National ACE on the Department of Labor’s Transition in Leadership

On behalf of the National Asian Pacific Islander American Chamber of Commerce and Entrepreneurship (National ACE), we wish to express our deepest gratitude to Secretary Marty Walsh for his leadership of the Department of Labor over the last two years. Under his leadership, the Department of Labor responded to unprecedented workforce challenges stemming from the pandemic and supply chain disruptions, highlighting the Secretary’s track record as a champion for working people. We wish him the best in his new role, and look forward to working closely with his successor to address workforce challenges on behalf of the Asian American Pacific Islander (AAPI) community.

With Secretary Walsh’s departure comes a vacancy within the leadership of the Department of Labor and the President’s Cabinet for which we recognize is an opportunity to elevate a strong, AAPI leader. At this time, the President’s Cabinet includes just one AAPI, U.S. Trade Representative Katherine Tai, despite AAPIs accounting for six percent of the workforce, or nine million workers. Additionally, AAPIs own 2.65 million firms and employ over 5 million workers. That said, we believe that it is crucial for AAPIs to have greater representation at the Cabinet level, particularly among leaders that deal directly with workforce issues.

There are several strong AAPI leaders for this opportunity, including Deputy Secretary of Labor Julie Su. National ACE represents the collective voice of 2.65 AAPI small businesses and entrepreneurs and firmly believes that the Department of Labor’s leadership should be a strong voice for both labor and business, and can lead on policies that prioritize job creation and small business growth.

We look forward to learning more about the Biden-Harris Administrations considerations for this vacancy, and to continuing to advocate for strong outcomes for the AAPI business community.