unemployment insurance. they don't want to extend the runway for active job seekers who need gas money to get to their job interviews. and no raise for americans. but that's not the nuttiest part. now you have republicans like tom coburn saying crazy stuff like this. "i don't believe there ought to be a national minimum wage. that's my position." so, in the "crossfire" tonight we've got republican representative andy harris, democratic representative barbara lee. both in the "crossfire" tonight. i'm going to go to you. are you willing to go on the record endorsing these radical view from coburn that says america shouldn't even have a national minimum wage? >> we certainly ought to raise the -- we shouldn't raise the national minimum wage. i was a small businessowner in my district, rural area, and she was very worried because she has a small business. >> i got you. >> supposed to hire people. >> i'm not going to let you out of this. yes or no? is a national minimum wage a good idea or bad idea? >> should be

we see unemployment coming down, youth unemployment coming down, long-term unemployment coming down and long-term youth unemployment coming down which in our growing economy where our long-term economic plan is working and see the number of vacancies going up. three-quarters of the new jobs over the last year have gone to u.k. nationals and also that the employment of romanians and bulgarians went down in the first three months this year following the lifting of the controls, which i think is notable. in terms of pfizer, this government has been absolutely clear that the right thing to do is to get stuck in to seek the best possible guarantees on british jobs, on british investment and british science. we discussed last week and one of the most important things we have learned since last week is the right honorable gentleman asked tore a meeting with pfizer but he said he was too busy political campaigning. he quite literally put party politics ahead of the national interests. >> i'm not going to take any lectures from the guy who was negotiating with pfizer over of the head of the boar

unemployment rate deflynning since october. correctly judging the strength of the labor market is very important because the federal market committee is tied to the apering of large-scale asset pumps and the normalization of rates to the assessment of the labor market. much of the slack of the labor market is attributed to cyclical factors and believe a monetary policy can strengthen the outlook. however, if a stational proportion of the market is due to factors such an -- as an aging population, maintaining this policy could instead create economic bottlenecks that would trigger price inflation. different policies are required such as reforming transportation and strengthening jobs programs and modernizing programs to encourage work. it appears on track to terminate these purchase before the end of the year. however, i'm concerned that the stage it will likely maintain is zero interest rate policy long after q.e. ends and well below those --ed normal in the long run. i'm concerned that the changes is undermining the fed's cred

-- the unemployment rate was over 6.5%. the gap would be sufficiently wide that something we should -- should consider as a possibility. and so we gave the number 6 1/2 considerable distance from where we were to the public to say we will wait at least that long. now, we did not say that we would raise the -- our target for the federal funds rate when we reached the level of 6.5%. what we said was that would be close enough that we need to look very carefully at what to assess using many different metrics of the labor market, where is it, and what is appropriate policy. now it's appropriate to really look at many more things. and we changed our forward guidance only because we were coming close to 6.5% and we have now crossed it. there's no change in the guidance, we are saying now that we are there, we want you to understand we have to develop a more nuanced approach to what's going on in the labor market. now, the unemployment rate is a good indicator of the state of the labor market, and if i could only have one, i think

long-termn unemployment is potentially positive.it fell because the long-term unemployed found jobs. if it fell because they lost the labor force -- left the labor force, that is something that still needs to be addressed. >> futures are coming down now. >> it is quite interesting. we saw all the benchmark indicators up by 0.3%. there are now only up by 0.1% . if i had to come up with a reason, i would go back to what mike mckee was saying. we heard a similar thing from pimco. wage data might be the fulcrum on which markets job this -- judge this job report. the wage number combines the two factors that the fed is looking at, it's dual mandate of inflation and unemployment. >> that is exactly right. n, why are we not seeing that wage pressure? >> they are running ahead of inflation. we have a lot of slack in the economy. that is keeping dollar pressure on prices and wage growth. more and more of that slack is going back to work. that should put up or pressure on -- put pressure on wages. we are seeing an increase in real wages in th

total unemployment, around 35%.t is very unusual. other things are happening that much in evaluating how slack is there in the labor markets. labor force participation rate has fallen a lot. there is some structural reasons for that. demographics. baby boomers are aging and getting into the years where laboretire and their force participation naturally declines. so the decline we have seen is not entirely because of a weak economy, but i think some of it is because of a weak economy, and in a sense, it is hard to give you a precise number four how much of that decline is cyclical. to the says there is a cyclical decline that is more slack, and that is what we are looking at and trying to judge. we are also looking at wage developments in the level of payroll employment. me follow up on a few things. what can the fed do about long-term unemployment, which we all technology is too high? economy, as we have growth in the economy, my expectation is long-term unemployment will come down. short-term unemployment is around

that's nearly double the current unemployment rate of 6.3%. job placement experts say the sluggish recovery continues to delay graduates finding jobs or if hired, they are often taking less pay. >> unfortunately, today is college is yesterday's high school. you just have to accept that. but you have to be strategic. you want to target the industries and the companies that you would have an interest in and find people that work in those industries and those companies. >> reporter: but graduate spirits remains high. 84% of this year's graduating class expect to find jobs in their chosen field, according to a brand-new survey. 22-year-old laura schwartz, who just graduated from george washington university, began her job search more than a month ago. she's determined to get a job in social media and marketing. part of the new economy but already seeing stiff competition. >> i'm very confident in my skills as a social media manager of my blog and i know that i can do really well in that field and i think that it's a growing -- social media is real

if we do that, what we see is the unemployment rates come down. for the last six months, job growth has been -- employment has been gaining about 200,000 jobs a month and somewhat higher over the last three months. the labor force participation rate, it's bounced around, but it's been roughly stable. so it came down. it had gone up previously. over the last six months, it's been roughly stable. which is -- i think there is a declining labor force participation rate as a trend, so a stable labor force participation rate could signify that some cyclical slack in the labor market is gradually diminishing over time. so looking over three to six months i would say the patterns we're seeing are consistent with improvement in the labor market. >> ok. thank you. >> thank you. representative cummings. >> chairman yellen, in february, senator elizabeth warren and i wrote to you urging that a formal vote of the board of governors be required before the fed entered into consent orders over $1 million. my staff reviewed all fed enforcement actions between 1997

unemployment.that's a pretty significant concern, would you not -- >> yes, we are in the order of 35%, of all those unemployed, more than six months, and that's a very disturbing trend, and something that we would like to be able to do something about. >> well, thank you for your service. you've undertaken a tough job. we want to be positive and helpful, but from the point of view of working americans, this is the slowest, most anemic recovery we've seen maybe ever since the great depression at least, and we vetted medium income fall by $2300 per family. we've had 15 million increase in population and a climate people actually working and we've got more people working part-time. this is not a good trend. what we're doing we need to get better at it. thank you, madam chair. >> thank you. senator whitehouse. >> thank you, madam chairman. welcome, chair yellen. thank you for being with us here today. many reports on the economy show continuing improvement. the stock market is high. unemployment contin

unemployment coming down, long-term unemployment coming down and long-term use unemployment coming down. now growing economy were long-term economic plan is working we see a number of vacancies going up. hon. members, is good to know in addition that three quarters of the new jobs over the last year have gone to uk nationals and also that employment of romanians and bulgarians went down in the last three months of this year following the listing of controls which is notable. in terms of pfizer and astra's point, this government has been absolutely clear that the right thing to do is to get stuck in the best possible guarantee on british jobs, british investment and british science. we discussed this last week and one of the most important things we learned since last week is the right hon. gentleman was asked for a meeting with pfizer but he said he was too busy political campaigning. t quite literally put politics ahead of the national interests. >> i won't take any lectures from the guy who was negotiating, negotiating with pfizer over the board of astra's an act that. pfizer picked o

unemployment benefits were our lifeline. when they were cut off at six months, we began thinking fast. we depleted all of our savings just to make ends meet. everything that i worked for is now gone. we borrowed from my mother-in-law to make the mortgage payments for april and may, but that's it. or a new job,wal by the end of may, we are done. make theave nothing to mortgage and we will lose our home. our american dream has turned into a nightmare and we realize there are many people, through no fault of their own, that are in dire circumstances. especially those with children and no spouse's that have been suffering. congress'sause of failure to restore federal unemployment benefits. i want you and all members of the house to hear my story and reflect on the fact that restoring federal in uc would help relieve a tremendous amount of hardship for me and millions of others. let democracy work. the time for excuses is over. [applause] this morning, there was a room available for some citizens to come to washington, their capi

if you look at teenage unemployment, that came down to under 20%. it is good to see the strong headline numbers and good to see unemployment rate come down and it's even better to see the most vulnerable segments of the population doing better. we need to do earnings and that's the next issue in this progression of healing. >> the lack of wage growth is part of the washington debate over potentially raising the minimum wage. >> if you look at the studies, it's hard to claim that a higher minimum wage will lower employment. what it will do is it will help on the consumption side because that segment of the population has the highest propensity to consume and will help on the inequality side. i think it would be a win-win -- for a vulnerable segment of the occupation and the economy as a whole. >> online job network -- link in sales is below animals estimates. -- analyst estimates for users are not signing up at the pace they used to pushing lincoln into its sixth straight quarter of decelerating growth. how does linkedin make money anyway? >> how doe

rateave 6.8 unemployment -- 6.8% unemployment rate. weekly earnings are increasing above inflation. 1.7%. without we would see after just up to 2.1%. -- we thought we would see earnings just up to 2.1%. >> the rate is quite significant. nearly half a million over the course of the year, if it continues at that rate. the bank of england said they will play club -- pay close attention. if they take that seriously and they should be thinking about raising interest rates. >> the expectations for a rate hike for the first quarter of next year -- is that in line with your expectations? should the jumped the gun? -- or should they jumped the gun? >> i think it is likely that they will start the process later this year. if they are going to respond properly to the economy. the danger of leaving it into is that the gradual rise in interest rates becomes impossible to achieve. then we get this shock that the bank seems to be trying to avoid. >> what do you expect from mark carney today in the inflation report? will he try to drop a hint about ra

why a single week in april could have thrown off the unemployment data. plus...behind the boating industry's efforts to stay afloat.. and...the reveal on the best state to reture is after the break. stick around you will be surprised.' . south dakota ranks number one in a roundup of best states to retire. a bankrate survey- finds retirees in colorado, utah, north dakota and wyoming have the highest satisfaction. new york, west virginia, alaska, arkansas and hawaii are listed lower. "there are some people who absolutely need to be near the beach, some people want to be in the cities, there's some people who would love to go to europe. in each of these cases, what we want to tell people is that aside from what your dreams are, think about some of the very basic facts that are out there." according to bank rate- the best states to retire have low cost of living, and tax rates, which is luring retirees away from popular destinations such as arizona and florida. new market highs have investors saving for retirement-- trusting stocks again. aon hewitt says in m

gets 2.6% unemployment. that's basically because it's a huge oil boom, shale, as well, if you're looking for a job. and this has happened a lot. a lot of people are moving there to get work. moving away from their families and sending money home. >> he's got like 1,000 people plus going up there. >> yeah. >> through his show. >> yeah. absolutely. >> he made them number one. >> we were talking about the labor participation rate. >> uh-huh. >> that's not an issue in texas. north dakota's a little state, texas is a huge state. and they created 64,000 jobs last month alone. they have an incredible job market. and part of that is really creating a business climate where companies want to move. i mean, we just saw toyota move there, there's very low taxes, very low uncertainty. the governor has made it, you know, made it a priority that he wants businesses to come. so small businesses don't have to worry about hiring. >> rick perry came to new york -- >> absolutely. >> to the lone star -- >> both people and compan

unemployment fell in april.or more on that and the latest from ukraine, rich miller and indira lakshmanan join me. the unemployment rate fell. that is enough to make -- >> a good jobs report. the gains were widespread. you had retail, construction. you had health care. the big question is, what is the new trend? definitely some catch-up from the winter when people could not get work. >> the trend is great. there is also the gdp report. >> obamacare saved the day. if it wasn't for spending on medical services, we would have had a negative -- >> that will -- >> we would have had a negative print. >> some of that was bad weather. >> that is the silver lining, or behind the cloud. the bad weather. a lot of it was temporary. as the jobs report shows, the second quarter will be a rebound. >> that's what the fed thinks. what do you think janet yellen and company over there at the marble palace are thinking? >> they are pretty happy. they are puzzled at why the unemployment rate is going down so much. they have lowered

precisely the people who benefit from extended unemployment benefits. a recent study by the illinois department of employment security found that 4-5 illinois workers who lost long-term unemployment benefits at the end of last year were still without work two months later. they are still struggling in a very difficult market. and i agree with the director of this state agency, who says -- quote -- "economic conditions should determine when this safety net program ends, not an arbitrary date on the calendar." and the economic conditions for the long-term unemployed are still perilous, it is still an emergency. the peerk's refusal to re -- the speaker's refusal to renew emergency unemployment insurance makes it even harder for struggling americans to feed their families and it does nothing to improve our economic outlook. the senate-passed bill was fully offset and included, in fact, deficit reduction. so the idea it was too expensive just doesn't hold water. the fact house republicans are moving $300 billion worth of budget-busting tax breaks, many of wh

and, helping long-term unemployed by extending unemployment benefits. >> i'm sorry, extend unemployment benefits will help jobs? >> you know, i can't think after better time in this country's history to start your own business, both from fund-raising, amount of capital available, amount of money you can make quickly. there has never been a time where you could just become a millionaire, a few years, in history. the temptation to be in the workforce is low. why i think this whole figure is really useless because it is gauging things that don't necessarily -- in fact this is the worst since the '70s? the highest growth rate in this labor force was in the carter administration. that wasn't a great economy. it was in the '50s, way lower than it is now during the eisenhower administration which was a great time for workers in america. and peaked in 2,000. i think it will decline for a while and doesn't necessarily mean the world is falling apart. like pay raise is more important than unemployment rate but actual participation rate i don't think it is meaningful anymore. >> but just to jonas'

no vote on unemployment extension. we can talk about everything else, we can bring political messaging bills to the floor, but for the 2.8 million people who are losing everything, no vote for them. not in the house of representatives today. for the 72,000 people every week that are losing their unemployment benefits, hardworking americans, some on to other side say they want be unemployed. yesterday we had a group of unemployed citizens, we intended to have a hearing, we couldn't get a room. the relationship leadership wouldn't allow it. we went to the steps of the capitol and we heard these stories. i suggest you take a look at the people in your own district in your own districts back home -- district, in your own districts back home, who are unemployed, trying to find their next job, have lost their unemployment benefits and look them in the face and tell them that the political messaging bills that are coming to this house are more important than preserving the life that these people have worked hard to create for

and that depresses the unemployment rate. now standing at 6.3, it's the lowest since the height of the financial crisis, but some say wages aren't keeping up with those who are work. what does this mean for the midterm election as soon as susan estridge is a fox news contributor who i'm always pleased to see from washington, which means you must be going to the white house correspondents dinner. >> i am. but i came here for a memorial service for an old friend. >> i'm sorry. the unemployment rate. the democrat also say it's way down. but the republicans will say, but it's fake, 'cause people have given up. >> right. and they're both right, sort of. you and i both know that it is better if you're a electricity to have the -- democrat to have the unemployment lower than higher. when you look into the numbers, what you find is that there are a lot of people -- and everybody watching knows at least one friend or family member has beener look for work and given up. if you add to that the number of people who are employed, but empl

south africa has 24% unemployment.is talking about trying to sort that out very it is a policy that is been unable to make a dent in the unemployment rate. >> are investors more interested in nigeria? >> is a very important question. investors are showing a lot of interest. one of the other countries he's visiting most often besides china is nigeria. it is one of his favorite emerging markets. nigeria is dealing with its own set of risks. another bomb blast has hit the capital. that, he's talking about the sophistication of various institutions. ibo are looking for those growth rates above seven percent, which south africa does not have right now. >> let's stay with south africa in more ways than one and bring in david bloom. very good to have you on the program. who better to ask, with no vested interest in the subject, -- let's pick up on the rant. this is not the case in south africa. as we know, usually the discussion is whether the two werds majority are not. knows going to win the election, but the question is by

the unemployment rate fell four notches to 6.3% which is the lowest in 5 1/2 years. this is sure to put an extra spring in president obama's step when he holds a joint news conference next hour with chancellor angela merkel at the rose garden. let me bring in jason furman of the council of economic adviser s. good morning. >> good morning, chris. >> better than expected for sure, but are you satisfied? >> well, we are never satisfied, until we get the unemployment rate to the point where everybody who wants a job can find one. but we are making progress toward tas goal as you said. we try not to look month to month, because things are bouncing around, but over the past year, we have been adding 200,000 jobs per month which is steady, and that is consistent with the unemployment rate to fall by more than one point per year, and there is strengthening of the numbers. >> and you know what the pushback is, you can push it back with the 4.5% gdp growth, and how do you get to the next leve level? >> well, we are getting there. the unemployment rate has come down a point in

the march unemployment report out of the eurozone as well. the u.s.obs report, always the big number today. >> 218 thousand. that is the median forecast. i will tell you why this matters. this matters because you cannot blame the weather anymore. that excuse is pretty much dead. it is no longer about this headline number, we need to look at a whole range of and caters. labor a plethora of market numbers. the average hours worked, wages become particularly important. weakness we had in the first quarter and the absolutely prophetic gdp reading, this really matters. don't just look at the number in isolation. want to kick off on a good one. >> we have a new way job to track this. >> a lot of guys on wall street, they get the jobs number wrong. it is difficult to predict. we now track the guesses on twitter and collate the meeting. you have the number, the bloomberg estimate, your number will feature. is the overall forecast. i think we are around 210,000. >> this is this treat. >> fascinating to track. it will start the economist. >> i will not ditch th

the best strategy for tackling double digit unemployment. some more in tune with the socialist government's performance belt tightening and loosening a lot of is markedly more defined and relaxed. neither getting huge turnout in a nation once known for its mass strikes are traditional trade unions losing their steam. all comers have one word on their minds globalization and how france is handling it with or without europe with or without the guiding hand of the state's case in point the workers that i'll stop last week discovered a gene he had for thirteen billion dollars on the table the struggling french engineering giant energy brown. we'll see if it's better to do business with them is anything down or take up the counter bid. german rock scene ends. either way his friends giving up part of its sovereignty. it's the best way to see french industry and jobs as may be false identity. examining france's many days blues movies talk about a french socialist party spokesperson cobain and the house again thank you for being with us thanks as we

i heard you speaking about the unemployment insurance.ave been out of work and i am a veteran and everything. off of my job by no means of my own. voted on thehey uninsured benefits? the senate is trying to pass a bill, which i have some concerns with. it would extend the unemployment program by an additional two months. they would also do it retroactively. i don't think that is a good way to go. would extend unemployment benefits on a phase down basis until the end of the year. not 73 weeks or a year and a half, it would be for 10 months. a person could collect up to 10 months of both state and federal unemployment benefits combined. i think that is a smart way to proceed. we are going to tie that to job creating or job saving measures, which deal with the underlying problem of unemployment, which is lack of growth in the economy and lack of job creation. thank you for the call. john next call comes from in atlanta on our republican line. caller: how are you doing? some money from the transportation bill if the democrats pay their taxes.

unemployment is falling. the u.k. has been growing for five quarters now, the u.s.or some time longer. we had weather distractions in q1 but i think this reflects a return to growth and a need that over time you're going to have to hike interest rates as the economy keeps growing. >> talking about rate hikes may be one of the themes they are talking about at the moment. the other theme that is coming through this week is about a lack of volatility markets. a number of central bankers inc. that is an area for concern, not evidenced in the minutes, but is that worrying from here? the lack of volatility? >> worries me is the return to volatility. they increasingly talk about policy exit and this will be a big challenge for them over the next few years, this first rate hike that the fed will and bond buying later this year. we also think there will be a taper last year that was the caravan. volatility returning is of course a risk. banks will beal very careful in why they are talking about it early to try to prepare us for this. >> they seem to want a little bit of vola

total unemployment, around 35%.pening that we really in evaluating how much slack is there in the labor market. labor force participation rate has fallen a lot. now, there's some structural reasons for that, demographics, baby boomers are aging and getting into the years when they retire and their labor force participation naturally declines. so the decline we've seen, it's not entirely because of a weak economy, but i think some of it is because of a weak economy, and in a sense it's hard to give you a precise number for how much of that decline is cyclical. but to the extent there is a cyclical decline, that's more slack, and that's what we're looking at in trying to judge. we're also looking at wage developments and the level of payroll employment creation. >> okay, let me follow up on a few of those things. what do you think the fed can be doing about long-term unemployment, which we all acknowledge is too high? >> so i think a stronger economy, as we have growth in the economy, my expectation is that long-term

the unemployment rate stays the same. unemployment rises by 24,000.ooking for 15,000. growth slowing just a little bit rate you have the ukraine issue. >> you have to think about the context. to .7%. this is the lowest number since before the crisis anyways. that is a low unemployment rate. listening the past couple of days, s and d provides 80% of the employment across the eurozone. we talked about how financially constrained some of the sme's were. in spain, 25%. the read across is higher unemployment numbers as well. ,hen the credit demand picks up he wants the supply to be there. >> this is something that laurence byrne made in paris to margaret not just the constriction, but the cost. you are looking at 1.522% more expensive. -- 1.5 to 2% more expensive. a little bit of a jolt for the market. another nail in the coffin for marriott draghi. we will leave it there. we will be back tomorrow. stay with bloomberg tv. ♪ . . >> an unprecedented offensive. we bring you an exclusive interview with its foreign minister and rare access inside crimea. over w

unemployment fell .4% to 6.3%, the lowest since 2008. anthony mason has the story. >> reporter: in chicago, belly creates online loyalty programs for small- and medium-sized businesses. the company logan lahive founded just two and a half years ago already has 120 employees. >> i think we had 18 new hires in march. and as of right now, i know we have ten offer letters that are accepted for people that are starting within the next three to four weeks. >> reporter: nationally, of the 288,000 jobs created in april, the largest number, 75,000, were in business service companies like belly, as the unemployment rate dropped to its lowest level since 2008. that looks like good news. underneath, is it? >> today, it wasn't really for the right reasons. >> reporter: annetta markozeka attributes the entire decline in the unemployment rate last month to 806,000 people leaving the labor force. >> rather than people really finding jobs, you had people dropping out of the labor force for various reasons. they could be retiring. they could be giving up.

if you thought the fed was just issuing one objective of the june mandate, unemployment, with that unemploymentworried they would start tightening. the fed is pursuing two objectives. near there.re it is important to market to take account of the unemployment picture and the inflation picture. >> it is time for adam johnson's insight and action. he is following the money. >> that that may be tapering its qe bond buying program. not the rest of america. corporateking about qe. .ook what it is talking about it earlier this week, distribute in cash via buybacks and dividends. you can support stock and asset prices all growth is low. the same thing that the fed is doing. you're putting money into the system. in this case it is corporate america trying to inflate stock prices. there is a catch. he you are substituting investment in the same way the fed might be crowding out other investments. we will get into that. this is still going very strong. what we decided to do was actually the companies that are engaging in this corporate qe. and has beening working, it should continue to work. dividend yie

that are currentsly collecting unemployment.eople have collected it for the length of time that they are available to collect it, yet they are still unemployed. when you look at what's called the u 6 statistic, eric, this is a calculation of everybody that is unemployed. that rate, i am being told is closer to 13% nationally across the country. >> in fact, the labor participation rate, according to the bureau of labor statistics, is at the lowest level in 36 years. the last time it was at the rate was there was march, 1978, when jimmy carter was president. >> and that's my very point. you want to create job, you got to have a government less burdensome, regulatory environment and tax environment that is a lot more cooperative to the entrepreneur in this country, and then i believe you start to see real sustainable jobs and vitality in the u.s. economy that makes long-term sustainable sense. the other area is the keystone pipe loan. i think that unleashes a significant amount of real well-paying jobs in the united states. >> that

we get our unemployment rate at age: 30. that is the big number we are for this morning as well as change in nonfarm payrolls. 215,000, and that 9:45, the ism manufacturing for new york. 10:00, we get factory earnings, chevron, cvs, msg, estee lauder, we will also get the annual meeting from berkshire hathaway. the differenceey this jobs date field, the up feel here, within the mergers, acquisitions, the dow at record highs. >> a change in nonfarm payroll at the 250,000, that is big, double what we need for population. that is putting america back to work. i know the labor participation --at >> alan kruger is on a little bit later. >> nymex crude, 99.88 will stop let's move onto the vix and the idea of 13.25 really shows what talking about on this job stay and gold futures 1285. then there is the geopolitics, adam. you were going to mention president obama and chancellor merkel. he will indeed be meeting with chancellor merkel around 11:30. think of merkel, putin as the equivalent of blair and bush. we will see what they hav

the unemployment rate has gone down to 6.3%.gest to me we're moving in the right direction, not as fast as we should. why not help give people a lift? >> i think you'd have a hard time teming the american people that this is a good jobs market. it's a pretty lousy one. >> i said it was getting better. >> we had a good report yesterday, no question about it. the problem is so many americans are dropping out of the workforce that if you look at the real unemployment rate, the unemployment rate is closer to 10%. it's a tough job market and we haven't seen wage growth. i would say this. at least if we're going to raise the minimum wage everyone should agree we should have a starter wage or a teen wage so we're not pricing young people out of the job market. i have two teenagers. i love them to death, i love my kids more than anything in the world. nobody is going to pay $10 an hour for kids. they need the first job. you'll price a lot of young people out of the job market. seattle they want to raise the minimum raise to $15 an hour.

it's not that we've had so many jobs created that we brought down unemployment. it's that we had a huge number of people who dropped out of the labor force. which is not good. but let's step back. there's a but to the but. the but to the but is -- there is. it's a lot of -- it's a lot of jobs and we've had a lot of jobs for a few months in a row now and this is a good thing. and we should celebrate that. the bad news is it's not as good as the unemployment rate would lead us to believe because we want people in the labor force and want them looking for work. there are still 10 million people who are looking for work and can't find it. which is way too many. but there are millions more on top of that. who have just given up. gwen: we're always looking for a subtext in these numbers. as we -- especially bad usually these unemployment numbers are bad for minorities. they're bad for teenagers. how did that break down? >> yeah. it's the same. it's still -- we have i think the lowest unemployment rate for african-americans in several years now. which is a good thing. b

and the unemployment rate fell to a five and a half year low. with upward revisions for february and march, job growth for the last three months has averaged 238,000. with the conversation with german chancellor angela merkel, he said there is more to be done. >> all told, our business has now created 9.2 million jobs over 50 consecutive months of job growth. the grit and the determination of the american people, they are moving forward. but we have to keep a focus on the jobs and create opportunities for working families. april employment gains were broad-based. the private sector generated 273,000 jobs including 75,000 in professional and business services, which traditionally are among the better paying jobs, among the small business success stories, trump club, a chicago-based men's clothing service. the four-year-old start-up had the best in 2014. the top growth. >> when you sign up, you get matched with the stylists in one of our offeice, they take care f you that way, upgrading your wardrobe. >> the total work force now tops 400, includin