WEBVTT

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We're speaking today with Heidi
Shierholz, the chief economist

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at the US Department of Labor.

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Heidi follows the job trends
and occupational opportunities

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around the country.

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And so this is a
good opportunity

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to discuss where some
of the good jobs are.

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So Heidi, thank you
for joining us today.

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It's my pleasure.

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I wonder if you could
start by telling

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us what do you see as
some of the good job

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opportunities for young people
entering the labor force today?

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I think it's important
to know that there

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are a lot of good
jobs being created.

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There are a lot of
good opportunities.

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And if you look, our
Bureau of Labor Statistics

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does these employment
projections,

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where you can look and
see what kind of jobs

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are growing strongly
for the next 10 years,

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what kind of wages
will those jobs have.

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And there's some
trends that come out

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of that, that you can see.

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So some of the
fastest growing jobs

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are jobs in the health
sector, particularly nurses--

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really strong wages and
really strong job growth.

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We also see good job
growth in the tech sector,

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so software engineering,
software development,

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those kinds of jobs
are growing quickly.

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You also see projected
growth in some jobs

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in professional and
business services

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like accountant jobs
and auditing jobs,

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sort of those old standbys.

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We're going to always need
them, and they're really

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decent paying jobs.

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So that's at the high
end of the labor force.

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How about at the middle
tier of the labor force.

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What's happening there?

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One of the phenomenons
that we're seeing there

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is there's this
big group of people

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who are hitting retirement
age, the baby boomers.

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And as that continues
to happen, there's

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going to be a lot of
job turnover in some

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of these really good
middle class jobs

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like carpenter jobs, electrician
jobs, utility workers, welders.

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Those kinds of jobs
that historically people

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got a lot of training
in those kind of jobs

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through their unions and
apprenticeship programs.

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As we have this
group of people that

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was trained in that way
hitting retirement age,

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we have to really
figure out how we're

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going to refill those jobs.

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One of the things the
Department of Labor is doing

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is really doing everything we
can to support apprenticeship

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programs so they can
help train up people

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to get into those jobs,
because those are really

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good middle class jobs that
are going to be very in demand

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going forward.

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Well that's great,
because apprenticeships

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have such a positive
record, so rebuilding those

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is so critical to our economy
and the future workforce.

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Research shows apprenticeship
has the highest rate of return

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as far as investment in workers,
what pays off for the economy,

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for their future earnings.

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So it's a really good
route for our country

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to invest in and for people to
take advantage of as they're

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thinking about what
their careers are going

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to look like going forward.

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And what about at
the lower end of

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the occupational distribution?

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The projections show
that we are expected

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to add a lot of jobs
that, at this point,

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are low wage jobs: home
health aides, food prep

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workers in restaurants and bars,
child care workers, janitors,

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maids and housekeeping cleaners.

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So some of these
lower end jobs are

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projected to see strong
growth going forward.

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So I think that's a really
important segment of the labor

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market to think about.

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And that's where
policy can come in

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to help make sure that
those are better jobs.

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So things like making sure we
have a decent minimum wage--

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increasing the minimum wage.

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Making sure people have
overtime protections.

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Making sure that
people have paid leave.

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The president just
announced initiatives

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to bolster paid leave
in the United States.

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Those kinds of policies
can help ensure

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that we have high
quality jobs for people

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at all levels of
education and training.

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Certainly important
that we really

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help to improve
those low wage jobs

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and provide career opportunities
for growth, and so on.

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What else would you
say that young people

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need to do to prepare for
the good jobs of the future?

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Thinking about investments in
your own training and education

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over the course of your
career is a really smart idea.

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One of the things
people should be

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doing is asking their employers
for what opportunities there

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are for advancement,
asking your union

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what can you do to help support
these kind of career ladders,

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looking into things like joint
union and management programs

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that support these
kind of career ladders.

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For example, there's
programs that

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will help people go from a
nursing assistant, to an LPN,

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to a registered nurse.

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And if you can
think of supporting

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those kinds of
trajectories, you can really

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carve out a career
that really let's

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you punch the ticket
to the middle class.

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I think that's good advice.

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Young people have
lots of opportunities

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and they have to
create new ones along

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with the partnership of
the Department of Labor,

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and good employers, and
good labor organizations.

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So thank you very much.

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It's been my pleasure.