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First Move with Julia Chatterley

Russia Denies Heavy Weapons at Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Plant; Argentine VP Survives Apparent Assassination Attempt; Many Areas of U.S. still Experiencing Labor Shortages; Work Transformed Post-Pandemic; NASA Targets Saturday Launch for Artemis I Moon Mission; Amazon Series Serves as Prequel to Tolkien's Epic Saga. Aired 9-10a ET

Aired September 02, 2022 - 09:00   ET

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

[09:00:00]

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

ALISON KOSIK, CNN HOST, FIRST MOVE: A warm welcome to "First Move". I'm Alison Kosik great to have you with us for another jobs Friday in America!

The U.S. reporting just minutes ago that 315,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month; pretty much in line with expectations. And a

sizeable drop compared to the more than 500,000 positions that were created in July.

The U.S. unemployment rate ticking higher as well to a reading of 3.7 percent but still near the lowest levels in a half a century. Today's

numbers also show a moderating pace of wage growth. That's an encouraging development for Federal Reserve intent on fighting inflation.

Here's the reaction on the financial markets. U.S. stocks on track for a higher open on hopes that the Fed may now be able to raise rates at a less

aggressive pace later this month. European shares they're higher as well after a mixed Asian handover.

Asia under pressure as another massive COVID lockdown takes effect in China, this time in the City of Chengdu affecting more than 20 million

people. We're going to have more on that in just a minute. But first, let's get a closer look at today's jobs numbers. Rahel Solomon joins us now. So I

saw a stock futures pop it looks like investors like this Rahel go through with us. What's in this report?

RAHEL SOLOMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Yes, I mean, this is a report Alison that was largely in line with what economists were expecting, and perhaps

exactly what the Fed was hoping for a sign of slow but steady cooling.

So let's talk about what we saw on the report where we are and where we were last month to put this in perspective. So job growth that came in at

315,000, compared to last month of 526, you can see quite a slowdown there but the slowdown that the Fed would argue we need it.

Unemployment rate ticking up to 3.7 percent up from 3.5 percent but to put this in perspective, we're still hovering at near 50-year lows. Wage growth

of 5.2 percent. This is really important for the Fed.

The Fed has been watching wages, to see the consequences of that the implications of that for inflation and to wages actually increased three

tenths of a percent over the last month. That is a slowdown, however, from the half a percent that we saw the month prior.

So that is a sign of good news, of course, the concern with wages is that higher wages start to trickle into higher prices that we consumers pay. And

of course, the Fed is dealing with 40-year high inflation. And so it is trying to cool higher prices.

Also very important here Alison, labor force participation, the percentage of Americans who are either actively looking for work or employed in the

labor force that actually rose that is something that Chairman Powell has talked a lot about. So that actually increased from 62.1 percent to 62.4

percent. That is a good sign. That's a sign that Americans are coming off the sidelines and entering the workforce.

Looking ahead, we have a course CPI, the inflation report that comes in in a few weeks and then we have the FOMC meeting in a few more weeks from

that. And when we look Alison a sort of where we saw the job growth.

In this report, we can show you here sector by sector exactly where we started to see some job growth. We saw retail trade adding 44,000

healthcare adding slightly more than that 48 and professional business services adding 68000. So look, this was a Goldilocks report, Alison slow

and steady, but not coming to a screeching halt which is exactly what the Fed wants to see.

KOSIK: Yes, we will see how the Fed actually reacts to this at the end of the month when it meets. Rahel Solomon thanks so much.

To Ukraine now and a day after inspectors from the U.N.'s nuclear watchdog visited the Zaporizhzhia Nuclear Power Plant. Russia denies its storing

heavy weapons there. Each side accuses the other of shelling the plant and the surrounding area.

Meantime, the Head of the IAEA Rafael Grossi says it's not going anywhere. And we'll have a "Continued Presence" at the Russian controlled site. 5

inspectors do remain there and are scheduled to leave on Saturday. President Zelenskyy says the military occupation of the plant must end.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY, PRESIDENT OF UKRAINE: Demilitarization of the territory of the station is the goal of Ukrainian and international

efforts. And it is bad that we have not yet heard the appropriate messages from the IAEA despite the fact that we talked about it with Mr. Grossi

during our meeting in Kyiv. It was the key, the key security point of our agreements, it was outlined clearly demilitarization and full control by

our nuclear workers.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KOSIK: Melissa Bell joins me now from Kyiv Melissa what are you hearing? What it's been like inside the plant? Are you hearing any details?

[09:05:00]

MELISSA BELL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, where we are here, hearing is over the course of the last 24 hours or so ever since Rafael Grossi and his

team, including those who ended up staying made their way into the plant is more calm around it in terms of the shelling and the military activity,

certainly than we've seen in the run up to they're arriving there.

And I think that's part of the strategy is that having these engineers inside the plant at least restores some sense of order and calm. And

perhaps most importantly, Alison, an international presence in that key strategic point on the frontline.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

BELL (voice over): The shelling began a dawn around the Zaporizhzhia nuclear power plants, the worst that the town of Enerhodar has seen, since

it was occupied in March, according to its Mayor. Briefed on the situation, but undeterred, IAEA inspectors decided to head through the front line.

Nonetheless the 14 strong team seeing for itself as it traveled the artillery and mortar fire that led to the shutting down of one of the

plants lost to functioning reactors. After an hour's long delay on its way, the IAEA inspectors arrived a glimpse at last into a plant that's been

occupied by Russian forces for months.

RAFAEL GROSSI, IAEA DIRECTOR GENERAL: It is obvious that the plant and the physical integrity of the plant have been violated several times. And this

is something that cannot continue to happen.

BELL (voice over): Which is why he said 5 members of his team had stayed behind to ask more questions, and to dig deeper. In a plan controlled by

Russian forces, but man by workers who say that it's been almost impossible for them to do their jobs.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We feel like hostages, we actually can't do our jobs. We can't carry phones, flash drives, and memory cards. And God forbid, if

you look at a soldier the wrong way, you can be thrown into the basement.

GROSSI: The Ukrainian employees, I was with them throughout the day. Of course, they are in a difficult situation, but they have an incredible

degree of professionalism. I see them calm and moving on.

BELL (voice over): The plan he said for the IAEA to establish a permanent presence at the plant, and to make good on his word to its workers, that

the U.N. nuclear watchdog is now there to stay.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

BELL: And that Alison matters for a number of different reasons. First of all, the immediate report that we expect in the wake of the departure of

those initial inspectors who stayed behind, they'll stay through the weekend. And they will provide a much more in depth report about what they

found, and specifically what state this plant is?

Now in a remember that it went down to a single reactor and yesterday a result of that uptick in shelling one of the two last remaining reactors

went down. There is the question of that detail report. But then, of course, the question of what more we can learn, as you heard President

Zelenskyy, of course, wants this to go further once that lost territory to come back into Ukrainian hands.

We've also been hearing this morning from inside what's happening inside the plant the head of the Russian backed regional administration who talked

about the trip, the tour of the inspectors saying that they'd shown the damage that they say had been done by Ukrainian shelling, to which the

answer from the IAEA inspectors had come that they were not there to assess the military situation.

So over the next few days, neither side no doubt will be satisfied by this, but it is crucial because it is again, impartial eyes in a site that after

all, is the largest European nuclear plot. And of course, given all that's happened around it at such risk, and so if only their presence - things for

a time that will be a huge step in the right direction, Alison.

KOSIK: All right Melissa Bell thanks very much. In the last few minutes, G7 finance ministers have confirmed plans for a price cap on Russian oil. They

say the cap will reduce Russia's oil revenue and limit the Kremlin's ability to fund its operations in Ukraine. Even before the announcement

came Russia was pushing back. Fred Pleitgen has a reaction from Moscow, Fred.

FREDERIK PLEITGEN, CNN SENIOR INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: All right, Alison yes, you're absolutely right. First of all, this just came pretty

much fresh off the printing presses from the G7. They're obviously saying that this move that they're undertaking right now, which no doubt is a very

big one is obviously in reaction to the war in Ukraine.

And what essentially they want to do is they want to curb Russia's ability to fund that invasion that is ongoing, and I've been sort of flying through

the statement from the G7 countries. I think this is a key point is right here to deliver on this commitment they say.

Today we confirm our joint political intention to finalize and implement a comprehensive prohibition of services which enable maritime transportation

of Russian origin crude and petroleum products globally. The provision of such services would only be allowed if the oil and petroleum products are

purchased at or below a price called the price cap.

[09:10:00]

PLEITGEN: So that's the price cap that they, wants to put in place. It's quite interesting, if you read further through the statements, they want to

get other countries on board as well. And that's where the Russians come in, because they've already been reacting viciously to this before the

statement even came out. In fact, the spokesman for the Kremlin said that this would lead to a massive disruption of international oil markets of

petroleum markets as well.

He also said, and this was also backed by Russia's Deputy Prime Minister, that countries that implement such a price cap would not receive any more

oil or petroleum products from the Russians. The Russians are saying, look, we'll just find other buyers. It's going to be very interesting to see how

many countries are actually going to go along with this. Because of course, you have the two big elephants in the room, India and China that have been

buying a lot of Russian petroleum products and oil as well.

And the Russians say, look right now there are more potential buyers out there than ever before. So the Russians are saying they would take these

countermeasures. Whoever signs onto this price cap is not going to be getting any petroleum products or oil from the Russians anymore.

The main thing that the Russians have been saying, Alison, and this is something that Vladimir Putin has said himself is that they believe Russia

is simply too big to isolate, especially at a time when so many countries are looking for ways to get energy and obviously Russia already apparently

selling some of its oil products at a discounted rate to countries like China and India as well, Alison.

KOSIK: And this will certainly be interesting to see how it plays out in the coming weeks and months Fred Pleitgen, thanks so much. And a massive

new lockdown, more than 20 million people in the Chinese City of Chengdu are being confined to their homes, as a new spate of COVID infections is

reported 150 new cases were recorded on Thursday. As Kristie Lu Stout reports, this has major ramifications for individuals and businesses.

(BEGIN VIDEO TAPE)

KRISTIE LU STOUT, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice over): 21 billion people are confined to their homes in Chengdu in China's largest city wide lockdown

since Shanghai is ended in June. And the parent trigger on Wednesday Chengdu reported 156 local cases of COVID 19. On Friday reported 150 new

local cases of the virus.

Now the city has launched mass testing for all 21 million residents. They've been asked to stay at home until at least Sunday, except for going

out to take the test. Only one person in each household with a negative COVID test result can get groceries once a day.

All businesses are closed except essential services like supermarkets, hospitals and pharmacies and factory production has been affected. In fact,

Volvo cars have a factory in Chengdu and are suspending production. And it's not just Chengdu; other major Chinese cities have stepped up COVID

restrictions this week.

In the high tech hub of Shenzhen authorities have shut down the world's largest electronics market and in the Northern Port City of Dalian a

lockdown is in effect for about 3 million residents.

Despite the cause China is still holding fast to its zero COVID policy. Local authorities across China have been under huge pressure to prevent

COVID 19 outbreaks before the 20th Communist Party Congress set to start on October the 16th. This is when President Xi Jinping is expected to secure

and unprecedented third term as leader.

Some Chinese hope that the country's zero COVID restrictions could be relaxed after the Congress but Beijing has not offered any timeline on a

possible shift in policy. Kristie Lu Stout, CNN, Hong Kong.

(END VIDEO TAPE)

KOSIK: And these are the stories making headlines around the world. Argentina's vice president has survived and apparent assassination attempt

outside her home. Authority says a man pointed a gun at Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner and pulled the trigger.

But the weapon failed to go off as you can see in this video. The Vice President escaped unharmed and the suspected gunman was detained. Stefano

Pozzebon is following this story and joins us now. It is incredible when you look at that video, Stefano just how close that suspect got.

STEFANO POZZEBON, JOURNALIST: Yes, Alison and in fact the supporters of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner or just Cristina as she is almost

ubiquitously known in the region, are already talking of a miracle in the way she escaped did these apparent assassination attempt closer to what is

happening today.

The Argentinian cabinet is in meeting right now to come up with a unified response against the attack that yesterday, Alberto Fernandez the president

of the nation in a nationwide address, called the most grave the most serious attack we have faced since the restoration of democracy in

Argentina. Today is a national holidays that was declared by Fernandez as a way to rally together and to unify the country.

[09:15:00]

POZZEBON: And this is happening in a moment of increased political tension in the country. Just last week on August 23, a federal prosecutor requested

a 12-year in jail sentence for Christina, who faces charges of corruption charges dating back to when she was the president of Argentina between 2007

and 2015.

Her supporters have said that this investigation is politically motivated and that is why we've seen over the last week rallies and sittings by her

supporters outside her house. It was in one of such rally that this accident took place.

And I think it's also striking to show Alison, how the choice of words that Fernandez used yesterday to condemn these attack mirrors. They chose choice

of words that President Joe Biden said just a few hours earlier in his Philadelphia address the same that democracy was attacked that the state

had to come together and calling on every single man or woman in Argentina to reject these attacks with the most firm resolution, Alison.

KOSIK: All right, Stefano Pozzebon thanks so much. The deposed former leader of Myanmar, Aung San Suu Kyi has been sentenced to three years of

hard labor in Myanmar. The Nobel Peace prize winner was found guilty of electoral fraud by a court in the military run country. It means the 77-

year old now faces 20 years in jail.

And it is scathing speech; Joe Biden said Donald Trump and his extremist supporters are a threat to the very soul of the United States. The U.S.

President blasted their election conspiracies assault on civil rights and calls for political violence. Mr. Biden's fiery speech comes with

November's midterm elections now just weeks away.

Coming up on "First Move", a changing jobs landscape and changes in the way employers find recruits. Zip recruiter is here to tell us more plus, fly me

to the moon but not today. NASA engineers are trying to get that Artemis rocket off the launch pad will get the views of a former astronaut stay

with us.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:20:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move", I'm Alison Kosik. U.S. stocks remain on track for a solidly higher open after the release of a Fed friendly U.S.

jobs report, the U.S. reporting within the past hour that 315,000 jobs were added to the U.S. economy last month. That's a solid number, but the

slowest pace of gains in about a year and a half.

The U.S. unemployment rate ticking higher as well and wage gains they moderated a bit. Today's data is encouraging news for the Federal Reserve

as it attempts to slow the economy and the pace of inflation. It could give the Fed some room here to raise rates at a less aggressive half a percent

pace later this month. The deciding factor for central bankers will likely be the next read on U.S. inflation that comes out just before the next FOMC

policy meeting, which happens on September 21st, and 22nd. Joining me now is Diane Swonk. She's the Chief Economist at KPMG, great to see you.

DIANE SWONK, CHIEF ECONOMIST, KPMG: Good to see you.

KOSIK: Let's talk about first your reaction to this report. 315,000 jobs added unemployment going up to 3.7 percent.

SWONK: Well, the most important issue about the report was sort of two things. One is we saw leisure and hospitality hiring slow quite a bit.

Actually, a lot of workers were laid off in the leisure and hospitality sector, as the ranks of those on vacation plummeted earlier than usual

start to the school year cut the summer vacation season off sooner. And that meant not as many leisure and hospitality workers being hired as we

had seen and in fact, more layoffs, sort of seasonal layoffs than we usually see.

Also important is in this report was the increase in the participation rate; we saw a big increase in the number of people looking for work,

that's good. We want people out looking for work, it was driven mostly by Hispanics women, as their kids went back to school, and they're able to

start looking for a job.

We also saw, for some reason, a very odd sort of seasonal quirk in teens participation rate, I wouldn't put a lot of wait on that, given the timing

of the school year and some strange things going on there. But some of the participation rate came from that.

Another issue we saw was the ranks of those out sick during the month. This is what's causing all those headaches and staffing shortages out there, in

addition to how hard it is to find workers right now, those continue to rise, as we deal with, you know, the variants of the Omicron variant.

They're running over 60 percent that they were in any month pre pandemic, and those are the kinds of costs that continue to put upward pressure on

inflation, and eat away at wage gains, even as wages start to hit a plateau.

So even though this report is certainly more welcome news to the Fed, that the economy may be finally starting to begin to slow, it's still nowhere

near the kind of slowdown that is necessary to derail what it worries about is an underlying inflation in the U.S. economy.

KOSIK: So what I'm getting from you, it's still inflationary, this report. And so where do you think that leaves the Fed? I mean is this do you see

this as a Goldilocks report and the Fed dies? Or do you see this, as you know, the Fed is going to continue its aggressive stance and rising rates?

SWONK: Well, it has made clear Jay Powell made clear at the Jackson Hole Wyoming meetings that he was going to stand pat and continue to be

aggressive. Half percent is still aggressive in terms of rate hikes; I think they're going to hit a terminal rate of 4 percent.

But what's interesting is how the Fed sees its role in sort of, it's easy to get from, as energy prices come off, and things like that, to get from a

6 percent core rate of inflation to 4 percent. It's much harder to get that last yard from 4 to 2 percent, which is what a level that, you know, we

don't notice.

And that's what they really want to get to. That they think they're going to have to do is raise rates to 4 percent and hold them there for the bulk

of 2023. And see much larger increases in the unemployment rate. That's the hard part.

And that was the really difficult part of Federal Reserve Chairman Jay Powell's message at Jackson Hole. And I don't think this report changes

that message at all. Given we're still so out of whack if job openings held at the July levels. Even with the higher number of people seeking jobs in

the month of August, we'd still be at 1.9 job openings per worker when the Fed is looking for it to be more balanced at one to one.

KOSIK: Yes, so we should expect more pain before we see the fed back off. So it makes me wonder, why are we seeing stock futures jump? You know,

after this report came out?

SWONK: You know, I think there's really a lot of anticipation there's no muscle memory of what inflation really means in financial markets.

Unfortunately, I was in school during the early 1980s.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

[09:30:00]

KOSIK: Welcome back to "First Move". I'm Alison Kosik. U.S. stocks are up and running for the final trading session of the week. And we got solid

gains for all the major averages after the latest U.S. jobs report showed employment gains moderating last month, the U.S. adding some 315,000 jobs

in August. That's the slowest pace in over a year.

Christine Romans joins us now for more. Great analysis on this Christine, great to see you! I want you to put on your Federal Reserve hat for a

moment if you would and then look through that lens and tell me what your thoughts are about the August jobs report.

CHRISTINE ROMANS, CNN CHIEF BUSINESS CORRESPONDENT: OK, my Federal Reserve hat, this is my one gesture.

KOSIK: Nicely done.

ROMANS: Not too hot, right? Maybe it shows that some of that front loaded medicine from the Fed is starting to cool down the temperature of the

patient. And that is of course a red hot and Inferno is one of our headlines yesterday said first CNN Business about what was happening in the

job market?

315,000 jobs added. That's a lot in normal times. I mean, we - there'd be banner headlines for a surging job market, but it's down from last month.

And if you look at jobs added over the past year, it's clearly a trend that is emerging, of a still tight, still strong labor market, but slowing the

pace of those jobs added.

And I think that's exactly what policymakers want to see. This is a little hotter than expectations and I wouldn't worry too much about that.

Economists have had a very hard time forecasting what's going on in the labor market, because they're just so many distortions there.

So that bar chart of jobs added I think really tells the picture. You've got about three and a half million jobs added this year, that is a lot 5.8

million jobs added over the past year. Wow! That is a lot. But that's all coming back after this big, huge COVID catastrophe that has really kind of

broken off the charts.

So the trends here I think are really important the unemployment rate down to 3.7 percent. That's up just a little bit historically, still pretty low.

But I think that shows you that people are coming into the labor market, labor force participation rate increasing something you want to see so all

of these things taken together a still strong labor market, but not so hot that the Fed has to be worried about being super behind the curve.

KOSIK: But you still think that the Fed will stay the course with aggressive rate hikes?

ROMANS: You know we're going to hear from the Fed Chief this week. We're going to hear from another Fed Governor this week. And I think that's what

we're going to be keyed into. Do they suggest that this one report is a little bit of relief?

I'm not sure that they take one report I think they are you know of that economic and Wall Street mind that the trend is your friend, do you want to

see this really an established pattern where the job gains are moderating a bit?

I mean one economist a capital economics are saying this is normalizing. You know, this is still a really strong labor market, but it's normalizing.

And that's exactly what you want to see. We have one more CPI report, by the way before the Feds' next meeting. I think that'll be critical to see

if, there are signs that inflation is normalizing and moderating as well.

So I really think I take Fed Chief - word that there are data dependent, they're watching every little piece of economic news and trying to be

flexible and nimble, but they are going to be aggressive to fight this problem with inflation and it could cause pain for American households.

KOSIK: And they've got quite a task at hand. Christine Romans thanks so much.

ROMANS: Yes, you're welcome.

KOSIK: Businesses aren't throwing away their help wanted signs just yet. Data earlier this week showed there were around 11.2 million vacancies in

July, a surprise uptick from June. Data also showed there were almost twice as many jobs available as there were job seekers.

Zip Recruiter is an online marketplace that connects job seekers to employers across all types of industries. But it's economists who say they

have seen a slowdown in the number of jobs getting posted to the site. Joining me now is Ian Siegel. He's the CEO and Co-Founder of Zip Recruiter

and Author of get hired now. Ian thanks for joining us.

IAN SIEGEL, CEO AND CO- FOUNDER, ZIP RECRUITER: Pleasure to be here.

KOSIK: So it does feel like the labor market is undergoing a transformation what are the biggest trends you're seeing in the jobs market right now in

the U.S.?

[09:35:00]

SIEGEL: Well, I would call what we're seeing right now, a very slow, very steady return to normal. And that's great news, because that's exactly what

the Fed has been looking for, as it can contemplates continuing to raise interest rates, which have all sorts of ramifications on the labor market.

We have seen employers struggle for the past year and a half to staff backup post COVID. And finally, we've seen unemployment start to climb

modestly. We're still well under 4 percent unemployment.

This is a very healthy labor market. And it's actually great news because there's been so many gloom and doom headlines that I think it's very

possible that consumer confidence is going to be impacted.

Certainly job seekers' confidence has been impacted. We maintain an index where we measure their sentiment. And we've seen multi month declines in

their confidence in their ability to both get a job, as well as to negotiate for better salaries.

And honestly, that is also good news because the market had tilted so much in favor of job seekers that employers were growing desperate. And now

we're seeing a little bit of balance restored.

KOSIK: Yes, and remote and hybrid work that figures prominently in this sort of new transformation of jobs and careers. I'm curious if you think

remote and hybrid work is here to stay? And are the companies that you're talking with are they in favor of this?

SIEGEL: I mean, it's one of the great inexorable influences of capitalism, which is most companies consider their talent, one of their key assets. And

over 60 percent of job seekers, who work in a job that could be done either hybrid or remote, are now insisting on that style of work.

We have had a record number of quits over the last really 15 months, where you're seeing almost double the number of people quitting as what we're

happening in a pre COVID period. And why are they quitting?

They're looking for work that better fits their lifestyle. Over 40 percent of people who have changed jobs in the last six months did so for increased

flexibility. Definitely think that remote work is here to stay in, it's going to be a part of our future.

KOSIK: Yes, but there are companies pushing back saying get back to the office five days a week. You know, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Tesla, they're

saying come back for five days a week or leave? Who has the leverage here in reality? Is it the employer or the employee? And is this sort of edict

to come back five days a week? Is that an effective strategy, do you think?

SIEGEL: I have talked to the senior executives of multiple large enterprises that have attempted to compel their employees to return to

work, and I cannot name a single instance of where they've had success getting those employees to come back.

You're seeing pushback across every company in every industry, where remote work can be done. You're literally seeing things like petitions being

signed by employees and delivered to management to insist upon the fact that they will not accept that. I do not believe that any company has the

leverage to compel this.

And it will in particular, when it becomes a recruiting disadvantage, which it is already proven to be, I think most companies are going to capitulate,

and the future of work is already here. And the new reality is that remote work is here to stay.

KOSIK: Talk us through how the interview process and how the recruiting process is changing? I heard that it's video resumes that are key in

finding a job now?

SIEGEL: Well, I don't - I think video interviews have become the new norm as has what I would call a more human and a faster vetting process.

Companies that are having success recruiting right now are really manifesting two traits.

So the first trait is the big winners, from a recruiting standpoint, have adopted a proactive recruiting strategy. And what that means is they're -

the companies are effectively going first. They're reaching out to potential candidates, rather than waiting for those candidates to apply.

38 percent of those that have been hired in the last six months were approached directly by either a hiring manager or by a recruiter. Contrast

that with two years ago, pre COVID, it was 19 percent. Contrast that to 10 years ago, it was less than 5 percent.

So the new reality is companies are going out and talking to talent as opposed to waiting for talent to find them. And then the other thing that

they're doing is they're going very quickly.

So once they get a candidate engaged, the winners are able to move them through a process with tremendous speed, because it is so difficult to get

the attention of talent and it has been so competitive for talent, which it is through an earnest and persistence demonstration of enthusiasm that

companies are actually bringing in talent.

KOSIK: The teacher shortage here in the U.S. is significant. I know that Zip Recruiter has created a new online job portal. And you worked with

President Joe Biden on this. Why was this important to do that?

[09:40:00]

SIEGEL: Well, the government reached out to us and asked us if we would participate in a public private partnership to try and address the fact

that public schools in America are down 360,000 staff from where they were pre-COVID.

And that's not just teachers, it's also bus drivers and custodial staff and security and substitute teachers. And it's a really dire situation, there

are schools that can't get their kids into classrooms, there are schools that have no teachers to put into those classrooms.

So we of course, agreed that we would assist the government in trying to fill those open roles. We had 90,000 teachers looking for work on Zip

Recruiter last month. So really, this isn't a problem of supply necessarily. This is a problem of both the types of jobs being offered and

where those jobs are needed most.

We launched a new website called schooljobsnearme.org just to make sure that all of those teaching professionals and that entire school support

staff could see all the open jobs at public schools across America in one easy to review place.

And this is actually important because a lot of teachers were limiting the scope of their search to really narrow areas and they didn't realize there

were so many opportunities in adjacent communities that were easily able to commute too.

KOSIK: Siegel so helpful and organized. Ian Siegel, CEO and Co-Founder of Zip Recruiter and Author of "Get hired now" great conversation thanks for

your time today!

SIEGEL: Pleasure to be here.

KOSIK: Coming up after the break languishing on the launch pad and NASA scrubs the Artemis I lift up again. We'll get the latest from Mission

Control next.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: NASA is gearing up to launch its Artemis I Moon Mission on Saturday, but there's still no guarantee it will happen. Monday's launch was scrubbed

because of engine issues. A planned launch for Friday was canceled because of the weather.

If all goes well Artemis' Orion Spacecraft will travel more than 1 million miles. The six week mission will take it around the moon and back. There

won't be any astronauts on board but the spacecraft will deploy 10 small satellites called CubeSat which will carry out scientific tasks of their

own.

Former Astronaut Leroy Chiao joins us now. He's logged over 229 days in space and 36 hours of spacewalks. Welcome to the show and thanks for your

time today!

LEROY CHIAO, FORMER ASTRONAUT: Great to be with you.

[09:45:00]

KOSIK: I want to talk about this mission. Because, you know, it was what it was 53 years ago that we went to the moon, we've been there so many are

wondering why a half century later, is it important to do this again. But for so much money, I understand NASA is spending about $100 billion in

total to get there.

CHIAO: Well, certainly is justified to ask the question, why is it costing so much money? You know, part of it is that NASA and the contractors like

other large organizations over time, as they get larger, they get less efficient, they get more you know, kind of bureaucratic.

And so unfortunately, you are seeing prices that are a lot higher than they were before, even after adjusting for inflation. And so it's taken us a

long time to get here in one iteration or another. The program was started in 2004 and 2005.

This particular rocket has been being in development since 2010. And so yes, the criticisms certainly are justified. Why are we going back to the

moon? We haven't been back to the moon in nearly 50 years. 1972 with Apollo 17 is the last time humans walked on the moon.

So if we're serious about trying to go to Mars, it makes sense to go back to the moon first, because we have to relearn how to do things? How to land

on the moon? It's also a great place to test and develop things like habitats, rovers, spacesuits, train astronauts there.

The reason, it's a good place to do that it's a realistic environment for Mars, and it's only three or four days away from Earth. So if you have a

problem, you get your astronauts home, quickly, whereas Mars, even one way at closest approach is six months each way. So that's primarily why we want

to go back to the moon, before we go on to Mars.

KOSIK: I want to talk a bit about the bureaucracy that you mentioned, because, you know, we see private space companies, you know, like SpaceX,

for example. They're part of the landscape of space exploration now. They're doing it cheaper and faster.

And of course, critics are saying, well, why can't NASA go ahead and do the same? I'm wondering what your thoughts are. You know, for, let's say, a

program that to get Artemis I to the moon was supposed to take five years and critics say it now is taking nearly 12. Why is it that NASA isn't more

efficient? Why doesn't maybe Congress get in there and kind of pick apart the bureaucracy?

CHIAO: Well, you're absolutely right. Organizations like SpaceX have a relatively flat management structure. And so they're nimble, they're

innovative. You know, we've seen that, you know, from the inception of NASA, in 1958 to the actual first moon landing with humans was just under

11 years.

It's pretty incredible when you think about in just under 11 years, NASA created the organization. It created rockets, and trained astronauts

created launch pads you know, get all these things, learned how to do all these things, spacesuits and landed humans on the moon in such a short

period of time.

So of course, you know, we can talk about the Byzantine Empire and how it collapsed under its own weight? And it seems like humans, when we start

getting larger and larger organizations, that seems to be the way most of them go, and NASA and the contractors, not the only large organizations to

have that problem.

You can point to the federal government. You can point to any most large corporations and say, gee, you know, you used to do things so quickly and

so nimbly. So yes, we are excited about SpaceX and companies like SpaceX. They've done so much with so little in such a short period of time. In

fact, people who used to work at NASA that I know, in the early Apollo days say SpaceX feels like NASA did way back then.

KOSIK: If Mars is the goal here, which I'm assuming it is, at this point, when will whether it's private space companies or NASA, when will we go to

explore Mars? I mean, how far off how many years we'll be talking about?

CHIAO: Sure. Well, Elon Musk said he started SpaceX because he specifically wants to go to Mars. In fact, he wants to build colonies on Mars. He

himself wants to go live on Mars. So he's always been really optimistic about when things are going to happen, whether it's rockets or electric

cars, but he gets it done.

And so he thinks that he can get to Mars and say, the next five ish years, I would say, maybe 10 ish years, just as my guest. But ideally, SpaceX

would do it in collaboration with NASA. They're working with NASA already on supplying the International Space Station and bring astronauts to and

from the International Space Station.

So it makes sense to expand that collaboration to include Mars to take advantage of the innovation and nimbleness of the commercial space

companies, the newer ones, and it leverage off of the experience the incredible amount of experience and operational know how from NASA.

KOSIK: Would you want to ever suit up again and if there was a launch to Mars and you were there for it? Was that something you'd want to do?

CHIAO: You know what I would love to go explore Mars but I don't want to live there. I want to come back. I like living here on the earth.

[09:50:00]

KOSIK: All right, Leroy Chiao thanks so much for joining us today. Appreciate it.

CHIAO: My pleasure. Thank you, Alison.

KOSIK: Next one streamer to rule them all. At least that's what Amazon is banking on. Find out why next?

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

KOSIK: As Beyonce once said, if you like it, then you should have put a ring on it. Well, it seems like Amazon may have taken notice. The Prime

Video Service is betting big on its new Lord of the Rings Series. Certainly, how big jaw dropping $465 million.

And that's just the first season. It's being called the most expensive show of all time. And now we'll finally see if it lives up to the price tag as

the show drops today. Paula R LA Monica is live from Middle Earth or at least somewhere in the middle of New York, right? Hi, Paula!

PAULA R LA MONICA, CNN REPORTER: Indeed yes. Not in Middle Earth exactly but yes.

KOSIK: Somewhere near there. Amazon Prime Video, you know, it's far from one of the biggest streamers at this point. And I think what the service

needs, or at least I'm feeling that it needs our new eyeballs. So it is Lord of the Rings helping Amazon to accomplish that?

MONICA: Yes, that's what remains to be seen Alison. And I think you're right clearly Prime Video has a couple of shows that have broken through

the pop culture Zeitgeist things like the Boys Marvelous Mrs. Merisel.

But they really haven't done anything to the extent of say, Netflix with Stranger Things and Bridgeton that everyone's talking about are Squid Game,

Disney Plus with the Mandalorian and some of their Marvel shows.

I think Amazon really wants a show that is not maybe just a prestige play, but a true crowd pleaser that can bring in people that maybe aren't prime

subscribers already. And keep in mind Alison that's what it's all about with Amazon is getting you hooked on that prime monthly or annual

subscription service, so that you can basically say, yes, you know what?

I want to get things delivered from whole foods and books delivered from Amazon for those of us still reading paper books, and then watch video as

well. And it's all part of this prime package that Amazon is trying to get more people to subscribe to.

KOSIK: I just - I was so excited. I cut you off. I'm so excited. You're actually reading paper books. I'm all for that. I do want to ask you about

the arrival of the NFL's Thursday night football on Prime Video. How is this going to elevate Amazon's streaming?

MONICA: Yes, it's a great observation Alison. Football as we know the NFL that has been one part of the media traditional TV landscape that still

brings in tens of millions of viewers every week you know over 100 million usually for the Super Bowl at the end of the year.

[09:55:00]

MONICA: So the NFL is big bucks for major media companies. And that is also now blending into the streaming services as well. So I think Amazon hopes

to have yet another reason to get people to subscribe to prime because there are a lot of people that want to watch the NFL.

They're fans of the teams. They may have fantasy sports teams, so they're looking for there and obviously legal gambling now in many states across

the nation. So I think all those factors combined mean that the NFL will remain a ratings juggernaut for the foreseeable future. And Amazon gets

that.

KOSIK: All right, Paul R LA Monica thanks for all that great analysis. Thank you. And that's it for the show. I'm Alison Kosik. Follow me on

Instagram and Twitter @alisonkosik. Thanks for watching. "Connect the World" is next I'll see you soon.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

END