Emily Stover DeRocco Speech

Remarks of Emily Stover DeRocco
At the ETA Senior Leadership Advance
November 18, 2004

Good morning. Welcome to the 2nd ETA Senior Leadership Advance.

Before this Advance moves forward, I want to start by saying thanks to all of you. A lot has been accomplished in the past few years. And a lion's share of the credit goes to you who implemented the policies that have been pursued.

Certainly, not everyone agreed, or for that matter will agree, on the broad paths or specific approaches that have been or will be taken as days go by. Nonetheless, please know that your wisdom, professionalism, and candor are sought, weighed, and valued -- and, especially so, as we move ahead.

After all, many of us here know each other. Some - who have been identified by our colleagues as rising leaders -- are in attendance for the first time. Will those persons who are here for the first time briefly stand up and introduce yourself and your office?

Thank you and welcome new leaders. Much has been achieved to get us to this point.

At our annual Workforce Innovations conference just a few years ago, we were scrambling for enough registrants. In San Antonio, we were in danger of having the local fire marshal kick us out. That's a commentary on the focus on our business and our issues.

Several years ago, a U.S. Chamber of Commerce survey reported that 95% of employers had not used local One Stop Career Centers for assistance in hiring, training, or retaining workers. Today, I daresay, as I talk with the Chamber, our National Business Partners and the Business Relations Group, that number is changing dramatically.

For those Americans facing the sudden loss of employment, you have made the Unemployment Insurance system respond to the needs. You have crafted an agreement with the Social Security Administration on one strategy to combat UI overpayments. As you know, we seek out others. For businesses that circumvented their responsibilities, we convinced Congress to end the practice known as SUTA dumping. You helped craft the Reed Act distribution to return $9 billion to state unemployment accounts.

We also implemented the Trade Reform Act of 2002, and we were the first among federal agencies to implement common performance measures.

In grant-making, you put into place e-applications for NEGs, made Older American grants competitive, and incorporated new entities into the grants process.

Over the past year, all of us have executed the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. In doing so, we have illustrated the power of employers, educators, and the workforce system coming together to implement an economic development strategy for communities and to improve career opportunities for workers.

One of the things I am most proud of is how we have begun to integrate the economy into our thinking and agenda. The economy's relentless and, yes, impersonal push for something better has a way of moving all of us forward.

Sometimes we laugh, wondering what would we do without our cell phones or ATM cards. Sometimes we get a bit nostalgic . . . like whatever did happen to drive-in movies? We can be active participants and passive bystanders simultaneously, but we're affected no matter what role we take.

But, most of all, we welcome change and the new realities it brings. And we adapt, because we instinctively know it's usually to our advantage.

I know you know what I am talking about. Here are a few examples. You only need to raise your hands.

How many of you owned a computer 20 years ago?

How many of you own at least one now?

Who among us would proudly attest to not owning a computer?

OK, let's go back 10 years. How many of you used a travel agent to book your vacation flights a decade ago?

And how many of you use a travel agent to get away today?

Let's stick with the leisure theme.

How many of you go to the record store in search of your favorite LPs or 45s?

How many of you play golf?

And how many spend your spring and summer weekends in search of that perfectly contoured block of persimmon wood to launch your tee shots?

I thought so.

Tiger Woods may be today, but wood woods . . . well, they're so yesterday. Big Bertha's simply better.

One last request: Will all the contingent of vinyl album collecting, non-computer using, wood-wood golfers please stand up.

I told you, Mason, not a single member of the ETA leadership team left behind.

There's no surprise that the world changes. And, consciously or not, each of us stands at the center of so many of those changes.

Whether it was a few or some years ago, you answered the call to public service to better the lives of your fellow man.

You are here today because you are tops in your field. The changes we have begun to implement and the policies this Administration has pursued have been forward-looking. They seek to anticipate the tide of changes rolling in from all sides. There's simply too much at stake to wait for another day to act.

Most of the world now seeks to catch us. Competing ideologies are being replaced by plain, old competition.

As one wise industry leader very simply pointed out early this year, in three countries alone - China, India, and Russia - nearly half the world's population has now been integrated into the global market economy. To drive the point home, Intel CEO Craig Barrett said, "We're talking about three billion people."

I would add that these three billion people are just getting started. They're just learning the ropes of the global economy.

Yet, the fact remains, competitive forces deliver goods and services to our lives faster, cheaper, and for the most part, at higher levels of quality. And, hopefully, they're here to stay. No matter what words or phrases we use to express it, the United States is a future-oriented society.

You and I would be doing American workers a disservice if we were to feed them illusions about the 21st century workforce based on what we know so well from post-World War II experiences and ways of thinking.

In the past, when fellow Americans were often our sole source of competition, we could wait until someone was down and then lend assistance or a helping hand, but for the most part it came after the fact.

We no longer have that luxury. We must do more. We must be anticipatory.

In his State of the Union Address, President Bush announced his Jobs for the 21st Century plan. As you know, it's a strategy to prepare workers for jobs by strengthening post-secondary education and job training. As you also know, the President has called on our system to double the number of worker it trains every year, so that more people can return to better jobs faster. With just that calling, we have our work cut out for us.

In the months and years ahead, you can expect more along the lines of transformation, integration, and innovation. You can expect more from me, too.

To be specific, look for a broader and bolder WIA Reauthorization package. No one will be surprised to learn that we will be expanding our efforts in the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative, in raising the role and responsibilities of the nation's post-secondary education and training systems, including community colleges and apprenticeship. Integration will be the theme across programs. There will be a big push in refocusing our youth development programs, in developing a forward-looking Job Corps curriculum, and in re-evaluating our employment-based visa programs and foreign labor certification responsibilities in a more rational immigration policy.

And we will strive to make the dollars we spend aiding people go further and achieve better results. A renewed effort to reform UI as well as a sharper focus on overpayments are on the radar screen.

We will continue to do our part to keep the Department of Labor's excellence showing in the President's Management Agenda.

And that's just the beginning. When you look back on these days -- you will be able to say, "At least I wasn't bored." Truly, though, I hope you share my passion about the possibilities. Most importantly, I hope that -- as leaders -- you will be the idea-generators, the motivators, the challengers, and the doers.

As I look around, I know I am in good company.