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Remarks Prepared for
U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao
Greater Rome, GA Chamber of Commerce Event
Rome, Georgia
Thursday, January 18, 2007
[Delivered by Deputy Assistant Secretary C. James Schaefer IV]
Thank you, Al [Hodge, President and CEO of the Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce]. I would like to acknowledge Mayor Ronnie Wallace, Chairman of the Floyd County Commission, Jerry Jennings, outgoing Greater Rome Chamber of Commerce Chairman Willis Potts, and the incoming Chairman, Evie McNiece.
Before I begin, I would also like to recognize some very, very special guests in our audience — Joe and Jan Johnson. They are the gold star parents of Specialist Justin Johnson, who made the highest sacrifice to ensure that our country remains secure and free. I know I express the profound gratitude of our entire nation for what their son — and their family — sacrificed to protect our country and to preserve our freedom. Thank you for you love, your sacrifice and your son.
This community can take great pride in what it has done to meet the challenges posed by change. It has enhanced its regional competitiveness, invested in its workers, attracted new investment and created new jobs. It is a model for other communities across the nation.
Today, our country is part of a global economy. And one of the key challenges we face is how to ensure that our workers remain competitive so our country can remain strong. America is transitioning to a "knowledge-based economy." New jobs are being created. Our country has had 40 straight months of job growth for a total of more than 7.2 million net new jobs created since August 2003. And the national unemployment rate is 4.5 percent, well below the 5.7 percent average of the 1990's.
In November, Georgia's unemployment fell from 4.7 percent to 4.6 percent, about the same as the national average. And Rome did even better. The latest data showed an unemployment rate in November 2006, of 4.0 percent! Overall, Georgia added 158,578 jobs during the past year. The new numbers for Georgia will come out soon. And whatever those numbers are, they are a tribute to the collaborative efforts of the people of Georgia to remain strong and competitive in the 21st century economy.
The leaders of this community understand the challenge inherent in the good news that these numbers represent.
For example, here in Georgia, the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports that in the ten years ending in 2012, Georgia will need:
- 31.4 percent more teachers,
- 36 percent more healthcare workers,
- 33 percent more workers in the skilled trades, such as heating, ventilation and air conditioning technicians, and
- 63 percent more network systems and data communications analysts.
These are good jobs that pay above average wages. But they require more skills and higher education. That's because technology has changed the way everyone works. It is enhancing productivity, which increases the wages of workers. Over the past 12 months, real wages rose 1.7 percent. And real after-tax income per person, the money you actually take home, has risen 9.7 percent since President George W. Bush took office. So now is not the time to slow this momentum by raising taxes and taking money out of the pockets of workers.
And we must continue to emphasize to our young people that education is critical to their future. Today workers in the skilled trades — including advanced manufacturing, construction trades, and operating engineers — are among those who require some knowledge of computers and advanced technology. That's part of a nationwide trend. More than two-thirds of the new jobs created in our country now require higher skills and more education. So providing workers with access to higher education, so they can continually update their skills, is critical to remaining competitive in the 21st century economy.
Let me give you a few example of the critical link between education, employment and lifetime earnings:
- High school dropouts have a 6.4 percent unemployment rate and earn an average of about $494 per week; while
- High school graduates have a 4.2 percent unemployment rate and earn an average of about $693 per week; and
- Associate's degree recipients have a 2.8 percent unemployment rate and earn an average of about $823 per week; and
- Those having a bachelor's degree or higher have a 2 percent unemployment rate and earn an average of about $1,295 per week.
So what we are seeing in our country is not so much a wage gap, as a skills gap. There are so many programs to help workers access training. The Federal Government invests nearly $15 billion on worker training and employment services. U.S. Department of Labor administers the lion's share of the investment in this field — nearly $10 billion. In addition, the private sector spends much more. These measures are part of a long-term strategy to boost the competitiveness of our economy and our workers.
That's why President Bush proposed the American Competitiveness Initiative. It pledges $136 billion in additional resources over the next ten years to:
- Increase U.S. investments in research and development;
- Strengthen U.S. education in math and the sciences; and
- Encourage entrepreneurship and innovation.
Right now, our country's economy is doing well in comparison to other mature industrialized economies of similar size. The U.S. economy is continuing 20 straight quarters of uninterrupted growth. Real GDP grew at a healthy 2 percent so far in 2006. Compare this with Europe, where there is basically stagnant job growth. In particular, two countries — France and Germany — have persistent unemployment rates close to 9 percent. And long-term unemployment in France is three times that of the United States.
If anyone wants an example of why so many new jobs are being created in the United States, they can look right here in Rome, Georgia. Faced with a difficult transition, the community came together and drafted a winning regional economic development strategy. You did what Americans have been doing so successfully for centuries: adapting to change.
Other communities are adopting similar strategies. And part of our mission at the Department of Labor is to help communities come together in these collaborative efforts to strengthen economic development. Let me mention one of those programs today, the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development, or WIRED.
The initiative integrates economic and workforce development activities, and encourages regional governments, employers, education providers, foundations, venture capitalists, and others to come together and invest in the talent that promotes job creation. 26 regions were selected to participate in this program over the past year as a result of a national competition.
The WIRED initiative began in February 2006 as the result of a competition that resulted in investments of $195 million over three years in 13 different regional economies. Yesterday I was pleased to announce a commitment of $65 million to 13 Second Generation WIRED regions. Soon, we intend to announce a competition for funding a Third Generation of WIRED regions.
The fundamental premise of this initiative is that leaders at the local level know best what their economies and workers need. There is no one-size-fits-all-approach to regional development that the federal government can provide. Instead, we can be the catalyst to bring the best and brightest together at the local level and give them seed capital to launch their regional development strategies.
And in this respect, Floyd County is to be commended. With the release of its draft updated plan, Rome Floyd 2020 is laying the groundwork for another decade of economic success.
So let me congratulate all of you for your vision and commitment to helping ensure that Rome, and the workers in this community, are prepared for the challenges of the global economy. Working together, we can continue to ensure that this community — and our country — remain strong in the 21st century.
Thank you.
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