ETA News Release: [June 25, 2004]
Contact Name: Lorette Post
Phone Number: 202-693-3984
U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor Carries Positive Economic Message to Mississippi Health Care Summit
Remarks Highlight Solutions to Health Care Workforce Needs Through President's High Growth Job Training Initiative
JACKSON, Miss. - U.S. Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training Emily Stover DeRocco today delivered an encouraging message on the economy and the future of the health care industry at the Healthcare Workforce Summit: Accepting the Challenge in Jackson. DeRocco joined Mississippi Governor Haley Barbour in addressing over 300 healthcare industry representatives and educators from throughout the state.
"In the last nine months, 1.4 million jobs were created and statistics show that the health care industry is, and will continue to be, one of the biggest job producers - between 2002 and 2012 it will account for over 3.5 million new jobs," said DeRocco. "Human capital is the health care industry's number one asset, and human capital should be the industry's number one priority. That's why we have invested over $24 million in solutions to help prepare workers for skilled jobs in health care."
The health care solutions funded by the U.S. Department of Labor are part of the President's High Growth Job Training Initiative. They cut across the national labor needs of the industry in acute care, long-term care, allied health care professions and the unique problems facing rural areas. Among the solutions are increased recruitment through outreach to youth and alternate labor pools, retention and advancement of present employees, expansion of faculty and capacity of educational institutions to provide training, and new training strategies like apprenticeship, distance learning and accelerated learning.
The President's High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to better prepare workers to take advantage of new job opportunities in high growth sectors of the American economy. Through executive forums with leaders of expanding industries, critical workforce gaps and issues are identified. Solutions are then created in cooperation with employers, educational institutions, and the public workforce system.
For more information on the Department of Labor's employment and training programs, please visit www.doleta.gov.
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