Lincoln Journal Star: U.S. labor secretary says Lincoln's new job center will help strengthen economy

Margaret Reist, Lincoln Journal Star

U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh on Thursday touted the Biden administration’s accomplishments and the part Lincoln’s new American Job Center will play in connecting people to the jobs it is creating.

“President Biden’s economic plan is leading to the creation of jobs all across our country,” said Walsh, who came to Lincoln for the grand opening of the city’s new job center at 1330 N St. “But just as important as creating new jobs, we have to make sure people who need these new jobs have access to these jobs.”

Community colleges can help train people for jobs that will be created in the next 10 to 15 years, and Lincoln’s new center helps connect them to that training and work, he said.

“It helps people through their journey to get results,” he said.

Mayor Leirion Gaylor Baird invited Walsh, a former mayor of Boston and Massachusetts state representative, to the grand opening. He quipped that he’s usually invited to states by congressmen or senators but loves seeing mayors “because he knows that’s where the work gets done.”

Gaylor Baird said they dreamed of inviting the secretary of labor several years ago when they first began talking about a new job center.

“We are so honored as we flash forward to today, to have him here in this moment and to demonstrate for him and his team just how impactful their leadership and support is here on the ground for the people of Lincoln,” she said.

Walsh also visited The Bay and toured its workforce development programming and the Lincoln Public Schools focus program there. He was scheduled to meet with students in the focus program and young people in its Gap Year program, designed for 18- to 24-year-olds who have or have not graduated from high school and are looking for a career path.

The U.S. Labor Department supports nearly 2,400 American Job Centers across the country and Lincoln’s center serves about 400 residents a month at no cost to them or employers. The center offers coaching and training programs offered by several state and national government and nonprofit programs.

Nebraska Department of Labor Secretary John Albin said this is the third location for the center in Lincoln and by far the best because of its accessibility for those with disabilities, its central location and proximity to bus routes and parking.

It also boasts a children’s play area, a breastfeeding room, conference and interview rooms and phone booths for clients to make job-search calls privately.

The city used $1.5 million in federal American Rescue Plan Act funds to help build the center. The remaining cost will be paid for through lease payments from the local workforce program and partner agencies.

Walsh reiterated points made by Biden in his State of the Union address: Since the president has taken office, 12 million jobs have been returned or added to the economy since before the pandemic, the nation has a near record-low unemployment rate — and Nebraska’s is even lower, and 800,000 manufacturing jobs have been brought back and another 200,000 created.

Walsh also noted bipartisan legislation, including the infrastructure bill, which will provide $2.6 billion in transportation funding to Nebraska, in addition to helping pay for expanded broadband access and clean drinking water. The Inflation Reduction Act will bring roughly $24 billion of clean power investment to the state through 2030, he said.

While those investments will drive the economy, he said, job centers like Lincoln’s will train veterans transitioning out of service, older and younger workers, immigrants, those with disabilities, people who’ve lost jobs because of downsizing, those who want to start their own businesses or need a second chance.

“We need all of these folks to succeed and they deserve to succeed, not only for the country, but for the city of Lincoln, and the state of Nebraska.”

The audience applauded when Walsh, in answer to a question about workforce shortages, said immigration reform is vital.

“We have always, always, in this country depended on immigration to help our economy and to help our workforce moving forward,” he said. 

In Nebraska, he said, the university is educating foreign students and, if they're not lucky enough to get a visa, sending them back home.

“We’re the only industrialized country in the world that educates people and sends them back home,” he said. “It’s not about the southern border, it's about making sure that we have the workers that we need in the United States of America.”

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