And we saw U.S. jobs jumping 115,000 in April. It beats estimates, marking the first back-to-back gain in nearly a year. Joining us now, I'm pleased to say, is the White House Director of the National Economic Council, Kevin Hassett. Director Hassett, thank you so much for joining. A strong jobs number, a beat. Let me just get your initial reaction.
Well, you know, two months in a row now we've had blockbuster jobs numbers. And the really interesting thing is that we look at these things that you guys do, I'm sure, called heatmaps, where you look by category, like where's the green and where's the red. And pretty much it was green across the board. And so what it means is it's a rip-roaring jobs market. And it's completely consistent with what we saw with the claims data just a few days ago. Like initial claims for unemployment insurance right now are the lowest since we've ever been counting them all the way back to the 1960s. And so the job market is really, really, really strong.
Kevin, part of the issue, though, that people would like to focus on is the fact that the jobs creation is narrow. It's in issues like health care. Meanwhile, we saw financial jobs down, tech jobs down. These are exactly the type of categories you would expect if AI is having an impact on jobs in this economy. Is there a plan from this administration to combat job loss over AI impact?
Well, right now what we're seeing is the AI is creating job creation. So there are a couple of new studies out at the National Bureau of Economic Research that show, and one at Stanford University, that show that AI-adjacent jobs and AI-adjacent professions are actually increasing faster than everywhere else. But of course, in the medium to long term, people are right to be concerned about what AI might mean for them. But right now, the very, very best thing that you could do in order to protect yourself and protect your career is start to use AI tools yourself to make yourself more productive. And that's what we're seeing in the data.
I guess, Kevin, will there be a point where the White House needs to address this? I've talked to many, many people who say that 2028, the election will be centered around AI and what politicians are saying about it. You're already seeing hints of it in 2026. Does there need to be a clear plan going forward if there are huge economic consequences of what AI does?
Oh, absolutely. It's something that's being very, very carefully studied by all of government. We've got five different work plans depending on which direction we're going, what topic it is, whether it's AI of the workforce, AI security, and so on. And these have been underway since President Trump took office. And so, absolutely, we are working through policy options as we watch the data evolve. But right now, we're starting to see the AI-adjacent jobs are the ones that are growing the fastest. So the story that AI is destroying people's jobs right now is not anywhere in the data. But we could imagine things, especially once robots get better and better. Then we're going to have to have, you know, more policies to help people, you know, reskill and so on.
So in the meantime, as you say, the figures are strong for this jobs market. Doesn't that essentially kill any hopes of a rate cut this year?
You know, for me, I think that when we have a strong supply-side shock, then that means that there's downward pressure on inflation. And that's what we're seeing. And in fact, even with the oil prices going up, excuse me for the big truck running, even with the oil prices going up, you saw core inflation remain stable. And you can even see that in the wage data today. Jobs report where there's strong wage growth, but not anything that was a sign of kind of runaway Phillips curve inflation that should make the Fed want to lift rates.
Well, I suppose, Kevin, last time you were on the show, last Friday after the CPI report, you mentioned that you were looking forward to a Warsh Fed chair because of the independence it would bring to the Fed. Since then, we've learned more about the dissents coming from the FOMC, that one of the language of the statement changed to take out any bias, any sort of easing bias. It was three dissents, you can make that four if you have Susan Collins adding as she spoke to Bloomberg, saying that she agreed with that idea. Do you think that this is an FOMC, at least those four members, that are gearing up to push back against a Warsh Fed chair?
Well, I can tell you. You speak specifically about Susan Collins. I've known her since graduate school. She's an A+ economist who goes where the evidence leads. Disappointed that these people made the decision that they did. But I'm sure that when Kevin Warsh is Fed chair, that he'll have lots of people that will be open to argument and open to evidence. He's a very persuasive guy. I think Kevin believes, as I do, that a supply shock is a time when you don't have to lift rates just because you have high growth. And I think that he'll bring lots of evidence to bear and convince his colleagues. So I think we're really likely to see rate cuts this year because of Kevin Warsh.
Director, last night the Court of International Trade once again declared unlawful the president's tariffs. This time the 122 duties on imports. When does the administration plan to appeal this?
Well, you know, I think that we're studying all our options right now. And Jamieson Greer will have a message on that probably later today.
