Remarks
Prepared for Delivery by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
“Workforce Competitiveness in a Global
Economy”
Chamber of Commerce Uruguay-USA
Uruguay
Tuesday, December 11, 2007
It’s wonderful to be back in Montevideo.
The last time I was here was on March 1, 2005, to represent
my President and the United States at the Inauguration of
then newly-elected President Vazquez.
Before arriving in Uruguay this time, I
was in Argentina leading the U.S. Presidential Delegation
to the Inauguration of President Christina Fernández
de Kirchner.
South America is an important region for
the United States. As neighbors, the United States welcomes
the opportunity to visit more frequently, exchange views,
and share solutions to common challenges.
In the last two months, U.S. Secretary of
Commerce Carlos Gutierrez and U.S. Secretary of the Treasury
Hank Paulson have also visited Uruguay.
President George W. Bush and First Lady
Laura Bush greatly enjoyed their visit here in March. And
I know President Bush and President Vazquez enjoy a warm
and cordial relationship.
I am looking forward to my time in Uruguay.
This morning, let me share with you some of the principles
that are fundamental to the long-term stability of the U.S.
economy and its ability to create good jobs. And I’d
also like to share our country’s approach to help
our workforce remain competitive in the worldwide economy.
The best way the U.S. government helps workers
is by creating the climate for growth and job creation.
The United States believes that it is the private sector
that creates jobs, and that the role of the government is
to create the climate for growth. And, creating the right
climate is critical to ensuring the U.S. remains competitive
in the worldwide economy. For us, that means reducing the
over-regulation, excessive taxation, and costly legal battles
that hamper growth. The U.S. economy is based on a free
market system that favors low taxes, flexible labor markets,
and openness to trade. The President’s plan for economic
growth includes four key points:
– Making health care more affordable;
Reducing the lawsuit burden;
– Streamlining regulations and reporting requirements, especially
for small and medium-sized businesses; and
– Enabling families and businesses to plan for the future
with confidence by lowering taxes across the board for everyone.
– And, this plan has produced steady economic growth. In fact,
the U.S. economy has grown every year since 1982, with the
exception of a relatively mild 0.2 percent decline in 1991.
Part of creating a climate for growth and
job creation is removing as many barriers to growth as possible.
And, this is particularly important in the U.S. because
so much of our economic growth and job creation comes from
small and medium-sized businesses that have limited resources.
In fact, two-thirds of the new jobs created in this country
in the last decade and a half have been created by small
and medium businesses. And so, this Administration has taken
steps, for example, to simplify licensing requirements so
that it’s easier for small businesses to get started.
Also, in the U.S., most small businesses pay taxes at the
individual income tax rate. And, this has increased the
amount of capital available to small businesses to invest
in technology and expand and hire new workers.
Today, the U.S. economy is continuing to
create jobs, despite the many challenges we face. Our country
has now seen 51 straight months of job growth. Our economy
has created more than 8.3 million new jobs since August
2003—more than the eurozone nations and Japan combined.
And, this year, our country saw 3rd quarter GDP growth of
4.9 percent. No one can predict what the future will hold.
But, history shows that, even when America’s economy
is hit with challenges, the fundamental strengths of our
system enable our country to rebound on the long-term path
of expansion and prosperity.
Like all nations, the U.S. economy does
face challenges. America’s workforce is the backbone
of America’s economy. And, the competition for skilled
workers is now global. Like Uruguay, the United States is
trying to address this challenge. Our country is facing
a skills gap as it continues to transition to a knowledge-based
economy. That’s the mismatch between the skills of
some in our workforce and the skills needed for jobs in
growing sectors of the economy. In the next decade, nearly
two-thirds of the estimated 15.6 million new jobs will be
in occupations that require some post-secondary education.
And, growth will be fastest among jobs that require at least
some post-secondary education. These jobs require more creativity
and critical thinking. And so workers with more knowledge,
skills, and creativity are in greater demand and are earning
higher wages.
Between 2006 and 2016, for example, our
country will need 2.8 million healthcare professionals,
and over 950,000 engineers, including aerospace, biomedical,
civil, computer software, and environmental engineers. The
United States will also need workers in other high growth
industries including nanotechnology, geospatial technology,
and the life sciences, to name a few.
The U.S. Department of Labor plays a role
in helping workers acquire the training and education they
need to access these jobs. The Department, as some of you
may know, is one of the largest regulatory departments in
the U.S. government. Its mission is to protect the health,
safety, retirement security, and competitiveness of America’s
workforce. And, it carries out this mission with a budget
of about $51 billion—give or take a few billion—and
about 17,000 workers.
Providing a higher-skilled, more educated
workforce is clearly the future for a developed country
such as the United States in the worldwide economy. The
United States cannot compete and does not want to compete
with countries that produce low-paying, low-skilled jobs.
A key feature of our country’s approach is to identify
the sectors of the economy that are growing and the skills
needed for the new jobs being created. America’s workforce
is the most productive workforce in the world, according
to a study by the International Labor Organization (which
is a part of the United Nations) released on September 3rd
of this year. For the United States to remain competitive
in the worldwide economy, our workforce must have access
to the education and training they need to continually update
their skills.
That’s why the President has emphasized
education reform from the kindergarten to the 12th grade
levels. American schools are not producing enough students
who study STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Math),
so this is a problem we are trying to address. One of the
first things President Bush did when he took office was
to introduce the most significant education system reform
in 50 years. A strong grounding in the fundamentals is essential
to developing an educated workforce that can thrive in the
21st century global economy. In addition, it is our experience
that workers do best when they have the opportunity to continually
update their education and skills throughout their working
life.
That’s why our country focuses on
job training after formal education. And, a key mission
of the U.S. Department of Labor is to help increase the
skills level of the workforce. In fact, the Department spends
about $9.5 billion annually to help unemployed workers access
job training and employment services of all kinds, to help
them find jobs.
The Labor Department also helps to connect
workers with jobs through 3,200 publicly-funded “Employment
Career Centers.” These offices or centers are found
in every state and they are an important part of our country’s
investment in workers and worker training.
These are independent nonprofit entities
operated in conjunction with state and local governments
which receive federal funding, but are run by a board of
directors at each location. Employers are encouraged to
sit on the boards of these nonprofit organizations to provide
input as to the types of skills needed in the workplace.
At these centers, unemployed workers can
find out all about the various government programs available
to them. These Employment Center offices are staffed by
caring professionals and counselors and well-equipped with
resources, such as banks of computers available to those
who can’t afford computers at home or lack access
to computers, job resource libraries, and job banks. If
someone doesn’t know how to operate the computer or
navigate the website, they will be taught how.
Unemployed workers who visit these Centers
can get information about available jobs in their community,
what skill-sets are needed to qualify for these jobs, where
to acquire job training for these needed skills, counsel
on how to market themselves and search for jobs, for example,
including advice on how to write their resumes. They can
get career counseling and a wide variety of other employment
services and ancillary benefits.
The next step is expanding the capacity
of the educational system to offer training for these jobs
to workers.
In America, there are two-year institutions
called community colleges that play a key role in skills
training. Community colleges specialize in educating workers
in technical skills that do not require a four-year college
degree, but are technical enough to require some kind of
postsecondary education. Workers attend community colleges
to get certificates and degrees that allow them to become
nurses, computer technicians, phlebotomists, and all sorts
of other skilled occupations. Community colleges have many
advantages. They are commonly located in most communities
throughout America and thus are easily accessible. Classes
are held in the evening and on weekends so workers who already
have a job, but who may wish to advance to another career
or job opportunity can attend them. The tuition is kept
very low relative to four-year colleges. Community colleges
have proven invaluable in helping our country close the
skills gap.
Another way workers gain valuable training
is through apprenticeship programs, many of which are provided
by trade unions. Apprenticeships combine supervised on-the-job
training with classroom instruction. And, apprenticeships
play an important role in developing a workforce in many
key industries, such as health care, information technology,
and transportation.
So far, I’ve talked only about government
efforts. It is worth mentioning that private sector employers
in America spend tens of billions more every year on job
training to upgrade the skill-sets of their workforce.
During this Administration’s tenure,
we will continue to promote a pro-growth agenda that will
spur the creation of jobs for our workforce and emphasize
the importance of education and job training. This is key
to helping our workforce remain competitive in the 21st
century worldwide economy.
One of the reasons America has been so resilient over the
past six-plus years despite so many challenges, is the low
tax rate in our country which allows more Americans to keep
more of their hard-earned money. This has given workers
more money to spend during an economic downturn, which stimulates
the economy and provides more capital for entrepreneurial
start-ups and further job creation. And it has worked. Despite
unprecedented challenges over the past six years—an
economic downturn, terrorist attacks, corporate scandals,
the worst natural disaster in our nation’s history
and rising oil prices—our economy continues to create
new jobs at a steady pace for a workforce that sees new
entrants of nearly a million new workers a year and currently
numbers more than 153 million.
Finally, let me note another strength that
contributes to America’s competitiveness in the worldwide
economy, which Uruguay shares. Both the United States and
Uruguay share a commitment to democracy, respect for the
rule of law, transparency, and accountability. These values—along
with a productive and skilled workforce—are strong
competitive advantages in the global economy.
As employers, you are creating jobs and
hope and opportunity for the sons and daughters of Uruguay.
I’m looking forward to touring Zonamerica and the
Ingenio Business Incubator later this afternoon. Both of
these sites are great examples of the progress being made
in Uruguay to create new and innovative jobs that will attract
and keep workers in the Uruguayan labor force. By working
together, the United States and Uruguay can continue to
ensure that the benefits of democracy and growth are shared
by all.
Thank you for inviting me to be here today.
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