Yellen stays optimistic about US economy at Las Vegas union hall

U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen made her case for the Biden administration’s positive impact on the economy during a speech at union hall in Las Vegas near the one-year anniversary of the Inflation Reduction Act.

The main points of economic improvement Yellen highlighted, in her speech at the union hall International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers 357, were the impacts of the economic strategy the federal government has pursued in the energy sector.

“Our climate strategy is based on a simple premise, targeting public investments can help mobilize private capital toward compelling public policy objectives,” Yellen said.

The way this strategy has been implemented is through the Inflation Reduction Act, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act.

With the first anniversary of the IRA happening in August, Yellen pointed out that since January 2021 the tax credits this legislation supports have garnered over $500 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments in the U.S.

“These incentives provide long-term certainty for investors in pursuing clean energy projects,” Yellen said. “With the IRA investors have greater confidence to scale up deployment of established technologies like solar energy. The IRA also helps develop nascent technologies like clean hydrogen, and sustainable aviation fuel.”

Lamare Jones, the assistant business manager of IBEW Local 357, introduced Yellen and said the IRA is “a game-changing investment” that has funded projects — related to electric vehicle charging stations, energy storage and utility scale solar developments — that has created jobs for hundreds of IBEW workers. Jones estimated that the $1.2 billion 7,000-plus acre Gemini solar facility under development is employing 400 IBEW members and future projects are raising demand for more IBEW workers.

There has been a lot of focus from government officials on the IRA in Nevada, last week U.S. Sen. Jacky Rosen, D-Nev., toured a solar parts manufacturer and U.S. Rep. Dina Titus, D-Nev., toured a battery manufacturer both of which have been boosted by this legislation.

Besides the economic benefits of the IRA Yellen also spoke to how this legislation can help address issues raised by climate change in Nevada and across the country. She described described the heat Las Vegas has experienced recently — last July was the hottest on record — as “crippling extreme heat.”

“These climate events have real economic impacts on Americans, even if they are spared from the physical impacts,” she said. “As an example, home insurance hiking rates or pulling back entirely from highly vulnerable areas in states like California and Florida.”

Other areas of the economy Yellen spoke about included the current level of inflation which sits at 3.2 percent and the unemployment rate, which is at 3.5 percent nationally and 5.4 percent in Nevada. Yellen expressed optimism that the mythical “soft landing” of the U.S. economy can still happen where inflation is reduced to levels close to 2 percent while the nation avoids a recession.

“There is a path to continue reducing inflation while maintaining a healthy labor market,” she said. “While there are risks, the evidence we’ve seen so far suggests we are on such a path.”

Contact Sean Hemmersmeier at shemmersmeier@reviewjournal.com. Follow @seanhemmers34 on Twitter.