U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer visited Mississippi on Saturday as part of her “America at Work” listening tour, in which she is stopping in all 50 states to hear about the challenges and opportunities facing the country’s workforce.
Chavez-DeRemer was at the Mississippi Farm Bureau Federation headquarters in Jackson, where she participated in a roundtable discussion with MFBF officials, representatives from the Mississippi Sweet Potato Council and Catfish Farmers of America, and others from across the state’s agriculture industry. After the roundtable, she sat down for an exclusive interview with SuperTalk Mississippi News.
“We wanted to talk about what’s happening right here on the ground in Mississippi,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “The president was clear with the secretaries that we cannot understand what’s happening on the ground if we don’t get out in America.”
Mississippi marked the 46th state on Chavez-DeRemer’s tour, which began last April shortly after she was confirmed by the U.S. Senate. She said the visit focused primarily on efforts by the Department of Labor to streamline the process for farmers, ranchers, and other employers across Mississippi industries to find reliable workers.
Chavez-DeRemer discussed her department’s cross-agency work with the U.S. Department of Agriculture and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to expand youth development initiatives, apprenticeship programs, and visa programs that allow agricultural employers to bring in foreign workers during seasonal labor shortages.
“How do we entice young people to have pride in growing America’s food? That’s what we do,” Chavez-DeRemer said. “And we talk about that across all industries with apprenticeship programs for the trades and manufacturing.
“We’ve created more than 300,000 apprenticeships since I took office under Trump’s Labor Department. When you think about that, men and women deserve opportunities and flexibility. Not everyone is going to pursue a four-year degree. We want to make sure they have the skills, and that we’re upskilling and reskilling.”
She described the reception from those in attendance as “great” and “heartfelt.” Every major sector of Mississippi agriculture was represented, ranging from rice to timber, as the industry remains the state’s largest – generating about $9 billion annually and employing roughly 11% of the workforce.