Laboring to Help Improve People’s Lives

Question: What’s the worst job you ever had?

Answer: I can’t think of a job I’ve had that I didn’t like. I love work, and I love working and was raised in the belief that, next to family and faith, the most important thing in our lives is the work that we do. I’ve enjoyed every job I’ve ever had and can honestly say I learned something valuable from each and every one.

Q: What is your fantasy job?

A: There was a time in my life when I wanted to be an FBI agent. I actually applied but couldn’t pass the physical requirements. I was too short. But now I have different fantasy jobs. I would love to be a theater critic and see all the great plays on Broadway. And then there are days--especially when I’ve got a grueling travel schedule--when I dream of working as a travel writer assigned to find the world’s best spa. Of course, I’d have to visit lots of them to make that determination.

Q: Who was the worst boss you ever had and why?

A: Would you believe it if I told you that I never had a bad boss? I can’t think of any of my immediate bosses I didn’t like; maybe they all knew that one day I’d grow up to be the secretary of labor. I will tell you that I once “almost” had a bad boss. I had just graduated from college and was interviewing for jobs in the social service field in Mobile, Ala., my hometown. At one interview, my prospective employer said, “Maybe you’d like to be a secretary instead.” I’d like to find him and tell him: “Sir, I did become a Secretary!”

Q: What’s the most fun you’ve had at work?

A: The most fun I ever had at work was dancing the “Electric Slide” at the White House State Dinner for Nelson Mandela with the president, first lady and radio personality Tom Joyner. We had a ball.

Q: What was your first job?

A: I worked as a summer camp counselor at the Desire Housing Project in New Orleans. I was 15, and it was one of the best summers I had in my entire life. And to be honest, it was great training for my present job, because it was all about motivating, teaching, reaching and making a difference in the lives of people.

Q: Most people probably don’t know you once worked as a . . .

A: . . . Tap dance instructor and a telephone operator. I always joke that I’ve had to tap dance and make connections ever since.

Q: What do you love about your work?

A: I started my professional career as a social worker in the Mississippi shipyards, and in that job I saw the difference that a first job and a first opportunity can make in someone’s life. So today, in the back of my mind--actually it’s more often in the front of my mind--whenever I make a policy or political decision, I ask myself: “How can this opportunity make a difference? How will this help working families?” And that’s really what I love about this job--every day can make a difference in people’s lives.

Q: What do you hate about your work?

A: That there are not enough hours in the day to do everything I want--and need--to do.

Q: What’s the hardest part of your work?

A: Having to constantly “sell” what we already know is good (like the federal summer jobs program for our nation’s disadvantaged youth), having to defend and debate the programs and policies that we know are helping America’s working families.

Q: What’s your current project?

A: Making a real impact in the lives of out-of-school youth--the young people who we used to call dropouts. Twenty years ago, when I first came to the Labor Department as director of the Women’s Bureau, the unemployment rate for black teens was about 30%. Now, I’m back at the department as [labor] secretary and--despite the healthiest economy in decades--the unemployment rate for black teens still hovers at around 30%.

I refuse to accept the economic status quo that claims there’s nothing we can do about this, and if I have one legacy as labor secretary, it will be to significantly decrease that percentage. For me, it’s really pretty basic: Poverty cuts off opportunity. So I’m working on efforts that will decrease poverty and increase opportunity for these young people . . . and that means we’ve got to take a holistic approach to the problem and combine training that will result in a job with a good future along with mentoring opportunities, education, transportation, child care and other support systems. Today, it’s not just about getting a job. It’s also about keeping a job.

Q: How do you deal with job stress?

A: I am grounded spiritually and do daily meditations. I walk every day, and I spend time with friends and family who keep my head on straight and keep me laughing.

Q: What’s something most people don’t know about what you do?

A: I’m often referred to as the nation’s foremost “guidance counselor” and “job recruiter.” As the world of work changes and as the complexion of the workplace changes, my job is to help people manage that change. And most people work a 40-hour, five-day-a-week work schedule. Mine is a 24-hour-a-day, seven-days-a-week job. That’s in part because I administer and enforce more than 180 federal laws that affect about 10 million employers and 125 million workers.

Q: What kind of work did your father and mother do?

A: My mother was a teacher and was the Alabama Teacher of the Year in 1981. My father was a businessman and the first black elected official in the South--post-Reconstruction--in the 1940s. They were both amazing people and incredible loving parents. Even today, I consider them my role models and my heroes.

Q: What did you want to be as a child?

A: I grew up in the heart of Dixie, and there were always children in our house. I loved having kids around--and I still do--and wanted to be a pediatrician.

Q: What do you want to do when you retire?

A: Sleep!