During this 2016 election season, the issue on many voters’ minds is that of jobs and the economy. That has been the same issues that have been a part of the daily life of Labor Secretary Tom Perez. Perez is one of three Latinos who have been rumored as a potential running mate for the presumptive Democratic nominee Hillary Clinton. This is because of his multiple appearances at rally for the former Secretary of State where he has vigorously touted the administration and his party’s achievements. In an interview with NBC News, Perez spoke of the consistent job growth under President Barack Obama, adding that Latinos share common values which include a belief in building “ladders of opportunity” instead of “high walls” and a belief that America works best when we “work together, instead of try to divide each other.”
Though he is unknown to a big part of the country, every first Friday of the month for over three years, Perez has delivered the news of jobs gained and lost, employment rates going up and down and whether the economic recovery is holding. Last Friday, he told the American people that the country saw another month of job creation in April, 160,000 jobs created.
“We’ve now had 74 months of job growth, that’s the longest streak on record,” said Perez, adding that this represented 14.6 million jobs created as well as wage growth in the last several months. And significantly, Perez said, the nation saw its lowest rate in seven years of people considered long-term unemployed, those who have been looking for jobs for six months or more.
“If you administered truth serum to the Republican leadership in Congress and you said to them, ‘You’re in charge. You’re the president and you’re able to tell the electorate on January of 2016 in an election year that unemployment went from 10 percent to 5 percent,’ I’m quite certain that they’d take that in a New York minute and that’s where we are now,” he said.
Perez, 54, is following the protocol of not addressing questions about being a potential vice presidential candidate. But, a few days after Trump announced his presidential bid last June by stating that Mexico sends to the U.S. Mexicans who are rapists, criminals and people bringing drugs, Perez spoke to the annual National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials conference in Las Vegas. His speech preceded Clinton’s. Few were thinking of him as a potential vice president. But his energetic speech on the potential and successes of Latinos, civil rights and the fight for working people brought the NALEO audience to its feet and there was some buzz among attendees that perhaps Clinton should consider him.
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