Emily Stover DeRocco
Assistant Secretary of Labor
Employment and Training Administration
Remarks:
Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC)
Construction Career Awards Breakfast
Saturday, March 15, 2003
Thank you, Kirk. It is a privilege and an honor to be here at the 18th Annual ABC National Craft Olympics skills competition. It is events like this that really get me charged up and excited about what we do at the Department of Labor.
As we all know, some fields, like construction, are facing a shortage of skilled workers because of the rapid retirement rate of their workers. The rate of young people entering the trade does not match the rate at which the experienced, highly skilled workers are retiring. Associated Builders and Contractors has said that the key to attracting new workers and retaining current workers is to provide high quality, flexible skills training that leads to a lifetime career opportunity in a lucrative field like construction. That is why I am so thrilled to be here today.
You understand the importance of having a highly skilled workforce. You understand how important it is to build the skills of new and current workers and to recognize the efforts of those who achieve excellence in their field. And, you recognize how important carpenters, electricians, heavy equipment operators, and iron workers are to our nation.
I want to commend each and every one of you for your hard work and precision. Your skills BUILD America. The master craftsmen who came before you and taught you your respective skills laid the foundation that some of our mightiest structures stand upon. The U.S. Capitol has their mark on it. Now, your handprint is on many modern structures: from state-of-the-art sporting arenas, to city halls, to schools, to shopping complexes. The list is extensive, and very impressive. Then, comes your turn to teach your craft to your apprentices. Some of them will, in turn, be the ones to erect stronger, more resilient skyscrapers to grace our skylines.
This day is about you and recognizing your efforts. It isn't about me or the Department of Labor. So, I don't want to spend a lot of time talking about the Department of Labor and all we are doing to try to make your lives better -- mainly because I get distracted and lose my train of thought when I hear snoring.
So let me just say a few things very quickly:
First, this President, this Secretary of Labor, and this Department of Labor understand how important it is to have a skilled workforce. Each year, we invest $12 billion to build the skills of America's workers. That gives employers the skilled workforce they need to be globally competitive, and it gives workers the opportunity to succeed in good jobs with good wages and to be able to work their way up career ladders.
Secondly, this President, this Secretary of Labor, and this Department of Labor care about workers who are unemployed. The President has a Jobs & Growth package to help turn this economy around. One of his three economic goals is providing critical help to unemployed workers. We are taking this challenge extremely seriously and are doing all we can to speed unemployed workers' return to the workforce. The President has proposed a new initiative called Personal Reemployment Accounts to help the hardest to employ remove the final barriers to reemployment. These funds can be used to pay for training or for supportive services such as child care or transportation.
Thirdly, this President, this Secretary of Labor, and this Department of Labor are trying to make some fundamental changes so our publicly funded workforce system is more effective and efficient. One of the things we have done is create a High-Growth Job Training Initiative. This initiative is designed to more closely link employers, community colleges and technical schools, and workers to identify training needs, develop curricula based on industry standards, and get workers trained with skills in demand by employers.
Fourth, this President, this Secretary of Labor, and this Department of Labor value the apprenticeship system and are actively working to promote it and expand it. Apprenticeship is a trusted and tested way to build the skills of workers while they are earning paychecks. We are working to expand the apprenticeship model to other industries such as information technology and health care. We hope that soon nurses, computer programmers, and workers in other good-paying are jobs trained through the apprenticeship system.
Finally, this President, this Secretary of Labor, and this Department of Labor understand the importance of what you do. We value the contribution you make to this country.
One of my missions as Assistant Secretary is to help raise the level of appreciation in this country for the workers who build things, make things, and repair things. I want millwrights, pipefitters, plumbers, welders, and sheet metal workers to be highly recognized for their skilled art because, frankly, it doesn't matter which way you turn, every hotel, mall, and restaurant was built with your expert hands.
We know there are many career paths in construction and construction management. Not all good jobs with good wages require a four-year or advanced degree. Many high school career counselors don't get that. Many parents don't get that. And, sadly, many students don't get that. The end result is that a lot of promising young people who want to practice the skilled crafts and trades may not know how to access those career paths. And these paths are critical to the health of our nation and our economy. We have a big and varied economy. And we need an array of post-secondary education and training options for our young people.
Next month, we will be launching a new Web site called emergingcareers.org to help educate parents, career advisors, young people, and those looking at changing careers, about a whole host of high-growth careers that require some post-secondary education and training, but not necessarily four-year degrees.
We want America to know about, and value as a critical component of our economy, the HVAC workers, the fire sprinkler experts, the masons, the metal building craftsmen, and others like them, who build America and have made us the great country we are today.
It is great to be with you this morning and I look forward to helping recognize some of your award winners a little later on.
I am proud to bring you President Bush's message today: Thank you for building America and keeping her strong. God bless you and God bless America.
