Secretary Solis Takes Three on The Economy

The Department of Labor featured an interesting segment in their newsletter this week: Secretary Solis answers three questions on a hot button issue. Here's what she had to say on the economy:

How does DOL collect the employment statistics released each month?
Our Bureau of Labor Statistics collects information from a survey of 410,000 worksites and a separate survey of 60,000 households, done with the Census Bureau. The employer survey gives us the month-to-month change in nonfarm employment, while the household survey is used to calculate the unemployment rate.

What were your biggest takeaways about the economy in 2010?
I'm proud of the steps we've taken. The numbers point to 2010 as a year of deepening recovery. We had five straight quarters of GDP growth and steady job gains. Job growth accelerated throughout 2010 with each quarter producing more jobs than the last.

Looking ahead, where do you expect to see growth in 2011?
More and more industries are benefiting from the growing economy and deciding it's time to start hiring again. I expect that we will see strong recovery across the board in 2011, but am especially excited about the steady growth in the health care and manufacturing sectors, especially in sustainable green industries.