martha ross has studied that question. she's a fellow at the br instituti martha, thank for being here today. >> i'm glad to be here. thanks for having me. >> you studied the out of work population. who are they, and why are so many workers on the sidelines of the labor market today? >> they're from all walks of life. anyone -- lots of people find themselves in this group, but they are disproportionately disadvantaged. so more than half of them have at most a high school diploma. and this is at a time when jobs are increasingly requiring a college education or an apprenticeship or some kind of post-secondary education. and only about a quarter of them have worked in the past year. >> we just listened to the package where we talked bay woman who's 47 and retraining herself. i guess it's a tricky time to figure out how to get retraining once you're 44 too. >> it is. it is. the median age of the out of work population is 45. and given that companies are having such trouble finding workers i think they need, as oakwood is, they

martha: governor, quickly before we go. here at home, the trump administration is facing questions about wilbur ross, whether or not his businesses a tie to the putin government, the russia investigation continues apace i guess. we wait forever for what the substance is of that. how does the president handle this? >> i don't think he deals with it while he's overseas. he's got plenty on his plate. all of these are legitimate questions, they certainly deserve to be asked and answered. and they will be. you have to remember, wilbur ross has already been through a very thorough vetting process both in the trump organization, and then through the senate confirmation. yes, all these questions are legitimate. they should be asked, but i don't think that will result in any big change. >> martha: to be continued, thank you very much. great to have both of you with us tonight on a busy night. good to see you both. coming up next year, donna brazile in her own words on being handcuffed by the clinton campaign. >> they told us to shut up and basically let them won the election. >> martha: this as the g.o.p. is witnessing a change of its own