Workforce Summit 2003: Opening Remarks

U.S. Chamber
May 15, 2003

Thank you. Good morning, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the Chamber of Commerce of the United States.

Let me begin by thanking our event sponsors:

• Exult
• Lee Hecht Harrison
• Verizon
• CVS
• Sallie Mae, and
• The VHA Foundation.

Without them, this event wouldn't have been possible. Thanks also to Manpower for the temporary help they've provided, to Starbucks for the coffee you're drinking, and to Frontline Global Resources for its help in getting sponsors and speakers for today.

I'd also like to recognize a few key supporters. Through grants provided by the U.S. Department of Labor, the Ford Foundation, and the Annie E. Casey Foundation, the Chamber's Center for Workforce Preparation is making a difference in communities across the country.

I'm very pleased to have the opportunity to kick off "Workforce Summit 2003: Creating a 21st Century Workforce for Business."

Some of you were at the Chamber's first workforce summit more than five years ago.

That was one of the first big events we organized in the weeks after I became head of the Chamber, and it signaled our renewed commitment to help the business community meet its changing workforce needs.

Since that time, the Chamber and its Center for Workforce Preparation, working with government and local chambers, have made tremendous strides.

We've helped create and promote successful recruitment and retention programs at the local level, and replicated those programs in communities across the country.

We've hosted dozens of programs, conferences and seminars—much like this one—that enable educators, business leaders, and human resource experts to share ideas and best practices firsthand.

And we've compiled valuable research and information that captures the scope of our workforce challenges and identifies possible solutions.

Today, we are releasing the results of a new survey of employers funded by the Department of Labor, called "Rising to the Challenge."

Seventy-seven state and local chambers worked with us to collect more than 3,700 employer responses. A copy of the survey results should be in your briefing books.

You will learn more about the survey results during this summit, but the overarching conclusion is that a significant percentage of businesses are unaware of—or have failed to utilize—valuable resources available to them in the public workforce development system.

That's what today is all about—bringing together business leaders, educators, and public sector officials to help us develop a workforce capable of competing in the new century.

Before I introduce Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, I'd like to frame today's discussion with just a few observations.

The harsh reality is that we don't have enough workers to meet our employment needs—neither currently, nor in the future.

With unemployment at 6% and the economy having shed 1.7 million jobs since 9/11, some people might have a hard time believing there is an immediate worker shortage.

But even in this under-performing economy, key business sectors still face worker shortages—more than half of the businesses we surveyed reported having difficulty filling their job openings.

And, as the economy does come back, our need for qualified workers will rise significantly.

The long-term job outlook is dictated by demographics.

Over the next fifteen years, 40 million workers will retire. And guess what? The growth in the number of workers between the ages of 25 and 54 is expected to be flat over that same period.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics predicts that by the end of the decade, the economy will have produced 10 million more jobs than we will have available workers.

This worker shortage is compounded by the fact that worker skills and education are not keeping pace with extraordinary technological advances in the workplace.

Did you know that more than 80% of the 23 million jobs that will be created in the next decade will require at least some post-secondary education?

So what are the solutions to these challenges? We hope to learn about several over the course of the day, but here's what we already know for sure:

To remain competitive, we must do a better job of educating, hiring, training, retaining and advancing our workers—we need to make sure we have a world-class workforce.

Our workforce system must do a better job preparing and connecting workers to today's jobs and helping them keep pace with the changing skill demands of the 21st century workplace.

Businesses must look for workers in populations they have historically neglected, such as the 70 percent of people with disabilities who don't have jobs—yet have many of the skills we need.

Increased immigration can help overcome the worker shortage as it has in the past, but immigration reform alone won't do the trick. Tapping home-grown and underutilized populations is essential.

We're going to hear from several bright people on these issues today, beginning with Labor Secretary Elaine Chao. Secretary Chao is a real leader in the effort to bring fringe worker populations into the mainstream workforce.

Through the Secretary's 21st Century Workforce Initiative, high-risk youth are earning their high school diplomas, working adults are enrolling in literacy programs, people with disabilities are being offered jobs, and single mothers are participating in distance learning.

As a member of the President's Council on the 21st Century Workforce, I've had the privilege of working with Secretary Chao to ensure that our workforce is sufficient in numbers and in skills—now and in the decades to come.

Her department and the Chamber successfully pushed for House passage of the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act of 2003, which authorizes $11 billion for job training programs in the upcoming fiscal year.

I have a great amount of respect and admiration for Secretary Chao. She emigrated to the U.S. at the age of eight. She overcame the inherent disadvantages that many immigrants face to become the first Asian-American woman ever appointed to a cabinet position.

Along the way, the secretary served as director of the Peace Corps and as president and CEO of the United Way of America.

She's held several influential government positions as well, including Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Department of Transportation and Chairman of the Federal Maritime Commission.

Secretary Chao also brings a wealth of business expertise to her current post, having worked as Vice President of Syndications at BankAmerica Capital Markets Group and as a banker with Citicorp.

I can think of no one more qualified or more determined to do the job she has set out to do. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome Labor Secretary Elaine Chao.