Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

Printer-Friendly Version

Remarks Prepared For Delivery By
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Center for American Women and Politics State Legislators Forum
The White House
Thursday, November 20, 2003

Thank you, Cindi [Williams].

And let me acknowledge Debbie Walsh, the Director of the Center for American Women and Politics, for her work in helping women legislators meet the challenges of elected office.

It is wonderful to meet so many women legislators.

As you've heard, this President and Administration value the accomplishments of women and has put many outstanding women in positions of leadership. At the White House they include National Security Advisor Condoleezza Rice, Assistant to the President for Domestic Policy Margaret Spellings and Assistant to the President and Deputy Chief of Staff Harriet Miers.

At the Labor Department, half of the Department's top leadership team is comprised of women - this is more than any other cabinet department in the history of our country!

From the Assistant Secretary of the Employment Standards Administration, which covers everything from fairness in contracting to wages and hours worked, to the Assistant Secretary of the Employment Training Administration, which spends most of the Labor Department's $72.6 million budget, women head seven of the department's key agencies. And I want you to know that they are all available to help you meet the needs of your constituencies.

You have come to Washington, D.C. at an important time.

The economic news is increasingly positive. President Bush's economic polices and tax relief plan continues to bolster the economy and strengthen the recovery.

• Last quarter's GDP growth rate of 7.2 percent is faster than we've seen in 20 years.
• Stock market values have risen -- adding $2 trillion in wealth to investors since the beginning of the year.
• Housing starts are at a 17-year high. Interest rates are at a 40-year low.
• Unemployment is falling. Over the last three months the economy has added 286,000 new jobs.
• And worker wages are increasing at almost all income levels — partly due to record productivity levels.

While we remain optimistic about the economy, as President Bush has said, we will not rest until every worker who wants a job can find one.

At the Department of Labor, we are doing all we can to make sure that no worker is left behind. We fund one of this country's most important tools for job training and economic development — the $12 billion workforce investment system.

Of course, the Department does more than that. We oversee every private pension and 401 (k) plan in America. We administer the nation's unemployment insurance system. And we ensure the safety, health and wages of all working Americans. If any member of your constituency is working, the Department of Labor is involved in some way or another with their workplace or livelihood.

Recently we have been involved in the monumental task of updating and modernizing our regulations and programs to better reflect the realities of the 21st century workplace.

An example, which has been the target of a massive misinformation campaign, concerns reforming Part 541 of the Fair Labor Standards Act. These regulations guide the classification of white-collar workers as "exempt" or "non-exempt" and thus which white-collar workers are eligible to receive overtime. These regulations have not been updated in 40 years and they list positions that no longer exist such as "straw boss," "gang leader," "leg man" and keypunch operator.

The result is that these outdated regulations are now responsible for more class action lawsuits in the workplace than discrimination complaints. The Department has proposed changes that update and clarify the white-collar exemptions so they are easy to understand and comply with. That's the best way to protect workers.

Nurses, fire fighters, policemen and construction workers are not affected by these regulations, since they only pertain to white-collar jobs. Union members, also, are not impacted because they work under collective bargaining agreements. The ambiguity of the current regulations makes it difficult for our investigators to enforce the law. When the regulations are clear, the Department can recover back wages in an average of 108 days. But when the regulations are unclear, the Department can't help workers quickly — it may take years. And workers may have no recourse but legal action to get the overtime to which they are entitled, which can take years.

Another initiative involves transforming the publicly funded workforce investment system.

We are challenging this system to be better, to be more demand driven - to train job seekers in industries and professions that are suffering from a shortage of workers. And we are challenging it to respond quickly.

To accomplish this task we're modernizing the nation's entire network of 3,500 One- Stop Career Centers. Today's Centers provide everything from high-speed Internet access to training vouchers for classes at local community colleges. They even have special career counselors available to help with job applications and resumes. And we're making the One-Stop Centers more user-friendlier for people with disabilities, non-English speakers and veterans.

We have also gone into cyberspace to reach out to recent graduates and those seeking new careers. In collaboration with the Department of Education, we created a new web site — www.careervoyages.gov — that offers detailed information on the fastest growing occupations and industries. It also has job listings and provides information on apprenticeship programs and on financial support.

The Labor Department has also launched a major High Growth Job Training Initiative to identify those sectors of the economy where strong growth is projected and to train workers for careers in these industries.

Health care, for instance, is especially undergoing rapid growth due to the pressures of our aging population. The health care industry now accounts for about 13 percent of our national GDP. Nine of the nation's 20 fastest growing occupations are in health care. We will need 1 million nurses in the next 7 years, as well as medical technicians, pharmacists, chamber maids, orderlies and other health care workers.

The Labor Department is also building partnerships with other industries that are also experiencing high growth — like high tech manufacturing, education, the skilled trades and physical security.

This later point is very important for the flexibility of local workforce-training programs. We are encouraging local employers to become more active participants in our workforce development programs. The Department is also strengthening its links with local community college and schools so they can provide the skills and training essential for real jobs in the real world.

In fact, to make the workforce system more effective and responsive to the needs of local labor markets, the Administration and the Department are working with Congress to reform the Workforce Investment Act. Our legislative proposals will provide for state legislator representation on State Workforce Boards, increase local accountability and streamline federal funding sources.

President Bush recently pointed this out in his address to the students and faculty of Forsyth Community College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. He said, "For every job-training program, there's a government prescription with it, which means that the more prescriptive programs are, the less flexible they are. And the less flexible job-training money is, it makes it very difficult to be able to meet the needs of the local community."

Our proposal for the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act — which has passed the House and Senate and is headed for Conference — will ultimately give state legislators more choice, control and customization of worker training services so you can meet your constituency's special needs.

Another important piece of workforce training legislation that the Administration is trying to pass are Personal Reemployment Accounts. They would give more than 1 million dislocated workers the training and services they need to help them get back in the workforce. These accounts would provide job seekers with up to $3,000 to pay for training, child-care, transportation, relocation — whatever they need to make the transition back into the working world. And if they secure a job before the $3000 runs out, they get to keep the difference as a reemployment bonus!

Overall, through these and other initiatives, the Administration is making the workforce investment system more demand-driven, customer oriented and tailored to building the skills your workers need to get good jobs.

By working together we can help workers gain the skills they need to build brighter futures for themselves and their families.

Thank you again for the invitation to join you this afternoon.

And now I'd be happy to take a few questions.

# # #

_________________________________________________________________