At an event in Los Angeles today, US Labor Secretary Hilda Solis promised that President Obama would do “whatever it takes” to create more jobs, particularly in urban areas, though she stopped short of endorsing a push in Congress for a new jobs bill.
Solis appeared with Urban Affairs Director Adolfo Carrion and other White House officials at Los Angeles Trade Technical College, a vocational school with job training and workforce development for key sectors in the green economy. Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa joined the White House team. Unemployment has reached 14% in the city, and the White House has just issued millions of dollars in workforce investment grants, particularly in the green tech area.
Solis spoke about the kind of training available at LA Trade Tech – in jobs like hybrid engines, biofuels, and more – is crucial for reconfiguring the economy for the 21st century. She said that dislocated workers from the recession tend not to have a high school education, and that those individuals must be retrained to meet needs in emerging sectors, particularly in metropolitan areas, where economic growth typically resides (75% according to one White House official).
I asked Sec. Solis about whether she agreed that new public investment was needed beyond the first Recovery Act, and if she would work with Congress to create a new jobs bill, which Democrats have touted in recent days.
The Labor Secretary did not fully endorse the idea. “The President is committed to doing everything we can with our current programs,” she said, reminding everyone that only half of the initial Recovery Act has been paid out and vowing to get more of it out in the weeks to come. Solis mentioned the jobs summit set for December 3, with new programs likely to come out of that, and she committed to working in underserved areas, “like the one I come from,” where education will make the difference on whether the unemployed can find new work. “We have to retool the entire workforce, some of them in aging populations, but I think we can do it, and our President is committed to investing most of that money right here at home, in jobs that stay here, and not abroad.”
Solis predicted that there would be an uptick in employment come January, when more Recovery Act programs are brought on-line. She cited the weatherization goals for homes, with a target of one million homes, and a $5 billion dollar commitment to that effort, as an example. “Right now there aren’t enough people in that industry to even do that work, so that’s one area where we can create jobs and reduce our energy use.”
Mayor Villaraigosa was pleased to have the attention and support of the federal government, a role he found unfamiliar during the Bush Administration, he said. While there has been a renewed focus on urban areas in some respects, with job loss in communities of color breaking 15%, it would seem that more actions must be taken to relieve that stress and strain, and yet Solis would not firmly commit to a second jobs bill.
