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New Training Grants Match Employers with Skills Training

Apr 17, 2014
The Administration on Wednesday announced a fourth round of Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) grants to partner employers and education programs to provide future workers the training they need to get good jobs.
 
Programs like these are exactly what we need if we are going to address the “skills gap,” which describes the chasm between the needs of employers to hire a workforce with the right mix of skills and training on the one hand, and the actual skills and training that job candidates possess on the other.
 
Closing this gap is critical to U.S. competitiveness and economic growth, which is why Business Roundtable and its members have long been at the forefront of efforts to do just that. Here are just a few examples of what Business Roundtable members are doing to ensure future workers are prepared to succeed in a modern workforce:
 
  • Siemens, recognizing a resurgence of manufacturing in the United States, also made news when it donated nearly $660 million in software grants for manufacturing programs at vocational high schools, technical community colleges and universities in Massachusetts. 
  • PG&E developed PowerPathway, a collaboration among local community colleges, community-based training centers, the public workforce development system and unions in California that enlarges the pool of qualified job candidates.
  • AT&T partnered with Georgia Institute of Technology College of Computing and Udacity,  the for-profit educational organization, to develop graduate degrees and certifications more affordable and available through Massive Open Online Course formats.
 
We are acting on a broader level as well. For instance, Business Roundtable has established a partnership with ACT Foundation to lead the National Network of Business and Industry Associations. The Network is focused on linking and leveraging the work of national industry associations whose members face a common challenge: finding skilled talent to fill their high-quality jobs.
 
Representing major business sectors, the Network is working to examine industry-recognized credentials and has formed three working groups to focus on the major objectives of the effort: increasing work-based learning; 21st century competency-based learning; and aligning pathways to skills and jobs in demand.
 
Closing the skills gap is a must for the U.S. economy and key to creating more high-quality jobs, and Business Roundtable and its members will continue to advance efforts to get America working again.
 

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