“Though the National Bureau of Economic Research deemed the recession to have ended in June 2009, to most Americans, that conclusion seems not to square with reality.”

American businesswoman and former government official

Elaine Chao is an American businesswoman and former government official. She served as U.S. secretary of labor from 2001 to 2009 under George W. Bush, and as U.S. secretary of transportation from 2017 to 2021 in Donald Trump’s first administration. She is a Republican and the wife of U.S. senator Mitch McConnell. Chao was the first Asian-American woman to serve in a presidential cabinet. Her public career is defined by top roles in the federal government, including labor and transportation, and she resigned as transportation secretary after the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.