Single mom Elizabeth Paredes is the assistant manager of a sandwich shop in Tucson. She’s paid a flat salary of $24,000 per year. While she routinely puts in 50 or more hours each week, she doesn’t earn a single dime of overtime. That’s because, under outdated rules that govern the overtime eligibility of managers, her employer doesn’t have to pay her for the extra hours she works.

When I was a kid growing up in Buffalo, a job like Elizabeth’s was a well-paying, middle-class job. Being a manager meant being in the middle class. And rightly so. Managers supervise people, open and close the store, handle the money, and make important decisions. They should be able to own a home, raise a family and build a nest egg for retirement.

These were middle-class jobs by design. The blueprint was the Fair Labor Standards Act, which gave most Americans the right to a minimum wage and time-and-a-half pay when they worked more than 40 hours in a week. The Fair Labor Standards Act was the crown jewel of worker protection and helped build the middle class.

But because of both the erosion of the salary threshold over time and concerted policy choices made by the previous administration, that crown jewel has lost its luster. So we’re taking action on behalf of working people like Elizabeth Paredes.

New rule

Today, the Department of Labor announced a significant change to the overtime rule that simply hasn’t been working for working people. In the process, we’re making it simpler for employers to identify which white-collar workers are covered and owed time-and-a-half for work beyond 40 hours in a week.

For decades, th salary threshold under which all white-collar, salaried workers qualify for overtime has failed to keep up with the rising cost of living. In 1975, 62 percent of full-time salaried workers were eligible for overtime protection based on their pay. Today, only 7 percent are eligible under the outdated salary level. The current salary level is so low that it does not effectively identify which white-collar workers are entitled to overtime protection. That is an economy out of balance.

So we’re fixing it. We have more than doubled the salary threshold — lifting it from $23,660 to $47,476 per year. That means some 35 percent of full-time salaried workers, based on their pay, will now be eligible for overtime.

Today we're updating and strengthening #overtime pay rules to make sure millions more Americans are paid fairly. https://t.co/PNxtVNvgqT

— White House Archived (@ObamaWhiteHouse) May 18, 2016

What does this mean?

It means that Elizabeth and other workers like her will finally be entitled to overtime pay. Whether they’re assistant managers at a restaurant or supervisors in the human resources department, white-collar workers who earn below the new salary threshold have their overtime protections restored.

Employers have options for how they respond to the new rule, and they’re likely to do the following:

• Pay time-and-a-half for overtime work.
• Raise workers’ salaries above the new threshold.
• Limit workers’ hours to 40 per week.
• Some combination of the above.

Who benefits?

Today’s rule change, which takes effect on Dec. 1, will benefit 4.2 million workers, making them newly eligible for overtime protections. It clarifies for another 8.9 million salaried workers that they, too, remain entitled to overtime. Now, millions of these middle-class jobs are more likely to be rewarded with middle-class pay, and the millions of Americans who sacrifice family time to work extra will earn extra. If their employer chooses to send them home instead of paying for the extra hours, then it means extra time for family or other professional pursuits.

If you work full-time in America, you should be able to get by; when you work extra, you should be able to get ahead. That’s the commonsense principle we’re reaffirming today. With today’s update to the overtime rule, Elizabeth Paredes and millions like her will be able to punch their ticket to the middle class.

That’s why in his State of the Union address, the President called on Congress to enact policies that will help workers in an ever-changing economy save for retirement and take their retirement savings with them as they change jobs. In every Budget since taking office, the President has proposed to automatically enroll approximately 30 million workers without access to a workplace retirement plan in an IRA. And today, we’re announcing new proposals to help more workers save and test approaches to make savings vehicles more portable and effective for an increasingly mobile workforce.

"And for Americans short of retirement, basic benefits should be just as mobile as everything else is today."

-President Obama, 2016 State of the Union

Today, one out of three workers does not have access to a retirement savings plan, including half of workers at firms with fewer than 50 employees and more than three-quarters of part-time workers. Contractors and temporary employees are often unable to participate in employment-based plans. And workers without access to a plan at work rarely save for retirement: fewer than 10 percent of workers without access to a workplace plan contribute to a retirement savings account on their own. 

Many workers who have a workplace retirement savings plan may have to manage a number of retirement accounts left over from prior employers or complete an often burdensome process to move balances from job to job, assuming their new job allows it. Their careers may be mobile, but too often their retirement accounts and savings are not.

That’s why President Obama is proposing a new program that will provide grants to States and nonprofits to test innovative, more portable approaches to providing retirement and other employment-based benefits. The goal is to encourage development of new models that are portable across employers and can accommodate contributions from multiple employers for an individual worker or independent contractor, as well as contributions from individuals whose work patterns don’t provide reliable amounts of income each month. Good ideas have been raised on both sides of the aisle, but these new approaches are still in their infancy, and we need to figure out what works.

To make it easier for such innovations to occur, we’re also proposing legislation to allow multiple unrelated employers to come together and form pooled 401(k)s, resulting in lower costs and less burden for each employer. Through these “open multiple employer plans” (open MEPs), more small businesses should be able to offer cost-effective plans to their employees, while certain nonprofits and other intermediaries could create pooled plans for contractors and other self-employed workers. As an added benefit, employees moving between employers participating in the same open MEP can continue contributing to the same plan – and receiving employer contributions – even if they switch jobs. And independent contractors participating in a pooled plan using that structure can contribute no matter which client is paying them.

These proposals build on the Administration’s existing proposals to ensure near universal access to workplace retirement accounts by:

• Automatically enrolling approximately 30 million workers without access to workplace plans in IRAs;
• Providing tax credits to encourage small businesses to offer plans and automatically enroll workers in those plans; and
• Ensuring that long-term, part-time workers are allowed to participate in their employer’s retirement plans.

In the absence of Congressional action, we’ve taken administrative steps to promote savings. For example, the Department of Labor proposed regulations and issued guidance facilitating state efforts to create their own retirement savings plans (many of which are modeled on the President’s auto-IRA proposal), and the Department of the Treasury launched myRA, a simple, safe, and no-fee savings option with the same principal-protected return available to members of Congress. IRAs like these offer considerable portability: workers can continue contributing to them even if they switch jobs, although they do not provide for employer contributions. And Treasury and IRS have issued guidance making it easier to roll over and consolidate savings between 401(k)s rather than amassing a number of small accounts over a lifetime.

We’re also working to protect Americans’ hard-earned savings through the Department of Labor’s rule requiring retirement advisers to put their clients’ best interest first, cracking down on the harmful conflicts of interest that sap billions in families’ retirement savings every year. When finalized this year, this rule will protect workers as they consolidate their savings, rolling from one 401(k) to another 401(k) or to an IRA.

So, we’re continuing to make progress toward the vision the President outlined in his State of the Union – for a more portable and secure retirement for all Americans. Today’s proposals represent another step toward that future.

Our nation's continued recovery from the worst recession in generations has given us a lot to celebrate. We saw over 3 million jobs created in 2014, the best year since the end of the Clinton administration. We’re experiencing the longest streak of private-sector job growth on record. Our businesses created more than 200,000 jobs in 15 of the past 17 months -- the first time that has happened since 1995. In 2009, there were seven job seekers for every open job. Today there are fewer than two.

But our job isn’t done yet. While productivity has increased more than 90 percent since 1979, real wages are still not climbing fast enough. A lot of people are back to work, but far too many families are finding it nearly impossible to get ahead.

That’s not just a problem for those families -- it's a problem for us all. Our nation is stronger when prosperity is broadly shared. And as we’ve seen throughout our history, one necessary ingredient of shared prosperity is working people banding together and raising their voices.

By doing just that, the labor movement has made our country better. We have them to thank for the eight-hour work day and the weekend. We have them to thank for safer, healthier workplaces. We have them to thank for model apprenticeship programs that create pathways to the middle class.

These benefits -- benefits that most of us take for granted today -- weren’t inevitable. They were demanded by the working people of this nation -- people who wanted to go to work each day and return home with their dignity and a decent wage; people who wanted their chance to reach for the American Dream.

History has shown that there is a correlation between a healthy middle class and a robust labor movement. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the median weekly earnings for union members last year were $200 a week more than for non-union workers. That's not pocket change -- $200 a week is the difference between paying the bills and worrying about whether the lights will go out.

Median weekly earnings shown are for full-time wage and salary workers. Source: Bureau of Labor Statistics

There's an inverse relationship between union membership and the size of the gap between rich and poor. As the number of workers choosing to be represented by unions increased in the middle of the 20th century, the share of income going to the wealthiest 10 percent declined and prosperity was broadly shared. But as union membership has steadily fallen in recent decades, the share of income going to the top 10 percent has steadily climbed.

Many workers want to exercise their voice through a labor union; some are finding new and innovative ways to come together and be heard. Fast food workers, for example, have captured the attention of the nation with their fight for higher wages. Domestic workers in New York demanded the basic workplace protections enjoyed by most workers, but that had been denied to them for decades. And brave construction workers in Texas came together to stand up for safer working conditions when too many of their colleagues failed to come home at the end of a shift because their employer cut corners on safety.

One of these workers is Dolly Winter, a dispatcher at Citi Bike in New York City, who spoke up for change when she found that she and her coworkers were encountering unfair treatment from management. Together, they joined a union so they could push for better working conditions and equal scheduling opportunities.

Learn more about Dolly’s story when she takes over @LaborSec on Twitter today.

Dolly Winter and other Citi Bike employees at a bike station in New York City (photo via NY Daily News)

At the same time, employers are recognizing the benefits of empowering their employees to build successful, profitable businesses founded on middle-class jobs. Across the country, we’ve seen company after company raise their minimum wage, offer sick and parental leave, and commit to fairer scheduling practices.

President Obama knows that, to make sure that workers partner in building up the U.S. economy and ensuring the benefits of that growth are broadly shared, we must empower more workers with a voice. That's why he is convening a Summit on Worker Voice on October 7. The Summit, which will bring together workers, employers, unions, organizers, and other advocates and experts; will highlight the value of collective bargaining; examine challenges facing workers trying to organize in the 21st century; bring attention to new, innovative ways that workers are coming together to have a voice in their workplaces; and engage employers who are collaborating with their workers to create meaningful partnerships that are good for workers and businesses.

It can't happen without your voice, and we just released a brand-new tool where you can share your individual worker story. Tell us about how you  -- or someone you know  -- has stepped up in your workplace to challenge your employer to treat their employees better.

We have an opportunity, as our recovery continues, to emerge even stronger than before the Great Recession. But we can only do that if we make sure that everyone is contributing to economic growth and sharing in it. The Summit on Worker Voice will energize a new generation of Americans to come together and recognize the potential power of their voice at work.

Ed. note: This is cross-posted on the U.S. Department of Labor's blog. See the original post here.

No young person should have to face the future without hope and optimism. Young people should be excited to learn, to grow, to succeed and to contribute to their communities. But in many disadvantaged neighborhoods and for many young people of color, opportunity gaps strangle hope.

That doesn’t have to be the case — we can do something about it. I believe government has no greater obligation than to help expand opportunity with smart, strategic investments. That’s why, in the last few weeks, the Department of Labor has awarded nearly $22.5 million to seven communities to help connect youth and young adults (ages 16 to 29) with job opportunities.

Durham Mayor, William Bell, Secretary Perez, and County Commissioner Michael Page, with students at My Brother’s Keeper Roundtable in Durham, NC.

The communities receiving grants (Baltimore; Detroit; Houston; Greater St. Louis, including Ferguson; Long Beach, California; North Charleston, South Carolina; and Camden, New Jersey) all face high unemployment, high crime and low graduation rates. A few have experienced recent unrest connected to the police-involved deaths of young black men.

When young people of color are on the sidelines, it hurts them, their families and their communities. But there’s a cost to us all and a drag on the national economy — lost productivity, a shrunken labor force, smothered growth. A new report from the White House Council on Economic Advisers concludes we must close persistent opportunity gaps to maintain our competitiveness in the global economy.

If men of color age 16-54 had the same labor force participation rate as their white male peers, for example, it would increase GDP by 2 percent. And that’s not even counting the 1 in 6 black men who are essentially missing from their communities, primarily because they are incarcerated or they died young. If you add them to the civilian population, the economic impact would be even greater.

President Obama recognizes the value — for individuals, their communities and the nation at large — in making sure every single person can get in the game. That’s why he launched the My Brother’s Keeper initiative more than a year ago, rallying communities nationwide to empower boys and young men of color — helping them to have better schools, sustained mentoring, safer communities and greater hope.

Our DOL demonstration grants will help prepare young people for work in construction, manufacturing, hospitality, health care, IT, transportation and logistics and other growing industries. They will fund an array of critical services, from financial literacy to apprenticeship training to leadership development to mental health and substance abuse counseling. The grants involve partnerships with community and faith based organizations, educational institutions, foundations and employers.

Government can’t meet this challenge on its own. The private sector in particular must be a part of the solution. The recent pledge by a Starbucks-led coalition of employers to hire 100,000 low-income young people over the next three years is the kind of commitment necessary to continue to grow our economy and create a stronger middle class.

Your ZIP code shouldn’t determine your destiny in America. At DOL, working with partners in the business community and elsewhere, we will continue to do everything possible to ensure that everyone, regardless of the circumstances of their birth, can reach their highest and best dreams.

Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter and Instagram as @LaborSec, and join the conversation using #MyBrothersKeeper.

Today, we are taking the next step in President Obama’s historic push for the strongest consumer protections in America’s history. As the President called for in February, the Department of Labor is proposing to update rules to protect Americans saving for retirement and crack down on conflicts of interest in retirement advice that are costing middle-class and working families billions of dollars every year.

The President takes a backseat to no one when it comes to strengthening consumer protections. That’s why he fought to create the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), an independent watchdog that has already enhanced safeguards across mortgage, credit card, debt collection, and student loan servicing markets, while putting more than $5 billion back in the pockets of more than 15 million wronged consumers through enforcement actions. Recently, the CFPB took an important step toward cracking down on abusive practices in payday lending, yet another example of how this critical consumer watchdog is delivering for the American people.

The Department of Labor’s proposed rule adds to those protections, by reflecting a simple, commonsense principle: Retirement advisers should put their clients first and give advice that is in their clients’ best interest.

Too often today, that’s not the case. Retirement advisers and Wall Street brokers can direct their customers to products with higher costs and lower returns simply because they get backdoor payments or hidden fees, often buried in fine print, that encourage them to recommend these bad investments. As hard as it may be to believe, under the current rules, advisers can recommend products that are good for their bottom line but not as good for their clients.

That’s because the safeguards in this area have fallen woefully behind the way people save for retirement. When the rules were last overhauled almost 40 years ago, Individual Retirement Accounts (IRAs) had just been created and employer-based 401(k)s did not even exist. Today, American workers have more than $7 trillion invested in IRAs and more than $4 trillion in 401(k)-type plans. For that reason, getting workers good advice is more important than ever.

To be clear, many advisers are hardworking women and men who got into this line of work to help families achieve retirement security, and already provide high-quality advice that is in their clients’ best interest. Nonetheless, the losses to some middle-class and working families from the existing loopholes are huge.

Poor investment advice stemming from conflicts of interest sap about 1 percentage point of returns every year, and — like compounding interest — these compounding losses mount over time. Over the course of 35 years, a person getting conflicted advice could lose more than a quarter of their expected savings relative to someone getting advice in their best interest. In other words, instead of a $10,000 retirement investment growing to more than $38,000 over that period after adjusting for inflation, it would be just over $27,500.

That’s unacceptable and it has to change.

Today’s proposed rule would ensure that the people providing you with retirement investment advice are working in your best interest. And it includes streamlined, flexible ways to comply with that goal, for example by allowing advisers to enter into a new and enforceable best interest contract before they can receive any payments that might bias their advice. It’s a straightforward agreement so you know you’ll get advice on investing your retirement savings that puts your interests first. 

The many advisers already putting their customers’ best interest first deserve the level playing field for offering quality advice that this rule will provide. In 2010, the Department of Labor put forward a draft of a rule to attempt to create that level playing field — but after significant feedback on how the proposed rule would impact the market for retirement advice, DOL withdrew that proposal and went back to the drawing board. Since then, we’ve worked with industry, consumer groups, retirement advocates, academics, and the public to gather feedback and rework the rule.

Today’s proposal, through enhancements like the best interest contract exemption, makes major strides toward addressing the concerns that were raised. We look forward to receiving additional feedback over the 75-day comment period that will help shape a better, stronger rule that minimizes burdens for those giving good advice. We are committed to getting it right.

But while we expect plenty of good faith input from all manner of commenters, for some special interests and their allies in Congress, the only good rule would be no rule at all. We want to make very clear that inaction is not an acceptable outcome of this process. We believe that any adviser acting in their clients’ best interest should support this rulemaking. And those who aren’t already committed to those same high standards will have to start putting their clients best interest first.

America’s families are losing $17 billion of their hard-earned retirement savings annually — representing tens of thousands of dollars for many individual families over the course of a lifetime of saving. We should all agree that financial advisers should always act in their clients’ best interest. Today marks an important milestone toward that change.

We're also holding a special Tumblr Q&A on Friday about the steps the President has taken to expand opportunity for the LGBT community. Ask your questions on the White House Tumblr, and officials from across the Administration will answer some of them throughout the day on Friday.

Today, President Obama’s Executive Order on LGBT Workplace Discrimination goes into effect. It prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from discriminating on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity. Because of this Executive Order, lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender people employed by federal contractors across the country will now receive new legal protections designed to ensure they are judged by the quality of their work, not who they are or whom they love.

As I said when the Executive Order was announced, this is a civil rights victory consistent with our founding principles. It will mean a more dynamic and inclusive workforce that captures the talents of more of our people. It advances the principle that we should be leaving no one on the sidelines, that America is strongest when it fields a full team.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks before he signs an executive order regarding further amendments to Executive Order 11478, Equal Employment Opportunity in the Federal Government, and Executive Order 11246, Equal Employment Opportunity, to protect LGBT employees from workplace discrimination, in the East Room of the White House, July 21, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Each year, federal contractors and subcontractors receive billions of taxpayer dollars to supply goods, provide services, and perform construction work for government agencies. In return, they are held to a reasonable standard that they may not discriminate in hiring, firing, pay, promotion, and other employment practices. Until today, it was discrimination based on race, color, religion, national origin, disability, and status as a protected veteran that was prohibited. Now, in the first expansion since 1974, LGBT Americans enjoy these same protections.

The obligation not to discriminate covers every type of new and modified federal contract — from companies that build our highways and manage our IT infrastructure to those that run our cafeterias, produce our military uniforms and stock our supply closets. And it applies to every establishment of those contractors and subcontractors — not just the ones directly involved in performing the contract. While these protections for LGBT workers go into effect today, they do not require employers to undertake new record keeping, data analysis, goal setting, or other similar affirmative action. Nor are employees and job applicants required to identify their sexual orientation or gender identity.

Many of the largest federal contractors already ban sexual orientation and gender identity discrimination. They understand that it’s both good for their bottom lines and the right thing to do. And we at the Labor Department have been working hard to make this process as easy as possible for contractors. Compliance assistance and other resources are available online, as is information for workers and job applicants who wish to file a complaint.

Equality under the law means equality under the law for everyone. It means giving everyone the chance to go as far as their hard work will take them. Today is an important mile marker on the path to workplace equality, but our efforts are far from finished. We will move with all haste, bringing to bear the full resources of this department to implement and enforce these new protections on behalf of the LGBT Americans who work for federal contractors.

Today I’m excited to be in Seattle kicking off a nationwide road show that will shine a spotlight on the issue of paid family leave, and I hope you’ll follow along. As I’ve written on the blog before, the United States lags behind the rest of the world on paid leave. But places like Washington State are making progress, and we want to highlight that progress and encourage other states and cities to follow suit. We’re calling the tour, “Lead on Leave: Empowering Working Families Across America.”

With a little help from my team, I’ll be live blogging throughout the day to share updates from my meetings with local businesses, workers and community leaders.

Meet Sydney.

I’ll be joined today by Sydney Marino, a woman who wrote me a letter last fall on why paid leave is important to her family.

Sydney shouldn’t feel forced to make this choice. A great nation should give people the tools to succeed at work and also meet their obligations at home, and that’s why this national conversation on paid leave is so critical.

LIVE on #Periscope: Live from Seattle: Lead on Leave https://t.co/sknyIR5CDS

— Tom Perez (@LaborSec) April 1, 2015

@LaborSec - it was a privilege to meet you. Thank you for your time and listening to my story. The children are our future. #LeadOnLeave

— Sydney Marino (@sydneymarino) April 1, 2015

We head to Molly Moon's Ice Cream.

I just got back from scooping some ice cream at Molly Moon’s, a business that pays its employees a fair wage and, as of today, offers a paid leave policy that will allow employees to receive up to 12 weeks of paid family leave.

Companies that offer family-friendly policies, like Molly Moon’s, benefit from greater worker morale and productivity. They are able to recruit and retain the best talent, and that helps the bottom line. They know that paid leave isn’t just pro-family – it’s pro-business. Employers both small and large understand this; in fact, Microsoft showed its commitment to working families by announcing that they will only contract with vendors and contractors who provide paid leave to their employees.

.@mollymoon is a biz that not only serves delicious ice cream but also offers #PaidLeave to its workers #LeadOnLeave pic.twitter.com/3yB3Z7AaFP

— Tom Perez (@LaborSec) April 1, 2015

Next, it was on to Seattle Central College.

Later in the afternoon I had a dynamic conversation with other employers, legislators, workers and advocates about the issues that matter most to working families in the Seattle area. One small business owner I met told me, “Businesses are nourishing people but are not nourishing their own employees. I wanted to change that."

"Paid leave is a 'when' question, not an 'if' question." —@LaborSec in Seattle during the #LeadOnLeave Tour

— US Labor Department (@USDOL) April 1, 2015

This is a matter of "when," not "if."

Because we haven’t been leading on leave, we are stifling economic growth and holding ourselves back from shared prosperity. For example, in Canada, where they have generous paid leave laws and provide access to affordable child care, women’s labor force participation is considerably higher than it is here in the United States. If we had simply kept pace with Canada since 2000, we would have an estimated 5.5 million more women in the workforce.

This is why paid leave is one of the cornerstones of President Obama’s middle-class economics agenda. He is proposing more than $2 billion in new funds to help get state paid leave programs off the ground, and has directed us at the Labor Department to invest $1 million of existing money for state and local governments to conduct feasibility studies for their own paid leave programs. He also signed a presidential memorandum directing federal agencies to advance up to six weeks of paid sick leave for parents with a new child.

I believe ultimately that a national paid leave law is a question of “when,” not “if.” It’s encouraging to see the progress in places like Washington, but we’ve got a long way to #LeadOnLeave.

Stay tuned for more updates from other states I will visit in the coming weeks.

U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas Perez meets with 15-year-old Ki Fredeen at Cook Inlet Tribal Council’s Fab Lab on Monday, July 21, 2014. Fredeen was showing the Secretary how he uses a 3-D printer to produce small art pieces. (by U.S. Department of Labor)

Ed. note: This was originally posted on the U.S. Department of Labor's blog yesterday. See the original post here.

When President Obama made his first trip to Indian Country earlier this year, he told a compelling story about the impact federal investment and partnerships have in tribal communities. So I was privileged today to participate in the President’s sixth White House Tribal Nations Conference. Because of the challenges tribal communities continue to face with high rates of unemployment and barriers to opportunity, the conference was an important chance to discuss the Department of Labor and Administration’s efforts to create shared prosperity in Indian Country – and to hear from tribal leaders directly about their ideas for expanding and improving our work.

I’m proud of the work we’ve done at the Department of Labor for tribal communities. This summer, I had the chance to visit the Cook Inlet Tribal Council in Anchorage, Alaska. They’re using grant funding awarded through the Department’s Workforce Investment Act – Indian and Native American Program to develop a “Fab Lab,” where students are using the latest advanced manufacturing tools – including a 3-D printer – to gain the skills and training they need to excel in today’s workforce. The department has provided similar funding this year to 180 other tribal nations and Native American organizations, to support innovative job training and youth programs.

I’ve also been touring the country visiting winners of our Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) competitive grant program. These grants support partnerships between community colleges and employers to ensure that job seekers are getting the skills they need for in-demand jobs in industries like technology, health care, energy, and advanced manufacturing. And we’ve awarded more than $38 million in TAACCCT funding to tribal colleges, including $5.1 million in the latest round of funding Vice President Biden announced in September. I look forward to visiting one of the winners next year.

These investments are making a real difference in the lives of Indians and Native Americans. That’s why I was proud to announce today at the White House Tribal Nations Conference that going forward, the Department will ensure that federally recognized tribes can apply for all of our employment and training grants. During the next two months, we’ll be clarifying and changing grant eligibility rules, and developing model grant language to include in our Funding Opportunity Announcements. And to make this effort successful, we want to hear from you.

This month, we will be holding the first of two consultations sessions with tribal leaders to develop a better understanding of the challenges tribal nations face when competing for DOL grants. We’ll also be asking for input on how best to encourage tribal grant eligibility at the department. The consultation will be held via conference call on December 18, 2014, with a second call taking place on January 14, 2015.

To register for the consultation sessions please click below:

December 18, 2014: 4pm – 5pm EST
http://webapps.dol.gov/DOLEvents/Event/View/339

January 14, 2015: 4pm – 5pm EST
http://webapps.dol.gov/DOLEvents/Event/View/340

When tribes compete, they can win. The department will do our part to make sure that tribes can compete. And I look forward to continuing to partner with tribal leaders to ensure that workers in Indian Country have the skills and training they need to succeed in good jobs.

Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter at @LaborSec.

Ed. note: This is cross-posted on the U.S. Department of Labor's blog. See the original post here.

I’ve been involved in civil rights work for a long time, and I’ve seen a lot of victories and setbacks. But in recent years, the speed of our progress on equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Americans has been nothing short of astonishing. The Labor Department has played an important role in that progress, and I’m proud to continue it today.

Today, we are issuing a rule to implement Executive Order 13672, which was signed by President Obama in July, to ensure that federal contractors and subcontractors do not discriminate against employees or applicants based on their sexual orientation or gender identity. As the president put it: “Americans ought to be judged by one thing only in their workplaces: their ability to get their jobs done.”

The federal government should be a model employer, leading and not lagging on these issues. Today’s announcement confirms that the federal contracting system will no longer subsidize exclusion and discrimination. 

Many businesses, large and small, already offer workplace protections to LGBT employees, as do 18 states and the District of Columbia. But far too many people can legally lose their job simply because of their sexual orientation or their gender identity. Thanks to the president’s leadership, that will no longer happen in companies that contract with the federal government.

This is about fairness and opportunity in the American workplace. If we truly believe that we’re all created equal, then we must treat all of America’s workers equally under the law. And we must do our part to ensure that everybody who works hard has the same opportunity to pursue and realize their dreams.

This isn’t just the right thing to do; it’s the profitable thing to do. Ensuring fairness is the best way to attract good workers, to increase productivity and to make sure that we never leave talent on the table. America simply cannot afford that. Moreover, none of us can perform our best when we fear for our livelihood and economic security. A workplace culture based on tolerance and acceptance allows us to bring our whole selves to work.

Over the past century, American presidents have barred discrimination based on race, color, religion, sex and national origin. Today’s announcement is the next step in America’s continued march of progress and expanded opportunity by securing critical workplace rights for our LGBT friends, neighbors and colleagues – more evidence that the long arc of the moral universe continues to bend toward justice.

Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter at @LaborSec.

It’s been almost two years since President Obama first called for an increase in the national minimum wage.

He believes more strongly than ever that no one who works full-time should have to raise a family in poverty. He believes that the current rate of $7.25 per hour undermines our basic bargain, failing to reward hard work with a fair wage.

But Congress hasn’t exactly seen it that way. Republicans have said "no" to even allowing a Senate vote on a bill that would raise the minimum wage to $10.10 -- without adding any new taxes, spending, or bureaucracy -- and meanwhile, public support only continues to grow. Bottom line: They’re not keeping up with the views of people around the country. In Tuesday’s election, a higher minimum wage went five-for-five. By convincing margins, voters in Alaska (69 percent), Arkansas (65 percent), Nebraska (59 percent), South Dakota (53 percent), and Illinois (67 percent) said loud and clear that they want to give hardworking people a raise.

Alaska, Arkansas, Nebraska, and South Dakota (all reliably red states, by the way) will implement changes in their state law, with a total of about 325,000 people set to get a raise. (The Illinois ballot measure was a non-binding resolution urging the state legislature to act.)

These results come on top of coast-to-coast grassroots progress in recent months. Since the beginning of 2013, 13 other states, plus the District of Columbia and several localities, raised their minimum wages, either through referendum or legislative action -- with 7 million Americans set to get a raise from these actions. So that's 17 total states that will now have taken decisive action on raising their minimum wages. And the President -- as part of his year of action -- signed an Executive Order raising the minimum wage to $10.10 per hour for federal contract workers.

Also, the U.S. minimum wage isn’t keeping up with the rest of the world -- we rank third-to-last among OECD nations (when you measure minimum wage as a percentage of median wage).

And the value of the minimum wage isn’t keeping up with the rising cost of living -- it’s lost 20 percent of its value since the 1980s. Let’s take a look at what this means for a family of three: In 1968, a full-time minimum wage worker could support a family of three. Today, a minimum wage job barely covers one person’s basic needs. More than 88% of minimum wage workers are adults, many supporting a family.

To Americans, this isn’t a question of partisanship, but of common sense. They see their neighbors struggling -- choosing between buying a gallon of gas or a gallon of milk. They see their local businesses losing sales because of lagging consumer demand. They know that putting a few more hard-earned dollars in people’s pockets is the right thing and the smart thing to do.

They want everyone to enjoy the benefits of our growing, recovering economy. They want broadly shared prosperity. They’ve demonstrated it with their votes. Now it’s time for Congress to follow the lead of the people they’re elected to represent. It’s time to keep up. It’s time to pass $10.10 for workers across the country.

Today, to mark National Minimum Wage Day (10/10), Cabinet officials, members of Congress, mayors, and other stakeholders participated in events calling for an increase in the minimum wage. Labor Secretary Tom Perez also joined House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi and Congressman George Miller on a national press conference call to discuss the importance of a minimum wage increase.

We also released a short whiteboard video today explaining why we need to give Americans a raise -- and this afternoon, Secretary Perez sent the following message to the White House email list to highlight the video.

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A lot of people are observing October 10 (or 10/10) as National Minimum Wage Day, a day to show support for raising the national minimum wage to $10.10.

But for the millions of hardworking Americans earning the minimum wage, every day is national minimum wage day. Every day, heartbreaking decisions that no one should have to make. Do I pay rent or fix the car? Do I go without this meal so my kids can have more to eat?

If raising the minimum wage seems like a no-brainer, that's because it is. And a new whiteboard video from the White House spells it out -- in less than 2 minutes.

Watch this new video that shows what the average minimum wage earner looks like, and how a higher wage helps all of us. And be sure to pass it on.

Watch on YouTube

The current national minimum wage of $7.25 just doesn't cut it. Not when its value has been eroded by inflation. Not when it buys about 20 percent less than it did when President Reagan took office in 1981.

Raising the minimum wage isn't just the right thing to do to strengthen families -- it's the smart thing to do to strengthen businesses: People would have more money to spend on goods and services. Businesses would see higher productivity and lower worker turnover, too. Without costing taxpayers a single penny.

I've traveled around the country to meet and talk with people who would benefit from a higher minimum wage. People like Austraberta, a 71-year-old grandmother from Texas who's worked as a janitor for more than 30 years -- and still is barely making ends meet.

She said a few more dollars per hour "would be incredible."

That may not seem like much to some. But for Austraberta, it would mean more food on the table, and the hope for a brighter future for her family.

In America, in 2014, we should be able to make that possible for everyone in our country.

And we can:

Right now, there's a bill before Congress that would raise the national minimum wage to $10.10 -- without any new taxes or new spending. And not only would it help workers survive, it would help the whole economy grow.

Make sure to watch the new whiteboard video, and share it with anyone that needs to see it.

Thanks,

Tom

Learn more:

• Read some of the stories that people shared about what raising the wage means to them
• Read our report on progress that's been made around the country
• Check out our interactive state-by-state maps that show why we need to raise the minimum wage
• See how raising the minimum wage will help America's women

Motlow State Community College in Tennessee is working with Bridgestone Tire Company and other employers to expand their mechatronics program, creating a training facility on-site at Bridgestone to prepare students to move quickly into high-skill jobs.

Estrella Mountain Community College is leading a consortium of five Arizona colleges to develop the workforce and talent pipeline required by the region’s energy and mining industries.

Bellevue College in Washington state, together with eight other schools, is launching a program to train veterans and their eligible spouses in the high-demand, high-wage field of health information technology.

All three of these efforts – and many more – are the result of a bold, unprecedented investment the Obama administration has made to expand job-driven training at community colleges nationwide.

The program is called TAACCCT -- that stands for Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training. As acronyms go, I’m not going to say it’s our very best work. But as a commitment to building a 21st century workforce, as a tool to prepare people for the jobs of today and tomorrow, it is second-to-none.

Today, I joined Vice President Biden at the White House for the announcement of the fourth round of TAACCCT grants -- 71 of them in all, worth a total of more than $450 million. That comes on top of the nearly $1.5 billion awarded in the first three rounds. With today’s announcement, roughly 700 colleges nationwide have received TAACCCT funding since 2011.

I’ve seen these grants and the programs they support in action. I saw it last year with Dr. Jill Biden when we traveled to a community college in North Carolina to tour their state-of-the-art program in critical infrastructure. The same day we hopped down to South Florida where another TAACCCT grantee has a top-notch aviation institute.

Most importantly, these grants change lives. Joining us at the White House today was Gary Pollard, a former Army medic who is starting a $60,000-a-year job thanks to cyber technology instruction he received through TAACCCT-supported programs at Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) in Maryland. Last year when I visited the college, I met both Gary and Ginny Quillen, a woman who’s faced considerable challenges in her life. Ginny was abused as a child; she was involved with drugs and served time. But through hard work and resilience, she’s overcome the adversity. And with the Information Assurance and Security certificate she earned at AACC, today she makes $52,000 a year in a job she loves and a field she’s passionate about.

No one receives a TAACCCT grant without putting industry partnerships front-and-center. The idea is to align curriculum with the needs of businesses – so ready-to-work Americans can move right into ready-to-be filled jobs. When employers go to hire graduates of these programs, they can have confidence in the relevance of the credential…because they helped design the credential.

What we’re doing is creating a foundation with a lasting impact. This is a Dwight Eisenhower moment -- TAACCCT is to our skills infrastructure what the interstate highway system was to our physical infrastructure. President Eisenhower took the long view some 60 years ago and invested in the building blocks that continue to power our economy to this day. And decades from now, our grandchildren will benefit from the on-ramps to college and the off-ramps to middle-class jobs that we’re constructing today.

Community colleges are incubators of innovation and opportunity. They are the secret sauce of workforce development, empowering communities, strengthening businesses and invigorating local economies. Today, we’re not just investing in new facilities, technologies or classroom tools; we’re investing in people’s highest and best dreams. And we’re investing not just in today’s needs, but in American prosperity for generations to come.

Earlier this month, I was in Melbourne, Australia representing our government at a meeting of Labor Ministers of the world’s 20 major economies.

After sitting down with my G20 counterparts and learning more about their policies relating to work and workplaces, my main takeaway is that the United States is distressingly behind the curve on paid family leave.

Watch on YouTube

It’s incomprehensible to me that we’re the only industrialized nation without a national paid leave law of any kind. How can we say we’re for family values when so many women in the United States have to jeopardize their livelihood to take a few weeks off from work after giving birth? Should a man have to sacrifice his economic security to take care of his sick mother or his wife returning wounded from active duty?

Our global partners have figured this out, building a solid consensus around these issues. They’ve taken partisanship and ideology out of the debate to recognize this for what it is – a 21st century economic imperative. They’ve discovered that paid leave, child care and similar policies increase our human capital by bringing more women into the labor force. They know it’s possible to have a growing economy, thriving businesses and family-friendly workplaces. They’ve realized we have to give people the tools to be productive employees and attentive parents – the two aren’t mutually exclusive, they go hand-in-hand.

Consider these examples:

• Canada guarantees at least 15 weeks of paid maternity leave, with some employee cost- sharing as part of the national employment insurance system. Parental leave is 37 weeks shared between both parents with similar payments. There is also child care support of $100 per month for children under six.
• The United Kingdom allows women to take up to 52 weeks of maternity leave (including 39 weeks with pay), in addition to a range of options for paternity leave.
• Australia offers up to 18 weeks of parental leave with financial support, and at 5.8 percent its unemployment rate is lower than ours. The conservative Australian government didn’t embrace this policy grudgingly; they made it a centerpiece of their campaign platform and want to extend it to 26 weeks with more financial support.
• Brazilian unemployment is comparable to ours, but their women get 120 days of leave at 100 percent pay.
• Japan offers paid maternity leave at slightly reduced salary and benefits for up to 14 weeks of total leave. Moreover, Prime Minister Abe has made “Womenomics” – increasing GDP by boosting female labor force participation — a cornerstone of his governing agenda.

So, where does that leave us? While the rest of the world leans in, we’re still falling behind.

Unfortunately, there isn’t much appetite in this Congress for forward progress on these issues. But instead of waiting for leadership from Capitol Hill, we’re incentivizing reforms at the state level where so much public policy innovation takes place. Later this week, I’ll announce the winners of $500,000 in total grants for states to explore the feasibility and evaluate the effectiveness of paid leave policies. Currently, California, Rhode Island and New Jersey stand alone as states with paid family and medical leave laws.

Our pressing challenge right now is to ensure shared prosperity, to build an economy that works for everyone. That means investing in the middle class, rewarding hard work and responsibility, ensuring that everyone has a chance to succeed. Paid leave has to be at the center of those efforts.

Last night, New York Mets second baseman Daniel Murphy participated in Major League Baseball’s All-Star Game – proof positive that you can perform peerlessly at your job while still taking care of your family at critical moments. Murphy made headlines a few months ago when he chose to miss the first game of the season to be with his wife after she gave birth to their child.

Murphy’s story is one about having the right priorities and being faithful to your values, even in the face of criticism. But his story is about something else very important – the power of membership in a strong labor union, which can use collective bargaining to secure paternity leave and other essential benefits.

Three weeks ago, a crowd of more than a thousand – workers, business leaders, policymakers, advocates, and more – gathered at the first White House Summit on Working Families to ignite a conversation about how to provide more people with the same workplace benefits and protections enjoyed by Daniel Murphy. And the labor movement, which has been in the vanguard of this struggle, played a prominent role.

We heard at the summit from prominent labor leaders like SEIU President Mary Kay Henry, AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Liz Shuler, and Ai-jen Poo, director of the National Domestic Workers Alliance. But union rank-and-file were also out in full force.

A delegation of 50 members of the United Steelworkers came to the summit, including Elva Martes of Local 6621 in Ohio. “Belonging to a union at a young age,” Elva said, “gave me the opportunity to provide for my daughter with paid sick time, vacation time and equal pay.”

John and Krista Brooks of San Mateo, California were there too. Krista is a graduate of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers’ apprenticeship program and John is a third-year apprentice. Thanks to California’s paid leave law, both Krista and John were able to take time off without sacrificing a paycheck when their daughter was born.

Kay Thompson of Brooklyn, New York spoke at the summit. She has worked for 20 years at Macy’s in midtown Manhattan. And as a proud member of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (a UFCW affiliate), she has a flexible scheduling arrangement that has allowed her to get her four daughters ready for school in the morning and to take one of the girls for treatment at an asthma specialist that is only open once a week.

Union members not only earn higher median wages; they are more likely to have paid sick leave, short-term disability, and employer-provided child care. Giving people a voice at work – the ability to organize and negotiate for their fair share of the value they helped create – is absolutely essential to a growing, vibrant middle class.

As we lean in on paid leave and these other issues, we need everyone – unions, employers, workers, and policymakers – working together on win-win solutions to make our families stronger, our workplaces more productive, and our economy more competitive in the 21st century.

Tom Perez is Secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor. Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter as @LaborSec and join the conversation on these issues using the hashtag #FamiliesSucceed.

Congress is back in session this week, and if members have been listening to their constituents they will move quickly to raise the federal minimum wage, which has lost 20 percent of its purchasing power since the 1980s. But absent action from Capitol Hill, states are taking up the slack.

In March, President Obama and I visited Central Connecticut State University with four New England governors who are leading the charge to reward hard work with a fair wage. Three weeks after our visit, Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut signed a bill raising Connecticut’s minimum wage. And in the last month alone, Govs. Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Deval Patrick of Massachusetts and − as recently as last Wednesday − Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island have followed suit.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks on the minimum wage at Central Connecticut State University in New Britain, Connecticut. He is joined by Gov. Dannel Malloy of Connecticut; Labor Secretary Thomas Perez, Gov. Peter Shumlin of Vermont, Gov. Lincoln Chafee of Rhode Island and Gov. Deval Patrick of Massachusetts. March 5, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

These state leaders are answering the call of low-wage workers who want nothing more than the dignity of being able to support their families, men and women who have to make heartbreaking decisions every day about which bill to pay or which meal to skip. These governors and their legislatures are also listening to employers who understand that paying higher wages is a sound bottom-line investment, leading to more consumer spending, which helps businesses to compete and the economy to grow.

The four New England states join nine others (plus the District of Columbia) that have raised their wage floor since the beginning of 2013. Twenty-two states and D.C. now have minimum wages higher than the federal level of $7.25 per hour. And President Obama has taken executive action to increase the minimum wage for private sector workers on federal construction and service contracts.

Hopefully, members of Congress are watching. They have it in their power to lift 2 million people out of poverty by passing legislation that will increase the minimum wage nationwide to $10.10 per hour. The time for this step is long overdue. Too many people are working harder but falling further behind, forced to subsist on food stamps and other forms of public assistance, desperately trying to build a better life for themselves and their families.

It’s time to follow the example of so many states and give our workers the raise they deserve.

You can learn more about the summit and how you can get involved at www.workingfamiliessummit.org.

On the first Friday of every month, the Labor Department announces new employment numbers that help set the tone for the conversation about our economy and where it's headed.

But that's not the only set of data on my mind. My older daughter, who will leave for college in a few months, just played her last high school varsity lacrosse game, and I kept the team statistics this season (Amalia had 15 goals and 14 assists, in case you were wondering).

Involvement in my kids' sports teams is something I have made time for over the years. I've also been able to coach all three of them in baseball and basketball, something that has strengthened our bonds and given me indescribable joy. I wouldn't trade it for anything. I lost my own father when I was 12, and I am the same age today that he was when he died suddenly of a heart attack. So when it comes to family time, I have a strong sense of the fierce urgency of now.

But I'm lucky. I've had jobs that allow me the flexibility to achieve work-life balance, to be there when one of the kids sinks a jump shot or for the parent-teacher meetings. I can move tasks around. If I don't get something done at the office at 4:30 in the afternoon, I can go back to it at 10:00 in the evening.

But if you work in retail or in hospitality or at a call center, or if you need to take a second job at night to make ends meet, you probably don't have that option, and you can't be there for your kids. Often, it's not just about missing a game. It means you can't help with homework. It means you can't be involved enough to know when your kids are in trouble at school. Or it means if they get sick in the middle of the day, you have no way to pick them up.

I think our families deserve better. They shouldn't have to choose between the family they love and the job they need. And it's not just about being able to put food on the dinner table -- it's about being able to actually be at the dinner table as well. The most important family value of all is time with your family.

That's why we're convening the Summit on Working Families -- to tackle issues like childcare, paid leave and equal pay that speak to the anxieties that keep people awake at night. These issues go to the heart of middle-class economic security. Addressing them is part of fully restoring America's basic bargain -- that if you work hard and take responsibility, you will have a chance to succeed.

We are way behind the rest of the world when it comes to progress on this front. Everything has changed in recent decades -- the economy, technology, cultural attitudes, the demographics of the workforce, the role of women in society and the structure of the American family. It's about time our laws caught up. We watch Modern Family on television, but we're still living by Leave It To Beaver rules.

I'm proud to be Secretary of Labor. But I'm even prouder of two more important titles: dad and husband. I've been able to be all three. I want all working people, no matter what their jobs are, to be able to meet their obligations both at work and at home.

Related links:

• Here's how the picture has changed for working dads.
• Get involved with the White House Summit on Working Families.
• Learn how the President is taking action to ensure equal pay for women.
• Get the facts on how raising the wage will help women succeed.
• Get an economic update on the state of women in the workforce.

To realize President Obama’s vision of opportunity for all, it’s all about making the right match. The way we do that is through job-driven training — connecting ready-to-work Americans with ready to be-filled jobs. It helps more people secure a foothold in the middle class and helps businesses to profit and grow.

Today, we’re announcing that we’re providing up to $150 million for states, through a new Job Driven National Emergency Grants program, to invest in programs that help dislocated workers, who’ve lost a job through no fault of their own, get back in the game. I’ve met so many people who’ve been out of work for six months or more, proud and hard-working people who’ve exhausted their unemployment benefits. Their full-time job is looking for a full-time job. They’re pounding the pavement every single day. These grants will help them find the job opportunities they need and deserve.

These grants are designed to increase the capacity of work-based training models, like Registered Apprenticeship and on-the-job training programs, which have a proven record of success. The idea is to give workers the chance to “learn and earn”, developing skills while earning a paycheck. With on-the-job training, employers who participate can actually use this funding to offset the cost of training and temporarily cover a portion of the wages for the folks they hire.

I know these programs work because I’ve seen it for myself. Vice President Biden and I were in Nashua, New Hampshire last month, where we met Elizabeth LaFontaine. Elizabeth did everything right. She got her degree from the University of New Hampshire and went to work for a financial services firm. But after eight years in the same job, she was laid off unexpectedly. She needed help finding her path forward, so she went to the local American Job Center, run by the Labor Department, and they connected her with an on-the-job training program. Now she’s back at work as a financial adviser.

Earlier this year at the White House, I met Gary Locke, also from New Hampshire. After being laid off from his video production job, he sent out 180 resumes but was still unemployed for more than a year. But we linked him up with Ben Bassi, CEO of a web development and digital marketing firm, who was looking to hire skilled workers. Gary got the on-the-job training he needed to move into one of Ben’s jobs and is going gangbusters now. This is a good example of what I like to call the “Match.com” role that we at the Labor Department play – connecting employers with job-seekers.

We’ve also launched a new online initiative called “Find Your Path” to help raise awareness of the many ways that federally-funded job training programs help connect millions of Americans with companies looking to hire and grow. It’s an easy-to-use portal featuring information on programs like the ones funded by today’s training grant and others like them, with news, success stories, and opportunities to share your story. It’s one more way that we’re setting out to make the perfect match by helping you find the path that’s right for you, whether you’re looking for a new career or looking to hire.

Follow Secretary Perez on Twitter as @LaborSec.

Didn't get the email? Make sure you're signed up for White House updates.

Hey, all --

Last Friday, I spoke at a rally in Cleveland about raising the minimum wage. While I was there, I had the opportunity to talk with 11-year-old Jesseca Hudson, who came out to show her support.

Before I'd even boarded my plane back to D.C., she had already emailed me, telling me how she wanted to help in the fight to give millions of workers the wages they deserve.

Jesseca doesn't think that someone working full-time should struggle to make ends meet. But full-time workers earning the current federal minimum wage of $7.25 only earn about $14,500 a year in wages -- below the poverty line for a family of two.

That's unacceptable. And it's why the President has called on Congress and state governments to raise the minimum wage to $10.10 an hour -- and on businesses to act on their own to increase the pay of their workers.

If you agree, then add your name, and share why you think we need to raise the wage.

Raising the minimum wage to $10.10 will benefit about 28 million workers across the country. And it will help businesses, too -- raising the wage will put more money in people's pockets, which they will pump back into the economy by spending it on goods and services in their communities.

The bottom line: America deserves a raise.

And it's not just 11-year-olds that understand why it's a problem that the minimum wage has lost nearly a third of its value since its peak in 1968. Nearly three out of four Americans agree we should raise the wage.

If you agree it's time that we answer the President's call to increase the minimum wage and reward honest work, add your name and share why.

Thanks for your help.

Secretary Tom Perez
Department of Labor

Secretary of Labor Tom Perez with Jesseca Hudson, 11, of Cleveland after talking at the SEIU District 1199 building in Cleveland on Friday, March 28, 2014. (U.S. Department of Labor)

Ed. note: This is cross-posted on the U.S. Department of Labor's (Work in Progress) blog. See the original post here.

As I travel across the country, I hear stories from so many remarkable Americans who inspire me to work harder every day. In Cleveland this morning, I spoke at a rally about the importance of raising the minimum wage. While I was there, I talked with 11-year-old Jesseca, who came out to show her support for giving millions of workers the dignity and respect a hard day’s work deserves. I gave her my business card – as I do with many people I meet on the road. Before I boarded the plane back to D.C., I got this email in my inbox:

Sent: Friday, March 28, 2014 2:23:31 PM
To: Thomas Perez
Subject: Minimum Wage Tour Cleveland

Dear Mr. Thomas Perez,

My name is Jesseca Hudson I would first like to thank you for noticing me at the “Raise the Minimum Wage Rally.” I learned that families have a hard time trying to take care of the people they love and themselves because of low wages. Tracey a low wage worker struggles day to day to take care of people she love and herself. She would really like to do something fun for her grandchild.

I believe as an 11 year old I can help because I am young and people love to hear stories from kids about world events and about how kids are involved to make a difference. I think it is good for the government to help struggling people.

I look forward to working with you and your group.

Yours truly,

Jesseca M. Hudson

Jesseca’s right. Kids can and do make a difference. With her speaking up, I feel confident about the future of our country. I encourage all Americans — and Congress — to join Jesseca in her call to reward hard work with a fair wage.

Didn't get the email? Make sure you sign up for updates from the President and other White House officials.

Several weeks ago, I met Semethia and Anna.

Semethia's a 36-year-old single mom. Her son hopes to go to college one day. Her daughter wants to take gymnastics lessons. But with a service job that pays just $8.25 an hour, Semethia relies on food stamps and help from friends and family just to keep food on the table -- much less build the future she'd like for her kids.

Anna works as a tip server at two local D.C. restaurants. She doesn't yet have to support a family, but she still struggles to make ends meet when she's relying on tips to get by -- and she sees the tough decisions her colleagues make every day. One of her coworkers recently missed her son's birthday party in order to cover a shift -- that's how badly she needed the money to support her family.

You see, when we talk about the kind of folks whose lives will be made better by raising the minimum wage, we're not talking about a couple teenagers earning extra spending money to supplement their allowance. We're talking about providers and breadwinners. Working Americans with bills to pay and mouths to feed.

And right now, millions of them are trying to do that on just $7.25 an hour.

We can change that. We can raise the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour, we can do it right now, and we should. If you agree that it's high time we do -- that America's workers deserve a raise -- then add your name right here.

The President said this in his State of the Union, and we can't lose track of it: Here in America, no one working full-time should have to raise a family in poverty.

Think about that for a second: Right now, around the country, there are parents who, despite working full-time jobs, are living below the poverty line. We're better than that.

This is the right thing to do for our workers, and it's the right thing to do for our economy. If you agree, then say so here: It's time to raise the federal minimum wage.

Thank you,

Tom

Secretary Tom Perez
Department of Labor

You might also like:

• Share this: Raise the wage to $10.10
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• Learn more about why we need to raise the wage

When I became labor secretary a little over six months ago, I made increasing the minimum wage one of my top priorities. During the time since, I’ve met with hard-working Americans who’ve shared with me their heart wrenching stories about what it’s like to live on the minimum wage, making constant choices between things like paying the rent or putting food on the table.

In the wealthiest nation on earth, no one who works a full time job should have to live in poverty. That’s a fundamental value proposition, an article of faith in our country that I know an overwhelming majority of Americans agree on.

Today I had the chance to hear from twenty men and women who run businesses, including many who own small businesses. They’ll be directly affected by any increase in the minimum wage. I learned it’s not just workers who support a federal increase; What I heard from these business owners is that raising the wage would help their businesses, too, by putting more money in the pockets of those in their communities. Here’s what a few of them had to say:

Charmington’s Cafe in Baltimore, Md.

Amanda Rothschild runs a small café in Baltimore in which she pays her employees just above the current federal minimum wage, and she does so because it’s good for her bottom line. She told me that when you put more money in workers’ pockets, they stay on the job longer which reduces turnover and training costs: “Our training costs would be significantly higher if we paid lower wages and we had the kind of turnover that you typically see in a restaurant.” She also said that she wants to see an increase in the minimum wage so that more people in her community could spend money in her café.

Emory Knoll Farms in Street, Md.

John Shepley runs Emory Knoll Farms, a small wholesale nursery in Maryland. He makes a strong economic argument for paying those at the bottom of the income ladder a little bit more: “They’re spending 100-percent of their take-home pay in the local economy. It’s recirculating. They’re spending it on rent, groceries, cars, new tires – all the things you need to live.”

Vintage Vinyl in St. Louis, Mo.

Lew Prince runs Vintage Vinyl, a record store in St. Louis and is a survivor in an industry that’s seen a significant downsizing in recent years. He echoed Amanda’s words that increasing the minimum wage would lead to worker retention and a stronger local economy:: “I’m in an industry where 60% of the businesses are closed in the 21^st century. If you think about having a relationship with your community and a relationship with your customers, it starts with your relationship to your employees.”

These business owners are not alone. A broader coalition and consensus is emerging. Yesterday I was in Silicon Valley where I met with business leaders and employers who aren’t directly paying any of their workers the minimum wage. But even they understand the issues that affect their bottom line. They want to make sure that people have money in their pockets to buy the products they’re making.

The take-away from these conversations is simple: When we lift the wage floor, it not only betters the lives of those whose wages are directly affected, it also lifts the economy as a whole.

The business leaders I’ve talked to in the last few days shatter the myth that a higher minimum wage hurts the bottom line. They know that our economy is powered by consumer demand, and it will benefit from more money in the pockets of working families who will spend it on goods and services. Better than anyone, business leaders know that leads to business growth and job creation. It’s time Congress acted to #raisethewage.

Today I went up to Capitol Hill, on behalf of the president, to join Leader Nancy Pelosi and Rep. George Miller in supporting an increase in the federal minimum wage to $10.10 an hour.

Even though we won’t recognize the holiday until Monday, today is actually Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 85^th birthday. And in championing this cause, we are carrying forward his legacy. In 1966, he said:

We know of no more crucial civil rights issue facing Congress today than the need to increase the federal minimum wage…

But it’s not just civil rights visionaries who have understood the imperative of wage growth. Exactly 100 years ago, no less a capitalist than Henry Ford took an unheard-of step — he doubled the wages of the workers on his Dearborn, Mich., assembly line, with this explanation:

If we can distribute high wages, then that money is going to be spent and it will serve to make storekeepers and distributors and manufacturers and workers in other lines more prosperous and their prosperity will be reflected in our sales. Countrywide high wages spell countrywide prosperity.

A century later, that is still true. Raising the minimum wage isn’t just pro-worker; it’s pro-economic growth. Putting money in the pockets of working families, as Henry Ford explained, means they’ll spend it on goods and services, which in turn helps businesses thrive and create more jobs.

That’s why 75 percent of Americans − including so many business leaders I speak to − support a higher federal minimum wage. That’s why there’s a proud bipartisan history of raising the wage.

Who Makes What: #MinimumWage Up in 13 States (Department of Labor)

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The typical minimum wage earner is a provider and a breadwinner – most likely a woman – responsible for paying bills, running a household and raising children. How can we expect her to get by on a wage that, in real terms, isn’t worth as much as it was in the 1950s?

The value of the minimum wage simply hasn’t kept up with the cost of living, including the essentials a family needs to survive: a gallon of milk, a gallon of gas, monthly rent, a pair of children’s shoes and more.

Wages also haven’t kept up with workers’ output. Since 1979, productivity has increased more than 90 percent, but real average hourly earnings have gone up only 3.2 percent.

President Obama believes that income inequality is one of the most pressing matters facing the nation. If we are going to be a country that provides ladders of opportunity and believes in a thriving middle class, then we have to raise the minimum wage.

But don’t take my word for it. In recent weeks, I’ve had the privilege of meeting with many low-wage workers – proud men and women who want nothing more than a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work. I’ve looked into their eyes and seen their struggle and their sacrifice; their dignity and self-respect.

They wake up every morning and do their jobs. Now it’s time for Congress to do its job. It’s time to give minimum wage workers the raise they need, the raise they’ve earned, the raise they deserve. 

Labor Day 2013 is special. This year marks the centennial of the U.S. Department of Labor – 100 years of working for America’s workers. And this past week, our nation reaffirmed the ideals of the 1963 March on Washington. This transformational event, exactly 50 years ago, was just as much about labor rights as it was about civil rights.

For me, just like so many others then and now, these two movements are inextricably intertwined, their interests converging time and time again, their goals united in creating opportunity for all.

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For a guy like me who grew up in an immigrant family from Buffalo, the past few days have been pretty heady. At the Lincoln Memorial Wednesday, I couldn’t help but wonder if The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. ever imagined that half a century after he stood on these steps, another African-American man would stand there – as president?

For a moment, I celebrated how far we have come. And then I remembered that we also have a long journey still to complete.

I couldn’t help but wonder what was going on at the Labor Department 50 years ago. What was my predecessor doing and thinking, as the March on Washington began right outside his office windows, and on the eve of Labor Day 1963?

Well, it turns out, President Kennedy’s labor secretary, Willard Wirtz, was in the thick of it. Immediately after the march, Wirtz joined Kennedy and Vice President Johnson at an Oval Office meeting with Dr. King and other march leaders. A few days later, over Labor Day weekend, Wirtz was asked on a Sunday news talk show what was “most urgently on the minds” of the marchers. He replied: “Equality of opportunity in general, but the necessity particularly of equality of opportunity for work.”

Opportunity. Then and now, it’s about opportunity.

Fifty years later, on my first Labor Day as labor secretary, I’ll be going on talk shows to discuss opportunity, too. In fact, I want everyone to see the U.S. Department of Labor as the “Department of Opportunity.”

For 100 years, the department has played a critical role in creating opportunity and moving the nation forward. Our grit and determination has been put to the test recently, as we’ve endured the most crippling recession in 80 years.

We’ve turned a corner, thanks in large measure to the vision of the president and the work of the Labor Department. We’re creating jobs again, unemployment is at its lowest since 2008, and our economy continues to grow as we provide affordable health care for every American.

But again, there is still so much more to do … in skills training and education, workplace safety and health, retirement security and job creation. And in particular, we must do more to ensure an honest day’s pay for an honest day’s work.

People who work full-time in America should not have to live in poverty – simple as that. Too many jobs don’t pay enough to get by, let alone get ahead. Too many people are finding the rungs on the ladder of opportunity further and further apart. Workers around the country are bravely raising their collective voice and taking action to demand fair wages. We need to hear these voices. They are acting in the proud tradition of the marchers 50 years ago who took action for justice and dignity.

In his Wednesday speech, President Obama challenged us to address widening income inequality that is eroding the American Dream, invoking the marchers of 50 years ago who were engaged in that same struggle for economic justice. I join the president in the call for a higher minimum wage. It’s not just a moral imperative; it’s economic common sense. When we put more money in working families’ pockets, it boosts consumer demand, helping small businesses and jump-starting the entire economy.

Let’s use Labor Day 2013 as an opportunity to reflect on the men and women whose heads, hearts and hands have made ours the strongest economy the world has ever known.

Let’s spend this day honoring those who marched then, and those who march now. Let’s draw inspiration from their stories; emulate their strength and resolve; summon their dignity and courage.

Let’s do right by them.

And let’s create more opportunity for more working people in the years ahead.