Former Labor Secretary Elaine Chao Calls on Americans ‘To Do Their Patriotic Duty’ and ‘Help the Economy’ By Rejoining Workforce
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Elaine Chao, former Transportation Secretary during the Trump administration and Labor Secretary in the Bush administration, called on Americans “to do their patriotic duty” and rejoin the workforce.
Chao, the wife of Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY), noted that the strong October jobs report was a positive sign, and showed that “the economy is coming back, even with Covid-19.”
“Clearly what happened with the discontinuation of the federal benefits on top of the supplemental unemployment insurance benefits must have had an impact as well,” she told Bloomberg’s Balance of Power. “We’re now seeing more and more workers come back into the workforce, because obviously, they no longer have the cushion that they used to have with the supplemental benefits.”
Several unemployment programs established by the CARES Act to offset the impact of the pandemic expired in early September.
However, despite the improvements showcased in last month’s jobs report, Chao underscored that there still is a labor shortage — and attributed some of the recent supply chain issues to it.
“We as a country have to encourage people to come back to work,” she said. “Because what we are seeing in the supply chain crisis is basically the lack of workers. There are not enough people to produce goods and services, and that is putting inflationary pressures on our economy, adding to the woes of the supply chain. So we really need these workers to come back.”
Chao went on to contrast the labor participation rate under her tenure as Labor Secretary to its present rate, claiming “we basically have five million people now who have basically left the workforce.”
“And because of Covid, some people have retired early, some people have decided not to come back,” Chao said. “So this is a real issue. As the economy continues to recover, we’re going to need these workers to do their patriotic duty to come back, and help the economy to come back.”
Watch the interview here, starting at the 25-minute mark.
