Labor Secretary: Vaccine requirement will help people feel safe at work, boost labor force participation
Secretary of Labor Marty Walsh says the Biden administration's new vaccine requirements will help boost the labor force participation rate. On Friday, the Labor Department said the labor force participation rate was unchanged in October, at 61.6%. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the participation rate has stayed between 61.4% and 61.7% since June 2020.
"We really have to focus on how do we bring confidence back to those folks that are just afraid of coming back," said Walsh in an interview with Yahoo Finance.
Walsh said he believes the administration's new rule requiring companies with 100 or more employees to mandate COVID vaccines or regular testing and require masks for unvaccinated workers will bring people off the sidelines and into the labor force.
"I think that that will create hopefully a safe perception and a reality of a safe work environment for people," said Walsh.
"People will feel their workplace is safer," he added. "People might be not going back to their companies, or not going back to work because of their concern about who might have been vaccinated, who might not have been vaccinated."
Walsh said he doesn't expect the vaccine mandate to impact hiring over the holiday season.
The Labor Secretary also said more access to childcare would boost labor force participation. The Build Back Better plan, which President Biden is urging Congress to pass, contains measures to increase childcare options for parents.
Overall, Walsh told Yahoo Finance he was encouraged by the diversity of businesses and industries that saw job growth in October.
"I think we're seeing more confidence," said Walsh. "We're seeing more of these sectors, people coming back in to them — which is a good thing to see in this report."
Jessica Smith is chief political correspondent for Yahoo Finance, based in Washington, D.C. Follow her on Twitter at @JessicaASmith8.
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