CATOOSA – During its week-long annual national training meeting, the National Indian Native American Employment Training Council hosted a member of President Joe Biden’s cabinet to briefly address the rally on the final day at the Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Tulsa.

Before meeting privately with Senior Cherokee Nation Chief Chuck Hoskin Jr. and tribal administrators, U.S. Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh discussed his department’s policies and priorities and their relationship with Native American tribes.

“I recognize how difficult the pandemic has been for tribal communities,” Walsh said. “In many ways, the tribal communities were marvels of solidarity and support across the country. But long-standing inequalities remain greater than they should be. This is something the pandemic has shown us all.

Walsh said that as the nation recovers and rebuilds after the pandemic, the administration remains focused on working with tribes to end disparities, saying the Biden administration will work with tribal nations and their leaders to address “extreme challenges due to failing infrastructure, limited educational opportunities and lack of investment.

Biden’s infrastructure program will direct more than $13 billion to tribes for projects such as roads, bridges and expanded high-speed internet access — which Walsh said was now an essential household service.

“It’s real money,” he said. “It’s really going to happen. It was voted on and adopted.

Walsh also said the Department of Labor wants to help create well-paying jobs for Indigenous communities and highlighted its Good Jobs Initiative.

While “placing equity at the center of everything we do,” the Good Jobs Initiative will collect labor data to help employers, workers and government improve the quality and access to jobs for all. demographic groups.

Walsh said he was “shocked” after taking on his role at the firm that the employment data was not as comprehensive as he had expected. Among the shortcomings was the lack of employment data for Native Americans.

“We now release monthly and quarterly data on the labor force status of American Indians and Alaska Natives,” he said. “The Bureau of Labor Statistics now collects this data. We hope that this data and our intention to collect this data will help policy makers and researchers focus on equity.

The first eruptions were not good news for the native tribes. The native unemployment rate reported in April 2020 – after the start of the pandemic – was 26.8%, but 14.4% for the general population.

The labor market is now much tighter, even in the face of inflationary pressures. But the good job news is tempered for natives, who in March 2022 had an unemployment rate of 6.8% compared to 3.6% for all Americans.

“This data is important because it holds us accountable,” Walsh said. “It requires us, collectively, to work together to bring those numbers down.”

Walsh said the data also includes information about job quality.

“We want to make sure these jobs are a pathway for people to raise and support families,” he said.

Walsh also wants the department to promote equity in job training and employment services.

“Our workforce investment will focus on uplifting workers in communities that have been stuck in the past,” he said. “We do this by approaching programs that address barriers. Many of you know that in March we launched a funding opportunity, announced for our Native American programs.

Walsh said many DOL grant programs are targeted at specific communities that are underserved, and that indigenous people are the focus of the “Innovation and Workforce Opportunity Act, Indian Programs and Native Americans – Employment and Training Grants,” announced March 21.