On Job Creation And Job Training
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REMARKS BY THE PRESIDENT
ON JOB CREATION AND JOB TRAINING

Room 350
Dwight D. Eisenhower Executive Office Building
 

11:38 A.M. EDT

THE PRESIDENT:  Good morning, everybody.  This morning we learned that our economy lost another 539,000 jobs in the month of April.  And while it's somewhat encouraging that this number is lower than it's been in each of the past six months, it's still a sobering toll1.  The unemployment rate is at its highest point in 25 years.  It underscores the point that we're still in the midst of a recession that was years in the making and will be months or even years in the unmaking; and we should expect further job losses in the months to come.

Although we have a long way to go before we can put this recession behind us, the gears of our economic engine do appear to slowly -- to be slowly turning once again.  Consumer spending and home sales are stabilizing2; construction spending is up for the first time in six months.  So step by step, we're beginning to make progress.

Of course, that's no solace3 to those who've lost their jobs, or to the small business owners whose hearts break at letting long-time employees go.  It's no relief for those who continue to send out resume after resume, and then wait for a call.  And it's of little comfort to the families who wake up wondering how they're going to pay their bills, stay in their homes, or put food on the table -- the Americans I've met in towns across this country, or whose letters I read every night.

They're letters of struggle but they're also of service to others.  They're stories of heartbreak, but they're also stories of hope.  It's the story of the small business owner in California who wrote that as long as her employees depend on her, "I will not give up."  That's what she said.  The veteran in Oklahoma, who wrote, "We've all got a long way to go.  But we'll stick together and get through this."  Or the mother in Michigan who wrote that she and her husband can't make ends meet, but as long as they have their jobs, they'll work 24 hours a day to send their children to college.  This woman ended her letter by saying, "I'm not writing to tell you about my troubles -- I'm writing to please ask you to act quickly to help all the people like me."

Such hard-working Americans are why I ran for President.  They're the reason we've been working swiftly and aggressively across all fronts to turn this economy around; to jumpstart spending and hiring and create jobs where we can with steps like the Recovery Act.  Because of this plan, cops are still on the beat and teachers are still in the classroom; shovels5 are breaking ground and cranes dot the sky; and new life has been breathed into private companies like Sharon Arnold's.  And already, 95 percent of working Americans are seeing a tax cut that we promised would show up in their paychecks.

We're moving forward because now is not the time for small plans.  It's not a time to pause or to be passive or to wait around for our problems to somehow fix themselves.  Now is the time to put a new foundation for growth in place -- to rebuild our economy, to retrain our workforce6, and re-equip the American people.  And now is the time to change unemployment from a period of "wait and see" to a chance for our workers to train and seek the next opportunity -- so when that new and better day does come around, our people, our industry, and our entire country are ready to make the most of it.

Now, if we want to come out of this recession stronger than before, we need to make sure that our workforce is better prepared than ever before.  Right now, someone who doesn't have a college degree is more than twice as likely to be unemployed7 as someone who does.  And so many of the Americans who have lost their jobs can't find new ones because they simply don't have the skills and the training they need for the jobs they want.

In a 21st century economy where the most valuable skill you can sell is your knowledge, education is the single best bet we can make -- not just for our individual success, but for the success of the nation as a whole.  The average college graduate earns 80 percent more than those who stopped after high school.  So if we want to help people not only get back on their feet today but prosper8 tomorrow, we need to take a rigorous new approach to higher education and technical training.  And that starts by changing senseless rules that discourage displaced workers from getting the education and training they need to find and fill the jobs of the future.

So today I'm announcing new steps we are taking to do exactly that -- to give people across America who have lost their jobs the chance to go back to school today to get retrained for the jobs and industries of tomorrow.

The idea here is to fundamentally change our approach to unemployment in this country, so that it's no longer just a time to look for a new job, but is also a time to prepare yourself for a better job.  That's what our unemployment system should be -- not just a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future.  It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, giving them the measurable and differentiated9 skills they need just -- not just to get through hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back.

And that's what Maureen Pike did.  Maureen lost her job as a physician's receptionist, but she didn't lose hope.  She took it as an opportunity to upgrade her skills and earned an associate's degree in nursing from a community college.  As a consequence, today she works as a registered nurse.

The only reason she could afford to do that while supporting her twins was because the state of Maine allowed her to keep her unemployment benefits and study with the help from a Pell Grant.  Pell Grants cover tuition at almost every community college in the country, and unemployment benefits can help those studying to gain new skills to support their families at the same time.

But today, far too many Americans are denied that opportunity.  Let me just give you an example.  Say an unemployed factory worker wants to upgrade his skills to become a mechanic or a technician.  In many states, that worker might lose temporary financial support if he enrolls10 in a training program.  And to make matters worse, unemployment might mean he can't afford higher education, and he likely won't qualify for federal help simply because he may have made a decent salary a year ago, before he was laid off.

Well, that doesn't make much sense for our economy or our country.  So we're going to change it.  First, we'll open new doors to higher education and job training programs to recently laid-off workers who are receiving unemployment benefits.  And if those displaced workers need help paying for their education, they should get it -- and that's why the next step is to make it easier for them to receive Pell Grants of the sort that Maureen used.

I've asked my Secretary of Education, Arne Duncan, and my Secretary of Labor11, Hilda Solis, to work closely with states and our institutions of higher learning and encourage them not only to allow these changes, but to inform all workers receiving unemployment benefits of the training programs and financial support open to them.  And together, the Department of Education and the Department of Labor have created a new website called opportunity.gov -- I'll repeat that, opportunity.gov -- to help workers discover and take advantage of these opportunities.

And together, these changes will increase access to education and opportunity for hundreds of thousands of workers who've been stung by this recession -- people just like Maureen.  And like her, many may take advantage of one of America's underappreciated assets -- and that's our community colleges.  These schools offer practical education and technical training, and they're increasingly important centers of learning where Americans can prepare for the jobs of the future.

And that's also why I'm asking Dr. Jill Biden, a community college professor who's devoted12 her entire life to education -- and who happens to be married to the Vice4 President -- to lead a national effort to raise awareness13 about what we're doing to open the doors to our community colleges.

So I think this is one more piece of the puzzle.  It's a good start.  It is only a start, though.  These steps are just a short-term down payment on our larger goal of ensuring that all Americans get the skills and education they need to succeed in today's economy.  And to that end, I have asked once again every American to commit to at least one year or more of higher education or career training.  It can be community college or a four-year school; vocational training or an apprenticeship14; but whatever the training may be, every American will need to get more than a high school diploma.  And we will be backing up that effort with the support necessary.  And we will ensure that by 2020, America will once again have the highest proportion of college graduates in the world.

In the weeks to come, I will also lay out a fundamental rethinking of our job training, vocational education, and community college programs.  It's time to move beyond the idea that we need several different programs to address several different problems -- we need one comprehensive policy that addresses our comprehensive challenges.

That's how we'll open the doors of opportunity and lay a new foundation for our economic growth -- by investing in our citizens.  That's how we've always emerged from tough times stronger than before -- because of the hard work and determination and ingenuity15 of the American people.  And I am confident that if we summon that spirit once again, we will get through this; we will see our nation recover; and together, along with folks like Maureen and Sharon, we're going to put America on the path to shared and lasting16 prosperity once again.

Thank you very much everybody.  Have a great weekend.

END
11:50 A.M. EDT



点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 toll LJpzo     
n.过路(桥)费;损失,伤亡人数;v.敲(钟)
参考例句:
  • The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
  • The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。
2 stabilizing 37789793f41246ac9b11622dadb461ab     
n.稳定化处理[退火]v.(使)稳定, (使)稳固( stabilize的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The disulfide bridges might then be viewed primarily as stabilizing components. 二硫桥可以被看作是初级的稳定因素。 来自辞典例句
  • These stabilizing design changes are usually not desirable for steady-state operation. 这些增加稳定性的设计改变通常不太符合稳态工作的要求。 来自辞典例句
3 solace uFFzc     
n.安慰;v.使快乐;vt.安慰(物),缓和
参考例句:
  • They sought solace in religion from the harshness of their everyday lives.他们日常生活很艰难,就在宗教中寻求安慰。
  • His acting career took a nosedive and he turned to drink for solace.演艺事业突然一落千丈,他便借酒浇愁。
4 vice NU0zQ     
n.坏事;恶习;[pl.]台钳,老虎钳;adj.副的
参考例句:
  • He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
  • They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。
5 shovels ff43a4c7395f1d0c2d5931bbb7a97da6     
n.铲子( shovel的名词复数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份v.铲子( shovel的第三人称单数 );锹;推土机、挖土机等的)铲;铲形部份
参考例句:
  • workmen with picks and shovels 手拿镐铲的工人
  • In the spring, we plunge shovels into the garden plot, turn under the dark compost. 春天,我们用铁锨翻开园子里黑油油的沃土。 来自辞典例句
6 workforce workforce     
n.劳动大军,劳动力
参考例句:
  • A large part of the workforce is employed in agriculture.劳动人口中一大部分受雇于农业。
  • A quarter of the local workforce is unemployed.本地劳动力中有四分之一失业。
7 unemployed lfIz5Q     
adj.失业的,没有工作的;未动用的,闲置的
参考例句:
  • There are now over four million unemployed workers in this country.这个国家现有四百万失业人员。
  • The unemployed hunger for jobs.失业者渴望得到工作。
8 prosper iRrxC     
v.成功,兴隆,昌盛;使成功,使昌隆,繁荣
参考例句:
  • With her at the wheel,the company began to prosper.有了她当主管,公司开始兴旺起来。
  • It is my earnest wish that this company will continue to prosper.我真诚希望这家公司会继续兴旺发达。
9 differentiated 83b7560ad714d20d3b302f7ddc7af15a     
区分,区别,辨别( differentiate的过去式和过去分词 ); 区别对待; 表明…间的差别,构成…间差别的特征
参考例句:
  • The development of mouse kidney tubules requires two kinds of differentiated cells. 小鼠肾小管的发育需要有两种分化的细胞。
  • In this enlargement, barley, alfalfa, and sugar beets can be differentiated. 在这张放大的照片上,大麦,苜蓿和甜菜都能被区分开。
10 enrolls 0a4a9f1e0d3346dd66d9394a70b846be     
v.[亦作enrol]( enroll的第三人称单数 );登记,招收,使入伍(或入会、入学等),参加,成为成员;记入名册;卷起,包起
参考例句:
  • Enrolls the newborn register of names to print afterward and to mail. 录取新生名册随后打印并寄发。 来自互联网
  • The association enrolls 100, 000 members. 该协会拥有10万名会员。 来自互联网
11 labor P9Tzs     
n.劳动,努力,工作,劳工;分娩;vi.劳动,努力,苦干;vt.详细分析;麻烦
参考例句:
  • We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
  • He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后,他已经疲惫不堪了。
12 devoted xu9zka     
adj.忠诚的,忠实的,热心的,献身于...的
参考例句:
  • He devoted his life to the educational cause of the motherland.他为祖国的教育事业贡献了一生。
  • We devoted a lengthy and full discussion to this topic.我们对这个题目进行了长时间的充分讨论。
13 awareness 4yWzdW     
n.意识,觉悟,懂事,明智
参考例句:
  • There is a general awareness that smoking is harmful.人们普遍认识到吸烟有害健康。
  • Environmental awareness has increased over the years.这些年来人们的环境意识增强了。
14 apprenticeship 4NLyv     
n.学徒身份;学徒期
参考例句:
  • She was in the second year of her apprenticeship as a carpenter. 她当木工学徒已是第二年了。
  • He served his apprenticeship with Bob. 他跟鲍勃当学徒。
15 ingenuity 77TxM     
n.别出心裁;善于发明创造
参考例句:
  • The boy showed ingenuity in making toys.那个小男孩做玩具很有创造力。
  • I admire your ingenuity and perseverance.我钦佩你的别出心裁和毅力。
16 lasting IpCz02     
adj.永久的,永恒的;vbl.持续,维持
参考例句:
  • The lasting war debased the value of the dollar.持久的战争使美元贬值。
  • We hope for a lasting settlement of all these troubles.我们希望这些纠纷能获得永久的解决。
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