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Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
2005 States & Nation Policy Summit Agenda
American Legislative Exchange Council
Marriott Wardman Park - Washington, D.C.
Thursday, December 8, 2005
Thank you.
And I want to thank incoming Chairman Kansas Senator Susan Wagle, and Georgia Representative Earl Ehrhart for inviting me here today. And I also want to recognize Deputy Secretary of the Veterans Affairs, Gordon Mansfield.
I know that ALEC members have come from all over the country, and that your legislative interests are as diverse as your constituencies. But there is one thing we all have in common. And that's a commitment to keeping our country on the path to job creation and growth. So today I'd like to share with you some thoughts about where we are headed in the New Year. And I'd also like to ask your help in spreading the word about the programs available to help your constituents access the new jobs that are being created in our economy.
As we look back upon the past year, one of the things our nation can be grateful for is the strength and dynamism of our economy and our workforce. It is remarkable that, despite the tremendous challenges of the past 5 years, our economy continues to strengthen and create new jobs. An inherited recession, the attacks of 9/11, the war on terror, corporate scandals—even devastating hurricanes and rising oil prices—have not been enough to throw our economy off the growth track.
Just look at the results for this year. Third quarter GDP growth exceeded expectations at an amazing 4.3 percent. With the exception of the month following the recent hurricanes, job growth has been averaging about 200,000 per month in 2005. That's a total of 4.5 million net new jobs since May 2003. More Americans are on payrolls than ever before in our history—134.3 million people. And the unemployment rate is 5 percent—lower than the average of the 1970s, 1980s, and 1990s.
And just this week, the Labor Department released a report showing that productivity rose 4.7 percent over the summer. That's an astounding figure for a mature economy. It means higher wages for American workers. And it is one of the reasons why American workers have the highest standard of living in the world.
Job creation in our country is even more striking when compared with other major industrialized nations. I recently attended a meeting of the G-8 Labor Ministers and learned that France and Germany have permanent unemployment rates of over 10 percent. That's more than double that of the U.S. And long term unemployment is four and five times higher in France, Germany, Italy and Japan. So clearly, America's dynamic rate of job creation provides significant advantages to our workers.
Our nation's growth and job creation over the past five years is not an accident. It's a direct result of the President's determination to create the conditions for growth. The President's strategy can be summed up in one sentence: eliminate the excessive taxation, over regulation, and abusive litigation that hamper growth and job creation. As the President is fond of saying, the government doesn't create jobs. The government creates the conditions for the private sector to create jobs. And the principles are the same, whether you're at the federal, state or local level.
So our nation approaches the New Year from an enviable position—a position of growth and job creation. And we already know what some of the new challenges are and how to prepare for them. There are venerable, old line industries experiencing painful change. The transition may be wrenching for many workers. And while our national unemployment rate is low, there are pockets of the country—such as the Gulf region—where workers need extra help. That's why it's so important to reassure American workers that the economy is strong and that there is hope for the future.
There are challenges facing our economy, but we have the ability to respond. First and foremost, we must close the skills gap if our workers are to remain competitive. Most of the new jobs being created are in occupations that pay above average wages. But these jobs require higher skills and more education. So it's critical for workers to get a good education and to continually upgrade their skills.
Now, education doesn't have to mean a four year college degree. It could be an associate degree at a community college, technical school or an apprenticeship program. But the greatest demand today, clearly, is for workers with some level of post secondary education. So workers must continually upgrade their skills if they want to succeed in the 21st century workforce.
And there is plenty of assistance out there to help them. The Labor Department is home to two Presidential initiatives designed to support and strengthen the skills of America's workforce.
The first is the President's Community-Based Job Training Initiative. Through this program, the Department has provided $125 million in grants for programs at 70 community colleges across the nation. Many are in your communities. These grants help expand the capacity of community colleges to train workers in high growth fields that pay good wages. Some of these sectors include healthcare, energy, advanced manufacturing, technology, biotechnology and the skilled trades.
The second is the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. Under this program, the Department has awarded more than $200 million to create public-private partnerships in your communities. These investments bring together state workforce agencies, local employers and education providers to identify high growth sectors. And then to provide workers with relevant job training and connect them with employers who have jobs to offer.
These investments are designed to leverage the $15 billion, publicly-funded workforce training system. Through its nationwide network of 3,500 One Stop Career Centers, workers in your communities can get relevant job training and access new opportunities.
There is especially important to get the word out to evacuees in the Gulf Region. In the aftermath of the Hurricanes, I approved more than $191 million in National Emergency Grants to create more than 40,000 temporary jobs in the Gulf region. The Department awarded more than $30 million to expedite Unemployment Insurance and Disaster Unemployment Assistance claims for evacuees. And to connect evacuees with job opportunities, the Department partnered with Manpower Inc., a national, private sector job placement company. We combined the resources of 3,500 One Stop Career Centers with Manpower's 1,100 offices around the country.
Any evacuee—no matter where he or she is living—can go to the nearest One Stop Center or Manpower Inc. office and get help in finding a job. And there are jobs out there. In fact, there are more than 65,000 jobs for evacuees on the Hurricane Recovery Job Connection website, which is funded by the Department of Labor. Workers can find out about these jobs by logging onto www.ajb.org and clicking on "Hurricane Jobs." Or they can call the toll free number, 1-877-USA-JOBS. Callers to this number can also find the nearest One Stop Career Center. There, workers can access all our programs.
These initiatives underscore the importance of the reforms the President has proposed to the publicly funded workforce investment system. He wants to ensure that the lion's share of this investment is spent on actually training workers for high growth jobs.
Our country is fortunate to face the challenges of the 21st century at a time when our economy is strong. That's a tribute to the dynamism of our free enterprise system, the strength of our workforce, and the steady course charted by President George W. Bush. The results speak for themselves. Our economy is on track to create more jobs, more opportunity and more hope.
And the best way to ensure that this progress continues is to let the President finish the job. That means making the President's tax cuts permanent, so workers can keep more of their hard-earned wages. It means enacting the President's plan to build and expand more refineries. And it means giving small businesses access to affordable, quality health care through Association Health Plans.
And let me say a few words about another key issue—the retirement security of our nation's workers. As the President said earlier this week, the promises made to workers mustbe kept. Under current law, companies can make pension promises they can't fully pay for. So it is critical to enact the President's pension reform proposals, which will strengthen the traditional defined benefit pension plans that 34 million Americans depend upon.
As I said in the beginning of my remarks, America's workers have every reason to be confident about the future going into the New Year. By every measure, our nation's economy is strong and growing stronger. So let me conclude by thanking you for everything you are doing to support pro-growth policies. Working together, we can continue to ensure a brighter future for America's workers.
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