Emily Stover DeRocco Speech
National Association of Workforce Boards
Washington, DC
March 15, 2004
Hello. It's good to see all of you. Thank you very much for coming.
I have to begin by saying we all hope spring will soon make an appearance. As many of you know, one of the greatest things about spring in Washington is the blossoming of the cherry trees. The experts tell us that we'll be in full bloom in just two short weeks.
That reminds me of the job we are doing together. Many of the people we serve have lived through a long economic winter. But thanks to the great work you are doing, life is turning around for thousands of workers and their families.
It is not simply that you have helped new and transitioning workers find jobs. You have helped them find the right jobs, and finding the right job makes all the difference.
We've had many successes. We've changed many lives. Our job now is to make sure we keep adapting to the changing economy so that we can keep opportunity blossoming twelve months a year.
Let's put this in a larger context.
Our economy is undergoing a significant transformation. Industries such as manufacturing and retail now require workers to understand computers and robotics and supply chain management. In other words, jobs are getting smarter. Across the economy, jobs are requiring ever-higher skill levels. If a person wants to succeed today, he or she is going to have to rise to the technological occasion.
We used to laugh at inflated job titles. There was the waste product disposal engineer, who turned out to be the garbage collector. There was the starch product transformation specialist, who turned out to be the guy who made French fries. There was the traffic flow enhancement technician, who had the job of filling in pot holes.
But a funny thing happened. What were once low-tech jobs turned into higher tech jobs. When a worker goes to an interview today, he and she had better have the right skills package in their portfolio. If they don't, they are very likely to leave empty handed, and maybe broken hearted.
Here's another fact - and this is good news. Opportunities are increasing. We are coming out of that economic winter. Familiar industries such as Health Care and Construction are requiring more workers than ever before. Housing construction is booming. In 2003 it was at its highest level in 25 years. Home ownership is at an all time high of 68 percent. Interest rates remain near their historic lows, which means the construction industry is going to stay strong, and probably get stronger. We are looking at a significant amount of job opportunity. The Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that the construction industry will add over 1 million jobs by 2012. It's great to see that level of expansion in a traditional trade. Health Care will add 35 million jobs in the next 10 years. But that's not the whole story. We're seeing new industries emerge that were unheard of ten years ago. And over the next 10 to 20 years, industries will appear that are now only a gleam in the innovators' eye.
Emerging industries and companies will not all be centered in major population areas. Thanks to the Internet and the revolution in the shipping industry, new industries are springing up everywhere. Often, entrepreneurs will choose locations far from large urban areas. The quality of life may be better. And the rents may be a lot cheaper.
But no matter where these new industries locate, what they all have in common is the need for "knowledge workers" who possess specialized skills. They will increasingly depend on you and your boards to locate and train these workers.
That is our mission. Now let's talk about how the Workforce Investment System is accomplishing that mission, and what we need to do to achieve a high level of success.
We are fortunate in that our system is maturing at just the right time. We have a unique opportunity to help emerging and existing industries succeed. And one of our greatest assets in that regard is our access to the most valuable commodity of all: Talent.
We have incredible talent access nationwide. Our boards are in every state and in nearly every local area. They have the ability to serve a vast number of communities as the catalysts to being together employers with jobs, educators to train, and the human capital that will soon be so desperately needed by industry. What we accomplish together is not only about individual companies, individual industries, or individual workers. We are part of a global economic system. A very competitive global economic system. There will be winners and losers. The individuals, companies, industries and nations that succeed will be the ones who nurture their talent.
That is why it is so important to remember that what we do in Peoria and Pittsburgh, and in every town and rural office and workplace in America, is vital to our national success in this global marketplace.
We have done well. But we must do better. There are great challenges ahead, and none is greater than anticipating where the economy is heading, and training our workforce appropriately.
I know that sounds obvious, but I live and work in Washington. Sometimes the obvious isn't so obvious around here. Sometimes the obvious is ignored. The fact is, there are probably a lot of people who specialize in ignoring the obvious.
The point we must always remember is that if we don't read the economy correctly, we are going to train workers for jobs that no longer exist, or are about to become extinct. If we do that, we have not only failed the people who stand behind us - and that list includes the President of the United States, who as you know is a great supporter of our system. We will have also failed the taxpayers, and we will have failed the workers and industries that depend on us.
The President knows how vital it is that we anticipate economic trends and changes. That is why he has created the High Growth Job Training Initiative. This initiative focuses on a dozen key industries that are projected to add many new jobs or experience significant transformation in the skills required of those jobs. This is an information-intense initiative. We are studying these industries upside down and inside out. We are doing everything possible to know where they are going and what they need, far ahead of time.
We are not using crystal balls to get this information either. We are using the traditional method of meeting face to face with hundreds of executives, educators and workforce professionals. We are simply talking to lots of people who have a pretty good idea of how the economic future is shaping up.
This human intelligence that we collect is already helping us identify solutions. In fact, this past Friday in Baltimore, Secretary Chao announced the first set of solutions focused in the health care industry. These solutions will help demonstrate how our workforce system can help meet the huge demand for skilled health care workers in the next few years. In turn, we will help ensure that Americans continue receiving the best health care in the world.
There's another term that is central to what we are accomplishing together. That term is partnership. What really makes the High Growth Job Training Initiative effective are the partnerships that unite the workforce system, the business community, and the education system.
You are all familiar with how this works. Through these partnerships workers can attend classes at local community colleges or other training providers in which the curriculum is designed by the business partners to specifically develop the skills needed to succeed in that industry.
Because jobs in today's economy are increasingly specialized, training for those jobs must be specialized as well. That sounds obvious, but let me assure you that without the proper input from industry, a lot of workers will not receive the specialized training they need.
These partnerships are important for transitioning workers, and they are important for young people. When a new worker connects with a partnership, it will not only assist him or her in getting the right training and getting the right job. These partnerships establish a support network that will be there when the time comes to fine-tune skills or to move elsewhere. These partnerships give workers a foothold in the economy. They help them built confidence. They provide a structure of learning and opportunity that workers get nowhere else.
Let's finish up by talking about change.
Our system is working. But we are no different than the economy we serve. We must adapt, just as the economy adapts. Those who do not adapt lose their reason for being.
And how must we adapt? By discarding the theory that this public system is a set of 19 programs that operate independently of one another with their own constituency, their own job developers, and their own customers who happen to share space in a single physical location called a One Stop.
We must become a single integrated system that understands the new economy and local labor market opportunities and offers an array of human capital solutions. These solutions span the breadth of our programs from customized training at community colleges for health care to apprenticeship programs in emerging industries; from specialized curriculum development for metalworkers at Job Corps Centers to hiring dependable older workers for retail.
Integration is not an option; it's mandatory. Only by integrating our services and using every program, service, and resource at our disposal can we rise to meet the challenges that will face us in the future.
And we in this Administration at the Department of Labor are doing things in Washington to help make this integration possible. We must loosen the strings the law attaches to each of our separate programs. We must consolidate funding for adult services, provide enhanced waiver authority, and establish common performance measures. These adaptations are at the heart of our proposals for reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. The proposals directly affect each of you.
Our proposals are designed to give you, the state and local professionals that run this system, the flexibility you need. Our proposals reflect the simple but crucial fact that each of you operates in a unique economy. These proposals recognize that our system works because you know the local economy and the local workforce.
I have no doubt we will rise to meet our challenges. We must use the $15 billion that Congress appropriates each year for the Workforce Investment System as fully and efficiently as we possibly can. We must be quick on our feet so that no willing worker is left behind. We must never forget the vital role we are playing in the lives of individual workers and their families, and in our nation's standing in the world economy.
We have been given a great responsibility, and a great task. I believe in our mission. I believe in our system. And most of all, I believe in you.
Thank you very much.
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