Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

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Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Address to Women Entrepreneurship Conference
New Britain, Connecticut
August 8, 2002

Thank you Nancy for the kind words. And thank you Lt. Gov. Rell for your leadership. I am delighted to be with all of you today.

If there is one Congresswoman who has been attentive to the concerns of entrepreneurs and business owners it’s Representative Nancy Johnson. She’s strong, fair, compassionate and independent. She’s been a leader in getting Congress to cut taxes, reform health care and protect workers’ retirement security.

And Nancy has done an especially outstanding job in expanding opportunities for the people of Connecticut.

Today, Connecticut’s unemployment rate has dropped from over six percent in 1993 to under four percent today. All five cities of 5^th District have lower unemployment rates today than they did in 1994.

Nancy, thank you for all you have done—for your constituents and your country.

It’s always a thrill for me to speak to a group of women entrepreneurs. Celebrating the enormous contributions that women entrepreneurs are making to this country is one of the joys of my job.

No one better understands the workforce challenges we face in this new millennium than you do. You know how difficult it is to balance work and family. You understand the challenges of finding the right people, with the right skills, for job openings.

Our goal today is to learn from you. How you cope with these issues. We want to listen to your ideas. And we want to help you succeed and realize your part of the American dream.

Throughout America, women entrepreneurs like you are on the front lines—leading a powerful revolution in the 21^st century economy.

You are helping fuel the economy by creating jobs and providing new goods and services. You are taking the lead in balancing the requirements of work and family by allowing flextime and telecommuting. And you are preparing the next generation of women entrepreneurs by mentoring others and breaking through the glass ceiling.

Your influence can be seen in the power of your numbers: 6.2 million privately-held, women-owned businesses providing employment for 9.2 million Americans. You continue to grow at twice the rate of all businesses—with one out of five women-owned firms now run by women of color.

Right here in Connecticut, women-owned firms comprise over twenty-five percent of the state’s companies—generating over $9 billion revenue.

As President George W. Bush said at the Department of Labor’s Women’s Entrepreneurship Summit in March, “when it comes to entrepreneurship and job creation, ours is an increasingly woman’s world.”

You are one of the key reasons why our country is on the rebound

Running a small business is always tough. You can take comfort that our economy is strong and the fundamentals are in place for sustainable growth.

Inflation is low; factory orders are rising; interest rates are reasonable; home sales remain strong; and productivity continues to rise. The economy has now grown for three straight quarters in a row. And American’s incomes grew by 0.6 percent in June—the strongest pace in two years.

Equally important, the president has moved quickly to restore faith and confidence in the integrity of our financial markets and economy.

He is working hard to get pension reform legislation through the Congress—which just passed the House and is now awaiting action in the Senate. And he has just signed aggressive enforcement legislation that will increase corporate accountability and transparency.

You can be assured that the people who have abused the laws and marketplace will be punished severely!

You—the nation’s small women business owners—are truly the bedrock of the American economy. You exemplify America’s honest, hard-working, entrepreneurial spirit. You turn a profit, while creating real jobs and real value in goods and services.

America has traditionally been a country of small businesses, and our country benefits from your prosperity.

The challenge is how did we keep your businesses profitable and growing?

At the March Summit, over a thousand women from around the country told us of their concerns regarding health care, taxes, federal regulations, and obtaining financing. Nearly 80 percent said they had encountered barriers with government contracting. Over seventy-five percent found the costs associated with employee health care a deterrent to offering benefits.

From the polling questions taken this morning, I know that nearly everyone here today shares the same concerns.

That’s why the President and I are working to bring you Association Health Plans, to make affordable health insurance more available to you, your families and your employees.

That’s why we have also lowered taxes, reduced the alternative minimum tax, and are working to permanently eliminate the death tax—so you can pass your businesses on to your daughters without financial penalty.

It’s why the President’s tax reform bill contains numerous incentives for retirement plan sponsors—which now allows small businesses to take a tax credit of up to 50 percent for the start-up costs of creating and running a new retirement plan.

It’s also why we successfully fought for Trade Promotion Authority that will open vast new markets and create jobs and reenergize the economy. And why we’re taking the lead in getting Congress to pass a terrorism insurance bill that will help major construction projects go forward and employ thousands of workers.

So, let me assure you, as a small business owner, you have a friend in the White House—and in the U.S. Department of Labor.

My Department worked with the US Chamber of Commerce and the Small Business Administration to launch a new website that helps small employers like you choose the most appropriate type of retirement plan for your firm. And we have a joint publication, “Early Retirement Solutions for Small Businesses,” available on our website.

We’re also making sure that smaller business owners finally have a fair shot at competing for federal contracts.

We understand that government agencies have a tendency to only award massive contracts with complicated requirements. And those contracts often end up going to the same group of large corporate bidders, year after year. In Washington, D.C. they call it “bundling.”

Today, we’re looking to level the playing field by unbundling these large federal contracts. The Department of Labor now has a special Procurement Review Board to ensure that our contract solicitation process allows the widest possible group of people to bid.

Last year alone, we awarded nearly $74 million in contracts to women–owned businesses. To compete, just get online, click to our website www.dol.gov, and then over to our Office of Small Business. There you will find the Small Business Procurement Power Page—giving you all the details you need to become one of our vendors.

And if you want to come in person, every other month in Washington, DC, in the Department of Labor’s Great Hall, we hold a vendor outreach session. If you’re interested in attending, click over to our Office of Small Business Programs web page at www.dol.gov/osbp for more details, or call Elaine Murrell, who helps run the Small Business outreach sessions, at 202-693-6467.

Most importantly, for small business owners, we’re working hard to help you navigate your way through our exhaustive list of rules and regulations.

At the Department, we’re making compliance assistance a reality, not just another government slogan.

We are telling all of our agencies to offer more help and information to employers who really want to comply with our rules, but aren’t sure how.

The idea that the government ought to provide business with the knowledge and tools to help people comply with its regulations; the idea that this responsibility, these actions, should be a top priority of the Department of Labor; what a novel approach!

Our existing enforcement practices will stay—and they’ll be more effective because they will be targeted on a small percentage of “bad actors.” But we’re also going to bring a transparency to the regulatory jungle that is unprecedented in the federal government.

We’ve developed compliance materials in plain English. We’ve also developed on-line programs that answer your questions and direct you to information that is easy to understand.

Because when you as employers understand the rules, your employees and workers will benefit.

I am also creating a new, permanent, senior position: a Director of Compliance Assistance. This person’s job will be making sure that all of the Department’s agencies are doing all they can to help employers comply with our regulations… and therefore foster safer workplaces and protect workers.

I’ve also established a toll-free help line—1-866-4-USA-DOL—for people who need assistance in understanding how to comply. And you can be confident that the people who answer these phones are being paid to help you.

Again, this Administration’s overarching goal is one that everyone in this room shares: to promote a safer workplace and protect employees. The difference is that, now, the federal government will also share the responsibility for that with you.

In closing, we at the Labor Department really do value your ideas.

That’s why we will continue to host similar women’s conferences across the country. It’s also why we have started an e-news letter for working women. I hope all of you consider signing up to receive that it by visiting our website, then clicking on our Women’s Bureau home page.

Once again, I want to say how vital your businesses are to the viability of the American economy. Because of you, your daughters and other young girls are now inheriting businesses, wealth, and financial independence from their mothers.

What a wonderful phenomenon!

Have a great conference. Network and learn as much as you can from today’s panels and talks. And please don’t be afraid to call us. We’re listening.

May God bless you, and May God Bless America.

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