wages fall 5% below pre-pandemic trends most 10% workers the most 10% earners have seen 6% wage growth above inflation, in this report, though, what we all know those workers most vulnerable in downturn this report black unemployment rate hit all-time low last month rose almost a full percentage point watching household workers vulnerable workers how fairering in labor market the most important thing. >> we leave it there great conversation, really important report, again job growth surging in may better than expected 339,000 new jobs created, much better than estimates market is rallying up of 200 points dow jones industrial average have a great weekend my thanks thomas if i am incompetence julia pollack alfredo ortiz nancy tengler, john lonski joe concha, of course, cheryl casone have a great day ashley: hey, thank you, maria.

good morning to you and good morning, everybody. yes, i'm ashley webster in for stuary varney on this friday let's get to this story. the senate passing the debt ceiling deal 63-36 with just days to go before our government defaulted. the bill now goes to the president's desk for his signature. as you just been following, we've got a blowout number for the jobs report, 339,000 jobs added last month. the unemployment rate by the way ticking up to 3.7% in may from 3.5%. well, the futures initially paired gains after the news but as you can see climbing back again now the dow up 205, s&p up half a percent, the nasdaq up one-third of a percent. we'll see where it goes from there. president biden taking a hard fall while on stage for the u.s. air force graduation ceremony. thankfully, he wasn't hurt but it adds to the growing concerns about his fitness for office. chicago mayor lori lightfoot was ousted for her soft-on-crime policies but guess what?

she's got a new job. she's now teaching a leadership course at harvard university. seriously. california has spent $17 billion on homelessness in the past four years, but the number of homeless people in that state has grown about 50%, between 2014 and 2022 i'm going to ask california resident steve hilton what he thinks about that. i have an idea. again, it is friday, june 2, 2023. "varney" & company is about to begin. ♪ ashley: a little bit of "talking heads" for you on this friday morning talking about found a job and that's appropriate . that's why we played it. we have the jobs report for the month of may.

good morning, lauren simonetti. a blowout. take us through it. lauren: you know, on the one hand, it was a blowout, a resilient john market, 339,000 jobs added in may and then they revised up both march and april, so the headline number is screaming to jay powell, go ahead, hike again, but then we have the rest of the report, ashley. we saw the unemployment rate shoot up to 3.7%. the reason there is that more people are losing their jobs, and then you have wages, they're up 4.3% year-over-year. that's actually less than the rate of inflation. what types of jobs are being created? are they low wage jobs in certain sectors like perhaps leisure and hospitality which added 48,000 last month? just some questions i'm asking ashley: i think those are good questions. thank you very much, lauren. i know who we can ask. kenny political and he joins me now on this friday. good morning to you, kenny. look, you certainly a big jobs

report. obviously a lot of people surprised. are you surprised and what does it mean in the context of the fed? >> listen. i'm surprised that it was as strong as it was and that we saw those revisions from the prior months. after yesterday's adp report there was kind of a hint that maybe we were going to get a higher number than the expectation but this was a significantly higher number. i think to the point though, the unemployment rate shot up much more than expected at 3.7 versus the 3.5, and the wages are only up 4.3%, only, i say that because they were expected to be up 4.4 so 4.3 is actually a weakening of the pressure on wages, so i'm trying to figure out why the market is rallying as strongly as it is, and i'm assuming that it's because maybe investors are seeing that the wage pressures kind of declining. that's a positive. unemployment is starting to go up, so it's approaching even the

4% number and you know, economists think its got to have a five handle on it in order for jay powell to be successful in taming inflation, so i think that it still leaves what's going to happen on the 14th. i think they've told everybody they come out really hard saying we're going to skip, we're going to skip, we're going to skip, introducing this new word into the narrative, versus pause, and so i think it's going to be hard for them not to skip, unless, of course next week's cpi ppi numbers come out even stronger like the pce show inflation on the rise again. then i think it changes the narrative. ashley: what does it do for the investor? what does it do for you? does it change anything? what are you looking at in this environment. >> no. so listen, you know me. i'm invested so i love the fact that the markets rallying, but as a result of this rally, specifically in tech and nasdaq, you know, i'm now overweighted. my tech numbers are overweighted so i'm looking for opportunity

to take new money to rebalance by putting money into banks, financials, and energy, so that i can bring the account back into balance, but i love the fact i'm not going to stand in the way if the market wants to rally, but i'm not being, i'm not overly exuberant and saying i've got to run right out and buy more stuff. i'm happy where i am. i'm waiting for it to pullback and it feels a little bit tired here. i do think it's going to pullback. not crash by any stretch but certainly pullback and digest some of these really significant gains that we've had. ashley: whatever you do, kenny, you do it with gusto, and that's why we love you. thank you so much for joining us this morning, kenny we appreciate it. have yourself a great weekend. i love his energy. now this. president biden, yup, took a nasty spill at the air force academy graduation ceremony. lauren, the white house says joe biden is fine. but it has prompted a new wave of criticism, right? lauren: yeah, so yes. president biden is uninjured.

he fell over a sand bag on stage when he was congratulating and shaking hands with the u.s. air force graduates. it's the latest in a series of falls for president biden who is 80 and here is the criticism. he ironically attacked donald trump who also stumbled at a graduation. this was three years ago at west point. he said look at how he steps and look at how i step. watch how i run up ramps and he stumbled down ramps. come on. to be clear, trump never fell. i think we have the video. there you go. he kind of just awkwardly walked down the ramp. i would say this , ashley. if i was ever in the limelight, i be very careful walking, and doing stuff in public. ashley: yes. and who the heck left a handbag right next to the president, right there for him to trip over in the first place. that i don't understand but anyway, lauren, thank you very much. as you say former president trump also weighed in on biden's fall and his ability to serve

during his town hall with fox last night. listen to this. >> it said, you know, they're representing, we are all representing the country. you become president, and you sort of not allowed to do that but its happened. its happened and its happened pretty badly but this is the most dangerous time in the history of our country because of the power of the weaponry and we have somebody that doesn't understand what's happening, and it's a very dangerous thing. it's a very bad thing. ashley: very dangerous thing. sean duffy joins us this morning good morning to you. joe biden will be 82 years old when he would begin his second term. are there legitimate concerns about his ability to serve? >> sean: yeah, yes, first to look at what donald trump is talking about. right before that segment you played donald trump was saying i don't attack joe biden on his mental acuity. i just don't think that's a space that i should go, and donald trump is a guy who will attack anybody for anything, but

doesn't go there with them. just one quick note, ashley. yeah, it was sad the president fell. i think there's an american sadness that he's getting older and that's what happens when folks are older. i thought how feeble joe looked when he was trying to get up he could barely get himself off the ground. he needed people to actually pick him up and get back on his feet. it just shows a lack of physical strength but i do think joe biden being 82 years old, i think more republicans and democrats will say listen, do you have the mental strength to take on the stressors of this job, to make the decisions that are right for this country, the smart decisions? ashley you and i can sit here and make commentary about what leaders should do but we pay leaders. we hire leaders to make the right decisions, and i don't know that joe biden has the best track record in the last two years of making good decisions, and, you know, i don't know that's going to get any better as time goes on. ashley: certainly the most demanding job in the world no

doubt. let's move on to the 2024 race. ron desantis says a president would need a full eight years to rollback all of joe biden's policies, but you know, donald trump says well, that's not true watch this. >> you really need to ensure that we have a two-term president to be able to see this to a conclusion. i mean, you do one term and they reverse it when they come in. you can't have it be reversed. >> [applause] >> you've got to have humility. you can't be prideful. it can't be just about you. >> saying oh, well i get eight years, he gets four. you don't need four and you don't need eight. you need six months and within six months i said -- >> [applause] >> within six months this can be done. ashley: six months. all right, sean, you were in congress for eight years. can donald trump really rollback biden's policies in six months? >> sean: i'm going to give you a political answer but it's the right answer, ashley, and that is both men are right. so in six months, you can

aggressively rollback virtually everything that joe biden has done especially by executive order, especially by rules and his agencies, very quickly you can roll that back, but if you don't stay there for eight years , you're only there for four, the next president does come in and roll back all the changes that you made and so if you have the eight years, these policies begin to take hold and people are able to start to change their behavior and respond to the new changes in government and then it's harder for the next president to roll them back, so, again, quick changes but to get them to really permeate through the economy, it takes some time, so both ron desantis and donald trump are right on that. so again, i can't criticize either of them. ashley: well talking of them too , very quickly, sean, ron desantis walking this tight rope where he wants to attack trump in some ways. he tries not to directly respond to attacks on him, but he's trying to appeal to some of the

base of trump's supporters but it's a difficult thing to do , is it not? >> yeah, well it is. again ron desantis is running on donald trump policies but not being donald trump. i think we're really early in this campaign season so what you see is both of these, you know, candidates kind of having a little slapping fight. they aren't really punching each other. they aren't duking it out. they are taking, you know, light swipes at each other but i expect that to change whether it's right before or right after that first debate you're going to see candidates competing to win, and you can't win unless you take shots at your opponent. you make distinctions between you and everyone else and i'm going to take the country in this direction they want to take it in that direction so right now, but they are starting to sweat and hit hard as we get into the end of the summer and early fall. ashley: don't you love the primaries? i love it. all right, sean thank you very much and of course we'll be watching you on the bottom line with dagen and duffy at 6:00 p.m. eastern right here on fox

business. sean thank you very much. coming up, president biden congratulated the air force academies class of 2023 and touted one characteristic in particular. roll that tape. >> your class is one of the most diverse classes in the history of this academy or any academy to graduate. that's why we're strong. that's why we're who we are. >> [applause] >> that's why we'll never give up. ashley: all right and that's why we are going to get into it. also, the senate sent the debt ceiling bill to president biden 's dress but louisiana senator bill cassidy voted no and guess what the senator is here and i'm going to ask him why, right after this. ♪ (fisher investments) it's easy to think that all money managers

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1-800-217-3217. that's 1-800-217-3217. ashley: the debt threat the senate did pass the debt ceiling bill with a final vote of 63-36. that bill now heading to president biden's desk. aishah hasnie is on capitol hill this morning. good morning, aishah. do we know when the president is going to sign this bill? reporter: well we know, ashley, good morning to you, that he is speaking addressing the nation around 7:00 so we april that it will happen before then, but no official time just yet. i can tell you that there is a lot of relief, a sense of relief on on the capitol and we'll see if that translates into the markets when they open in just a short while here. it could have been a very very long night, because the senate is notoriously known for being very slow, but it wasn't. they wrapped up just brian

westbury midnight. the senate began by going through a series of amendments offered up by democrats and republicans, and those amendment s included the one by senator mike lee that would have prevented president biden's omb director from waving a pay-go requirement that speaker mccarthy required in this bill and senator tim kaine 's amendment to strike the provision that speeds up the completion of the mountain valley pipeline in joe manchin's home state of west virginia. all of these amendments failed, ashley. something that senate leaders were actually hoping for to make sure that this bill would not go back to the house, and just like the house, the bill passed the senate with more democrat votes and republicans, 31 republicans opposed last night. still gop leader mitch mcconnell celebrating its passage writing thanks to house republicans efforts the fiscal responsibility act avoids the catastrophic consequences of default and begins tok curb washington democrats addiction to wreckless spending

that grows our nations debt. now conservatives who voted against this deal were angry it didn't include deeper spending cuts. senator lindsey graham specifically opposed it because it caps defense spending and leader chuck schumer actually took a moment last night to address that. >> i want to also dispell rumor s and reassure our friends across the world about the senate's commitment and ability to respond to emerging threats and needs. this debt ceiling deal does nothing to limit the senate's ability to appropriate emergency supplemental funds to ensure our military capabilities are sufficient, to deter china, russia, and our other adversar ies. reporter: so ashley, the senate got it done just in time to fly out for the weekend. ashley: funny how that works out aishah thank you very much. we do appreciate it. thank you very much. senator bill cassidy, the republican from louisiana, joins us now. good morning, senator. you voted "no" on the deal.

what was your biggest problem with it? >> well i don't think it was a very good deal, and i could talk about different parts of it. in terms of the debt relief there was enough side deals that it kind of back-filled the spending cuts and so the spending cuts were actually kind of modest. it reset the baseline for future spending over the accelerated spending that has been the last two years and lastly on i would point out on the , your reporter mentioned this in terms of regulatory reform, there's a pay -go provision meaning that if the administration puts out a big expensive rule they got to pay for it, and in two sections later it says that the administration can wave it, and the omb director said they plan on waving it so it seems to be somewhat toothless. i did not think it was a good deal. ashley: but mitch mcconnell says it's an urgent and important step, i'm quoting him, in the right direction for the health of our economy and the future of our country. you disagree, i guess.

>> well, it depends on your perspective. if you're looking at oh, my gosh we averted a debt ceiling crisis , we averted a debt ceiling crisis and i think the totality of his release addressed that. clearly, we averted that. on the other hand if you'll vote on whether or not this is reset ting the excess spending that we need to occur, if you want to say this has done something significant for the regulatory state, all of which we know we need, in order to grow, in order to have a better economy, create more jobs for the american people and i'll leave aside the potential military cuts, then i just didn't see it as a good deal. ashley: right. all right, let's move on to this one, senator. republicans joined by three senators from outside your party to kill president biden's student loan handout, but you know the president is just going to veto it again, right? >> yeah, i think, yes. of course the president is going to veto it, but it allows the statement to be made. when the president says he's

forgiven student loans he's not forgiving them. he is unfairly transferring that debt to other americans. americans who paid back their student loans but now struggle with their mortgage. americans who never chose to go to college, but those who chose to go to college in order to have a degree to make more money are having their debt unfairly transferred to others. the president can defend that all he wants, but i think it's a statement on a bipartisan basis that the senate thinks it's unfair, and that the senate does not think you should be transferring debt from one american to another. ashley: yeah. i think a lot of people agree with that. i'd let them pay off my mortgage , car bill, that be love ly. anyway, we'll leave it right there. senator, thank you. appreciate you being here this morning. all right let's check the futures if you can on jobs friday. the jobs number so much stronger -than-expected. you think that good news could be bad news with regard to the fed. the dow up 200 points, the s&p

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ashley: all right, let's take a look at these futures it's green across the screen. mark mahaney is here to talk about it. quickly, your thoughts on that kind of very very strong report. this economy just keeps cranking out jobs. >> i think if you hadn't had the senate deal last night the market be off, because there's clearly a lot of work ahead for the fed. it's a very robust economy, and you are going to have to slow that down in order to bring down inflation expectations. the offset today is that the government seems like its found this middle road and we've got the finances of the company remain in good shape, so that's the positive and the negative is the super-hot jobs number. ashley: yeah, remarkably resilient economy. all right let's get to your pick

s. you raised your price target for meta. it was 305 it's at 272 now. what are you looking at? >> we're at 350 so two of our top picks i want to talk about are in a time when we're so focused on generative a.i., artificial intelligence and the role and there's wonderful stocks, microsoft, nvidia, here are two that i think are decent plays off of a.i. but don't have , haven't traded like it yet one is meta, because it trades at 14, 15 times gaap earnings so it's trading at a discount to the market and stocks up a lot year-to-date but that's a recovery trade. it's not like this is a premium play and they have been a very effective user of artificial intelligence to create a better user experience, and a better marketer experience too. we've got a couple of interesting product cycles like the monetization of reals, those short-form videos you see in your facebook news feed or instagram news feed and this click-to-message product and they have been better at capturing signal they lost when

apple implemented a lot of privacy changes and i like meta is the cheapest high-quality tech stock out there. meta is the number one pick, 350 is the price target. ashley: and amazon. still one of your top picks? >> yeah, and amazon, $150 is the price target. this is a name that people may even be putting in the a.i. losers basket, the fear they are losing share to microsoft. i just think that when you're going to have these generative a.i. workloads or artificial intelligence workloads i think they are going to power this kind of re-acceleration overall cloud industry spend and aws is still 50% bigger than any competitor at the basic level of cloud computing so i think there will be a beneficiary of that and you'll also see the retail business start to re-accelerate in its growth especially if you look at today's jobs number the consumer is healthy. >> [opening bell ringing] ashley: very good place to leave it. you like meta and amazon.

we are just getting underway on this friday morning, june 2, and there we go. we've pushed the buttons we're laughing and waving. the confetti is flying and there we have it. the dow up 225 points. certainly a lot more green than red. the laggards there, verizon and amgen at the top, caterpillar and i just can't see the very top but whatever. we are definitely in the green. oh, thank you for pushing in. is that nike? yeah, nike at the top. all right, let's take a look at the s&p 500. my eyes are going. s&p up 29 points about six-tenth s of a percent right at 4,250 which is a key resistance point, so we'll see what happens there today. the nasdaq up three-quarters of a percent as well. let's take a look at some of the big tech names. we talked a lot about these of course, a lot of money goes into them. they are big growth stocks. amazon, alphabet, microsoft, apple, and meta all moving higher. the stand-out is amazon up more

than 2%. all right let's take a look at some of the individual stocks. let's begin with lululemon, big gain up 15% this morning, lauren they just gave out their latest report i'm assuming it was pretty good. lauren: at $377 a share, the share is now cost the same as the pants. i mean the store is so expensive lululemon raised its annual sales and profit forecasts. it's athleisure, trendy, a size zero in lululemon fits a kid, okay? so my daughter wears the hotty hot shorts and these are kids wearing expensive clothing. everyone's wearing it. other positives, very strong re bound in china. their air freight costs are coming down and better inventory control means fewer sales, i can attest to that. also, this year, lululemon performing better than its peers it's up 3% but if you look at under armour, it's down 29%. flip the screen, you've got nike today, it is up 3.7% because of

the lululemon news. nike is down 10% this year though. ashley: all right you know -- lauren: more than you ever wanted to know on lululemon. i'm aware, ashley. ash ashley: let's talk about amazon. this is strange. they are offering a free cell phone service but this wouldn't be for everyone, right? lauren: i know, sign me up, right? if you're a prime member you could get wireless service through amazon and verizon, t-mobile or dish for free, or maybe $10 a month. this is a bloomberg report and they're reporting about talks that amazon is having with some of the service providers. it be a perk to their prime membership. the prime membership costs $139 a year. it went up about $20 and since they increased the price, not as many people signed up. growth has stagnated, so maybe this will get more people in.

and amazon spokesperson is responding to this bloomberg report. this is just coming in, ashley, and they say this is incorrect at this time. we have no plans to add wireless , but i think it be attractive for a lot of people. ashley: it would. they just don't know about it apparently, but anyway, sounds like a good deal. let's check boeing. they're delaying their starline emission for nasa. what's the problem? lauren: the stocks up but there are issues with the flammable tape and also the parachute system that are safety issues so nasa postponed next month's flight and its first crude mission to the iss indefinitely. it's a big step back for nasa. they are competing with spacex to take astronauts to and from the international space station. ashley: yeah, all right talking of space, elon musk just recently returned from his trip to china. he's already getting a benefit apparently for taking that trip. lauren: yeah and by the way, tesla shares are up six days in a row now and that's a four-

month high so china state media is reporting that beijing will extend tax exemptions for nev's, the newer, smaller, cheaper electric vehicles, and reportedly they could do so for another four years. it's not just tesla that's higher on this report. the other ev makers are too, like nio for instance, so yes, elon musk reportedly says china and the u.s. are conjoined twins they don't want to decouple, and , you know, he's rewarded. his company is rewarded. ashley: apparently so. let's take a look at walmart. apparently they are making changes to their packaging. doesn't sound exciting to me. what's going on? lauren: no it's not exciting but when you order something small and it comes in a huge box, and then not only do you have to get rid of the box, you have to get rid of all of the plastic stuffing that they put in it. it's annoying, so walmart is working on custom fit boxes. they are cheaper, better for the environment, and look. online sales are 13% of their

overall sales, so the move makes sense, and the made-to-fit technology will be in almost half of their fulfillment center s this year. ashley: well you know what? i am interested now. i take it back. that is a good idea because you're absolutely right. you get a package and so much stuff comes out of it for such a tiny product so good for them. all right let's move on to netflix. shareholders voting on on the pay plan for the executives of the company. take me through what happened. lauren: so the shareholders voted against pay packages for the top executives. many considered it inappropriate during the writer's strike, so r eed hastings was set to receive 3 million, his total compensation package. i didn't find that high, but the co-ceo's have 40 and $35 million respectively. ashley: not bad if you can get that work. let's take a look at broadcom if we can.

we understand there is someone pretty bullish on this stock, up 2.5% tell me about it. lauren: bank of america says they are going to $950, so that's a nice bump. they also reiterated their rating on broadcom. they say when you look at a.i., broadcom is just completely under valued, so 950 for avgo. ashley: very good. great job, lauren. running through all of those stocks this morning. all right coming up by the way the dow up 327 points, so we continue to gain ground. coming up, during his town hall with shawn hannity last night former president trump made a bold prediction about the war in ukraine. listen to this. >> i want to stop the war. i don't want that war to continue and i'll stop that war, mark my words. >> [applause] >> i'll stop that war in 24 hours. you need the power of the presidency. it was a war that should have never ever started. ashley: he's going to stop it in 24 hours: former state

department official christian wh itton will take that on, meanwhile, british glamour cover sparks outrage featuring a top less transgender man to celebrate pride month and the labor market showing signs of strength but that's not good for the overall economy. we'll take a look at where the president stands on this issue, coming up next. ♪

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so if you have this and want less out-of-pocket costs... and more peace of mind... consider adding this. an aarp medicare supplement plan. take charge of your health care today. just use this...or this to call unitedhealthcare about an aarp medicare supplement plan. ashley: all right, let's get back to that jobs report. 339,000 jobs added in may. edward lawrence at the white house this morning. edward, this is an unbelievably

strong report, unexpected. break it down for us. reporter: yeah, well, and you know just minutes ago, president joe biden releasing a statement saying that his biden plan for the economy is working. he's saying and then he also says that he's looking forward to signing the debt ceiling deal the last time the economy created 339,000 jobs was january of this year with the unemployment rate ticking up but this is the problem. the federal reserve would like to see slower job growth and then the unemployment rate go up , so here is a big concern. when you look at the actual numbers, the total number of employ employed people shrank by 310,000 and the total number of unemployed rose by 440,000 people and this indicates we have fewer total people working this year and they are less productive than pre-pandemic levels. now this is consistent with sluggish economic growth, adding to that slow growth, average hourly wages went up 4.3% year-over-year but overall, cpi inflation up 4.9% in that time.

>> you still have inflation eating away if you look at real wages and we're still not keeping up with inflation and so the living standards for the average american is still down. reporter: so you see the total number of jobs going in the wrong direction for the economy, but the right direction for a political win for president joe biden. he usually addresses the jobs numbers in his speech but no public comments announced for this morning, so here is where the jobs are. manufacturing though last 2,000 jobs last month. big gains in healthcare, construction up 15,000 jobs in may, leisure and hospitality and retail also up. this report makes it more likely for the federal reserve to raise interest rates a quarter of a percent in june, june 14, next week, but we're getting indications from board of governors that they would like to pause, still, this economic data just keeps coming in hot and that's a problem for the federal reserve. back to you. ashley: yes, it is. edward, thank you for digging down into that. appreciate it. peter morici joins us now.

all right, peter what's your takeaway to edward's point. once you get under the hood a little bit, maybe not as strong as we think. the headline numbers are blowing us away today, but what's your take on it? >> well, a lot of people that were self-employed are finding employment again, and so the actual number of people working isn't increasing as much as those jobs numbers indicate, but what's really significant here is the real wage story: for seven of the last nine quarters, not nine months, nine quarters, the full span of the biden administration, real wages have declined. workers are not being made better off by the biden economy. they are suffering month after month, loss of buying power. ashley: well, it's interesting, peter, because where does that leave the fed? perhaps the betting money is say the fed funds says look, probably a pause this month, maybe a hike again in july. depending on all of the data that comes in between now and then, and then maybe even a cut later in the year, in november

and december. what's your take? >> i think they will rule the day they pause. this is exactly what happened in the 70s. the fed was reluctant to push the economy too hard in terms of bringing down inflation, and we ended up, you know, with inflation in double-digits and paul volcker having to raise interest rates to 18 or 19%. the reality is biden has been stuffing the fed where he can, with people who are inclined to basically pump up the economy. he just talked about for example , a deflation. i guess the next thing that we're going to get at the university of chicago economics department is faith healing. that's an absolutely absurd statement, so my feeling is unfortunately, the fed is not thinking clearly. it's not well-advised. its become heavily politicized and it's in danger of making a terrible mistake and taking the country up when it comes to inflation, rather than down. ashley: one last thing i wanted to get this in, peter.

biden's labor department made a massive revision to their wage data the fourth quarter last year and massive is an understatement. look at this. hourly compensation revised down from the previously-reported increase of 4.9% to a decrease of .7%. i mean, is the economy worse off than we thought? >> absolutely. the notion in the white house is a little bit more inflation and workers will do better. we'll get a red hot job market. the problem is prices and wages are out of whack. prices are increasing much more rapidly than wages. seven of the last nine quarters, the span of the biden administration, real wages, have been falling. my feeling is americans are going to see this and complain in november. ashley: wow. i don't think we're going to hear about it when the president speaks to the nation tonight. that's for sure, but he will be talking about the 339,000 jobs. >> that's right. ashley: peter morici, great stuff as always, thank you for joining us. come back in here, lauren. what's this about costco shopper

s recession indicator? used to be waffle house for storms, now costco for the economy. lauren: oh, yeah. it's their meat aisle in particular. so, they've noticed shoppers are taking home the chicken and the pork, because it's cheaper than the beef and they note that that's a recession indicator. that's what's happened in the past and they also have the kirk land brand. i love the big chocolate covered raisins. anyway it's a private brand typically cheaper offers more value. those sales are up. that's their recession indicator ashley: chocolate covered -- lauren: you've never had them? so good. ashley: no i haven't but they sound good. lauren: ashley, i'll get you some. ashley: i'm so poorly up. another one for you, lauren. this is interesting. four major cities where it is cheaper to buy a house than actually rent one. tell me where. lauren: redfin says it is 24% cheaper to pay for mortgage than rent your home in detroit.

it's cheaper in philadelphia by 7% to buy than rent. it's also cheaper in cleveland and in houston. it's because home values in those four cities, let's say, stagnated as the word to describe what's happening but look, you take san francisco. it's twice as expensive to buy than rent and nationwide, the typical home costs about 25% more to own than rent, so it's just those four cities. kind of out of whack. ashley: and you have to come up with a down payment as well which many people cannot lauren, thank you very much. coming up, guess what? it's not too late to be on the show today. don't forget to send in your friday feedback. you can e-mail your comments, questions, your critiques. we want to hear it all just send it to varneyviewers@fox.com. now this. recreational marijuana is now legal in 23 states, but as the map expands, many question whether it's actually worth it all. has it all gone up in smoke?

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ashley: after all the. ullabaloo about this recreational marijuana now legal in 23 states but, interestingly, some states are now seeing sales fall off and businesses cut back. so what's going on, lauren? what's the problem? lauren: ashley, we're talking about a potential marijuana recession even though it's legal in almost half the country as you see here, so we attended the cannabis business expo in new york city, and we got some answers. watch. >> oh, it's more than a recession. the cannabis industry is in one of the deepest downturns i've seen. >> it's tough out there. the price reduction on the pre- roll so the profit is not as good as it was supposed to be. >> everything has its boom and its downs to it. >> companies that are profitable maintain and the companies that are not are going out of business. lauren: and the economic pain is worse for the states that started first. colorado and california lost

over 10,000 cannabis jobs in the past year, and i mean if you take a look in colorado that's one-third of all employed in the industry. the reasons are largely over production and overtaxation but look, other states are struggling as well, and businesses that banked on a boom are now trying to save money with automation. you're looking at a robot that rolls joints, and there's even a venmo for weed, if you will, since it's federally illegal you can't pay with a credit card, but i did want to leave you with this. outside of the marijuana industry, we are seeing an explosion of workers high on-the-job. so if there's a workplace accident, that employee must be drug tested. 7% of employees have tested positive for marijuana after an on-site accident. that's an increase of 9% in one years time, and that is certainly something that employers will need to account for in the hiring process. >> the marijuana testing today

centers a lot more on jobs where you really can't afford to have somebody high on-the-job either because of the law or just real common sense like heavy machinery, pilot. lauren: it's dangerous and ashley, as stuart always says you walk down the street. you don't know what people are smoking, because it's not necessarily a joint rolled up. it's a vape pen. we don't know what's in it. the boss doesn't know what's in it and you don't know where that employee works and if they are a danger to themselves or others. ashley: very interesting report. marijuana going to pot. sorry i said that but it true. interesting. very quickly, looking at the markets the dow up nearly 400 points now. it only needs to gain 31 to turn positive for the week, so at this point, looking great. be interesting to see if we can hang on to the gains through the rest of the session. all right, still ahead on the show, tom fitton, christian whiton, steve hilton and matthew whitaker. great lineup. the 10 a.m. hour of "varney" & company is next.

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