Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao
Archived Speech — Caution: Information may be out of date.
Remarks Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Multiple Education Pathways Learning Exchange
Arlington, Virginia
Thursday, November 13, 2008
Thank you, Brent [Orrell, Deputy Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training].
It's wonderful to be here at your Learning Exchange!
As many of you know, Brent served as the Labor Department's first Director of the Center for Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. He also served ably at the White House and as a Deputy Assistant Secretary at the Agency for Children and Family Services. I am so pleased that we have Brent back on our team to lead the Employment and Training Administration!
Let me also recognize some of the organizations that have joined ETA to convene this week's Learning Exchange. They include:
- America's Promise;
- the Carnegie Corporation of New York;
- the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation;
- the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation; and
- the National League of Cities.
Thank you all very much!
And thank you Gay Gilbert, Greg Weltz, Anne Stom, and the entire ETA team for making this Exchange so successful!
It is really inspiring to see so many people from the workforce system, the foundation community, community and regional teams, local school systems, our colleagues from the Department of Education, as well as leaders from the employer community.
I understand that you have participated in robust discussions about how to address the school dropout crisis. And that later, you will focus on how to engage the business community. But today, I want to share some thoughts with you about the critical importance of addressing the school dropout crisis. Every 26 seconds, a young person drops out of school. At the Labor Department, we are very concerned about how this will impact the futures of our young people, the competitiveness of our workforce, and our nation.
As one of the largest regulatory agencies in the Federal government, the Labor Department enforces over 180 workplace laws to ensure the health and safety, wages, and retirement security of America's workforce. I added competitiveness to our mission because we also administer the publicly-funded workforce system. And we have challenged the publicly-funded workforce system to reflect the realities of the modern workplace so it can do an even better job of preparing workers for jobs in the 21st century.
The realities of today's global economy make it critical that our youth programs and the entire publicly-funded workforce investment system are demand driven and that these programs and institutions are focused on talent development at all levels.
In the next decade, nearly two-thirds of the new jobs created in our country will be in occupations that require post-secondary education or significant on-the-job training. And employers are placing a premium on talented workers with the skills that are in demand. Today, high school dropouts make about $539 per week on average for full-time work and the unemployment rate of this group of workers is about 10.3 percent. Workers with a high school diploma average $774 weekly and this group has a 6.3 percent unemployment rate. Workers with some college or an associate degree average about $878 per week and this group's unemployment rate is 5.2 percent. But workers with a bachelor's degree or higher average $1,438 per week and have an unemployment rate of 3.1 percent.
That means that many young people who have not completed their high school education are in need of special attention of the kind to which all of us are committed. These students will need alternative education options to earn their high school diploma. They'll then need to remain on a path toward additional certifications and degrees that makes them eligible for the high-paying jobs of tomorrow. Between 2001 and 2007, for example, the number of jobs in high-paying occupations grew at a rate almost 3 times that of lower-paying jobs. To help our young men and women keep pace with this trend, we'll have to convince them of the need for lifelong learning.
We've made it a priority of the Department to invest in programs that allow workers and young people to access the new and increasing job opportunities available in the emerging sectors of our economy. And, significant progress has been made in the last nearly eight years. We have successfully engaged the workforce investment system with employers and educators. We have increased capacity at community and technical colleges. And we have matched workforce training resources with economic development priorities.
In all, this Administration has invested over $59 billion in workforce training since 2001. And the Department of Labor alone has invested more than $1 billion in developing national and regional workforce communities throughout America.
But I am particularly pleased with all that has been accomplished to advance our shared vision for youth. Through grants totaling over $200 million, partnerships across federal, state and local entities are connecting youth with the educational, health, and social services to access and retain jobs.
Together, we are mapping out entire new systems that can connect high school dropouts to alternative learning opportunities. Our partnerships that include faith-based and community groups are developing ways to assist non-violent young offenders who are committed to turning their lives around and returning to their communities. At the same time, we are supporting partnerships in school districts that are combating the scourge of gang involvement, which contributes to the drop-out rate.
As many of you may know, in 2006, Congress transferred the YouthBuild program to the Department of Labor. Today, we are supporting YouthBuild projects in 107 communities that are providing innovative education and training opportunities for young men and women. At the same time, the students are assisting in the rehabilitation of community housing for low-income families.
And for more than 40 years, the Job Corps program has provided opportunities for more than two million at-promise youth in America. Through residential and non-residential programs, students are earning high school diplomas or other certificates and continuing on to post-secondary education and technical training. Job Corps is helping many students access better wages when they enter the workforce.
These programs are working to address the dropout rate using innovative ways that involve partners like you all over the nation. So thank you for the tremendous work that you are doing every day to help our young people remain in school so that they too may access the good-paying opportunities our economy is creating over the next decade.
Together, we have laid the ground work to help some of the most vulnerable in our society to get the skills they need to thrive and build productive lives for themselves. But there is always more to do. So let me challenge all of you to build on the progress we have made together so that more young people will have hope and access to opportunity.
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Archived Speech — Caution: Information may be out of date.
