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Remarks Delivered by
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
National Asian Pacific American Bar Association
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Friday, November 10, 2006
Thank you, Jim [James Ho]. Thanks for the opportunity to be here with you today.
Jim is a great example of the progress Asian Pacific Americans are making in the legal profession. He clerked for Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and worked for Senator John Cornyn of Texas—his home state—on the Senate Judiciary Committee. He's now with a major blue-chip law firm—Gibson, Dunn & Crutcher—and works on Appellate and Constitutional Law and Antitrust and Trade Regulation issues.
Today, I'd like to talk a little about the state of our nation's economy, what the Department of Labor has done to advance opportunities for Asian Pacific Americans and then share some observations about opportunities in our country today.
Our economy is strong and continues to grow stronger. America's economy has experienced 38 straight months of job creation. Over 6.8 million net new jobs have been created in the last three years. The unemployment rate is 4.4 percent, which is a full percentage point lower than the unemployment rate of 5.7 percent in the decade of the 1990s. For the first three quarters of 2006, real GDP growth has averaged 3.3 percent.
Allowing Americans to keep more of the money they earn—through the tax cuts—has been a key factor in the recovery.
Recently I attended the G-8 Labor Ministers meeting in Moscow, and our nation's economy is the strongest of the major industrialized countries. During the last three years, our economy has produced more jobs than Europe and Japan combined. The unemployment rates in France and Germany are nearly 9 percent. Gasoline prices in Europe are more than $6 per gallon.
What we do see happening is that our country is increasingly part of a worldwide economy that places a premium on knowledge workers in the workplace. The majority of new jobs being created require higher education and higher skills. At the same time, however, our country is facing a skills gap. That's the mismatch between the skill required for the new jobs being created and the skills of many in our workforce. So post-secondary education and worker training are more important to job advancement and lifelong earnings than ever before.
The increasing diversity of our workforce—as reflected in this room—is our country's strength in a competitive worldwide economy.
President George W. Bush appreciates and shares the values of our community. He has appointed a record number of more than 323 Asian Americans to the senior most positions in the federal government. For the first time ever in American history, two Asian Americans were appointed to serve in the President's Cabinet at the same time in 2001. The President has assembled one of the most diverse Cabinets in our nation's history.
The Department of Labor has the highest number of Asian Pacific American appointees of the federal Cabinets.
Since 2001, the Labor Department has been committed to helping the Asian American community—and other traditionally underserved communities—access opportunity in mainstream America.
For the first time, in 2002, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, which is a part of the U.S. Department of Labor, began to track the employment patterns of Asian Pacific American in separate categories. That's how we now know that the unemployment rate for Asian Pacific Americans is 2.7 percent.
Last year, the Department recovered 13 percent more in back wages for workers in low-wage industries. These low-wage industries employ vulnerable, often immigrant workers, many of whom are Asian Pacific Americans.
The Department recovered a record amount—a 56 percent increase over what was collected just four years ago—for workers who suffered employment discrimination from federal contractors.
And since FY 2001, the Department achieved monetary results of more than $7.8 billion for employee benefit plans, workers and retirees.
Because some of the labor laws of our country are complex and difficult to understand, the Department has also translated labor law materials into multiple languages, including Chinese, Vietnamese and Korean.
To help Asian Pacific Americans to access mainstream opportunities, the Department launched an annual Opportunity Conference in 2002. This year, the event was in Philadelphia in October with over 1000 people participating. These conferences are free. They include workshops on small business development, accessing capital—an important concern for budding entrepreneurs—as well as government grant and contracting opportunities, and networking and communications.
And to help Asian Pacific Americans advance in executive positions within the federal government, the Department has hosted for five years now an annual Asian Pacific American Federal Career Advancement Summit with many workshops and outside speakers.
These are just a couple of examples of the aggressive outreach and training we offer to the Asian Pacific American community to help them access greater opportunities in mainstream America.
I have heard that advancement within the federal judiciary is of interest to many of your members. I share your goal of having more Asian Pacific American federal judges. The good news is that our country is more diverse than ever before and the opportunities are expanding all the time. People are looking for diversity candidates. As our community grows, more opportunities will result as well.
For ease of discussion, let me talk about the nomination process in three phrases: recruitment and identification of candidates, selection, and confirmation.
As I go through the process, please remember and keep in mind that what I say about the nomination process applies to whoever holds the White House and gives just a general overview.
The process of recruiting, identifying and selecting candidates for federal judgeships is usually led by the White House Counsel's office in consultation with a task force that includes the Attorney General and the U.S. Department of Justice.
The White House Counsel's office often looks to home state United States senators for identifying candidates. Depending on the proclivity of the Senators, their seniority, interest level, and party affiliation, they can play a role in influencing the selection process for vacancies on the District Court in their home state. Traditionally, however, U.S. senators are not deeply involved in the selection of candidates to the Circuit court. In some states, like California and Wisconsin, identification of nominee candidates comes from bipartisan commissions that source and vet candidates.
These judicial appointments are—as you can imagine—very competitive. To be a serious candidate, it's helpful to share the judicial philosophy of the President who is making the appointments. The Administration considers and seeks those who share their philosophy of the law and government. This is true regardless of which party controls the White House.
Competence in one's area of expertise is, of course, fundamental. Other factors include character, integrity, a sound understanding of the Constitution, philosophical outlook, temperament, commitment to excellence and public service. Candidates that readily come to the forefront of consideration are well-respected in their legal profession and community.
Throughout this process, the media will speculate on likely candidates. In my experience, it is not a good idea to comment publicly on your prospects.
Then, there is, of course, an interview process with staff of the Department of Justice and other officials depending upon the particular vacancy. If each step proceeds well, the candidate advances to the next step.
Based on interviews, review of a candidate's past history, record and writings, recommendations are forwarded to the President who chooses the candidates.
A word of advice: those who aspire to judicial appointments must accept the fact that their written words from the earliest times, especially in this internet age, will stay with them for life. So, whenever you are writing, you need to be careful and make sure you think of the ramifications of what you are writing and how it will impact you in the future.
Chances are whatever you write—even a long time ago—will come up for review during a future judicial process. This leads us to the third stage of this process—senate confirmation, which has its own challenges.
The President proposes judicial nominees, but the U.S. Senate must confirm them. Specifically, the Senate Judiciary Committee holds hearings on judicial candidates, votes on each one, and then the entire U.S. Senate must confirm them as well. This can be a lengthy process.
Increasingly, being a judicial nominee in the public eye means intense scrutiny and potential media attention.
In summary, if you are interested in a judgeship, it's never too early to start to prepare. It's important to research and understand the process in your home state, because states differ. And throughout, it's important to network to let the relevant community leaders and organizations know of your potential and your interest in public service.
After having said all this, let me emphasize that there is no special roadmap to success.
The fact that there is no one path can be quite daunting and confusing. Yet, the strength of this society is that each person is free to create his or her own path. America is a nation of rugged individualism—where character is defined to a large degree by your own personal initiative. Somehow this freedom allows the best to excel to such a high level that everyone else is lifted up.
We Asian Pacific Americans have much to contribute to America. We should feel confident of ourselves. As we enter further into mainstream America, it is also important that we not forget our cultural heritage and backgrounds. The world is increasingly an interconnected place. Our bicultural knowledge makes us unique. It gives America an additional advantage in dealing with the worldwide economy, especially in Asia.
We are in Philadelphia for this Conference. I doubt the Founding Fathers could have imagined that the nation they founded would be as diverse as it is today. But the principles they set forth are still shaping the society in which we live. We are the most tolerant and strongest nation on earth—not because Americans are special. In fact, we are quite ordinary. But we live in an extraordinary country in which human talent and potential are treasured, cultivated, and highly valued.
This is the true strength of our country: our freedom, liberties, rule of law, transparency, tolerance and openness to strangers.
I am extremely optimistic about the opportunities in our country for diverse individuals. I am committed to ensuring that at the Department of Labor, we will continually fight to ensure opportunities for all regardless of race or color.
Thank you so much for having me. I hope you have a great conference. May God bless you and may God bless America!
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