Harris on EVs Requiring Fewer Jobs: That’s ‘a Very Old False Choice’

During an interview with “PBS NewsHour” aired on Tuesday, Vice President Kamala Harris responded to concerns that the Biden administration’s electric vehicle push will hurt workers given that electric vehicles require fewer jobs by stating that “that perspective that some people have is grounded in a very old false choice. You can do both. And that is our perspective.”

Co-host Geoff Bennett said, “[I]t strikes me that the shift to electric vehicles, which is a major point of contention in these contract talks, it’s almost as if the administration’s two goals are colliding. On the one hand, fight climate change. On the other hand, build out the middle class by supporting unions. And yet we know that when it comes to actually building electric vehicles, it requires less labor and many of those jobs are non-union jobs.”

Harris responded, “I would suggest to you that that is — that perspective that some people have is grounded in a very old false choice. You can do both. And that is our perspective. We can do both, and that is about supporting, again, the importance of understanding the value of work and that it should be compensated commensurate with its value and what we must do to invest in our economy, invest in innovation, and take on one of the biggest crises the world has ever known, which is the climate crisis.”

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