Speeches by Secretary Elaine L. Chao

Printer-Friendly Version

Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Information Technology Association of America (ITAA)
May 6, 2002
Arlington, Va.

Thank you Gary for the kind introduction.And let me acknowledge the other keynote speaker – Albert Siu Chief Learning Officer at AT&T. It’s a pleasure to be with you today. It’s very important that you are holding your meeting in Washington, D.C. -- because much of what the government does, directly or indirectly influences your business and industry.

I appreciate the opportunity to share with you some of my thoughts this morning, on recent trends in the IT labor market, and what the US Labor Department is doing to meet head-on the challenges of the 21^st century economy.

No matter what current stock prices are, or what the latest round of mergers and acquisitions will bring, this much is certain -- today’s IT companies and tech workers are the twin pistons helping to drive the American marketplace and workforce. Today, nearly one in seven workers are employed in what could be considered IT or high-tech jobs, that’s 14 percent of US total employment and the percent is growing.

That’s a big accomplishment when you consider that Intel’s Pentium chip wasn’t launched until 1993, and the Power Macintosh the following year.

The central issue is whether we can meet the demand.In a study conducted by the ITAA last April, you reported that hundreds of thousands of IT positions go unfilled because of a lack of applicants with the necessary technical skills. Even with an economic downturn, there are still openings.

As Secretary of Labor I am committed to marshalling my Department’s resources to meet this challenge.

In fact, during my confirmation hearings, I emphasized the challenges presented by the skills gap and of the growing opportunities in the IT sector.

As soon as I was confirmed, I worked hard to create the Office of the 21^st Century Workforce at the Department of Labor. President George W. Bush signed an executive order in June 2001 formally establishing the Office and the Council of the 21^st Century Workforce, which is composed of three subcommittees – one addressing the skills gap, another on changing demographics in the workforce, and a third on workforce issues, especially balancing the requirements of work with home life.

At our 21^st Century Workforce Summit in June, the President also signed a Memo of Understanding between the US Department of Labor and the US Department of Education to coordinate our efforts -- given the major task ahead of educating and training today and tomorrow’s workforce.

In addressing the skills gap, we will focus our energies and efforts to go beyond just filling entry-level jobs that require just a minimum knowledge of IT.

The Department will look to encourage local workforce initiatives that develop and train workers to become certified programmers, software engineers and other skilled IT professionals.

With the Workforce Investment Act, we are transforming our earlier fragmented employment offices into a national network of One-Stop-Career Centers that will offer a wide variety of training programs responding to the needs of business.

As today’s fiber-optic networks, digital switches, and servers help move business at the speed of light, our nation’s prosperity and security depends upon our ability to field an IT savvy workforce.

As the Bureau of Labor Statistics projected, of the ten fastest growing occupations, eight are all IT related. And of the list of the occupations gaining the most jobs, right up front are computer support specialists and software engineers.

All the agencies in the Department of Labor are centering their efforts on managing this challenge. As I mentioned earlier, our Office of the 21^st Century Workforce is involved in setting national strategy to help elevate the IT skills gap.Our Bureau of Labor Statistics is carefully charting the growing IT occupations that will be most in demand for the coming years. And our Employment and Training Administration is supporting and encouraging initiatives to give dislocated workers the training to become IT professionals.

The Department itself is taking the lead in using information technology – and we’re looking to boost our IT budget by a third to $74 million next year.

We’re actually one of the few agencies to centralize or “crosscut” both our IT functions and budget. And just last week, we launched the GovBenefits website – the first of President George W. Bush’s unprecedented e-government initiatives to make the government “people friendly.”

In this White House, e-government is more than just a word. It’s a part of our “management agenda” – an obligation each department must meet. Each time the President holds a cabinet session, he specially asks how we’re doing on these management initiatives. To date, the Department is one of the better agencies in implementing e-government; recently, we were in the “yellow” – not quite green, but above red.

So, under President George W. Bush and my tenure (you’re looking at two MBA’s), the Labor Department has become a big believer in harnessing the power of IT-- to build new efficiencies and new capabilities to reach out to workers, families and local communities.

I think we can all remember March 2000, the height of the IT industry – and how growth and employment have slowed compared to prior years.

Yet, the industry remains resilient. Companies that provide engineering and management services have actually added jobs last year. Moreover, President Bush’s broad tax cuts and generous private investment incentives will help strengthen the nation’s IT and related businesses.

I can confidently say that overall, America’s “help wanted” sign for skilled information technology workers won’t be coming down soon – if ever.

As everyone in this audience knows, a majority of jobs today require some knowledge of computers and information technology. Even a warehouse supervisor needs to track inventories by laptop, and order products online.

Today, nearly three-quarters of all jobs in the Northeast are information intensive. And almost half of the US workforce by mid-century, according to the Commerce Department, will be employed in industries that are either big producers or intensive users of information technology.

Just look at the Washington DC metro area. For every attorney, there’s a computer programmer. And the region’s high-tech work force will soon rival the number of metro area federal employees.

Moreover, it’s estimated that federal spending on security technology alone could rise to $62 billion in just four years. Just think of the tidal wave of demand for software developers, IT engineers, and programmers.

Already, the Department of Labor is gearing up to meet this specialized need.

We’re partnering with MetroTech – a federal and local government sponsored workforce program -- to train dislocated and other workers (especially those with security clearances) to fill customized IT positions that go begging.

And that’s just the tip of the iceberg of the programs we’re involved with to get workers trained in advanced IT.

The challenge we face is that the workforce needs to catch up with the quantum leaps in technology that have transformed the workplace.

In a country, which literally invented e-commerce, e-learning, and e-medicine, more and more skilled professionals are going to be needed on the job.

In fact, just recently we launched an electronic job site – CareCareers.net – to help link health care institutions with job seekers.

Again, creating and maintaining a national workforce that is technologically savvy is a top goal of this Department, and we’re working hard to bridge the IT knowledge gap across generations.

After all, what a PhD in engineering in the 1970’s could accomplish with a computer can now be done by a bright 15 year old!

Let me mention a few of the other training programs and initiatives the Department is directly working on (or through others) to close the generational gap in IT knowledge and experience.

Out in Wisconsin, FirstLogic -- a basement “start-up” firm, that’s now a successful software development company – is busy retraining its baby boomer workforce. They’re partnering with the local workforce investment board (which is funded by the Department of Labor) to help devise curriculum and conduct in-house training to make sure that no one will left behind the IT learning curve.

Down south in Florida, Miami -Dade Community College will soon launch its new tech center dedicated to getting Gen X’ers and recent immigrants into local high wage, high skilled IT jobs.What makes Miami-Dade so special is that a young person with limited English can walk through their doors, and leave with a command of both English and Java.

Community Colleges are an integral part of what we call our “federal workforce investment system” – where Department monies are used by state and local workforce investment boards to fund key initiatives.

And across the nation, in nearly 30 states, the US Department of Labor’s Women’s Bureau is running a special “e” mentoring program to get young girls of the “millennial generation” to pursue degrees and careers in high-technology and science.

Even in Silicon Valley less than one-quarter of high school girls express an interest in IT jobs. That’s why the GEM-SET program -- Girl’s E-Mentoring in Science, Engineering and Technology -- is so vital.It links girls between the ages of 13 to 18 via e-mail with women who are in these fields.

It’s the best way we know how to motivate the next generation of women into technology-based careers.

These initiatives and success stories (which are supported and encouraged by the Department) are being duplicated in hundreds of cities and towns throughout this country. Collectively, they are having an impact in closing the skills gap, as they’re training generations of Americans – from pre-teens to aging baby boomers – in the IT field.

This emphasis on diversity and market relevancy is what distinguishes a successful strategy and partnership, and they’re essential if we’re to nurture and field a global, competitive IT workforce.

Guided by these principles, I am optimistic that together we will make significant progress.

Thank you.

# # #

_________________________________________________________________

U.S. Labor Department news releases are accessible on the Internet at www.dol.gov. The information in this release will be made available in alternate format upon request (large print, Braille, audio tape or disc)from the COAST office. Please specify which news release when placing your request. Call 202-693-7773 or TTY 202-693-7755.