Chicago, IL
August 23, 2023
Hi, everyone!
It’s a pleasure to be with you in Chicago today.
Jazz Allen: Thank you for that kind introduction, and for sharing your story with us. Your journey is so inspiring and powerful.
Governor Pritzker: Thank you for your tremendous partnership in this work. President Biden says that we need innovative, effective state leaders working with us everyday to deliver for the American people. Governor, you’re exactly the kind of leader the President was talking about. Thank you for the warm welcome to Illinois.
Director Jane Flanagan, as a former state Labor Secretary myself, I know how critical you and the Illinois Department of Labor are in uplifting working people across this great state. It matters so much to have a true fighter for working people in your position. I can’t thank you enough.
Ever since I joined the Biden-Harris Administration – first as Deputy Secretary and now as the Acting Secretary of Labor – I’ve been travelling across the country to witness the impact of the President’s economic plan to invest in America by investing in all of America’s workers.
I can’t think of a better place than Chicago to showcase that work.
As you know, the Biden-Harris administration is kicking off an infrastructure decade by investing $2 trillion to deliver new roads and safer bridges to neighborhoods across the country. And these projects are also an opportunity to create good union jobs — here in Chicago, and in every community.
Here’s what I’ve learned in my travels. America’s workforce system is kind of like infrastructure too. It’s a massive network that connects workers to the good jobs they want and need and employers to the people they want and need.
But our workforce system – just like our physical roads and bridges – it needs some care and attention too. It’s got some cracks and some potholes. And a lack of investment in some areas means that the workforce system doesn’t connect to every community the way it should.
That’s what we’re here to talk about today – how to create a workforce system infrastructure that’s as strong as the physical infrastructure we’re building.
As we speak, President Biden’s historic Investing in America agenda is rebuilding our economy from the middle out and the bottom up – not the top down – and creating new, good union jobs for the next generation.
Now, to put this in perspective, we’re making the largest and most significant federal investment in rebuilding our roads and bridges since President Eisenhower’s Interstate Highway System.
We’re also betting big on America’s ability to innovate. And we’re backing it up with more federal investments than when President Kennedy challenged the country to put a man on the moon.
The question that we at the Department of Labor had to ask ourselves is how do we make sure that this time, we’re leveraging all the many sources of untapped talent in our communities to rebuild those roads and bridges and to engage in scientific research and development?
I’m talking about those without four-year degrees, Black workers, other workers of color, immigrant workers, people coming out of the justice system, veterans, workers with disabilities.
And yes – I’m talking about women. Women make up nearly half of our workforce. And labor force participation for prime-age women is the highest on record since we started measuring that data over 75 years ago. Women are coming back strong into the workforce after the devastating effects of the pandemic, which laid bare the impossible choices that all workers – particularly women workers – are forced to make when we don’t provide paid leave and access to child care. In short: Women are powering our economic recovery. But women still account for only four percent of the skilled construction trades.
That’s got to change, and fast.
If we want to build the workforce of the future – and fill all the good jobs being created – we can’t leave talent on the table.
That’s why, at the Department of Labor, our North Star is connecting all workers to the good jobs we’re creating thanks to the President’s Investing in America agenda – especially those who have been historically left out or left behind in the past.
And we’re getting it done by building equity into everything we do.
That’s why we’re investing in proven models that get results. I’m talking about strategies that ensure workers can earn as they learn in-demand skills and that give employers a dedicated pipeline of local, diverse talent.
We already know what’s working – now, we’re laser-focused on funding it and scaling it. Because the bottom line is that we need more Jazz Allen’s out there to fill all the good jobs we’re creating.
Now, all of that might sound like a lot of hard work. But that’s kind of the point.
As we’re seeing right here in Chicago, we can build a pipeline to the next generation of good union jobs when the federal government, states, labor, employers, and organizations on the ground all work in partnership – together.
That brings us to the great work being done here through Chicago Women in Trades. And I have some exciting news to share about that program. Today, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Labor, we’re announcing a $1.35 million investment to scale the Tradeswomen Building Infrastructure Initiative.
Through a close partnership with Chicago Women in Trades, this initiative is going to connect more women workers to good jobs in the construction industry, right here in Illinois and in states across the country, just like CWIT did for Jazz.
I want to congratulate Chicago Women in Trades on your success.
And I want to say thank you for the important work you’re doing.
The Tradeswomen Building Infrastructure Initiative is all about building our economy from the bottom up and the middle out – and creating a workforce that reflects the diversity of the communities we live and work in.
That’s Bidenomics in action. It’s about kicking off America’s infrastructure decade, not making empty promises of an infrastructure week that came and went. It’s about working together – in partnership with states, cities, organized labor, and employers – to create good jobs with family-sustaining wages right here at home, not pitting us against each other or dividing folks into ‘us’ and ‘them.’ And it’s about investing in people and advancing the policies that improve their lives — and lift up their families, and their communities.
You all are at the center of this strategy. So, thanks again for all you do.
With that, I’ll turn it over to Director Jane Flanagan.