Patricia Shiu of Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs Speaks at Summit on Women in Construction

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Director Pat Shiu addressed the crowd at the New York Collaboration for Women in Construction's Working on Equal Terms: A Summit on Women in Construction on Monday, March 8, International Women's Day.
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Thank you and good afternoon.

We meet at a critical time in our history, when our economy is recovering from the greatest setback it has faced since the Great Depression. And as we continue on the path to recovery there is much good news to share. Very good news.

OFCCP Director Pat Shiu
opens the Working on 
Equal Terms Summit in 
New York, New York on 
March 18 - Photo by
Joan Roth

For three straight years now, our economy has added private sector jobs every month – that's a total of 6.35 million jobs. Unemployment has fallen to its lowest level since just before President Obama took office.

In the last two years, the construction sector has added 306,000 jobs – half of that increase happened in the past five months. And while there is much more we need to do, there is no denying that we are moving in the right direction.

So, when I say that the timing of this gathering is critical, it's because the valve is opening again. Jobs are beginning to flow at an ever-accelerating pace. And, if I may use just one more construction-related pun, it's time to strike while the iron is hot.

The question before us today is: what kind of recovery will this be? Will it be one that simply returns us to where we were before 2008? Will the sort of record-breaking numbers we are seeing on Wall Street right now actually have a positive impact on the lives of most Americans? Will we end up repeating the mistakes that got us into this mess in the first place?

Or, will the sobering experience of the Great Recession finally move us in a new direction, one which prioritizes greater opportunity for all our citizens, a true rising tide that expands and strengthens the middle class?

If the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting a different result, are we, at long last, prepared to do things differently now?

That is the central question before us today. It's why this conversation is so important.

Read Patricia Shiu's full speech at www.dol.gov/ofccp or view pictures from this event.