What would you say to those individuals looking to start their year by increasing their skill sets?
One of the trends we’ve seen is low-wage workers and low-wage earners have earned more money this year. Those jobs that used to be minimum wage starting at $7 are at $15. We’ve seen those workers earning more money and outpacing inflation. The Department of Labor will focus on making investments in job training so that people can be trained for new jobs, a lot of people left their jobs because they weren’t satisfied [with] their job. They weren’t getting good wages and they’re leaving to earn better wages.
The President has talked to me and the Department of Labor to make sure that we’re working very closely with governors and mayors across the country in job training, so we can train people into better-paying jobs. If you look at the Black and Latino unemployment rate, it’s still higher than the national average but it dropped nearly a full point last month. That’s a good sign. We have to focus on getting better-paying jobs for particularly communities of color that historically have been left out left behind and have not made good money in those cases.
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