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Deficit problems in the intermediate or longer term and will do what the president has said is his north star, making sure the jobs pay decent wages. >> the other number has to do with the participation rate. lowest since 1979. do you think this is a statistical anomaly or is this a trend that also concerns you? >> well, the trend peaked around 2000. as our workforce gets older and older, we'll see more people retire. we are focused on creating jobs. that will be good for the economy and for the country. >> sequester impact, do you expect more of an impact in april than it was last month? >> i...

2%? >> in part yes. 24,000 fewer retail sector jobs in large part because of a big tax increase that went into effect on wealthier people and everybody starting january 1st. bill: one point. some may blame sequester. is that a fair argument early in the month of april or is it too early for that? >> no, it is not a fair argument. you can not put the blame on sequester for this bad report. the furlough notices associated with sequester are just going out. this report relates to last month. plus we're only cutting 42, $43 billion from government spending this entire calendar year. that is not ac...

>> greta: any bidding, any competitive bidding. >> some of them are. >> greta: not all. >> not all, but by the way, once you get-- the problem once you get a contract for a fighter plane or a ship, then the escalation above the baseline sometimes is two or three times as much as what you originally budgeted for. the biggest problem in the dod in the years ahead is going to be acquisition reform. fix the system for buying stuff and that's probably going to be the greatest return on our investment that we could make particularly if you're trying to save over the long-term. short-term it's people...

Competitive bidding. >> some of them are. >> greta: not all. >> not all, but by the way, once you get-- the problem once you get a contract for a fighter plane or a ship, then the escalation above the baseline sometimes is two or three times as much as what you originally budgeted for. the biggest problem in the dod in the years ahead is going to be acquisition reform. fix the system for buying stuff and that's probably going to be the greatest return on our investment that we could make particularly if you're trying to save over the long-term. short-term it's people and training. >> greta: ni...

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