Thank you.

It is a special delight to be here at Beijing Jiaotong University during China's historic hosting of the 29th Summer Olympic Games. I have just come from the Closing Ceremony of the Games, and China is to be noted for the magnificent preparations it has made to ensure that the Olympic Games are truly memorable. On July 29, 2008, I attended the inaugural ceremony opening the new Chinese Embassy in Washington, D.C. And upon my arrival here in China last Friday, I toured the new American Embassy in Beijing that was just dedicated by both former and present President Bush. These events are emblematic of China's growing presence in the world.

Today, the United States and China are more engaged than ever-both culturally and economically. China is already the United States' second largest trading partner in terms of total trade, with $191 billion in goods crossing our borders in the first five months of 2008 alone. So far this year, U.S. exports to China have totaled nearly $37 billion, while imports from China have totaled over $154 billion.

A vibrant relationship exists between our two countries. But there is so much more we can share and learn from one another. So this afternoon, I hope I may share some thoughts on the state of the American economy, America's workforce, the role of the U.S. Department of Labor in strengthening our nation's economy and then some observations about American and Chinese cultures.

As everyone is aware, the U.S. economy is currently experiencing some short-term challenges due to the decline in the housing sector and subsequent credit crunch. But, the long-term foundations of America's economy remain sound. Unemployment is 5.7 percent, which is the same as the average 5.7 percent of the decade of the 1990s. Productivity has grown at a strong 2.6 percent annual rate since the first quarter of 2001. Second quarter real GDP increased nearly 2 percent. That's significant because several months ago some experts were predicting that the economy would shrink this quarter, not grow. The second quarter GDP growth was supported by a 9.2 percent increase in exports. And strong growth in exports created more than 100,000 new jobs over the past 12 months.

All this reflects the fact that America is a very large (over $14.3 trillion), diverse and resilient economy.

Now, let me share some information about the American workforce.

Compared to China's workforce of over 803 million, the workforce in the United States is much smaller-about 154 million people. America's workforce has three unique attributes-high productivity, flexibility, and mobility.

Last September 2007, the International Labor Organization, a part of the United Nations, rated the American workforce as the most productive in the world. High productivity is key for workers in America, because higher productivity means higher wages. In America, the average worker in his or her mid-forties has held more than 10 jobs-usually in pursuit of better opportunities. So change is the norm in America, and it is how people advance within the economy.

The flexibility and mobility of America's workforce also encourages entrepreneurship, and entrepreneurship continues to generate a significant portion of our country's economic growth. In fact, during the past decade and a half, about two-thirds of the net new jobs created in the United States have been created by small- and medium-sized businesses. Small- and medium-size businesses represent over 99 percent of employers in the United States, and provide about 83 percent of all private payroll jobs.

The United States, like China, is a country of diverse regions where people have many different experiences. But there is general agreement that the private sector-not government-is the primary engine of job creation and growth. And, the role of government is to create the environment and the conditions through which economic growth and job creation can occur.

And the Labor Department plays a key role in that mission. That's because the Labor Department issues and enforces regulations that impact nearly every worker in America. These regulations address such issues as maintaining a healthy and safe work environment, enforcing the law requiring employers to pay workers a full day's wage for a full day's work, and ensuring that workers have long term retirement security.

The budget of the Labor Department is about $50 billion annually and employs about 17,000 people. Even in a country like ours, there are never enough resources to place a government inspector in every workplace. That's why it is important to build a culture of safety and make safety a number one priority in the workplace.

As a result of these efforts, the Department has achieved record results in worker protection without imposing significant new costs that hamper job growth. For example, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has helped bring injury and illness rates down to record low levels-down 17 percent since 2001. And newly released data show that the rate of workplace fatalities fell in 2007 to the lowest level in recorded OSHA history. In another example, the Department's Wage and Hour Division has recovered record back wages for workers-more than $1.2 billion for nearly 2 million workers since the start of this Administration. The Employee Benefits Security Administration (known as EBSA) has achieved record monetary results in protecting workers' pensions and health plans. Its investigations have achieved monetary results of $10 billion since 2001.

The U.S. Department of Labor also collects statistics on labor and employment in the United States through the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Accurate measurements are key to tracking the state of the workforce and to creating successful strategies that help America's workforce. Please feel welcomed to visit the website of the Bureau of Labor Statistics which provides many, many data on America's workforce: It's www.bls.gov . You can also go on the Department of Labor's website, www.dol.gov and click on Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In 2006, because of the importance of our bilateral relations, President George W. Bush and President Hu Jintao created a framework to help manage this economic relationship in a more comprehensive regular way, called the U.S.-China Strategic Economic Dialogue, or SED.

The SED was created to enable our two governments to speak to each other at the highest levels across the cabinet departments, rather than each department only talking to their counterparts. They alternate in location: December 2006 in Beijing; May 2007 in Washington, D. C.; December 2007 in Beijing; June 2007 in Annapolis, MD, outside of Washington, D. C. The next one will be this December in Beijing again. With the ending of this Administration and the election of a new one, regardless of who is going to be President, we hope that this important framework for discussion will be continued.