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OPA News Release: [08/08/2002]
Contact Name: Elissa
Pruett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Keynotes Northeastern
Regional Conference on Women Entrepreneurship in the 21st
Century
Over 600 Hundred Businesswomen From Around the Region
Participated
WASHINGTON – U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today
spoke to over 600 businesswomen from around the Northeast at the Department of
Labor’s Northeastern Regional Conference on Women Entrepreneurship in the
21st Century, held at Central Connecticut State University in New
Britain, Conn.
The time is right. According to the Small Business Administration, there
are currently 9.1 million women-owned businesses in the United States. The
Center for Women’s Business Research has found that employment and revenue
rates in these firms are growing at a faster rate than the national average. In
Connecticut alone, women-owned firms comprise over 25 percent of the
state’s companies and generate over $9 billion in revenue.
“As Secretary of Labor, I see firsthand that women-owned businesses
are driving our economy by producing more and more jobs for American
workers,” Chao said. “These women are truly the bedrock of the
American economy, and I appreciate their ideas. Here in the Northeast and
across the nation, women business owners are turning a profit, creating real
jobs and providing real value in goods and services.”
The Department of Labor event, hosted with the Small Business
Administration, key White House officials and the Public Forum Institute,
replicated a national summit held in March and is the first of a series of
regional women’s entrepreneurship events to be held in the coming weeks.
These regional events will provide local forums for women business owners to
celebrate their successes, share ideas and bring attention to any obstacles
that stand in the way of further growth.
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