Gina Raimondo's Vision for Corporate America

In the world according to Gina Raimondo, corporate America is most successful when every household has health insurance, day care, early child education, broadband, job training and access to a growing supply of semiconductors made in the U.S. The former Rhode Island governor, treasurer and venture capitalist, who became the 40th secretary of Commerce a year ago in March at the age of 50, "bristles" when data shows these "investments in American productivity" are misjudged as "social programs."

Although the national unemployment rate is hovering at a 53-year low of 3.6%, the labor force participation rate is still below its pre-pandemic levels at 62.4% and remains far off the peak of 67.3% in 2000. “We as a nation need to get really serious about child care, public pre-K, job training and basic supports, so people who are not now in the labor force can participate," Raimondo said during a recent interview at the Commerce Department's eight-acre Herbert C. Hoover Federal Building in Washington.