Trump orders more cash, industry input, for apprenticeships

The executive order addresses the nation’s “skills gap” that have left millions of open jobs unfilled.

Flanked by workers now in apprenticeship programs and governors supporting the administration’s efforts, Mr. Trump signed the order, ignoring reporters’ shouted questions about whether he was under investigation by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. Standing at his elbow as he signed were North Carolina Republican Virginia Foxx, the chairwoman of the House education committee, and Bobby Scott of Virginia, its ranking Democrat.

Trump will issue a directive Wednesday meant to boost apprenticeships by expanding industry-certified programs, according to people familiar with the matter. Now there are 11,000 adults and 3,500 high school students in apprenticeship programs overseen by the state.

21 signed a $1.8 million contract with the U.S. Department of Labor to launch the national Hospitality Sector Registered Apprenticeship project.

Durbin and others at the press conference pointed out that numerous chronically employed in this minimally educated age group are technically not included in the national unemployment figures because they have given up looking for work.

I’m also thrilled to be joined by Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta – thank you, Alex.

The executive order would cost $200 million, to be funded out of existing Labor Department money.

Poor and minority students would be the ones being steered into career-focused education programs, critics say, while more affluent students will continued to be encouraged to attend four-year colleges. However, the most recent budget for the federal government passed with about $90 million for apprenticeships, and Trump so far isn’t proposing to add more.

The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Monday refused to reinstate Trump’s executive order banning travelers from six mostly Muslim countries. Addressing questions about those proposed cuts during an appearance in the White House press briefing room, Acosta said the administration hopes to foster “private to private partnerships” on job training. The Labor Department’s own 2012 study concluded that a job training program was ineffective for workers who have their jobs shipped overseas. There’s a key difference between the Trump and Obama approaches, however: Obama wanted the government to fund training programs and help organize them.

“If you’re really interested in promoting apprenticeship, you have to invest in that skills training”, said Mike Rosen, president of the Milwaukee chapter of the American Federation of Teachers union. He used, as an example, the possibility of encouraging more apprenticeship programs to be twinned with people getting college degrees, citing the case of a former student who wanted to be a police officer but got a college degree without being qualified for it.

The president toured a classroom full of tool-and-die machines that simulated a factory floor, accompanied by Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. Rather, it’s about choice: offering multiple pathways to education and good jobs.

Throughout the campaign, and since joining the White House, the President, members of the administration and myself have met with CEOs and business leaders and heard repeatedly about the challenges they face in finding candidates with the required skills to meet the available jobs. “And that’s exactly what we’re doing”, said President Trump. “We’re training people to have great jobs and high-paying jobs”, he said.