Return to Transcripts main page
American Morning
Economy Watch: Putting America to Work
Aired June 01, 2001 - 10:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
STEPHEN FRAZIER, CNN ANCHOR: The Labor Department indicates the job market held up better than expected in May. It says the unemployment rate eased to 4.4 percent, down from 4.5 percent in April. That's the first decline in eight months.
Joining us now with more on that and what it means is CNN's Jason Carroll in New York, not at the unemployment office, but what they now call the reemployment office -- Jason.
JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And, Stephen, it is so-called a re-employment office because it's very different from your standard employment office. Folks can come here, they sign up and then they can wait over in this section over here where they can wait to meet with a career counselor.
Now, once they do that, they can turn their resources over to the resource room, where they can get on a computer, find out what sort of jobs are listed. If you don't know how to use a computer, they'll teach you how to use a computer. They also have career counseling available in there. They've got classes. They have workshops. All of this is here to help you find a job. This isn't the kind of place where you come and just pick up a check. This is the place you come to help you find work.
Now, we've got Stuart Saft with us here. He is chairman of the Workforce Investment Board. Tell us, how is the whole thing working?
It's working exceptionally well. The Workforce Investment Board was formed in July of 2000. We have this one stop operating. We have the whole citywide system working and we expect to have additional one stops in the other boroughs by the end of the year.
CARROLL: And it's not just here in New York City. I mean people can find places like this all over the country.
STUART SAFT, CHAIRMAN, WORKFORCE INVESTMENT BOARD: Yes. This is nationwide. Every state was required to establish a state Workforce Investment Board and every locality has a local Workforce Investment Board. And in point of fact, those of us in large cities became so concerned about the national scope of the legislation that we formed a group of the chairs from the 15 largest cities in the country and we meet quarterly in Washington with representatives of Congress and the Department of Labor, discussing unique problems of big cities.
CARROLL: All right, Stuart, so thanks very much for that.
We're going to turn it right now over to West Gordon. He is out looking for work. West, I know you've been coming here, what, since February?
WEST GORDON, UNEMPLOYED: Since February 5.
CARROLL: Yeah, how is the center working for you?
GORDON: Well, the center is a good place to come. I've come. I use the Internet. I fax my resume, fax it from home some time. I came to motor vehicle last week, stopped in the center, looked up some jobs. So it's a pretty good place to come.
CARROLL: Yeah, and tell us about how is it looking for work for you out there? Tough going?
GORDON: Well, it's tough going for me because I was in a unique field of, I was a Visa consultant for a Visa consultant firm and we would get travel visas for business travelers going to different countries and as well as tourists. And it's hard to find work in that field. So now I'm just looking for basically some customer service work because I was, you know, good working with the people and working with the public.
CARROLL: All right, West Gordon and Stuart Saft, thank you gentlemen for joining us out here today. Again, those unemployment numbers looking a little bit better. I think some of the folks out here would say that part of that probably has to do with centers like this that area, again, all over the country. If you want to find a place like this in whatever state that you might happen to be in, all you have to do is call your local Department of Labor and they can send you in the right direction. Back to you.
FRAZIER: Jason Carroll at the re-employment office in New York. Jason, thank you very much. And we want to let you know, coming up a little later in this hour, we'll get more insight into the unemployment report. Stay with us as we talk with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
