Workforce Under Construction

In today’s edition of The Hill, Dan Brodbeck, the National Chairman of Associated Builders and Contractors calls attention to the construction industry’s expected skills gap and the efforts being made by both Congress and the industry to train the workforce of tomorrow.

In particular, Mr. Brodbeck highlight’s the recently introduced Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), which makes federal workforce training funds accessible to the entire construction industry,

“Importantly, the WIOA also allows federal funding to flow to workforce training programs regardless of labor affiliation. For far too long, federal funding for training programs has been limited to union-affiliated apprenticeship programs, leaving the 86 percent of construction workers who choose not to be affiliated with a labor union out in the cold,” said Brodbeck.  “By freeing up money for all industry-recognized job-training programs, this bill allows the maximum amount of trainees the access to programs they need to be productive members of our workforce.”

This week, hundreds of ABC members are visiting with lawmakers in Washington, D.C. to educate Congress about world class skills training programs and sustainable careers available in the construction industry.

Dan’s entire OpEd can be found here.

Please let us know in the comments what else policymakers can do to support and promote skilled construction craft training programs.