Return to Transcripts main page

New Day

Pandemic Forcing Many Working Moms To Stay Home With Kids; 1.8 Million Jobs Added In July; Unemployment Rate Slips To 10.2 Percent; School Principal Makes "U Can't Touch This" Safety Video. Aired 8:30- 9a ET

Aired August 07, 2020 - 08:30   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


[08:30:00]

ERICA HILL, CNN ANCHOR: And I'm sure like it is, for me, this is a consistent topic of conversation.

BIANNA GOLODRYGA, CNN SENIOR GLOBAL AFFAIRS ANALYST: It's such an important topic that we're going to be discussing right now. And the pandemic has proven to be anything but the great equalizer. It was initially billed as. Some 50 million Americans have to plan for childcare before they can even think about returning back to work. Well, that economic burden has disproportionately fallen on women.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

SARAH PARRA, TEACHER: It didn't really make sense for me to go to work and pay somebody else to be home with my own kids.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): For the first time in four years, Sarah Parra won't be able to meet her new class of preschool students when the school year begins at Smyrna First Baptist school just outside of Atlanta.

PARRA: I'm constantly thinking about my students and what they need. So it's going to be hard.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Instead, she'll be teaching and taking care of her own young children.

When the Cobb County School District announced that the school year will begin online, Parra was forced to rethink her working life.

PARRA: We have always organized our finances to where we could live off of one salary.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Pre-COVID, women made up half of the U.S. workforce. But as noted in a recent report from Goldman Sachs, that participation rate is directly tied to accessible childcare. With millions of children starting the school year virtually, coupled with fewer daycare options, an enormous number of Americans are now forced to come up with childcare solutions before they can return to work.

PARRA: When I'm home, I'm a wife and I'm a mother. And I feel like it's -- a teacher is just another part of my identity. And that's really what's going to be missing.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): It turns out, many of those solutions involve working moms putting their careers on hold.

JOSEPH ALLEN, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR OF EXPOSURE ASSESSMENT SCIENCE, HARVARD: There are enormous societal and individual costs to school closures that are not being discussed. It has to be a absolute priority to get kids back to school for their own good, and also to get the economy re-going.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Piedad Sanchez had to leave the cleaning company she worked for in order to take care of her three children ranging in age from eight to 11.

PIEDAD SANCHEZ, MOM WHO QUIT JOB: I had to quit because at this time, for me, my kids are more important. We're more tight with the money.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): Sanchez is also investing her time within her own community, helping families navigate language barriers to online learning, which is disproportionately set back Hispanic students.

SANCHEZ: They may be don't understand the language, but I help them.

GOLODRYGA (voice-over): As Congress continues to debate another stimulus bill, the school and child care crisis is one of the few areas that has bipartisan support. For moms like Piedad and Sarah, it's too late.

SANCHEZ: There is no option, because I have to maybe ask somebody come to watch them, but there is not an option for me.

PARRA: They can't hold my place for me for when school goes back, which makes it a little unsettling not having an end date for all of this.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

GOLODRYGA: Erica, you can see the big setback. This is for people like Piedad and Sarah. This is a big sacrifice that moms are making. And of course, when you want moms to have equality in the workforce and women to have equality in the workforce, it's yet another uphill battle for them to climb.

HILL: Yes, it certainly is. Bianna, appreciate it. Thank you.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: This is CNN breaking news.

JOHN BERMAN, CNN ANCHOR: All right, we do have breaking news. The Labor Department just released the jobs report for the month of July. CNN Chief Business Correspondent Christine Romans with the breaking details. Romans, what do you see?

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: John, just quickly here. 1.8 million jobs added in July, a little better than expected here and the unemployment rate down to 10.2 percent from a number in the 11 percent range. That is good news that the jobless rates coming down. It is still higher than the worst of the Great Recession.

Where was this hiring? It was in hospitality and leisure, food and drinking services in particular, also saw some retail jobs, out of 250,000 retail jobs added although the government notes that they're still down more than 900,000 jobs in retail, in shops and malls since February. We'll continue to pour through these numbers for you. But this number a little bit better than expected but showing a slowdown in hiring of the summer. So job growth still, but not as much as the prior two months, John.

BERMAN: All right, Romans, let's dig in for a couple of minutes here.

ROMANS: Sure.

BERMAN: We're going to take a quick break. We're going to come back and talk much more about these new numbers and what it means for the discussions, the debate, the negotiations over an economic rescue plan. That's next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:38:52]

HILL: Breaking news just moments ago, the July jobs report showing 1.8 million jobs added the unemployment rate now 10.2 percent.

Back with us, Christine Romans. Also joining us CNN Anchor and Correspondent, Julia Chatterley. So Christine, as we look at this, a little bit better than expected.

ROMANS: Yes.

HILL: But what stands out to you here? What should the real takeaway be?

ROMANS: Well, you can see that as the economy was slowly starting to reopen for business, the very people who were fired first were hired, starting to get hired back. So bars, restaurants, retail stores, you saw people being hired back at clothing, apparel stores and clothing accessory stores. So that's where you were starting to see some of the hiring.

There's some government jobs in here too, and also healthcare jobs. They added some jobs in healthcare. So a resumption of activity in the beginning of July meant some of these people going -- excuse me, going back to work. This is a rear-view mirror picture though. So as you start to saw the hotspots worsening in the end of July in the south, did that start to spill into more layoffs, a second wave of layoffs for early August. We just don't know quite yet.

So 10.2 percent unemployment still worse than the Great Recession, but improving a little bit here. And for black Americans, that unemployment rate 14.6 percent. So you're still seeing that racial disparity in these numbers that are so troubling.

[08:40:08] BERMAN: So Julia Chatterley, obviously, adding jobs is better than losing jobs. But the previous month, there were more than 4 million jobs added. So this is actually a dramatic slowdown in job creation, why?

JULIA CHATTERLEY, CNN ANCHOR: The recovery is slowing. As Christine Romans said, we are three weeks old in terms of collecting this data. We simply can't collect data quick enough for how fast the health crisis is escalating around the country. This is a really important point. And what this is saying to us is, we're at an inflection point.

Yes, we managed to add what -- over 1.8 million jobs in the month of July, but then we need to take a step back. What we're seeing in some of the details here is that even though we're talking about an unemployment rate of 10.2 percent, they're saying we've still got this misclassification error. Actually, if the number of people that were unemployed said that rather than said they were absent, we've got an 11.2 percent approximately unemployment rate.

There are challenges here too, and there are 7.7 million people. They simply didn't look for work in the last four weeks. They'd like a job, they can't find it. When you start to add some of the details and you recognize, we're still facing a huge jobs crisis in this country. Next month could actually see a deterioration to the point where we're losing jobs. We can't get that yet, but more frequent data is warning that we're seeing a reversal in the job gains.

So this is not an accurate reflection I think of where the economy is. There's nothing in these numbers that says, pull back on the financial aid.

HILL: Christine, in terms of, you know, to both of your points that this is really a look back, as we know it is for July.

ROMANS: Yes.

HILL: As we're looking at the numbers for hospitality and leisure, about a third of the goal -- the gains, right, but it was the employment and food services and drinking that really stood out to me. More than half million, but those are the things that we are now seeing states --

ROMANS: Yes.

HILL: -- pull back on at the advice too of the White House Task Force.

ROMANS: And you're hearing at least anecdotally about people who've been now laid off a couple of times in these industries because they come back and they just don't really have the business that can sustain the workforce that they need. Look, this is a very deep hole, we have dug ourselves into here on purpose to try to fight the coronavirus. And there's just so much room for error here going forward and there's -- they're not talking really right now in Washington about the next leg of stimulus.

There's still an emergency, a jobs emergency right now. And the emergency support the shock absorbers for people in small business have expired. And for renters, quite frankly, haven't expired. So you have millions of people either out of work or facing eviction. Small business owners who now suddenly their funding is going to dry up from the PPP program who are right in the thick of this crisis. And the emergency is funding is gone, is expiring. So we're really at a moment here.

I think Julia is absolutely right at inflection point, the data are telling us things could start to turn worse again, at the very moment where the funding is running out, that is not good for recovery at all. I mean, what the recovery looks like depends on what Congress does right now.

BERMAN: Well, that's what I'm trying to figure out. And, by the way, stock futures are down right now. So I'm trying to look at these numbers through a political lens, given that talks all but broke down over this new economic recovery, Julia. And I'm just not sure that these numbers are getting back to the table because they're not so good --

CHATTERLEY: Right.

BERMAN: -- that Republicans can argue we don't need as much money and they're not so bad. The Democrats are going to be able to say, you got to go big right now. So politically speaking, which is why the Dow may be creeping downward, this might mean the talks fall apart.

CHATTERLEY: Checkmate. It doesn't move the needle enough in either direction. I think you're completely right. But actually, it should. It's really clear. When you look at these numbers, it's a crisis.

We've got -- and as Christine was saying, estimate suggesting 14 million people could be evicted. The belief that the money that the people have been receiving in this $600 bump up in a week means that they've been too well off and that they're not going back into the workforce. We know the evidence suggests that jobs aren't there to go back to. And even this week, actually, that evidence was refuted by another study that said -- saying that people, 68 percent of people are earning more today than they were before. It doesn't include the fact that for millions of these people, they're now paying their own benefits.

ROMANS: Yes.

CHATTERLEY: The health benefits. They now have to pay their own retirement, paid leave, for example. So if you factor those things in the evidence that Republicans are using here to suggest that they need to reduce that $600 amount, falls away. A deal needs to be done and it needs to be done weeks ago, quite frankly.

BERMAN: Well, let's see if they can even get back to in-person discussions. Right now, this morning they're not there. Christine Romans, Julia Chatterley, thanks so much for the breaking news here.

So for prison inmates and those transitioning to the outside, the pandemic has meant to further narrowing of already narrow lives. Three CNN heroes who support them in Oklahoma, Texas and Tennessee have been forced to get creative about how to bring help and hope.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

[08:45:12]

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: They closed down every jail and prison in Oklahoma. No visitors, no volunteers, no outside programs at all.

For at least 30 days, women at one facility were on bed lockdown. But we were able to bring to all 800 women coloring books, puzzle books, colored pencils, writing journals, and we now have 120 people writing to women on the inside every week too.

RICHARD MILES, MILES OF FREEDOM: Coming back home under the uncertainty of the pandemic increases the level of stress and anxiety and we are still working with people to get them assistance with employment. Our lawn service is essential so we're gaining more contracts. It actually allows us to put people through temporary employment while they're in our program.

BECCA STEVENS, THISTLE FARMS: We are still welcoming women into our residential program. We have eight new women coming on board. But we've shifted. We've done that awful word that everybody's using now pivoted. We've pivoted. We've done it. You don't abandon people. In these times, you champion people and champion each other.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: What wonderful work they're all doing.

Anderson Cooper shares the full story of all the creative ways that these three CNN heroes have continued their missions during the pandemic. Go to CNNHeroes.com, do it now.

So a school principal channels MC Hammer to teach coronavirus safety. The star of this video joins us next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[08:51:09]

BERMAN: A school principal in Alabama wants to make sure his students understand the new coronavirus safety rules. So what did he do? The only thing that any school principal can do, he made a video using MC Hammer songs. Watch this.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

QUENTIN J. LEE, PRINCIPAL, CHILDERSBURG HIGH SCHOOL: My, my coronavirus hits me so hard. All the teachers say, Oh, my Lord.

COVID is stressing me, all the updates from the CDC. Lysol. Can't be found, I've looked all around this town. I've had no luck, and these are the things, huh, you can't touch.

I told you students, you can't touch this. You better pull that mask up. You can't touch this. It's the CDC, not me. You can't touch this. Hey, go wash your hands.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BERMAN: I could watch it forever. The video has more than 5 million views on YouTube.

Joining us now is Quentin Lee, Principal of Childersburg High School. Dr. Lee, thank you so much for being with us this morning. Did this really --

LEE: Thank you, John, for having me.

BERMAN: -- 35 minutes, it just 35 minutes to write the lyrics to that?

LEE: About 35 minutes. Just creativity is just something, it's a God- given gift and I thank God for it. And just being able to produce something to bring joy to so many people has been amazing.

BERMAN: So why? What made you do this?

LEE: Well, we normally try to do a video to get the students excited about coming back to school. As educators across the nation get ready to go back, laughter is going to be one thing that we can all use to really bridge the gap with our communities and with our students and with our teachers. So we wanted to do something to enforce the CDC guidelines that we were following on our campus to help keep the students safe, but at the same time, who doesn't love MC Hammer? So we just want to have some fun.

HILL: Who doesn't love MC Hammer? That is true. MC Hammer also loves you. You got a little love from him.

LEE: I did and that was probably a moment that I will always remember. I cried tears of joy just because, you know, when you do funny things, you expect, you know, to get the couple likes on social media. But to have the originator, Hammer himself, don't hurt him, MC Hammer to like it was just absolutely amazing.

BERMAN: Hammer is awesome, has a good sense of humor and appreciates fine art, which this clearly is. How the students receive this? Do they think you're funny, first of all? Second of all, more importantly, are they paying attention to the message here?

LEE: They're paying attention. We have students on campus that are working with the summer workouts, with band practice, with cheer and dance. So they're following the guidelines.

This is typical Dr. Lee from the students, I guess you could say. One of the young ladies (INAUDIBLE) in the video looks at me crazy. And that's how they normally look when I do silly things on campus. But it's just fun to really get on their level and to make that connection for student engagement.

HILL: It's great. And you have more planned, more videos planned coming up this school year. First day of school is August 20tg. Numbers are creeping up a bit in Alabama, are you concerned? LEE: Definitely concerned because we're concerned about the safety of all of our students and the communities that we serve. However, we still have a mandate to continue to provide education for each and every child. And that's one thing that we can't lose focus of. When COVID-19 is over, we don't want the academic trauma to affect these students any longer than it has to.

So I'm very thankful that we're part of a network of educators, especially here in the state of Alabama, that's creating plans to ensure the safety or to help promote safety and awareness for the students that we have on campus. So it's just -- it's definitely a trying time. However, I think that we're up for the challenge, because educators are definitely the backbone of this nation. And we've faced bigger obstacles, and we're going to overcome this as well.

BERMAN: What are you most concerned about when the students come back?

LEE: I'm just most concerned that they're missing out on what school looked like before. I'm real big on social emotional learning, so we're finding innovative ways to continue to do some of the things that we did before such as the pep rallies, and things of that nature. But I just want the students to be able to understand like, don't allow COVID-19 to affect you for the rest of your life. Like let's be creative. Let's rise above this and let's continue to go after these dreams. And let's go after success

[08:55:03]

BERMAN: Dr. Lee, thank you very much for being with us. I think it's safe to say you really can't touch this.

LEE: You can't touch this.

BERMAN: Yes, you just can't. Wonderful work.

That was pretty impressive.

HILL: It was great. I love it actually.

BERMAN: Did you listen -- 35 minutes. It took him 35 minutes to sit down and write the lyrics. And I love his, you know, not modesty about it, yeah, you know, turns out I'm good at this stuff.

HILL: He's really good at it. And there's more coming so you have more to look forward to, John, which is good news.

BERMAN: Fantastic. I hope he doesn't stop. I hope he covers the entire oeuvre of MC Hammer song.

HILL: So, thanks for being with us. CNN coverage continues next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)