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Thomas Perez on Jobs
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75 months in a row of private sector job growth & 14M jobs
I think it's important to point out where we were, where we are, and where we need to go. When this president took office, we were in the worst ditch of our lifetime. And under the president's leadership we have climbed out of that,
75 months in a row of private sector job growth to the tune of over 14 million jobs. We have a lot of unfinished business. There are still too many people who aren't feeling the wind that is at our back.
The key moving forward here is to build on that progress and build an America that indeed can work for everyone, and not simply a few at the top. And that's what Hillary Clinton is about, a message of inclusion and opportunity for everyone.
Breaking down barriers building bridges, not walls. An infrastructure plan is not building a wall along the Mexican border.
Source: ABC This Week 2016 on Veepstakes candidates
, Jun 26, 2016
Long-overdue increase in the minimum wage, and index it
We got into this hole through poor public policy choices, and we can climb out of it by making better ones. It starts with a long-overdue increase in the minimum wage. Fifty years ago, a minimum wage salary could support a family; today it can barely
keep the lights on. That's why we need to raise the minimum wage and index it to inflation going forward--to ensure that the purchasing power of working families keeps pace with the rising cost of living.
This is the right thing to do for workers, and it's also the smart thing to do to grow the economy. From coast to coast, I talk to employers who are paying above minimum wage because they know that an investment in their employees is an investment in
their own bottom line. Popular, grass-roots support for a higher minimum wage is surging nationwide, leading to bold action at the state and local level--minimum wage increases took effect in 20 states on the first of the year.
Source: Remarks at the AFL-CIO National Summit on Raising Wages
, Jan 7, 2015
Include homecare workers in minimum wage & overtime laws
Until the administration acted last month, one category of workers couldn't even get the minimum wage guarantee--home care workers who are becoming increasingly important in an aging society where seniors and people with disabilities
want to remain in their homes. Because of an exemption in the law whereby these professional workers were classified as "companions," they had been denied basic employment rights.
And roughly 40% of them, despite long hours of grueling work, have to turn to public assistance to supplement their incomes and support their families.
But our new regulation now provides these workers-90% of them women and nearly half of them people of color--with basic workplace protections like minimum wage and overtime.
Source: Remarks at the Half in Ten Anti-Poverty Report Release
, Oct 29, 2013
Full-time minimum wage workers should not live in poverty
President Obama has put raising the minimum wage near the top of his economic agenda. It's just unconscionable that, in the wealthiest nation on earth, hard-working people putting in 40 hours a week live in poverty.
They shouldn't have to lay awake at night sick with worry about whether they're going to pay the rent or heat their home this month. They shouldn't have to live one minor setback away from destitution and desperation.
Source: Remarks at the Half in Ten Anti-Poverty Report Release
, Oct 29, 2013
Page last updated: Jan 14, 2017