Donald Trump Speech to American Workforce Policy Advisory Board June 26

Donald Trump: (00:01)
We’re making a lot of progress with the whole situation that came in from a place called China as you probably know, you probably see, but we have a little work to do and we’ll get it done. We’re having some very good numbers coming out in terms of the comeback, the comeback of our nation and I think it’s going very rapidly and it’s going to be very good but right now we’re in that process of building and it’s an honor that you’re with us today, we very much appreciate it. I’m delighted to welcome members of the Workforce Policy Advisory Board and I want to thank Ivanka she works very hard on this Board. She works very hard to get jobs and it’s made in the USA and jobs in the USA. I saw a group of your people yesterday having to do with ships, you’re involved in that partnership and it’s fantastic what they’re doing in Wisconsin. It was really a great day.

The Secretary of Treasury is with us and he’s worked very hard and I think he’s got some very good things to say and some pretty big news and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross, Secretary of Labor Gene Scalia, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos and Small Business Administrator who has definitely kept busy, Jovita, where’s Jovita? Jovita? Good. Jovita Carranza. Thanks also to Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds who has done terrifically. Kim? Hi Kim, nice to see you. Thank you very much and Eric Holcomb, governor of Indiana and we always recognize Eric because he’s … How tall are you Eric? [inaudible 00:01:45] pretty tall guy, right? But we have one that’s a little taller. You know where that is, Alaska? You know that, right? You’re doing a great job, we appreciate it as well as the CEOs who have signed our pledge to American workers, Marillyn Hewson, thank you very much of Lockheed-Martin. Sebastian Thrun of Udacity and Ginni Rometty of IBM. I want to thank you all, you’ve been really here from the beginning. Very much from the beginning and we appreciate it very much.

Together we built the greatest economy in history and literally in the history of the world, the greatest we’ve ever had, the greatest the world has ever seen and now we have to bring it back because we had a close in order to save millions of lives. We added 2.5 million jobs last month which was incredible number, the largest monthly increase in history and more than double the previous record, so we’re bringing it back. We had the greatest ever and we had to close it and now we bring it back and we start off with 2.5 million jobs in one month. I would say that’s pretty good Marillyn, right? That’s the highest ever done and then likewise retail sales surge by nearly 18% last month. That was the biggest jump ever recorded, so that’s great. The stock market has seen you go back a week, one week. So the best 50 days in its history, best 50 day increase in the history of the stock markets. Our pledge to America’s workers has secured commitments to over 16 million job and training opportunities from employers nationwide and some of the employers are with us and they’ve been fantastic.

I want to thank the American people for doing such an incredible job. They understand what’s happening and they see how fast we’re turning it around. I want to just state that this is Americans of all backgrounds that we’re talking about, to have the chance we want to get them the chance to learn and to build a successful career. We want to train Americans and we want to hire Americans so we’re training American and we’re hiring American. Before the pledge and this is a very big factor, we have a problem that has about 22 different names, but I’ll just call it the plague but before the plague struck, we had the lowest African-American and Hispanic-American, Asian-American unemployment ever. We’ve had the most jobs we’ve ever had, almost 160 million jobs. We’ve never been in a position like that. Women were thriving. Best numbers ever and since my election, more than half of those jobs, more than half, first time that’s ever happened went to women but now we want to get that all back, the African-American group got hit very hard. The Hispanic-American group got hit very hard. Essentially all groups got hit hard but now it’s all coming back.

To further expand opportunity I’m taking a bold action to reform the federal workforce today. I’ll sign an executive order that directs the federal government to replace outdated and really outdated … It’s called degree-based hiring with skill-based hiring so we want it based on skill. The federal government will no longer be narrowly focused on where you went to school but the skills and the talents that you bring to the job. We want that skill to be there, we want it based on merit, we’ve looked at merit for a long time and we’ve been able to get that done and today’s signing is a very, very important one. I think maybe before I sign I’ll ask Ivanka to say a few words and then we’ll go around a little bit. We’ll pick a few people and then we’ll sign and we go back to work. Thank you very much, Ivanka.

Ivanka Trump: (05:47)
Thank you Mr. President and it’s an honor to have you here. We just convened our sixth meeting of our Workforce Advisory Board and we got an update on the team’s response on your bold call to action. First we’re going to be launching and Ginni Rometty in partnership with Tim Cook spearheaded this group, a massive advertising campaign that directs those that need to re-skill, learn a new trade to secure a job to the resources to enable them to do that so we’re very excited about the launch of this private sector led and driven campaign to match Americans with the training they need and ultimately the job they can seize that exists. The Advisory Board is also creating a series of pilot programs and Scott Pulsipher and Doug McMillon had been running these groups where we really think about how we create the resumes of the future and allow people to find job vacancies based on skill and for employers to connect with those unemployed workers again based on skill so creating a lot more efficiency to that process.

You are once again leading by example here today with this EO signing. As the nation’s largest employer, we are always seeking to recruit and retain the best and the brightest to serve the American people. Last December you fought for and secured paid leave for every federal worker, this was a first, creating a workplace that reflects our American values of both work and family and helping us retain our amazing talent. It’s also why you fought so hard this spring when COVID struck to secure paid sick leave for Americans employed by small businesses and additional funding for child care providers helping millions and millions of Americans remain employed and providing relief to small businesses across the country. This is going to ensure a faster and stronger recovery.

Today, we’re taking that next step as you mentioned and signing an executive order that directs federal agencies to hire based on skills and knowledge, not just outdated degree requirements. This will allow us to better recognize the talents and competencies of all Americans we hire. You built once the most inclusive economy in this country’s history and you’ll build it again. Through our pledge to America’s workers, the private sector has committed to investing in the training and education of over 16 million American students and workers and this continues, despite the vast change that the plague ushered in. Companies like Udacity, Sebastian Thrun joins us today, had been leading the way, and they’d been using their pledge commitment and fulfilling it by providing free tech training to American workers laid off as a result of COVID.

I recently had the opportunity to virtually meet one of the students that went through your program and received your scholarship in conjunction with the pledge and it was incredible. His name was Tony, he was a lifelong truck driver, he owned his own business, it was a single rig that he had. Through a series of setbacks, the company ended up going under. He signed up for a course in tech and is now a software engineer providing for his family, absolutely loving what he does, and there are many, many stories like Tony that hopefully will inspire millions across the nation. Marillyn Hewson, also an early pledge signed, of Lockheed-Martin committed to hiring during the pandemic using virtual technologies and other techniques to ensure recruitment processes move forward. So with more people teleworking and learning from home than ever before, we have a lot to accomplish in the months ahead and I’m really excited about your effort to extend this working group and to reform our federal hiring practices as we think about building that inclusive American economy as we transition to greatness. So thank you for today and it’s a pleasure to have you join us.

Thank you very much honey. Great job. Really has been. It’s been a labor of love.

It’s true.

Ivanka loves helping people. It’s a wonderful thing. Marillyn, how about starting with you?

Marillyn Hewson: (09:51)
Well thank you Mr. President. It’s really an honor to serve on this policy board and I must say I agree with you [inaudible 00:09:57] Trump, Ivanka Trump and Secretary Ross have led us well. We had a great effort over the last several meetings and put forward some strong recommendations that I hope to match the skills together with the jobs that are there and at Lockheed-Martin we’re proud that this year we’re on a path to hire 12,000 people and a lot of it is around making sure that we are getting the kind of apprenticeships and scholarships and skills training for them so that they can link up to jobs in our operation. Thank you.

Well you’ve done a great job and I got to see it again. I mentioned it was so impressive what I saw, the whole group yesterday. It was really great to be there and I didn’t know you had a big chunk of that one but you’ve done very well with it so we appreciate it. Please Sebastian.

Sebastian Thrun: (10:44)
It’s a great honor to meet you and I want to thank you for keeping us safe and moving us forward. This has been of course a wild time for all of us with over 30 million unemployed. It’s our chance to really redefine how education looks like and move into a world where people learn lifelong, have lifelong access and can really unfold their livelihoods. Ivanka was of course the visionary behind all this and thank you for doing this. Mentioned Tony [Boswell 00:11:10], a truck driver who was driving trucks for 10 years and then his truck broke down and it he couldn’t finance the new engine that he needed and he was unemployed, had no income, no education and came across by randomness a Google scholarship that Udacity launched, and then in ten months’ time was really able to become a software engineer. These are the stories that I believe this nation needs. I think we have so much opportunity, so much potential in this great nation, to bring people forward and I think this is the time to do it.

That’s a great story. It’s a great story, amazing story. Ginni, please.

Ginni Rometty: (11:46)
Well first Mr. President thank you for your leadership during this time.

Thank you. Thank you.

Ginni Rometty: (11:50)
You used an important word when you described Ivanka’s contribution here as a labor of love because this is something I think what the team has done collectively will have a very longterm impact, as well as short-term, and we are solving probably … Working towards helping solve one of the most important programs for growth for the country as well, so to help anyone from any socioeconomic background. So my hat is off and thanks to Secretary Ross and to Ivanka for having led us through this and I think we have put on the table is substantive change and I know it is change to a company like mine. So as you signed Skills First, we’ve adopted that and 15% of our hires last year were people from non-traditional backgrounds and so it’s really what this is all about I think and giving everyone a bright future in the digital era so thank you for that.

Thank you very much Ginni. Good job. Eric? Go ahead please.

Eric Holcomb: (12:46)
Well, just to add my appreciation. I mean what you’re doing today is leveling the playing field and there’s been a lot of people, a lot of have nots that will have an opportunity to join the haves and to do it during a time of such challenge but to recognize the opportunity that’s here and to do it now, there couldn’t be a more important time so I appreciate everyone’s effort around this table and your leadership on this front.

And Indiana’s doing very well I’m hearing? Good things.

We are. We are moving in the right direction. We’ve got 93,000 unfilled jobs right now that we need to fill. We’ve ushered in 100,000 jobs in just three and a half years, the previous record was 93,000 in four years. These are high wage, high demand jobs, these are $28.00 north an hour.

That’s great.

So this is what it’s all about, scaling up the workforce. Thank you.

That’s great. Great job. Thank you very much. Kim?

Kim Reynolds: (13:43)
Well thank you Mr. President and what I so appreciate about your administration is it’s really an administration of action. You identify barriers and gaps and then you help bring the right people together to find the solutions and enact those so thank you very much. It’s been an honor to be a part of this advisory board. I appreciate how … With the leadership of Ivanka and Secretary Ross, we really have identified the various elements, connected those elements whether it’s been consistent data, definition, goals and messaging, and I look forward to really amplifying that in the state of Iowa. By executive order I just created an economic taskforce. I brought several CEOs, business leaders and non-profits together to utilize their expertise in the way through innovation, adaptation and creativity, adjusted within weeks to the coronavirus and everything that this group has talked about will fold so well into what we’re trying to do at the state level and when you think about that happening in every state across the country, we really are going to come back stronger and better and really help provide opportunities for every single American so thank you for leading it.

All right, and we see it now Kim. Next year is going to be we think amazing actually.

Kim Reynolds: (14:59)
Yep. I agree.

It’s going to be an amazing year. Larry? Would you like to say something?

Larry Kudlow: (15:02)
Yeah, thanks sir. I spoke just before you came but I’ll just repeat the V-shaped recovery virtually every number is showing a V-shaped recovery now. Private surveys, government statistics, restaurants, homebuilders, truckers, durable goods makers, [inaudible 00:15:20] mobility and travel, gasoline demand. As you said the jobs went up really three million in May. We had tremendous retail sales. Actually today in the income report we had tremendous consumer spending, 8% at an annual rate for one month, it’s a great story.

That’s a great number.

I still think we’ll get 20% in the second half of the year and if we get another 5% in the first quarter of next year, we will be right back to the peak in 2019 where you got us the first time with the growth policies and I just want to say Ivanka, I gave you a big pitch, did the best I could. Private sector re-skilling and retraining and not only will people come back to the labor force when they’re re-skilled, they’ll come back with higher wages and they’ll come back with more confidence and it will make a huge difference as it already has and so I have added you to the four pillars of growth, the president.

Good.

Tax cuts.

Good taste.

Deregulation, energy unleashing, fair trade deals and private sector-led rescaling, how is that sir?

That’s great. That’s great, and I’m very happy, what you said about early next year. I think next year is going to be an incredible year. Thank you very much Larry.

I appreciate it.

Wilbur, would you like to say something?

Wilbur Ross: (16:45)
Yes Mr. President. Thank you for the opportunity to help, Ivanka and the others on this group. I’ve been very, very impressed with the productivity of this advisory board. Most advisory boards create a big thick book at the end that goes in the library and nothing happens. This group, every single meeting there’s a specific tangible thing that gets followed up and it gets implemented so it’s really been a heartwarming thing to see how productive these folks have been and I congratulate all of them.

Thank you very much. Thank you. Gene, please.

Gene Scalia: (17:25)
Thank you Mr. President and you mentioned the 3.5% unemployment rate just a few months ago. You did so many things for the American worker during those three years. Back in the summer of 2016, the Congressional Budget Office said that we’d be at 5% unemployment in February. They said that between and February 2020 they said we’d create 1.9 million jobs, we created seven million jobs. Larry touched on it, it was policies of tax cuts, of deregulation which brought us there which was just a wonderful thing for the American worker as jobs were being created and wages were rising but there was other work going on. What you see today is a manifestation of other things that were being done that are now going to have their day to really help workers. We are coming back. Larry’s mentioned some of the numbers, but we know that training will be important and we’re fortunate that this really very extraordinary group and as Secretary Ross has said, a group that really generated valuable product, they were working quietly to help train American workers. I spoke earlier about a new apprenticeship rule that we adopted in the Labor Department that I think will be very helpful. This will be an important part of the rebound.

Thank you Gene very much. Appreciate it. Steve, please.

Steve: (18:40)
Thank you Mr. President. As others said, your economic team working with you knew how to create jobs and created an enormous amount and because of this virus which unfortunately shut down the economy we know how to reopen the economy safely. Working with Congress we put $3 trillion in. It’s beginning to work, we see it and our work isn’t going to be done until every single one of these jobs is done. We know we need a few more tools, we’ll go back to Congress next month but we’re going to get everybody back to work and I’m confident we’re going to see a strong third and fourth quarter as we reopen.

That’s great Steve. Thank you very much. Anybody else would like to say something? Anybody? Anybody? This is your chance, go ahead please.

Speaker 13: (19:21)
Mr. President I just want to say as your domestic policy chief what an extraordinary day today is and here’s why. It’s not just the work of this council and the leadership of Ivanka, it is the executive order that you are about to sign that completely resets the playing field. The federal government is the largest employer in the country with two million employees. Two-thirds of American adults do not have a college degree. Your signature that is recalibrating the work force away from being degree only to skill set is transformational and the opportunity for you to fight for all Americans, I think about Tony that Ivanka talked about, that Sebastian talked about from Udacity, from a truck driver to a software engineer, next potentially into the federal government because of this executive order that is focusing on skills rather than degrees. Congratulations and thank you for your leadership. It’s extraordinary.

Thank you. Thank you very much. Anybody? Jovita.

Jovita Carranza: (20:20)
Yes, President Trump, thank you very much for your strong leadership. I sit in the audience here as part of a participation of this particular advisory board and I am a recipient of the type of programs that you are actually implementing and supporting. I started as a box handler in the world’s largest logistics company and so when I hear everyone talk about the dedication of the workforce and establishing some really comprehensive training, I took advantage of every training opportunity there was in that private sector and perhaps you’ll see another administrator similar to me based on the programs that you’re going to advocate and support. Because of the public-private partnerships that this administration has enabled, the paycheck protection program, just one example that has to four to five small businesses sustain their viability and also protected their employees, a baseline of about 60 million employees. So I thank you again for putting small businesses front and center.

Jovita Carranza: (21:27)
One other comment. I’m looking at all of these private sector companies, the super leaders in your various sectors. You are the primary contractors for the subcontractors that I represent as an advocate for small business administration, so once you reinstate your viability, the small business sector will then follow soon after so thank you again.

Thank you very much Jovita. Thank you very much.

Speaker 15: (21:59)
Mr. President.

Please.

Speaker 15: (22:01)
I just appreciate your unrelenting focus on creating opportunity for all Americans and that begins with opportunities in education and I so appreciate your leadership there and it’s been a privilege to be part of this Ivanka and Secretary Ross, thank you for your work here in policy and action as Governor Reynolds said and thank you for your leadership.

Choice. How is that going, choice, right?

Speaker 15: (22:32)
Yes.

That’s what we want. Please.

Scott Pulsipher: (22:34)
I was just going to say thank you Mr. President. From a university’s perspective, it’s often perceived as skills versus degrees but in reality in a skills denominated future it is that tide that lifts all boats because even those who possess degrees, they can better articulate the skills and competencies that they now have for the future of work and the reality is too is that it’s also more fair, it’s more equitable, it’s more prosperous for our workforce because what it really is is it’s now about what you possess and what you can demonstrate, not how you acquired the competency and skill. So it just creates much more of an equitable pathway and WGU is a competency-based education provider, as always been focused on how do you articulate the outcomes of achieving a degree in a skills and competency-based way so it’s much more aligned with the future of work and so it is truly that tide that lifts all boats. This is a huge step in the right direction so thank you very much.

I agree with you 100% I must say. I do. Okay? Why don’t we sign and this is a big deal. Congratulations to everybody in the room. This means a lot. Okay. We’ll do that for Marillyn and we’ll take this. Thank you very much. Okay. That’s very good. We have pens for everybody. All right, Page Two. Thank you very much. Well thank you all very much. We appreciate it. This is really an important day for a lot of reasons but this is one of them. Thank you all for being with us. We appreciate it very much. Thank you very much.

Donald Trump Speech to American Workforce Policy Advisory Board June 26

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