice. if we are at all concerned about

the future of our country, we have no choice. we have to become involved. there are ways to do it and still raise your babies and be the best moms in the world, the best wives, but you have got to figure out that way to get involved and have a voice. otherwise you abdicate to the radical feminist who you do not want to be representative of you. thank you very much. >> you mentioned earlier that sarah palin has become so popular so quickly is that she is able to take policy and political issues and explain them in a way that normal citizens can understand. like the basketball analogy and freedom of speech. do you think that type of use of speech can welcome people who might otherwise be discouraged from being interested in politics because of the type of political speech. >> the quick stuff? >> yeah. might be able to bring people to

the conservative side who before would not have been interested before at all? >> very much so. i think that's why you see 10,000 people coming out to hear asarah palin. wherever she goes, she gets enormous crowds. no, she does not speak like she graduated from yale. and all i can say, thank heavens for that, and no offense to people from yale. we need politicians who are genuine. she's genuine. she speaks our language. i frankly don't worry at all about sarah palin changing her position five years from now on some issue. i think that woman when she believes something, she believes it, and she's not going to change it come hell or high water. i think that is a great thing. it is who she is. people see her toting her shotgun, and they are like, whoa! this is a woman! this is awesome! they see her holding her baby on the stage. that takes guts. i have four children, and i've

been in the politics -- i've been in politics before and it was terrifying to bring my children on the stage. when i was running for party chairman, i had one of my babies in the background crying or talking or laughing, and my consultant, who is no longer affiliated with me said, "your not going to have the kid in the background with me are you?" so when i saw sarah palin on that stage holding her baby, i thought, yes! that is great, she is a normal god-loving, husband-loving, soldier-loving american. i love this woman. [applause] >> hi, my name is nick brewer from the university of colorado. when the republicans were about to announce who they would have for mccain's runningmate, i

think most liberals were like lions waiting for a sheep to be thrown into their cage. i think sarah palin was that sheep to them. i would like to know how you think liberals, what they -- how they would have dealt with it had mccain showsen romney for vice president? would it have been worse? >> no, it couldn't have been worse. they would have -- all sorts of scurilous attacks would have come forth. we would have had crowds of 300,000, 500,000 coming out to hear the ticket. we still would have lost. sarah palin was the only hope that the republicans had of winning that election. i know that a lot of people say if she hadn't have been on the

ticket, they would have had a chance. that is ridiculous. she is the only thing that sparked interest and enthusiasm and interest in the republican ticket. [applause] >> thank you all so much. i love you! [applause] >> i think we need about 100,000 more people just like her. [applause] >> just before we break, kate is available to come speak on your campuses through young american's foundation. we will be taking lunch now and come back at 1:00. thank you.

>> today on "washington journal" a look at the latest unemployment numbers with rex nutting. then jendayi frazer, former secretary of state for african affairs. also a discussion with william shaffner of the national association for higher education. "washington journal" live at 7:00 a.m. eastern on c-span. >> sunday a look at british politics from the bbc, including the m.p. expenses scandal,

resignations from the house of commons. sunday at 9:00 p.m. on c-span. >> up next a look at the latest unemployment figures. keith hall reports on numbers for july. carolyn maloney from new york chairs this hour and 20 minute hearing. >> if the people will come to order. meetings should start on time. welcome commissioner hall. evidence that the stimulus bill is taking hold is starting to emerge. the economy dramatically improved in the second quarter of this year and the pace of job loss has moderated significantly in recent months. clearly the trend is toward recovery. i am optimistic that more americans will be heading back to work as more stimulus

projects get underway. while we welcome these signs of improvement this morning, this report reminds us that the high toll the recession has had on millions of americans. this recession, which began in december of 2007 is now the longest and deepest in the post-world war ii period. although the economy is predicted to expand later this year, the duration of this recession has led to long spells of unemployment for are -- for some workers. we have six unemployed workers for each job opening. those out of work are finding it increasingly difficult to find a job. more than a staggering five million americans have been without a job for at least six months. it is the highest on record. in both percent and the shear number. over 2.3 million workers have

been unemployed for a year or longer. the national employment law project estimates that by the end of september more than 500,000 workers who lost their jobs through no fault of their own will exhaust their federally unemployed benefits by the end of this year. by the end of this year, the number could grow to 1.5 million. for many those are the checks that allow them to keep up with utility bills and meet basic needs. congress and the president work swiftly to expand and extend the unemployment insurance program for the thousands of workers losing their jobs each month. we funded up to 20 additional weeks of benefits at the state level through the extended benefits program. the emergency unemployment compensation program also provided up to additional 20 weeks of federally funded

benefits for workers in all states, and an additional 15 weeks for laid-off workers in states with exceptionally high rates of unemployment. many jobless americans are receiving an additional $100 each month due to provisions in the recovery act. but for many of these unemployed workers, it is not just the income that they have lost. for millions of jobless americans and their families, health insurance benefits have evaporated or may stop. the joint economic committee released a report yesterday estimating that 1.34 million women and 2.7 million men have lost their employment-based health insurance because of job losses during this recession. today's job report makes it clear we are making progress, but it will be a long road to recovery. by extending unemployment benefits we will give out-of-work americans across the country some peace of mind as

they continue to search for work. by passing health care reform millions of uninsured americans will have access to affordable health care insurance, regardless of their employment status. i look forward to working with my colleagues in the house and the senate to act swiftly on behalf of the millions of unemployed americans across this country. i now call on my colleague, mr. cummings, for five minutes. >> thank you very much, madam chair. as we continue to emerge from the worst recession since the great depression, it is sobering when the loss of 247,000 jobs qualifies as good news. however, treasury secretary geithner and former federal reserve chairman greep -- allen greenspan did suggest on monday that the united states economy might have turned a corner. both men project possible growth

in the end of 2009. further "the new york times" reported yesterday comments by christine romer that the stimulus has driven the economy in the right direction. however, unemployment is a lagging indicator. and as was noted, it will be some time before economic growth produces significant job growth. i resist any impulse to put on rose-colored glasses. one of the reasons i wanted to be here this morning is because i have consistently heard that before this administration did the things that it did, people were constantly saying that it would do no good. and i expected to hear, as i heard from former senator fred thompson of tennessee this morning, that some folks giving no credit to this administration for their efforts. and i wanted to make sure that

the record is clear that while we may not see the very end to this long tunnel, the fact is that the things we are doing are making a difference. after the loss of 6.7 million jobs since the recession began, the effect on family and communities are now being felt more severely than ever. more and more americans remain unemployed for longer and longer stretches. today's data tells us that the number of long-term unemployed continues to climb. five million americans have been unemployed for over six months, and of those, 2.3 million for over 12 months. as these individuals and families struggle to put food on the table and pay rent each month, the state coffers continue to be ementy. long-term unemployed residents impact state and local governments in the form of reduced tax revenue. when this occurs, crucial government services are put at

risk. now, not only are hard-working americans unable to find employment, but the unemployment safety net has stretched dangerously thin in some states. and torn all together in others. this congress has previously taken dramatic action in this recession to reduce the burden of unemployment on families. the stimulus bill included funds to extend and increase state unemployment benefits. this relief was and continues to be so essential for those who are struggling. now we find that the weight of the cumulative job losses force 18 states to borrow $12.1 billion from the federal trust fund just to keep benefits available for unemployed people. i support emergency funding for

the federal truffs. -- trust fund. this 11th hour action will ensure that 4.6 million workers will have vital unemployment benefits in august and september. however, i also hope that upon our return from recess we are able to move another extension of unemployed benefits through the house. while the recession has provided its share of bad actors, the unemployed, our constituents, remain our responsibility. i am proud of what we have accomplished in the congress, but i know we can and will do more, and that we will do better. i look forward to the testimony of the commissioner, and with that, madam chair, i yield back. >> senator. >> thank you, madam chair. it does seem we have a little stability going here. and i'm looking forward to asking questions of all of you to see what this means, as i

heard representative cummings so well say that in fact we know we are not out of this and this isn't going to turn around overnight, that we still have incredible challenges for the people of this country. but the fact is, i will say, being in minnesota for the last off and on for the last few weeks, there are some signs i've seen. we have a 20% increase in home sales from our states from june of last year to june of this year. i met with realtors in minnesota and they attribute a lot of that to the $8,000 first-time home buyers tax credit. nearly half of these home sales were first-time home buyers. then there is the anecdote. i was going to get coffee and this guy was standing by me in line and he said he was overwhelmed by work. i said, what do you do? he said he moves people who are moving into their first home.

so i think we're seeing some results from these programs. the cash-for-clunkers in minnesota was up there with california and michigan. so i think you see people starting to believe there is hope for this country, the numbers in consumer confidence. that is not enough. i can tell you that still is not enough. we are not where we should be. i talked with so many people in our state, letters of people that put their kids to bed and then sit at the table with their heads in their hands wondering how they are going to make ends meet. we heard from someone the other day, a woman who is unemployed and uses her savings to pay $250 a month for health care that requires a $10,000 ductible. the iron arm in the northern part of my state, which was really a part of our state that until the recession hit was

really going better than it had been for decades. then suddenly the rug was pulled out when the demand for minerals declined, and suddenly they were unemployed. this wasn't the traditional set of unemployed. in the past it was older workers who had been laid off. it was workers who had moved pickup and bought houses. the unemployment extension is very meaningful to those people. but there are parts of the iron range that are seeing a 20% unemployment range, and that is unacceptable. i am looking forward to hearing from commissioner hall and some of the other witnesses and your views on the numbers we've seen, and also what that means as we go forward. >> now i would like to introduce commissioner hall.

dr. keith hall is the commissioner of labor statistics for the united states department of labor. the b.l.s. is a national statistical agency that collects and analyzes essential data and disseminates it to the american public, the u.s. congress, and other federal agencies. dr. hall also served as chief economist for the white house council of economic advisors. for two years under president george w. bush. prior to that he was chief economist for the u.s. hall of commerce. he also spent two years at the u.s. international trade commission. he received his b.a. degree from the university of virginia. his m.s. and p.h. degree from purchase due university. welcome. >> thank you, madam chair and members of the committee. the unemployment rate was little

changed in july at 9.4%. payroll job losses have now averaged 331,000, compared with an average of 645,000 over the prior six months. employment has fallen by 6.7 million since the start of the recession in 2007. in july declines continued in many of the major industry sectors. construction employment fell by 76,000 over the month with losses throughout component industries. over the past few months losses have continued. employment construction has fallen by 1.4 million since december of 2000. factory employment has fallen by two million since the start of the recession. the seasonly adjusted employment -- seasonally adjusted

employment numbers have fallen. fewer workers than usual were laid off for seasonal shutdown in july. the seasonaly adjusted dane does not indicate -- gain does not indicate improvement in the industry. the number of jobs in the industry, 661,000, is now half what it was in early 2000. in july, job losses continued in wholesale trade, transportation aand warehousing, and financial activities. however, these industries have lost fewer jobs since may. similarly, fewer job losses in temporary health services. employment at lease sure and hospitality -- leisure and hospitality has been little changed over the past six months. non-supervisory workers were up

in july. over the past 12 months, average hourly earnings have risen by 2.5%. from june 2008 to 2009 clerical workers continue today decline by 1.7%. turning now to measures from our household survey, the unemployment rate in july was 1.4%. little change for the second consecutive month. the rate had been 4.9% when the recession began. there are now 14.5 million unemployed persons in the country. the number of long-term unemployed continues to rise. in july five million people had been unemployed for more than six months. the employment-to-population ratio has fallen by 3.5% since the recession began. there are eight million persons working part-time who would

prefer full-time work. this number has been little changed for four consecutive months. in summary, no one-foreign payroll employment fell. my colleagues and i would now be happy to answer your questions. >> thank you very much, commissioner hall. i usually ask you, are there any bright spots in the labor report? are there any green chutes or glimmers of hope? but today i can ask you, what are the bright spots and the glimmers of hope? >> in this report, there is still substantial job loss and the moderation has been pretty broad. which i think is a good sign. i would say while we're not in recovery yet, this is the path we have to go to get to recovery. we expect to see moderation

first before we actually start getting improvement in the labor marketment -- market. a couple things which i'll mention which are indicators of maybe future conditions in the job market, temporary health services, the job loss there has slowed substantially and that often is a leading indicator of recovery. and we had a tick up in hours worked. while one month i wouldn't read too much into this, but sometimes a pick-up of an hour of work is an indication of a labor market strengthening and it may lead to job gains somewhere down the line. >> do you believe we've seen the worst, or is there more pain ahead? >> we're still getting substantial job loss, but it is moderating quite a bit going forward. it is hard to say or estimate or

project what's going to happen, but i think on the whole, this is a good sign. >> are there any sectors experiencing more job creations than job losses currently, or are there signs that any sector will start expanding in the near future? housing sales are up and there are other areas? >> across the board, the job loss has moderated, which is positive. a few sectors, like health care, they have continued to increase employment all along. a few sectors, like the financial activities, the job loss there, has moderated quite a bit. they are close to getting job gains in some of the service areas. in a few of these industries i would say the job loss is not significant. in other words it was around zero.

>> are there indications that job losses will continue to slow in coming months? >> i don't warrant to -- want to speculate too much. 247,000 jobs is a big loss, but given the context of the sort of job loss we had been having, again, this is a good trend at the moment. >> and what is the typical amount of time after a contraction ends before labor markets start showing signs of recovery? >> well, in one sense, the signs come right away. when recoveries come, job loss moderates. in the past two recessions, there has been a significant period between significant job loss and significant job gain. there has been a bit of a lag. for example, in the last recession, consistent job loss ended, and we were in this sort of middle ground where there wasn't consistent job creation for almost two years. this is one of the reasons why

people talk about the labor market being a lagging indicator. but prior to that, the lag was not so much. it was only a month or two before job increases started. so i would say -- it is hard to say. recent recessions have been slow to see -- we've been slow to see job growth. >> thank you. any other comments? mr. cummings for five minutes. >> thank you very much, madam chair. i was just looking at page two of this report. i was looking at the african-american figures, mr. hall, and from what i can see here, in july the unemployment rate for african-americans is 14.5%. is that correct? july 2009? i'm on page four. >> yes. >> and that compares to when we go back to may, it was 14.9, and

then in june it was 14.7, and then coming down to 14.5. that is substantially higher than the average rate for the country, is that right? >> that's correct. >> while there is an improvement there, does that improvement, does that surprise you? is that pretty much the way you expected it to be? >> it is actually kind of the way i expected it to be. the unemployment rate for minorities, such as african-americans, it runs higher than the average unemployment rate, and it goes up more during a recession, but the actual changes, the pattern of changes do sort of match the overall unemployment rate. so we have had a pretty flat unemployment rate the past couple months, and it has been pretty flat for african-americans. >> moving on to another subject, you mentioned we are going through, with regard to the job

situation, "moderation." what does "moderation eye "-- "moderation" mean? would you give me an example of the "broadness" you talk about. >> yes. i think there have been changes that have been very broad, and it doesn't always happen that way, and it has been very deep. and we're backing out in the same way. the job losses have moderated in a broad sense. so we're not seeing just particular sectors of the economy that are starting to improve a little bit, we are seeing sort of broad improvement in terms of job loss. >> is that a good thing? >> yes. >> why is that a good thing? >> hopefully because it is a matter of, at least in my mind, it is a matter of consumer confidence coming back and consumer spending coming back, because more than anything else, that is what is at the heart of the recession, because when

consumers don't spend, things don't go well for the economy. >> yesterday the committee released a report thanks to the the chair that discussed comprehensive health care and its risks for women. it said there are significant risks for women to gain and keep health insurance. for example, women are more likely to rely on their spouses or their employers. more often this is due to the fact that women, more likely than men, are likely to work part-time. what is the unemployment rate for women? >> the unemployment rate for women is 8.1%. >> and what is the underemployment rate for women? >> we don't break out the

general under-utilization numbers by gender. >> reports yesterday suggested that women are less likely to have employer-based health insurance. by what industry is a segment of the population typically employed? that is, a younger female worker. you wouldn't have that information? >> i don't really know. we don't have a lot of demographic information. >> so you wouldn't have that information. the average length of unemployment is increasing as unemployed workers are having a difficult time finding work. how is this factor affecting women. would you have that number? >> yes. i think -- let me see. do we have it broken down by

gender? i don't think we have the long-term unemployment broken out by demographic information. women have fully participated generally in the job loss during this recession, so i would say they are probably, unfortunately, well represented in the long-term unemployed. >> i see my time is running out, but i want to ask you something about this cash for clunkers, but hopefully we'll have another round. >> thank you very much madam chair. thank you very much, commissioner hall. i wanted to focus first on some broad figures and just go back to what you were talking about earlier about the hardest hit sectors. you mentioned manufacturing and construction, and on the other hand factors that seem to be getting better more quickly. health care. i know you mention health care has always been doing fine.

what is the -- what do you see as the hardest hit sectors, and what do you see as the ones you see improvement in? >> i think through this recession, some of the hardest hit sectors are the sectors like construction and manufacturing. and i think broadly services have been hit harder than normal. services typically aren't lit as hard during a recession. >> with construction manufacturing, has there been any? has that slowed the unemployment rate there? >> there has been improvement in both construction and manufacturing. >> "improvement" means a slowing? >> a moderation of job losses. a clear moderation of job loss in construction. the manufacturing picture is a little less clear. there may be some moderation, but it is coming -- if it's there, it is coming a little later than the other sectors. >> and how about the areas of improvement? >> the areas of improvement are

things like the financial activities that's been hit much harder in this recession than almost any past recession. that's coming back. temporary health services is one of the more encouraging ones. >> didn't you tell me that temporary health services is always a sign that there could be? improvement? >> yes. it seems dob a leading indicator. temporary health services started shutting jons jobs before the recession started, and it starts to typically moderate before the other services. >> is that people think, we'll get temporary services first? >> i think that's the advantage of temporary help. they are there for the flexibility. sometimes they are the first ones to be let go and the first ones to be brought back. >> then i was going to ask you about geographic areas, if there is a change there.

what are the hardest hit states and is there an indication they are doing better. i remember you said you really couldn't point out a geographic area because it was bad across the country, and i wonder if that was -- has changed at all or if there were dramatic increases or declines. >> i haven't seen any big changes in the patterns in any particular state. the unemployment rate has moderated. it hasn't grown much. i think that's been roughly the same pattern throughout the states. i'm not seeing a big change. in fact, there might be individual states that are still having troubles. >> what are the states hardest hit? or just the largest unemployment rates. >> these are states like michigan, arizona, nevada, florida. it turns out overall numbers in california have been the hardest hit, but that's actually a very

large state. so it may not be so bad. >> which ones are doing the best? you can come back on the second round and tell me. >> i do have those numbers. i just need a minute. >> i actually want to ask you a question i got verbatim from a citizen. this is from a woman in lakeshore, minnesota. she says, "dear amy, i'm watching the president's news conference and i realize my husband and i do not fit into any of the cat grizz of families unemployed that he is speaking about. my husband and i own a small construction company. we don't have the option of filing for unemployment because we are self-employed. many of our friends are in the same position. my comment is that all the figures and stats regarding housing and unemployment aren't even counting those of us that can't file unemployment and are on the verge of losing our home because no one else is building.

i just need to get that off my chest." that's her talking. not me. "there are people that are unemployed that at least can get unemployment, but there are many of us that can't get unemployment at all." are there statistics on how many are not getting unemployment and are unemployed? >> we do collect information on people who are self-employed. particularly the household survey. that includes everybody. that's a phone survey to households. >> what do you see from these small business owners who have been hit by this? or people who are self-employed. >> the self-employed have struggled the way the others -- the nonself-employed have.

that's one of the remarkable things about this recession, it has been very broad. >> all right. so when we look at this, when we look at these numbers, when we look at the 9.4% unemployment, that does not talk about discouraged workers in the past, and it doesn't include people whose hours have been reduced, and it doesn't include some of the people who are self-employed or who have lost their businesses? >> actually, it does include them. >> we have a whole category of people who have stopped working, but people who wanted to work.

>> so the answer to this woman is you are including people like her in your statistics? >> yes. >> all right. thank you very much. >> commissioner, we hear a great deal from the media and others that this is the greatest recession since the great depression. and i'm interested in how this recession compares to past slumps. how does it compare to other downturns in the labor market? >> this has been the longest recession since we've been collecting data on recessions, 19 months. we have lost 4% of our payroll jobs. that's the biggest loss since the 1948 recession in percentage terms. so we're talking about 50 years in terms of percentage loss. particularly hard hit this time has been the service-providing

sector. in fact they have lost more jobs as a percent than any other recession. manufacturing has been the hardest hit since 1945. we've lost about 14% of manufacturing jobs. and financial activities and professional business services, those have been hit harder than any other recession. >> so this is the longest jobless period that the united states has ever had? >> yes, since we've been collecting data from around 1940 onward. >> in the last four recessions, how long did it take for employment to recover to the prerecession plan or peak? >> well, yes, the last recession it took a really long time. it took 39 months for it to return to the peak. the prior recession to that, it was 21 months.

it has been getting longer and longer each of the last four recessions. the average has been 4.5. this has been a particularly long recession. >> do you have any indication what will lead to an increase in employment? >> i have to say the month supply of houses is not a good predictor of construction employment in large part because right now we have nine months' supply when sales are very low. so nine months' supply is not many houses compared to months when sales are much, much

higher. what is a good predicter, is sales. when sales pick up, it does pick up at the same time. i can tell you about housing starts. once housing starts bottom out -- and right now they have been level for several months -- it can take for a year to a year and a half for construction to pick up after housing has hit bottom. so it could be a little while. >> how much of the economy do you think is real estate and housing construction, and are you tracking how many of these new housing sales are tied to the program for subsidy for new housing purchases? >> we don't collect the housing sales data. cencus -- census does. our data on real estate might give some indication on how those industries are doing. there is no way for us to

connect that, at least not the way we measure data, connect it to any sort of policy in particular. >> thank you very much, mr. hall. mr. cummings? >> what is the trend for hours worked? what does that mean for families that rely on overtime in addition to, say, base salary? >> one of the things that happen when labor markets weaken is the hours worked goes down as well as the unemployment rate goes down, so it is sort of yet another burden on families. it is the same thing as people moving from full time to temporary or the same thing has having their number decline. lately it has been fairly flat, and now it is going up. that's a good sign. when you start to see some substantial movement upward, that can signal an improvement in the labor market.

>> yesterday, i had the occasion to visit two auto dealers in my district, and both of them had a lot of people trying to take advantage of this cash for clunkers. i want to thank the senate for acting on that. but they said it is really making a difference. do you expect to see the impact of a program like that when we pump $3 billion into a program and you had many -- some comments with regard to the auto industry. >> i don't want to forecast the policy. >> i know that, but i'm not trying to get you to do that really. >> i can say something about this. >> oh, wonderful! i'm always careful about what i ask you.