Positive jobs report shows economic recovery

>>> the unemployment rate has fallen to 8.3% and that is the lowest rate since february of wou 2009 , we have the president of the economic advisers for the president. this is good news, but you have the speaker of the house , john boehner , let play his reaction.

>> so the president really wants to get the economy moving again, really wants to improve his own chances for re-election, maybe he will pick up the phone and call senator reid and ask senate democrats to get off of their rear ends.

>> well, can you respond to the senator and give us the take on the numbers that we saw today which were better than expectations.

>> the report today was good news, i think because the numbers do bounce around from month to month, it's important to a step back, the economy suffered a great deal of damage in the start of the recession and we are digging out of it and the data coming in, suggests that we are pointed in a good direction, i think the president's actions have helped. i think an important step to continue the momentum would be for the congress to extend the payroll tax cut as was said in the state of the union , to do it without drama or delay.

>> do you have any real concerns given the cbo warnings this week that unemployment was going to bounce back up and that the economy will grow as a far slower place than previously expected and that the white house projects?

>> the economy is certainly facing a lot of head winds. it's a direct result of the cris crisis, itself, we have seen 50,000 new construction jobs, which is encouraging and you have problems elsewhere in the world. you had shocks from asia and the concerns about financial crisis in europe. it important to have the extension in the payroll tax can cuts.

>> when you look inside the numbers you see improvement on the manufacturing sector , and construction and retail, is there a particular area that surprised you?

>> i had a little trouble hearing you because there was a piece of construction equipment moving behind me but i got the jist of your question.

>> no stop in construction on the white house lawn, is there a area that is surprising?

>> not surprising but what i would say is we are continuing to see losses of local government jobs, in particular teachers, it was proposed in the american job act to fund schools to help retain teachers and help cities keep firefighters and policemen on the payroll. what we are seeing, partly related to the financial crisis and the loss of property tax revenue, that the local areas are having a lot of trouble, so, to continue to momentum i think providing more support for schools to retain teachers would be helpful.

>> and you may have eluded to this, is there anything that keeps you up at night? an unforeseen circumstance that scares the heck out of you,greece, italy or france or the strait of hormuz, what would become a nightmare for you?

>> recovery worldwide is fragile and we are connect globally. it effects us, 20% of our eximportant e exports go to europe, we need to ensure against problems that might be down the road which, again, as i mentioned we get a lot of bang from the buck from extending unemployment benefits , people unemployed will go out and spend the money and that will increase demand here and longer term, we need to take steps so the economy is not so subject to the boom and bust cycle that we have seen before, and that is why the president built out a -- laid out a plan for strengthening manufacturing and developing more domestic energy and investing in the skills of the american workforce.

>> dr. kruger, great to see you. thank you very much, the first of what i hope to be many interviews