Former Secretary of Labor points out that women still hold more than 60 percent of minimum wage jobs.
By: Steve Rauscher
NEW BRUNSWICK Though more than half of all college graduates and college students in America are women, women still hold more than 60 percent of minimum wage jobs. That puzzling dichotomy highlights one of the many challenges facing women in the workplace of the 21st century, according to Alexis Herman, former Secretary of Labor under President Bill Clinton.
Ms. Herman spoke at Rutgers University last month, painting in broad strokes the issues surrounding the role of women in the new economy.
Picked to hold the rotating Senator Wynona Lipman Chair in Women’s Political Leadership at the university this winter, Ms. Herman paid tribute to the trailblazing African-American state senator in whose name the position was created.
"She didn’t care too much about being the first this or the first that," Ms. Herman the first African-American to be Secretary of Labor told the mostly female audience of about 75. "My favorite quote of hers, and I love to quote, is ‘If you’re interested in making a change, it’s not enough to know important people; you have to become important people.’ "
Ms. Herman came to prominence as the youngest director of the Women’s Bureau, appointed at 29 by President Jimmy Carter. She has become known as an advocate for low-income women in the workplace.
Ms. Herman broke down the issues facing women in the new economy into three categories: the need to invest more in the training of the workforce, the need to create a balance between work and family life, and the need to leverage the growing diversity in the workplace.
"We live in a knowledge-based economy that is powered by knowledge, fueled by technology, and transformed by globalization," Ms. Herman said. "It is an economy where skills will matter more than ever."
Just 20 years ago, she said, the workforce was 60 percent unskilled, 20 percent skilled, and 20 percent professional. Since then number of skilled workers has climbed to 60 percent. By the age of 32, the average worker will have changed jobs nine times, placing a greater emphasis on the acquisition of a broad range of skills, Ms. Herman said.
"I know that when I was younger, it was unheard of to hire somebody who had changed jobs nine times," she said. "It would have been a clear sign of instability. But today it is a sign of mobility, and the clear transferability of skills."
But the importance of knowledge and skills in today’s workplace puts those who do not possess them at a disadvantage. Ms. Herman said that the earnings gap between those with and without college degrees had increased from 35 percent to 78 percent since the 1970s, and 53 percent of women still earn $15,000 to $30,000.
And though women make up 47 percent of the workforce, they still carry "disproportionately," the burden of caring for children, Ms. Herman said. For that and other reasons, it is in the best interest of employers to make more provision for accommodating the personal needs and obligations of their employees, Ms. Herman said.
"The majority of growth coming in the workplace is coming from women, so the reality is that employers have to accommodate the family," she said.
Enlightened employers are already embracing this approach to human relations, she said, in order to retain valued employees. Monster.com, the Internet-based jobs clearing house, had laundry facilities installed in the office. Other companies had assistants to take employees’ cars to the garage or pick up their dry cleaning.
"With the advent of e-mail, laptop computers, and fax machines, the good news is you can take the office anywhere," she said. "The bad news is you can take the office anywhere."
Employers must also learn to embrace the growing diversity of the workforce, Ms. Herman said.
-RT>"We talk about the diversity in the workplace one out of two workers is a woman, one out of three is a person of color like it’s off in some distant future, as opposed to understanding that these are our realities now, and the more that we can tap into those differences, and bring everybody to the decision-making table, the happier and more productive and more profitable business enterprises are going to be in the future."
She said that embracing diversity would be the greatest challenging facing employers in the coming years and would define the new economy.
"One of the greatest strengths we have as a nation is to remember that America was founded on the basic democratic principles of freedom, equality and inclusion, and while times may change, those principles are set in stone," she said.