Shortly after Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans, I traveled there with other members of Congress. We flew in helicopters to survey entire neighborhoods submerged in dirty water. Those neighborhoods not underwater were abandoned. We toured the 9th Ward and saw the broken levees. Trash was everywhere. We visited hospitals jammed to over-capacity and in chaos. We met with students at a local public school.
I knew then that we would have a lot of work to do to restore the community's trust, respect and confidence in government. When I returned home to Los Angeles, I donated cleaning supplies and clothing to displaced hurricane victims. A small gesture, but I hoped to encourage others to do whatever they could to help, no matter what that was.
During the visit, I was often at a loss for words... because the only word that kept coming to my head was "loss" -- loss of life, loss of homes, loss of jobs, loss of contact, loss of hope.
The loss of community was something I felt immediately, and something I feared would continue long after the camera crews left. Those fears turned into reality: approximately 1.5 million residents left Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama after Katrina. Only 73 percent returned within a year.
Those who did come back returned to communities that ― despite a culture of perseverance ― faced tremendous challenges. Families returned home to literally pick up the pieces. Employers returned to businesses without employees or customers. And for many, the jobs local workers once held did not return with them.
Over the last five years, the U.S. Department of Labor has mobilized incredible resources to help workers in this area get the training and education they need to rebuild their communities, their livelihoods and their lives. Through a number of National Emergency Grants, the Department was able to assist workers affected by layoffs and help fund the cleanup. Our Career OneStop centers were then ― and remain now, in the aftermath of the BP oil spill ― an invaluable resource for those looking to return to work.
Recently, through the Recovery Act, we were able to invest more than $55 million in Louisiana alone. This money went directly to fund training and education programs that we know work. As a part of ongoing efforts related to the Workforce Investment Act, 85 percent of dislocated workers who complete a Department of Labor-sponsored program find a job within a year.
Not only is the Department of Labor helping to ease the transition from lost jobs to new jobs, we are also preparing workers for in-demand careers in high-growth industries. We've invested more than $9 million in community organizations throughout Louisiana to help prepare workers for employment in high-growth sectors such as transportation and health care.
True, some jobs that have been lost aren't coming back. But new businesses, processes and jobs are surfacing to take their place, and I want to make sure that all workers have the skills and experience they need to compete for and succeed in those jobs.
Five years ago, I went to New Orleans as a member of Congress to survey Katrina's destruction. I returned there a few months ago, as the U.S. Secretary of Labor, to get a firsthand look at the oil spill cleanup. I've come to realize that the story of New Orleans isn't about loss. At its heart, it is a story of how people find the will to succeed.
Hilda Solis is the Secretary of Labor.
Read more from the Hurricane Katrina: 5 Years of Remembering & Rebuilding series.
Follow Sec. Hilda Solis on Twitter: www.twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL
Wyclef Jean: New Orleans' Rebuilding: An Inspiration
So time to end the "they are taking our jobs" routine. A study by the Heritage Foundation several years back, which is a very conservative foundation found that immigrants both illegal and legal where very good for the economy. Loyalist needs to drive Highway 99 in California and turn his head left and right......that's the Central Valley, the largest agriculture center in the world...who pulls those almonds off the trees? Who pulls that cabbage out of the ground? Not ex-accountants from LA with college degrees....or...."labor saving devices!?" AHAHAHA
Time for you to grow up and join the space age.
Dateline or 60 Minutes or one of those shows recently showed legal transient farm workers having difficulty finding work due to illegals and machinery.
I can remember when American teenagers used to pick peaches during the summers and plenty of legal citizens work in restaurants, child care, home cleaning, lawn service, gardening etc. and lots of them are now out of work and need jobs now too.
who are flooding the U.S. in the healthcare field. Recent American University grads
here in the U.S.A , I mean 'citizens' who were born here, whose parents were born here
and whose great grandparents were born here are being bi-passed for jobs
in the healthcare profession by workers from other countries. Our U.S. students
are highly qualified but are left with no job prospects and a student loan
that will take as long as a 30 year morgage on a house to repay.
This country has been sold out. Who is going to stop this madness
and put a check on this abuse by limiting the number of masses taking jobs away
from out college grads and citizens?
G4S chief secure in knowledge he's recession-proof
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/industry/7970818/G4S-chief-secure-in-knowledge-hes-recession-proof.html
With the WP Top Secret Inc. articles recently, it's starting to seem like there's a Security Have's (jobs) racket going on (vs. the HaveNot's jobs). Maybe Ms. Solis and Ms. Napolitano should get on the same page about government contracting-outsourcing and jobs.
1). Don't scare people, but give them a heads up on beign prepared, not for disaster, but for a changes in life. This should be the fundemental thinking for education as well.
2). Don't expect people to simply understand that if there neighbor gets hurt, Government does not always have a way to help. Most of the time solution is faster through direct citizen action. Security is the only thing the Government can really guarantee: water and food and shelter is more often fasted from nieghbor to neighbor.
3) Lastly, when things look like they might go bad, ask for help early and often. Most of our citizens still have independent streak that won't go away until things are so dire, so askew that people get hurt or die. Don't ever wait... cause it may be too late.
DenverJJ
It includes an endorsement by John M. Miano, founder of the Programmers Guild
http://www.lanitepublishing.com/
False Prophets of False Profits by Lanite Publishing
"False Prophets of False Profit$
The Economic Crisis of Americans
Secrets behind the US economic crisis--and a model for recovery.
You get laid off. They get a bonus.
"If someone steals your wallet you have more protection than if they
steal your job."
"The media has been glaringly silent while millions of Americans have
lost critical high-tech jobs, and while billions of dollars of US
technologies have been transferred into foreign hands."
[snip]
About The Author
The Knowledge Foundation for America, LLC was formed to help preserve
our American way of life, and to provide a better future for our
children. The foundation is dedicated to researching, analyzing, and
exposing factors that jeopardize the well-being of Americans..."
I will post a reply to this comment on who/what The Knowledge Foundation for America, LLC is. Google has hits for sites selling the book, but no hits for that group's own site.
Wait a minute.
we blame everybody else in the world for subsidies to their own economy (anyone remember ms or mrsTyson of CLinton not to speak of Bush?) but we WE made China -a communist country with the complete control by the state of the economy and of the currency, -our biggest trade partner and enriched them with our jobs our research our future (stolen openly, daily as we speak),
THis is the rub and nobody speaks about doing a thing about it. We can't fix the economy BECAUSE WE HAVE EXPORTED IT TO CHINA. To fix our economy we have to ask permission from the CHinese. No retraining or inventiveness or ideas will work unless we know the jobs will stay here: what is the point of creating new jobs new research if the CEOs and the politicians move everything to CHina the next day? This cannot continue.
Bush wasn't good at feeling our pain. So this is were Obama comes in. He, like Clinton (who started free trade with China BTW) is good at "feeling our pain." So his job is to get us to all calm down and accept the new normal.
So far I think Obama is doing a great job of calming people down.