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Labor Secretary Comes To Texas Saying It's Time To Restore Jobs To Nation's Economy

Bill Zeeble
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KERA News
U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia said the nation added 2.5 million jobs in May, and Texas led the way with the most - 240,000.

U.S. Labor Secretary Eugene Scalia came to Texas Tuesday. He said it’s important Americans get back to work as businesses are slowly re-opening amid the COVID-19 shutdown. He visited the Grand Prairie furniture maker American Leather.

Scalia said Texas led the nation last month in restored jobs with 240,000. He also acknowledged that the state’s coronavirus infections continue to rise.

“We know health and safety in the workplace are more important than ever. To workers, to customers who want to know they’re coming in safely. I’ve never seen the business community as focused on workplace safety as it is right now,” Scalia said. “And that’s a good thing. We do have to continue to exercise precautions like distancing, like in many cases, masks, to keep this virus back and to continue with reopening.”

Scalia visited the giant American Leather furniture plant and met with some North Texas business leaders. He added that it’s the administration’s goal to restore the country's economy to what it was before the virus took hold.

"Many millions of Americans do remain on unemployment,” Scalia said. “Even though  we put so many back in the month of May. I think we’ve added many, many more jobs in June. But we have to keep at it. We’ll continue to work hard with the states to get the benefits for people who remain on unemployment and will continue to look for opportunities to bring people back to work.”

Credit Bill Zeeble / KERA News
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KERA News
Just part of the giant shop floor in American Leather, the Grand Prairie furniture plant.

Scalia said that’s why President Trump just put a hold on certain immigrant and non-immigrant visas until the end of the year.

Got a tip? Email Reporter Bill Zeeble at bzeeble@kera.org . You can follow him on Twitter @bzeeble.

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Bill Zeeble has been a full-time reporter at KERA since 1992, covering everything from medicine to the Mavericks and education to environmental issues.