WASHINGTON, D.C.—The U.S. Chamber of Commerce today reaffirmed its commitment to building a strong workforce for today and the future following the administration’s event on workforce development. The U.S. worker is a backbone to the free enterprise system and the U.S. Chamber will work with the administration to develop a national workforce strategy and continue its efforts to strengthen, grow, and prepare workers for high demand jobs.
“President Trump and his administration are clearly committed to strengthening the economy and cultivating the workforce of the future,” said U.S. Chamber of Commerce President and CEO Thomas J. Donohue. “With a booming economy due to last year’s tax reform and deregulatory efforts, it’s more important than ever to ensure that we have qualified workers to fill new jobs. The U.S. Chamber has long supported education reforms that promote apprenticeships and work-based learning for students who seek opportunities other than four-year degrees. Providing today’s students with meaningful opportunities means that employers will soon be able to hire more qualified workers to fill in demand jobs.”
“This administration’s continued efforts will help close the skills gap and build a workforce that supports our robust economy,” continued Donohue.
The U.S. Chamber supports and champions initiatives to grow the workforce:
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The U.S. Chamber strongly supports congressional efforts to reauthorize the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which aligns career and technical education programs with labor needs and creates opportunities for partnerships between employers and educators.
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Donohue served an active role on the Department of Labor’s Task Force for Apprenticeship Expansion, which offered recommendations to bolster learning and employment opportunities for Americans.
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The U.S. Chamber Foundation’s Center for Education and Workforce’s signature workforce initiative, Talent Pipeline Management,™ is a workforce strategy that facilitates partnerships between businesses and education providers to strategically meet the demands of today’s economy by aligning the classroom with career pathways.
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The Center for Education and Workforce is participating in a partnership to develop“The Job Data Exchange,” an employer-led job registry that will provide employers and their HR technology partners the tools and resources they need to clearly communicate their hiring requirements in a rapidly changing talent marketplacein order to better signal job skills and employer needs to education providers and students.
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The Center for Education and Workforce recently released a report entitled “Quality Pathways: Employer Leadership in Earn and Learn Opportunities,” laying out how the business community can develop a system for recognizing quality in education and training programs.
- The U.S. Chamber has taken an active role in working with the administration to help address the opioid epidemic, which is responsible for 20 percent of the drop in men’s participation in the workforce. The U.S. Chamber has collaborated with leaders in the business, health care communities, and legislators and remains committed to doing its part to address the crisis.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce is the world’s largest business federation representing the interests of more than 3 million businesses of all sizes, sectors, and regions, as well as state and local chambers and industry associations.
