klaus kleinfeld. he's chairman and c.e.o. of alcoa. klaus, nice to see you and happy new area. >> hello, susie, hello, happy new area, susie. >> susie: thank you so much, well, looking at these quarterly numbers, what are they telling you about the outlook, what can we expect from alcoa in the new year? >> well, first of all, this quarter has been overshadowed by the restructuring actions that we've taken. and the restructuring aks that we've taken have basically two directions. one to increase our competitiveness in general. the second to adjust to the market environment that we have had in our industry. now if you want to look forward to what we see in 2012, we actually do see that there are some air of confidence coming back into the economy. particularly here in the u.s. we've seen a rebounce of consumer confidence since basically summer last year. we've seen the manufacturers procurement index clearly going up. so these are really good things. we do project a growth on a worldwide basis for aluminum 7% we do project. we do project

klaus kleinfeld will join us live to talk about the company's outlook and the state of the global economy. >> tom: for the third session in a row, u.s. stock averages made only small moves. but we are higher on the year so far. it was a holiday shortened trading week with the markets closed on monday. over the past four session, the dow industrials is up 1.2% thanks to that big rally on tuesday. much the same for the nasdaq. this week, the index is up 2.7% with three sessions of gains. and the s&p 500 closed out 2011 flat, but began 2012 with a first week gain of 1.6%. as for today's action, over all, the market had a slight negative bent to it. telecom services led the losers, down one and a half percent. consumer staples and utilities fell about a half percent each. leading telecom down was sprint nextel. shares fell only a nickel, but that's more than 2% with the stock just above $2 per share. the company has struggled to compete against a.t.&t. and verizon. it restructured its organization to merge its business and consumers units into one combining sales and marketing efforts. financ

our own klaus kleinfeld, ceo of alcoa, and a very special guest, andrew liveris of dow.nk you very much for coming, and i know we're all looking forward to your panel. [background sounds] >> good morning. we're going to hear a lot today about ideas for strategies for making the u.s. economy more competitive and creating more jobs. but we have to start from where we are. and where we are is a difficult spot as all of you know. we have to start from a realistic look at why the economy is struggling, why do we have 8.5% unemployment and be a lot higher -- and a lot higher number if you include all the people who are either looking for work and have gotten discouraged or who have a job but would like a better job or to work more hours. and why has unemployment stayed so high for so long, what is standing in the way of a more rapid recovery. so the job of this panel is to focus on why we are where we are and where we might be going. one thing that you may be very glad of is you're not going to hear any political blame game today. [laughter] you will hear no references to it's

. >> let me turn next to klaus kleinfeld, who runs alcoa, absolutely huge industrial company, global company that i think employs about 60,000 workers here and in many other places. you've been dealing with this very difficult situation around the world with a volatile markets and rapid change and lots of dimensions. and you have dealt with a four lot of your career. you came from another big global german company in siemens. so could you tell us in a few minutes how you see the current situation, both the economic situation, but especially the future of the labor market in the united states? and if you would just comment on the skills mismatch hypothesis your casket effective alcoa, and how do you see a generally? >> why don't i go straight into the aspect you described the environment and let me throw a few thoughts out on what opportunities do we have here to create jobs, because i'm with you, there are a lot of opportunities here. some of those can actually be put out on a short-term basis. i see basically three what i would call levers. the one thing you already talked about is

let me turn next to klaus client kleinfeld. he employs about 60,000 workers. you have been dealing with this very difficult situation around the world and rapid change in lots of dimensions. you have done a lot of that throughout your career. you went from being able german- based company, namely siemens. tell us how you see the current situation, mostly the economic situation, but especially the nature of the labor markets in the united states. and comment on the skills mismatch hypophysis. has it affected alcoa and how do you see it generally? >> why do i not go directly into the aspects to describe the environment and let me throughout a few thoughts on what opportunities we have to create jobs. i am with you. there are a lot of opportunities. and some of those can be put off in a short-term basis. i see what i basically call lovers -- what i basically called leaders. -- what i call levers. the first thing is immigration. the second thing is innovation. we have had a lot of good ideas around that. we should not forget about it. that has two big sub-aspects.

klaus kleinfeld. he's chairman and c.e.o. of alcoa. klaus, nice to see you and happy new area. >> hello, susie, hello, happy new area, susie. >> susie: thank you so much, well, looking at these quarterly numbeeer w the manufas procurement since basically summer last year. we've seen the manufacturers procurement index clearly going up. so manufacturers procurement index clearly going up. so these are really good things. we do project a growth on a rl so these are really good things. we do project a growth on a worldwide basis for aluminum 7% we do project. we do project that china given the on a worldwide basis for aluminum 7% we do project. we do project that china given the unsustainable structure of their industry is going to go into a deficit. basically meaning that there wiee given the unsustainable structure of their industry is going to go into a deficit. basically meaning that there will need to be imports going into china. so there is quite a bit ofdecit. basically meaning that there will need to be imports going into china. so