[House Hearing, 115 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
FIELD HEARING IN NEWPORTVILLE, PA:
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
UNITED STATES
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD
FEBRUARY 26, 2018
__________
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Small Business Committee Document Number 115-057
Available via the GPO Website: www.fdsys.gov
_________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
28-677 WASHINGTON : 2018
HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Chairman
STEVE KING, Iowa
BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
DAVE BRAT, Virginia
AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Samoa
STEVE KNIGHT, California
TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
ROD BLUM, Iowa
JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, Puerto Rico
BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
JOHN CURTIS, Utah
NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
STEPHANIE MURPHY, Florida
AL LAWSON, JR., Florida
YVETTE CLARK, New York
JUDY CHU, California
ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
VACANT
Kevin Fitzpatrick, Majority Staff Director
Jan Oliver, Majority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
Adam Minehardt, Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
OPENING STATEMENTS
Page
Hon. Brian Fitzpatrick........................................... 1
Hon. Dwight Evans................................................ 2
WITNESSES
Mr. Patrick Eiding, President, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO,
Philadelphia, PA............................................... 3
Ms. Susan Herring, Interim Executive Director, Center for
Workforce Development, Bucks County Community College, Newtown,
PA............................................................. 5
Mr. Alex Halper, Director of Government Affairs, Pennsylvania
Chamber of Business and Industry, Harrisburg, PA............... 7
APPENDIX
Prepared Statements:
Mr. Patrick Eiding, President, Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO,
Philadelphia, PA........................................... 24
Ms. Susan Herring, Interim Executive Director, Center for
Workforce Development, Bucks County Community College,
Newtown, PA................................................ 26
Mr. Alex Halper, Director of Government Affairs, Pennsylvania
Chamber of Business and Industry, Harrisburg, PA........... 31
Questions for the Record:
None.
Answers for the Record:
None.
Additional Material for the Record:
None.
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT: CLOSING THE SKILLS GAP
----------
MONDAY, FEBRUARY 26, 2018
House of Representatives,
Committee on Small Business,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to call, at 11:34 a.m., at the
Boilermakers Local Lodge No. 13, 2300 New Falls Road,
Newportville, PA, 19056, Hon. Brian Fitzpatrick presiding.
Members present: Representatives Fitzpatrick and Evans.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. I thank everyone for coming, and good
morning. I call this hearing to order. Thank you for joining at
today's Committee on Small Business field hearing in Bucks
County, Pennsylvania.
Currently, the United States economy is improving, with
relatively low unemployment and increased job creation. Yet in
this time of economic prosperity, many small businesses and
numerous industries are struggling to find qualified workers.
This lack of qualified applicants is commonly referred to as
the skills gap.
During times of economic growth, small businesses struggle
to compete with large corporations in attracting qualified
candidates. Similarly, as baby boomers retire, certain
industries are finding fewer workers entering the industry,
making it difficult to maintain a steady labor force and
resulting in unfilled jobs. Manufacturing is arguably the
industry most affected by the skills gap.
How does the skills gap affect us in Pennsylvania? There
are nearly one million small businesses that exist in our
state. Those businesses employ almost 50 percent of our
workers. An additional 10 percent of the state's workforce is
employed by one of the roughly 15,000 manufacturing firms
operating here. If left unaddressed, the skills gap could not
only impact these businesses and workers, but it may also lead
to significant economic spillovers throughout the state in
general.
Addressing this issue demands our attention now. Today's
hearing will allow us to hear from a panel of expert witnesses
on how the skills gap is currently affecting our state here in
Pennsylvania. We will also learn about areas for potential
improvement within our existing workforce development programs.
I look forward to a hearing from each of our witness today and
having a productive conversation on this issue, and I would
also like to take a moment to thank my friend and colleague,
and Philadelphia Eagles fan, Dwight Evans, for serving as our
Ranking Member today. He is a true friend, a true partner, not
only on the Small Business Committee, but in Congress, and
very, very beloved not just in his district, but in mine here
in Bucks County as well. I have enjoyed working with him on the
Small Business Committee and appreciate his dedication to the
people of Pennsylvania. He is doing a fabulous job.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. And with that, I yield time to my friend,
Mr. Evans.
Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman, and I also appreciate
this opportunity of being here with you. Bucks County is one of
my favorite places, so--not that it is that far away anyway.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for holding this hearing.
Licensing is a process which the state requires workers to meet
basic standards at the local level--local and state level
before they are able to perform a job. While the origin of this
limit had noble goals of protecting the safety and well-being
of residents, we can think of instances where the requirements
have proven burdensome, bear little resemblance to the function
they were.
Nevertheless, occupational licensing persists and has
become ever the more burdensome across the Nation. Since the
1950s, the number of licensed workers has jumped from just five
percent of the workforce to nearly 30 percent today. Nearly one
in four workers, yet not every occupation regulates
consistently across the states.
Fewer than 60 occupations are regulated in all 50 states,
showing substantial differences in which occupations states
chose to regulate, making the situation worse for workers, many
of whom are thriving for small business owners, are the fees
required, training costs, time spent, studying, and testing.
While the requirements serve a fundamental purpose, they
are also a barrier to our financial--an occupation, especially
low income and immigration workers.
Today's hearing will give us the opportunity to hear more
about the genesis of professional licensing and the evolution.
Though this issue is one for the states to take up, it is
nevertheless important for all of us to bring it up to the
forefront because it has effects and can bring guidelines into
federal law.
Licensing requirements have exploded to a new field, some
that marry regulations and others that raise the question of
whether there is too much licensing. States have brought powers
to regulate their workers and have a duty to protect their
residents. Requiring certain professions to meet strict
licensing rules only makes sense in that regard. However, we
must look at the implications of being licensed as
entrepreneurs and consumers.
In the interest of time, I would like to ask unanimous
consent that the entire statement be included in the record,
and I look forward to hearing from them. I would like to yield
back the balance of my time.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Evans, and I would like to
take a moment to explain the timing lights for you. You will
each have 5 minutes to deliver your testimony. The light will
start out as green and when you have 1 minute remaining, the
light will turn yellow, and finally at the end of your 5
minutes, it will turn red.
Our first witness is Mr. Patrick Eiding. Mr. Eiding is the
president of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, elected in
January of 2002. Mr. Eiding is currently serving his fifth term
as president of the council, representing over 100 local
unions. In addition to his responsibilities with the
Philadelphia Council, Mr. Eiding serves as secretary/treasurer
of the Philadelphia Building Trades Council on the General
Board of the National AFL-CIO, and is a member of numerous
boards and commissions in the Philadelphia area. Mr. Eiding's
expertise stems from over 2 decades of service as a business
manager and financial secretary of the Insulators and Asbestos
Workers Local 14, a local union for which he has been a member
since 1963. Thank you for joining us today, Mr. Eiding.
Our next witness is Ms. Susan Herring. Ms. Herring
currently serves as the interim executive director at Bucks
County Community College's Center for Workforce Development. As
an interim executive director, Ms. Herring manages a wide
variety of training programs, including those offered at the
college's Advanced Manufacturing Training Center. Prior to her
current position, Ms. Herring spent over 10 years with the New
Jersey Chamber of Commerce Foundation. There she served in
various roles, including program manager, director, and
executive director of workforce programs. Thank you, Mrs.
Herring, for being here with us today as well.
And our final witness is Mr. Alex Halper. Mr. Halper is the
Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry's director of
government affairs. In this position, Mr. Halper focuses on
issues such as labor and employment policy, education, and
workforce development. In addition to his work with the
Chamber, Mr. Halper serves the Pennsylvania Minimum Wage
Advisory Board, the Pennsylvania Workers' Compensation Advisory
Council, and the governing board of the Pennsylvania
Compensation Ratings Bureau. And again, Mr. Halper, thank you
for joining us as well today.
And with that, Mr. Eiding, you are recognized for 5 minutes
to deliver your statement.
STATEMENTS OF PATRICK EIDING, PRESIDENT, PHILADELPHIA COUNCIL
AFL-CIO, PHILADELPHIA, PA; SUSAN HERRING, INTERIM EXECUTIVE
DIRECTOR, CENTER FOR WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, BUCKS COUNTY
COMMUNITY COLLEGE, NEWTOWN, PA; AND ALEX HALPER, DIRECTOR OF
GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS, PENNSYLVANIA CHAMBER OF BUSINESS AND
INDUSTRY, HARRISBURG, PA
STATEMENT OF PATRICK EIDING
Mr. EIDING. Thank you. Good morning, and I thank you for
the opportunity to discuss workforce development.
As was noted, my name is Pat Eiding and I am the president
of the Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO, representing over 150,000
working families.
I am proud to say that I have been on the board of the
Philadelphia Works Incorporated since 2002 and I am currently
on the Executive Committee. I also have the pleasure of serving
on the board of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development. I am
the only labor person, by the way, who was ever been on the
National Association of Workforce Board, which normally is put
together of all corporate people because that is what workforce
is generally about. They are the people that hire the people,
but being a labor person on that board has been, first of all,
an honor and, I think, an opportunity to mesh the two areas
that are very important as far as putting people to work.
So what NAWB's responsibility and our main role in D.C. is
about lobbying for money for workforce, and of course, for
jobs.
Since the focus of this hearing--excuse me while I get rid
of these. Since the focus of this hearing is on workforce
development, I must begin by requesting that you and your
colleagues in both chambers continue to fund the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunities Act, WIOA. I also would ask that
you maintain the conditions for Pell grants that allow for the
ability to benefit without the need of having a high school
diploma before you use a Pell grant. For example, short
programs in community colleges and also training programs,
programs such as Pell for skill development in short term
programs. Also, I would ask that we maintain a focus on
registered apprentice programs. Additionally, we will need more
money for adults for infrastructure job training.
One of my biggest concerns is the level of proficiency in
math and reading our students are graduating with. In some
cases, even graduates of CTE schools, which are the best in
Philadelphia, are at a sixth or seventh grade level for both
reading and math. We need to increase education funding for
these programs to better prepare these students for graduation.
The building trades, especially the building trades in
Philadelphia and surrounding areas, have the best training--
some of the best training programs in the country, but our kids
can't qualify for the apprentice program. This is also a
problem at the Philadelphia Shipyard, where they have an
apprentice program. At seventh grade math and reading as a
young person, a young person would not be able to keep up with
the training needed to become a journey person.
Finally, we need more engagement and commitment from
employers, both large and small, so that we can perform the
special training needed for their employees, such as
internships and apprenticeships. Where we have meaningful
collaboration, jobs are made for--lifetime sustaining jobs are
created. The collaboration is so important.
Areas of concern, I would include re-entry persons,
veterans, and we certainly could use some help to fund our very
successful Helmets to Hardhats, which is for veterans coming
out and looking for jobs.
I want to step off of my written text for a little bit to
kind of emphasize a couple of points. One of them is the
employer engagement. I know through the years in Philadelphia,
and we are starting to see great engagement by the
Manufacturers Council, some other areas that are starting to
pay a little bit more attention to workforce. One of the
hurdles we have had for many years is folks are looking at
workforce development like it is our grandfather's unemployment
line. That is not the case anymore. I know in Philadelphia we
have an executive director that is every engaged on how we sit
down with employers, potential customers to workforce to try to
see what we can do to not only suggest that they use more folks
from our workforce to applicants, but also how we can engage
those applicants to be more ready for the particular companies,
especially in the manufacturing area where in various meetings
we have had with manufacturers, some of the biggest concerns
are what we have termed soft skills. That is a broad scope, but
folks who you will recognize the need if they go to work to be
to work on time and work every day, be able to work with other
people. Those kinds of things are not coming out of our
education system, and I don't know if it is because the world
has changed as far as parental guidance or some guidance. I
know money is a big reason. We don't have the guidance
counselors and what have you in school.
More recently, we have--I have met with the Philadelphia
School District to talk about how we can get into the school
system before kids graduate. If they--and listen, kids can't
afford to go to college. Many kids can't afford to go to
college, but they don't know about the other pathways. And if
we can cull that energy from kids who are thinking about--
whether it be the trades or working at the shipyard or working
at the helicopter plant up in northeast Philly, that we could
do something to make sure we massage their mass skills and
their meeting skills.
In the days of vocational schools, those things as far as
academics were the things that were guided the most, whatever
was going to be needed in that field, that pathway. So I think
that is an area where we have to really concern ourselves with,
because what we wind up with if we don't, many young folks from
the age of 18 to 28 that are scrambling for a job, and they may
very well be high school graduates, but not able to pass a test
for either the shipyard or the apprentice programs. And that is
something we have to fix if we are ever going to get not only
those folks to work, but the employees that the companies need
when they want to come into our area.
Thank you very much.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Eiding.
Ms. Herring, you are now recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF SUSAN HERRING
Ms. HERRING. Thank you. Good morning, Representative
Fitzpatrick, Representative Evans. Thank you for the invitation
to provide testimony on this very important topic.
The Center for Workforce Development at Bucks County
Community College works with local businesses to provide
customized training to build the skill level of their current
employees. Our offerings include a large range of topics,
including industrial safety, computer applications, Lean Six
Sigma, and leadership academies, to name just a few. These
programs help local businesses thrive by providing a highly
skilled workforce. We train approximately 2,800 incumbent
workers a year, and partner with over 50 companies, with 80
percent estimated to be small businesses. Our clients have
access to WEDnetPA funding through the state, as well as
Incumbent Worker Training funding through the Bucks County
Workforce Development Board. Both are excellent programs that
give preferential treatment to small businesses, and bring
significant value to our business partners. We also work
closely with businesses to help mitigate the shortage of
skilled workers in manufacturing.
As retirements loom large, more well-trained entry level
employees will be necessary to feed to manufacturing businesses
to keep them thriving in our local economy. Bucks County
expects to see nearly 3,000 new jobs in advanced manufacturing
in the next 10 years. Because of this, the college, in
collaboration with the County of Bucks and local manufacturing
companies, developed and launched the Metalwork Training
Program in 2014. Due to the success of this program and in
response to employer demand, the college launched the
Industrial Maintenance Training Program in October 2016. Both
programs provide opportunities for students to earn industry-
recognized credentials, and both programs put a great deal of
emphasis on employability skills training and placement into
good-paying jobs. Today, we have trained approximately 170 un-
and under-employed students and have a job placement rate of
over 92 percent. The average starting wages are between $15 and
$18 per hour, plus benefits, with the opportunity to earn $40
to $50,000 per year within the first couple of years. Once
employed, students have the opportunity to continue their
training by entering OJT positions, apprenticeship programs
and/or continuing their education at Bucks.
Manufacturing is alive and well in Bucks County and the
demand for skilled workers is higher than ever. In fact, our
recent Metalwork cohort graduated 11 students, and our partner
companies had 33 job openings, providing for a competitive job
market favoring skilled job seekers.
Bucks is serving the business community by building the
workforce pipeline and connecting a new generation to the high-
priority occupations in manufacturing. Approximately 28 percent
of our students are under the age of 24, 50 percent under 30,
and our average age is 32.
We are continuing our efforts to close the skills gaps by
expanding our 12-week Metalwork Training Program to serve the
Upper Bucks population of job seekers and manufacturing
businesses. The pilot cohort begins on February 26, today, and
we are applying to the county for CDBG funding to support
future training.
As with all workforce development programs, our programs'
success begins and ends with the symbiotic relationship we have
built with the manufacturing community. Our business
partnership has grown from an original 20 manufacturers to over
70, spanning Bucks and surrounding counties. The college is
very thankful for the federal programs that have provided
funding to train individuals who most likely would not have
been able to afford the classes. The training programs are
strongly supported by the County of Bucks, through past CDBG
funding, and by the Workforce Development Board through
Individual Training Account funding and currently, a U.S.
Department of Labor grant.
Our students come to us facing barriers to employment, and
many of them are dealing with personal challenges that have
limited their ability to find financial stability, such as
addiction, homelessness, incarceration, single parenthood, and
disability. The college's pre-apprenticeship programs have
truly been life-transforming opportunities for these
individuals. Supportive family and friends attend our
graduation ceremonies, and it is humbling to receive their
heartfelt thanks for giving their loved ones a chance to be a
part of something that will forever change their lives.
Continued funding of Bucks County Community College's pre-
apprenticeship training programs is critical to sustaining our
work that has brought successful outcomes to so many of our
residents, while at the same time closing a skills gap that is
essential for the continued success of our small manufacturing
businesses in the region.
Thank you very much.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mrs. Herring.
Mr. Halper, you are recognized for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF ALEX HALPER
Mr. HALPER. All right. Thank you very much, Congressman
Fitzpatrick, Congressman Evans. I really appreciate the
opportunity to be here today. I have submitted my full
testimony for the record, so I will just do a brief overview.
Congressman, you have already handled the Eagles shout-out, so
I will skip over that. But it really is a pleasure to be here,
and I think it has been helpful for me to hear the testimony
from my fellow panelists here, and I think the make up of the
panel really by itself demonstrates how we can all kind of work
together to address this very real and serious challenge of
addressing the skills gap, and it will require a very concerted
and coordinated effort between the labor community, the
education community, employers, policymakers. So it is a real
pleasure to be here.
A lot of the points that I would emphasize, I think, have
already been described today, and are really becoming just part
of the general conversation. We do have a very significant
skills gap. We hear from employers all over Pennsylvania--and I
guess just by way of introduction, I am with the Pennsylvania
Chamber of Business and Industry. We are the statewide Chamber
of Commerce. We have over 9,000 employer members all over
Pennsylvania, and this issue, probably more than any, is a
common thread among employers in Pennsylvania really regardless
of industry or region or size, one of the most significant
challenges they have. It is what we hear anecdotally from
employers, but also something that is a very common feedback on
surveys that we conduct among our business members. We conduct
an annual economic survey and workforce challenges are always
among the most serious ones that we hear from with respect to
what--the kinds of challenges employers face.
We also conducted a more--sort of a deeper dive survey of
Pennsylvania employers last year, trying to get a little more
background into workforce development, and unfortunately the
responses were not surprising. Over half responded that it is
either very or extremely difficult to recruit qualified
candidates with appropriate skills training or education to
fill the workforce needs of their company. Most believe the
problem has gotten worse, and even more daunting, the vast
majority believe the problem is only going to get worse. I
think only 2 percent of respondents believe that it is going to
become easier to recruit candidates, so there is not much
optimism unfortunately within the business community to--for
the situation to improve. So again, those responses were not
really surprising.
We also asked a series of questions, and this gets to a
point that I think Mr. Eiding mentioned. We asked employers
well what are you doing to address your own workforce
challenges in terms of participating in apprenticeship programs
or internal training, internships, and we took those responses
and sort of cross referenced them with employers who were
experiencing their own workforce challenges. And I guess this
should be--shouldn't have been surprising, but we found a very
clear correlation between employers who are very active in
workforce and job training programs, spending the money, making
the commitment, working with the education community, and those
employers that are experiencing less difficulty addressing
their workforce needs. So for employers to think that engaging
in workforce and working with educators or school districts, we
are trying to get past the point of employers feeling like that
is community service or that is--it is philanthropic to lend
your expertise to education. It is in your own best interest--I
mean, that is important, too. That should be a motivator, but
as an employer, it is within--it is in your best interest to
engage in these activities, and that is the message that we are
really trying to emphasize with employers in Pennsylvania. At
the end of the day--and we need partners with organized labor,
with policymakers, with educators, but the employer community
has to sort of lead the charge.
The one point--and Mr. Eiding kind of mentioned this as
well, the one sort of caveat to that, employers, whether they
are active or not or would like to be, are extremely
frustrated, for lack of a better word, with this soft skills
deficit they see. A lot of employers say look, I am willing to
make the investment in job training and devoting hours to
working with school districts or community colleges so that the
pipeline between what the business community needs and what the
education community is putting out there, trying to align
those. They are willing to make that commitment. Where they
feel they are not qualified or don't have the ability is
teaching showing up on time, taking direction from a manager,
working with others to achieve goals, communicating
effectively. A lot of employers say I can't teach that. That
needed to be taught years ago. That is why we consider it a
significant workforce development issue to encourage youth
employment.
I know this is something Congressman Evans, for much of
your career, have helped in Philadelphia, summer jobs for kids.
I think when you look at workforce development, that cannot be
overlooked. These are skills that individuals often learn at
those summer jobs or those part-time jobs. So if we can
encourage and help facilitate that type of employment for
perhaps sort of lesser-skilled jobs that are often filled by
younger Pennsylvanians, that is an important part of this
equation.
So again, thank you for the invitation, for the latitude
with my timing, and I am happy to answer any questions.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Halper.
I want to start by thanking you all for being here. Just so
you know how this whole process works, your testimony gets
entered into the Congressional record. It is something that
Dwight and I bring back to our Committee.
It is really important, because I what this issue in
particular, when it comes to economic growth, I don't think
there is anything we can address immediately that would be more
important than this. There is roughly 6.1 million or so
unfilled jobs in this country. Most analysts tell us that the
cause of that is essentially two main reasons. Number one is a
skills gap, which we are discussing today. Number two, in many
of these jobs inability to pass a drug test linked to the drug
epidemic that we are facing is also a big factor.
So we have questions specific to your testimony, but I want
to start by just throwing out to the three of you, from a
30,000 foot level, clearly you are working in this area day in
and day out. You are eating, sleeping, and breathing this
stuff. That is what Dwight and I want to glean from you is from
a federal legislative perspective, from a federal policy
perspective, whether it be on the Small Business Committee or
any other committees, when we go back--today after this hearing
we are going back down to D.C. What is it, as far as federal
legislation and federal policy, that we can do that will have a
significant impact to help us move the ball forward to close
the skills gap?
Mr. Eiding, you mentioned several things regarding Pell
grants and education, and is there sort of a to-do list right
off the top here that we can take back with us and start
working on?
Mr. EIDING. Well--and I think I alluded to it in my words
that the main thing that I would beg for right now is that we
make sure that your colleagues and the colleagues in the Senate
realize the importance of this and the importance of funding
it, because right now, we are at a gap where my associates on
NAWB, the National Association of Workforce Board, are starting
to see some negative approaches to training. And you know, the
Pell situation has been something that is misunderstood for a
long time, because it primarily--Pell is for grants for people
going to college, but there are a lot of opportunities for
training that can be done through the community colleges and
through training programs by using that grant, and being able
to be that flexible with that grant. I think it is open now,
but there is some discussion about closing that back down until
it only applies to the folks with the high school education,
for example, and that certainly would limit things.
I mean, there has been a terrible, terrible gap in our
opportunities for folks who don't have a high school education
or college education, because so many jobs went away, but with
manufacturing starting to rise again, and I am a believer that
it is going to with what we have here as far as energy and
natural gas and those things. Folks are going to want to come
to places like Philadelphia and Pennsylvania to put their
company, but they have this lack of available workforce.
And so the two things that we, you know, at least where I
am coming from, is the schools--funding the schools, and I know
this goes through the states and what have you. The schools
have to be funded so we can start programs that will work
there.
I think in your--for your take back to Washington, the
funding is so important. Listen to what is happening in the
areas where folks are doing things. And I also alluded
collaboration. On this workforce board, every year we have a
forum down in Washington and we give prizes for folks that are
doing good work around the country. I will tell you that every
time we have gone through a prize that has been effective in
their areas, it has been through collaboration. You know, not
the least being Exxon in Texas and many companies like local
hospitals where they invest some money into, you know,
customized training. Areas where there are military
installations, you know, we have a tremendous need, you know.
Back when me and dirt were formed, when you went into the
service you usually had a job and then you left the job to go
into the service, you came back to the job. Most of these young
folks that are going into the service today didn't even have a
job to start with, so when they come back, you know, besides
all the difficulties they have already had--and certainly the
wars are a terrible, terrible traumatic situation to begin
with, and not have a place to go to work. And so in areas that
I have seen some great work is areas where folks are coming out
of the service into the civilian world and there are
opportunities right there. You know, hopefully there are
opportunities for them back home also, but at least this is--
you know, it is like a jumpstart.
Funding these things, you know, Helmets to Hardhats, you
know, primarily is being funded by the unions that fund their
own apprentice trainings, but Helmets to Hardhats is just what
it says. It is taking folks out of the service and giving them
a job in the trades.
So funding for these things is very important, and I think
what happens, we get caught in that abyss down there where
there are so many things that need to be funded, but to come
together. I mean if, in fact, the government and the President
are going to start doing something with our infrastructure, we
are going to have to train some people, and for every aspect of
that. You know, the trades can step forward but we have to have
people who can go in. I mean, when you think about a young
person being forced into a trade with a seventh grade reading
and math, even if we force them all the way up the line of 5
years, when they get out on the working world, it is not the
union that pushes them to work or keeps the worker, it is the
employer. And there is no employer that is in business--not in
business to make money and he is not going to keep anybody who
is not able to keep up with everybody.
So what we do is we push folks to failure instead of in
their junior years and maybe even in their sophomore years,
getting ready for these pathways because let's face it. More
and more folks are not going to be able to go to college. So
funding--I just keep repeating it to you. Funding, funding to
your colleagues. Don't let them push this aside, you know. The
WIOA is an acronym that sounds really neat, but what is behind
it is funding for training. So that is the best message I give
you at this point.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thanks, Pat. Ms. Herring?
Ms. HERRING. Yes, I have to agree with Mr. Eiding. A lot of
our funding for our training has come through WIOA through
federal workforce funding, and what we are finding with our
small businesses, most of the manufacturing companies that we
work with would be, I believe, considered small businesses here
in our region. And not only are they facing the skills gap with
their skilled workers getting ready to retire, but trying to
get new people in who are really coming in at a very entry
level place. They have to have--they have to put the skilled
worker with the entry level worker and continue that training
when that person starts at the company. So it is a lot of
resources from the company that they are putting into skilling
up the next generation of workers. It hasn't been a natural
progression where the workforce just kept turning over, because
for several generations, maybe two, people didn't go into
manufacturing. So they are really caught in a hard place and as
long as we can continue training these entry level workers
without hitting our small manufacturers' pocketbooks, let's
say, I think that will continue the flow of entry level workers
into those businesses.
So I do think it is really important to continue that
funding.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Ms. Herring. Mr. Halper?
Mr. HALPER. Well I think there are a few areas, and in
terms of funding for workforce development programs--and I
think there is a renewed focus in Harrisburg on really getting
a handle around the programs that already exist. There are a
number of different departments and agencies in state
government that fund workforce development programs, and a lot
of them are doing very tremendous work. But there is some
redundancy, there is some duplication, and at the same time--
and I don't think funding levels and looking at how existing
funding is being invested have to be mutually exclusive, but we
want to be sure that programs and funding are being utilized as
efficiently and as effectively as possible, and that
departments and agencies don't kind of stay in their silos.
So I know there is renewed focus on coordination at the
state level, and hopefully that is something that continues to
be a focus at the federal level, and the points made about even
beyond the existing challenges and skills gap, hopefully there
is additional funding and--for infrastructure and this
challenge, both bad and some of the demographic realities with
our current workforce, this is going to become exponentially
more difficult in the years ahead.
So that, I think, to the earlier point about youth
employment and how that can help facilitate the so-called soft
skills that improve employability and career readiness as kids
get into high school and post high school and post secondary
education, this is obviously very broad, but just job creation
in general. And especially for our smaller businesses, policies
at the federal level that are conducive to job creation at that
level I think in the long run is probably the most important
thing we can do.
I would also point out--and this is something that I
applaud the House of Representatives for passing, I think, last
year, reauthorization of the Perkins Act. It was, I think, a
great demonstration of bipartisanship. It passed the U.S. House
unanimously and is pending in the U.S. Senate, and we are very
hopeful that your colleagues in the Senate will take up that
legislation and pass it. But that was very positive legislation
from our perspective. It hit on some key themes of providing
discretion at the local level. So many of these workforce
challenges are really community-based. There might be
similarities community to community and state by state, but
what you are really looking for is local employers working with
local partners in education, in the labor community, and
policymakers and others, and we need policies at the federal
and the state level to help ensure that those--that there is
discretion and latitude at the local level to carry out those
programs that best sort of fit the needs of the community. So I
would applaud the U.S. House for passing that bill, and we are
hopeful it will ultimately be sent to the President.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Halper, and I recognize my
colleague, Mr. Evans, for questioning for 5 minutes.
Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. Halper, I want to go back--and this question will go
down to everyone on the panel--the soft skills issue that you
raised. And obviously, there is a real mismatch with the number
of opportunity of jobs and matching up, and we now are at a
point where--is that something that the community colleges,
voc-ed schools can provide, or is that just things that should
happen at home? So I am trying to understand, you know, get to
that objective. So is that something the community colleges,
the voc-ed, or is that just something that needs to be found
from home?
Mr. HALPER. I think it is an all-of-the-above type answer,
and it is very difficult. Obviously we also have a problem with
the hard skills, and we have challenges with students not
meeting math and reading, not up to standard on those levels.
Those are--and there will always be disagreement over how you
measure, but there is at least a--sort of a tangible way to
measure attainment of those kinds of skills. Are you at--
reading at grade level, are you doing math at grade level?
Soft skills are much trickier. How do you measure it? How
do you ensure accountability? We would--we advocate for
policies--education policies that just work those types of
training into everyday curriculum. But you are absolutely
right. It is critically important, and probably most important
that those skills are learned at the home.
So it really is, more than anything, a partnership between
home life, education to make sure that, you know, sort of
learning how to learn and giving kids those just behavior
attributes that when they go into a workplace, they are able to
communicate and work with others and take direction, and show
up. But that is where we really focus on summer jobs and
unemployment.
It is really tragic. Unemployment among young Americans,
and young Pennsylvanians especially, and that is, you know,
under 18 who are looking for jobs but can't find them. They are
at all-time highs. And it is especially problematic in
Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and other urban centers. And again,
you know, thinking back to some of your efforts with
Philadelphia Summer Jobs, Philadelphia Youth Network, I mean,
there are a lot of advocates for trying to connect young
Philadelphians and young Pennsylvanians with jobs in the
summertime, and that is important for many reasons. But I think
it is most important because those are the jobs where you learn
if you don't show up on time and you don't show up on time
consistently, there are consequences. You have to be able to
take direction from an employer in order to stay on that job.
So that is--so it is not--you know, it is a difficult
question because there is no clear answer. It really requires
everyone kind of working together to make sure at graduation
time and before that, kids are ready to take on those jobs.
Mr. EVANS. Does anyone along the panel have any response to
the question I just asked?
Ms. HERRING. I do.
Mr. EVANS. Sure.
Ms. HERRING. So that is a huge issue, the whole what we
used to call work ethic----
Mr. EVANS. Right.
Ms. HERRING. --issue. The schools can do maybe a better job
of instilling work ethic by encouraging students to show up for
school every day and on time, and some of the schools that I
have worked--collaborated with over my career have allowed up
to 19 days absences during a school year. That is not teaching
a young person how to show up every day and be on time, and how
important that is.
In our programs, we built in that work ethic or
employability skills component because when we talk to our
employer partners, and it doesn't matter what meeting we are in
with our manufacturing partners, we start talking about the
hard skills and the conversation always devolves into the soft
skills. ``All I need is somebody who can show up every day on
time, able to work with others, and get the job done.'' So we
built into our 12-week training program a very strict
attendance policy. We only allow our students to be absent 2
days, and if they are absent, they have to contact the
instructor and let them know that they are going to be gone,
and they have to have a good excuse. And if they are missing
more than 3 days, we dismiss them from the program. They know
going into our program that this is a huge component. There
is--we are not able to advocate on our students' behalf if they
can't show us that they can show up every day on time. And that
has been very, very effective and why our job placement rate is
so high.
At the same time, we are looking to do more work with our
high school students as Mr. Halper was talking about work
experiences, and we have applied for a strategic innovation
grant that is going to be a manufacturing pathways program for
high school students. It will be about 90 hours of basic
manufacturing classroom training, and then a 90-hour job
internship, paid internship program. And hopefully we get that
grant, but if we do, we will be working very closely with our
employers to say to them, `have high expectations for these
students who are coming in for internships.' You can't just say
oh, it is just a kid, let's let them--you know, they weren't
able to get here one day--we will let them slide. We have to
have high expectations for our young people or they are not
going to learn those work ethic traits that are so very, very
important in the workplace.
Thank you.
Mr. EVANS. Pat, do you have any----
Mr. EIDING. Yeah, I would like to touch on it a little bit.
It--as was said, it is a little hard to put your hand on
how, where, and when. Obviously there are a lot of folks that
are growing up that have single parents. They are working.
There is a lot of time lost there. But it has to start with the
schools. I mean, we have created some programs to try to
overcome some of that. The Work Ready Program in Philadelphia
putting kids to work in the summertime is a fantastic program,
and I will tell you that, you know, I would hope that folks--we
have been fortunate to do at least three kids, sometimes a
little bit more in our small offices, since it started. Work
Ready is a great program, and Congressman Evans may remember a
young lady who worked with me by the name of Janet Rider----
Mr. EVANS. Um-hum.
Mr. EIDING. --who her background for years was in the
school system, and the first young folks that we had come to
work for us with the Work Ready Program, she took the first
young lady back into another room to talk to her because she
was dressed for a party. And what she said very clearly was
there are no bellies or butts in the working world, you know,
until you go home and get dressed properly, don't come back.
So that is what we try to do, get folks that know how to
answer a phone, know how to dress for these jobs. But if we do
7,000, you think about it, that is just a mere--compared to how
many kids are coming out of school. And the school systems in
Philadelphia are basically driving kids where they can to
college. I think a lot of school systems, they forgot about
other pathways. Maybe because that is because of the way this
country went and lost so many jobs, but kids can't all go to
college today. There has to be more attention to other
pathways, and part of that I think has to be getting them--
these kids--at the very least, a touch on number one, finances.
Let's say--I keep going back to dirt, but when I was in grade
school I was in a parochial school. Beneficial Bank came around
to all the kids to teach us how to put money in the bank. It
might have been $2 by the end of the year, but it was an
education. Those kinds of things. There should be some time
afforded in public education for what world these folks are
going into, and basics, you know, how you dress, how you speak,
those kinds of things in the work world. When we get into
conversations about building trades apprentices, which in
Philadelphia is--you know, unfortunately in Philadelphia when
you speak union, everybody thinks it is building trades. They
forget about the other 100 that we have in our organization.
But one of the things that we come up with is how do we help
these kids get into that class, into those schools? And then we
can work with them.
For example, my small local of 500 active employee workers,
members, give out 200-plus applications, and they are lucky at
the end of the day that they get less than 100 back. There is a
reason for that. People are intimidated. People are--have a
drug problem. There are reasons. The whole idea of getting
folks into a career, life sustaining career, they have to start
in the schools, and somehow or another--and I know that is not
your venue here, but that comes together with it, and it goes
right to the soft skills. I mean, you know, I was fortunate
enough to have a tough Irish mom that we didn't have a lot of
fancy clothes, but they were clean and my hair was combed, and
I knew how to say Mr. and Mrs. Smith to the people down the
street. And those things are lacking a little bit, but also in
the school. You got it in the school a little bit. It was
subtle maybe, but there was mention too about, you know, when
you would get into the upper grades. We are going to go to work
and this is a little different and that is a little different.
So there is a tremendous amount of work that has to be done
on that, because our roundtable in the northeast area for
manufacturers, that is what everybody came back to. Of course,
my suggestion to them, being a labor person, well why don't you
join us with the Philadelphia Episcopal Academies who deal with
kids, Philadelphia Works that deals with kids. Why don't you
come with us and help get those kids ready, and do it--you
know, here I am again with that word collaborative, but it is
an area that is very serious and employers need--just take the
construction world. If you have a two person job and it is a
job where somebody is in the air so you need two persons, and
somebody don't show, that job is without a job today. And you
know, that is an extreme example, but it happens in the
industrial world also, you know. Manufacturers have a certain
amount of things they have to get done. When people don't show
up or they show up late, it breaks that continuity. So that
training somewhere in the school system, if we can't get it at
home and the school system, well then maybe the school
systems--we got to get more connected with the parents.
Mr. EVANS. I guess one thing I want to say, and Mr. Halper,
when you raised that issue, last week Goldman Sachs has
something called 10,000 Small Business, and the issue I heard
at the roundtable was the number one issue was the workforce,
as well relating to soft skills. And the reason I ask that
question is I don't think we have figured out a way how to make
that happen. That is my issue about schools, community
colleges, and home. Because obviously, how do people learn
things at home? Usually they learn from modeling the behavior.
That usually is how they learn, from modeling behavior. So you
know, with this huge gap--we have a gap--is how to mesh that
up. I don't disagree with all the things you have said. I don't
know if the Chairman feels the same way. It is probably the
issue more so than tax policy, regulation, because I hear more
than anything about workforce. That is the issue that I hear in
terms of not having the--because your ability to grow is your
ability to have workers who know exactly what they are doing.
So I yield back the balance of my time, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Evans, and I recognize
myself for 5 minutes for questioning.
I just want to throw two ideas to the panel for discussion.
Number one is the issue of stigma and pressure for kids to go
to 4-year universities. You know, we can argue about what the
source of that, but I think the coolest thing we can do to our
kids is to pressure them to go to a 4-year university, graduate
with mountains of debt with bleak job prospects on the outside.
That is a very difficult way to start one's life. And how do
we--I am curious to get your input on how we can break that and
start offering this dual track or dual option to students
starting in middle school or possibly high school to let them
know this alternative track that they can go down.
I was down at the sheet metal workers facility in
Philadelphia. These apprenticeship programs are starting at 18
years old. I guess they are 5-year programs. They are making
great money in the program. They are getting college credit for
the apprenticeship. They are graduating with college credit
with no college debt, and tremendous salary opportunities. And
I don't think a lot of kids even know that. I really don't. I
don't think we are educating our kids in high school. To the
contrary, many of our high schools, their metric of success is
gauged on placement in 4-year colleges and universities. So
right off the bat we are incentivizing--and I don't know what
the source of this is. We should find out, but these guidance
offices in a lot of our high schools are incentivized to
counsel students to do that. So that is my first question I
want to throw out to you is how we can go about breaking that
stigma that exists.
And second is I mentioned before how the six million plus
unfilled jobs in this country, workforce training and skills
gap is one big cause. The second big cause is addiction,
substance abuse and addiction. How big of an impact are you
seeing in the work that you do every day? We all know the
devastating human impact that it has, but here we are talking
about also there is an economic impact as well.
Mr. Eiding?
Mr. EIDING. Okay. That is a good array of one question. Let
me say that the education process has forever and a day for I
don't know how many years now pushed kids to college, and here
is the other thing we found out. We had a roundtable the other
day in Philadelphia the mayor put together. We had a lot of
folks who run schools, not the least being Swenson School in
Philadelphia, and they are saying--what they are saying is that
when they try to talk to kids about other pathways, they are
not hitting home. And what some of them have found out, the
parents are part of the problem. When they would have parents
together and mention trades, they don't want to hear about it.
So similar to the soft skills, I think this is a bigger
issue as we talk about it. I guess that is the good thing. We
get together to talk about it, find out what is going on. You
know, kids have no knowledge of it. At one time in the public
education system, there was a pathway that was obvious and--but
I think the other thing that is unfair, and I brought this up
the other day, there were many jobs. You could--in
Philadelphia, you know, the neighborhood I grew up in
Kensington, you could either walk or take the 60 trolley car
and go to a job without even dropping out of school, those kind
of--not that we are looking for that, but folks didn't even
think about they were going to be able to go to college because
it wasn't there.
So there has to be a better dialogue education with parents
and with the teachers to drive these kids in a softer direction
so they know about stuff, and as we just talked about, they not
only get credits for college, there are four or five you get an
associate degree with Rowan and other colleges that are
partnered with the apprentice programs. So if parents that are
nervous about their kids not going to college, if they know
about that maybe, if there is some way we can get that
information out to people, because it is just as hard--now that
I am finding out for folks in high school and the teachers in
high school to direct kids in other pathways. I mean, they are
starting to do some of that with the CTE schools, classes, and
I think that is going to get better, but for years we left it
go and, you know, I know of many growing up--many folks who
went into the public school system went to Dobbins and other
places where vocational school was the way they were going to
go and they made a living, went into businesses. Many the
plumber that is in business today in Philadelphia--or was in
business, maybe their son is now--they went through those
schools. So there is a lot of that, you know, the idea of a
degree is something that we caused, you know, because I wanted
my kids to have more than I did. You wanted yours--everybody
did that, and so we drove the message that way. You have to go
to school. You have to go to school. You know, I went into the
Army, you know. That was pretty good school, but my brother
forever and a day boxed my years because he wanted me to be the
one coming out of a family of five kids that would go to
college. So you know, there are different degrees of it, but I
think the education system totally got into pushing towards
college.
The other thing that you talked about, think about what I
just said about 200 applications given out and less than 100
coming back. Some of that has to be because every program has a
drug test. Almost every industry anymore has some sort of a
drug test. You can't work by the rivers without having a drug
test. Anything in transportation, refineries, any of that, you
have to have a drug test to work there. I mean, it is one of
the stumbling blocks that we have getting reentry folks to
work, because of where they can and can't work. But the problem
you are talking about is so, so extensive.
We were fortunate enough in the Philadelphia building
trades back when we had a lot of refineries and the
transportation law went into effect, the gentleman who ran the
Garfield refinery basically said to us one test and they are
done for life. So we looked at that and said wow, you know,
many, many thousands of our workers, that is where they make
their living. How can you be done for life? We put together--
and I will tell you--I won't take credit, but many of the
leaders on the labor side put this together with folks in the
refineries to put together a testing program, but along with it
an allied assistance program, which basically said we can help
those folks who have a problem, because back then it might have
been more beer than it was opioids, you know. It could have
very well been. I am not sure. But we put a program together
that helped people to get back into life and be back in the
flow of life. And you are seeing more and more of that now
because so many folks are overdosing, but it has a tremendous
effect on our world out there. And not only the entry part, but
folks who are already working. It is the scariest thing in the
world to be 200 feet in the air with somebody who is spaced
out, and I don't care if that is on Old Granddad or if it is on
opioids. It is a scary thing. Same thing happens with somebody
working on a machine with you.
So it has a tremendous effect on what is going on, and it
has a tremendous effect with our kids. And listen, I think the
cure to that, besides helping people, is get more people to
work, because I think people want to work. They don't want to
sell drugs. That is my--maybe I will die with that thought, but
that is what I think, and so the drugs do have a big part of
it.
But the other part of it, forcing kids to think about
college, I think--and you know, I have had the opportunity to
talk to Lincoln freshmen, other freshmen through Philadelphia
Academies, and they don't know about what is out there in other
worlds, and so we go to work on it.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thanks, Pat. Ms. Herring?
Ms. HERRING. Definitely something we have to work on.
The career tracks that are talked about in the high schools
and middle schools today for the most part, especially here in
Bucks County, we are all talking 4-year college degrees. Even
if they start at Bucks, the hope is that their students will
matriculate into a 4-year college degree. So I think that is
something that has to change in our society. We have to do some
kind of a public awareness campaign to make sure that parents
understand there really are good jobs in that middle skills
range. About 65 percent of all our jobs require education
beyond high school, but it is not an either `no-college' or
`college' situation, which I think a lot of parents, that is
the way they think. Either their child isn't going to college
and is not going to have an opportunity for a good career, or
they are going to go get their 4-year college degree. And there
are so many family-sustaining jobs that only require a
certificate program, an associate's degree, or some kind of
industry-recognized credential that there are so many career
paths for individuals who really don't want to go to college.
How many start college and then don't finish? Frankly, I see a
lot of those students. A lot of those people who started at a
4-year college and decided that just wasn't where their head
was at come into my programs, do very successful in those
programs, come out earning a family-sustaining wage and the
opportunity for really a lifelong career where they can
continue building and training and moving their career along.
The drug testing; we do drug testing before we allow
anybody into our 12-week training programs. Many times we will
have maybe--and we do it as a cohort, so we bring everybody in
for the drug testing--we might have 15 or 16 individuals
scheduled to come in for the drug testing. Maybe nine will show
up. It is because they are self-selecting out before they even
come to the testing because they know they are not going to
pass. So we are missing a great deal of individuals because
they know they are not going to pass a drug test.
Unfortunately, the way to--as Mr. Eiding was saying, the way to
really help individuals stay clean and help recovering addicts
is to get them good employment where they feel like they are
earning a decent living and having the skills to really be
contributing to society. So we need to find a way to connect
these skills programs and good jobs with the community that is
suffering so much with the addiction.
Obviously, there are no easy answers, but we do have a lot
of individuals who come into our training programs who are
recovering addicts and they have some time with the criminal
justice system because of that, and thankfully our employers
are very tolerant of individuals who have some kind of
incarceration in their background and are able to look past
that. But of course, they are not going to look past failing a
drug test, and that is what we tell our students. And believe
it or not, I have to remind everybody that marijuana is still
illegal, because they seem to think they can smoke marijuana on
the weekend, come for the drug test, and it is going to be
okay. And that is not the case either, so there is a lot we can
do in that realm.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thanks, Ms. Herring.
Ms. HERRING. Thank you.
Mr. HALPER. I would certainly agree with you, Congressman,
and my fellow panelists that you have hit on two of probably
the most challenging issues that we face. In terms of
addressing the stigma and how we educate parents and students
that there are alternative career paths, it is very tough. It
is similar to the whole soft skills issue in that it is a
question of what gets measured and what shows kind of tangible
success. So a high school can, you know, fairly easily measure
how many kids are going on to a 4-year college, and there may
be a perception of a prestige factor to try to get that number
up. I don't know if you ever really get--move away from that.
So I think all you can do is--or the primary way to start
shifting the mentality is education and awareness, and putting
the focus on what types of jobs and careers are these kids
getting into after their post-secondary education. The
challenge, of course, is that kids go off of high school--it is
very difficult to measure how many kids from your high school,
you know, are in family-sustaining jobs 10 or 15 years out. But
if you can help coordinate a line of communication between the
employer community in a region and the education community, and
you have employers--and this does exist in pockets around
Pennsylvania, and I would hope around the country, where
employers are able to tell school districts, you know, here in
the next 5 to 10 years are the job openings that we expect to
have in our industry. Here are the salaries, and hopefully the
salaries, you know, if what we are hearing is true, hopefully
that will grab some people's attention, and sort of here is
your path from how you get from A to B if you want your kid--or
if you are talking to the student, if you want to have a good
job after college, you want to make 50, 60, $70,000, you don't
want to move back in with your parents--not that there is
anything wrong with that, but you know, if you are trying to
grab the attention of a kid, you know, that is a good sales
pitch. Here is a path to do that. Success is not, you know,
which 4-year college did you get into. Success--whether you are
looking at college--4-year college or associate's degree or a
trade school, success is a good job at the end of the day. To
the extent that you can coordinate with education so that
parents and students know what jobs are going to be out there
and how much they are going to make I think slowly but surely
maybe that mentality starts evolving.
I know the new--Pennsylvania's new plan for complying with
the Every Student Succeeds Act, ESSA, under U.S. Department of
Education, includes a requirement for high schools to
demonstrate that their students are attaining a certain level
of career readiness. And of course, kind of the devil is in the
details and these types of policies are only as good as the
accountability and the follow up. But it was encouraging to see
that schools are required to make sure their kids are aware of
what careers are out there and how to put themselves in a
position to get those jobs. I think it is incumbent upon the
Congress and others at Department of Education to make sure
that the states are adhering to these plans that they have laid
out. A lot of them are--you know, look fantastic on paper, and
I have no doubt that there is a real commitment to follow
through on them, but there needs to be that constant follow up
and accountability to make sure that that happens.
I am not sure there is much I can add in terms of the drug
issues within the workforce. I mean, we have heard both
anecdotally and our survey results that it is a real and a
serious problem. We have heard the same anecdotes of, you know,
an open house for job openings and 50 people show up. At the
beginning, they are told by the way, there is going to be a
drug test and half or three-fourths, I have heard anecdotally,
of the applicants leave at an announcement that there will be a
drug test.
So it is a serious problem. We also in Pennsylvania have a
very serious--you know, incumbent workers, but in terms of when
a worker--when an individual gets injured on the job, we have a
very high rate of opioid use among injured workers that is sort
of tied into this because it is tragic and many of these
employees, once they go down that path, may never get back to
that same job or may never get back onto a career path. So I am
not sure I have great answers for how to address that in terms
of from a workforce development perspective, but I think that
as long as there is kind of awareness on it, we should all be
doing our part to--just to make sure everyone is aware that
there are some very real consequences to these types of life
decisions.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Halper. Yeah, two other
issues that were also touched upon by Mr. Eiding,
transportation and criminal justice reform I think are also two
big pieces of the puzzle. I have met a ton of people in our
community here who want to work who don't have a way to get to
work. That also needs to be part of the discussion. Obviously
this is a different environment than in an urban environment
where public transportation may be more readily available. It
poses a little bit more of a challenge in the suburbs as far as
getting people access to mass transit and public
transportation.
And on criminal justice reform, well over 80 percent of
people who are currently inmates will be released at some
point, and we need to think about that. What are we doing in
the prison system to prepare these people to become
contributing members of society while they are serving?
Mr. Evans, do you have any further questions, or----
Mr. EVANS. No further questions, Mr. Chairman.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Does the panel want to comment on either
of those two issues?
Mr. HALPER. I guess I would only add on in terms of
transportation that, you know, in Pennsylvania we were very
active partners, along with the organized labor community, on
Act 89. This was comprehensive transportation legislation a few
years ago. I think it was a great example of how an
infrastructure--a large scale by Pennsylvania's standards--but
how a large scale infrastructure package can move through on a
fairly bipartisan basis and get enacted into law. It was a
combination of, you know, the PA Chamber endorsed a tax
increase, which is something that someone in my position does
not say very often, but in that case we thought it was
appropriate. It was a user fee that is directed specifically to
those intended purposes. It was combined with other reforms
that helped projects, you know, move more quickly and helped,
you know, make more bang for the buck in terms of those
dollars.
So hopefully at the federal level, as I know, and maybe
this isn't under the jurisdiction of the Small Business
Committee, but as you are all grappling with a potential
infrastructure package and during this session, you know, I
would love to think you could look to Pennsylvania as an
example of how you can get something done.
Ms. HERRING. Yeah, I would like to comment on the
transportation issue, because it is all wrapped up with each
other. We have people coming out of our prison systems who
don't have a valid driver's license because they don't have
access to it because they were arrested for DUIs and they have
no way of getting to work. So there is no--and without public
transportation in our county, there is no solution for them.
They need to be able to get back on the horse, get back to
work, and start earning some money so that they don't fall back
into their old ways and maybe get back into selling drugs or
doing other things that they were doing that got them in
trouble in the first place. And we do find that the
transportation issue is huge among students that we are looking
at to bring into our programs, because that is one of our
requirements. Thank you.
Mr. EIDING. So again, it is a subject matter that comes in
different levels and degrees, and I relate to the passage of
the transportation bill we did in Pennsylvania. A fellow by the
name of Rob Wonderling, who is an associate, I think, of the
Chamber who I remember walking into some of the offices in
Harrisburg with the labor and the head of the Chamber about an
issue that is not special interest, and they just kind of sat
back and said wow. I think there is going to be more of that,
quite honestly. I really think there could be.
Another example, more directly the extension of the SEPTA
lines into King of Prussia. There is a lot of yang and yo and
yang and yo. I look at it from Philadelphia, how many of our
folks who need jobs could get to those jobs? There are a lot of
jobs there and they are not great jobs maybe, but they are
family-sustaining jobs. If people can get there, they could do
those jobs.
Another example is Philadelphia schools again. I have been
beating up on them. I guess they will be coming after me, but
there's no driver's ed. So even the folks who want to go into a
trade, you know, the Philadelphia Building Trades is a minimum
five counties, and then you go into New Jersey, many of them go
up to Harrisburg, some to the State of Delaware. And you know,
as I describe to people, and they say why is it so important to
have a driver's license and vehicle? Well if you are working on
a Comcast job and your employer comes down and says look, I
need you in Royersford, Pennsylvania tomorrow, that is where
you got to be. There are not too many buses that you can get to
Royersford from, you know, some place in Philadelphia.
So transportation is a big issue. We try to find on our
Philadelphia Works, we are trying to see where we--in some jobs
that are location to location that maybe we can get funding for
transportation. Again, back to--the funding is so important
that we get, you know, you folks that keep it going, because
these are areas where we could do that.
I know one of our--one of the things we are working on now
is going to employers like SEPTA and others, you know, UPS, and
find out what we can to do kind of pre-school their possible
employer so we can talk to them, put some money in to talk to
them about soft skills, talk to them about, you know, you get a
job here, you got to be there every day, that kind of thing. Do
some--even go as far as pre-drug testing, you know, and I know
the young lady from SEPTA said well we do that already, and
what we said well is we know that, but we want to help you. We
want to send the folks that are even more ready. And so we had
this dialogue, and quite honestly, there is going to be another
follow up meeting so the HR folks there see some value to
Philadelphia Works being able to help with that.
And those kinds of monies that we get, if we put our mind
and thoughts into it, there are a lot of folks we can help.
Some of it certainly is customized training if we have
collaboration, but how to get the people to work is a big deal.
I mean, if the jobs are not right in the city of Philadelphia,
it is pretty tough for somebody to get to work if they don't
have the wherewithal, so it really has a big part. There are so
many pieces to it, you know, and I think it applies to stuff at
all levels of employees--employers, rather, and I think the
biggest challenge we have with certainly the bigger employers,
because they already have their HR system. They don't want to
break it down to workforce investment, but the middle size and
small employers I think have a great advantage there for them
if we could keep this workforce training flowing to really be
able to build up the workforce, and maybe entice other people
to come into our area to build their companies.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Thank you, Mr. Eiding.
Mr. Evans, did you have anything further?
Mr. EVANS. No, thank you.
Mr. FITZPATRICK. Okay. I want to thank the panel for your
time today, and I want to let you know what you are doing today
is a very, very big public service because everything that you
share with us gets entered into the Congressional record. And
we also--Dwight and I take this back to our Committee to help
us develop policy in all these areas, because I think it is--
the good part about these collaborative discussions and hearing
from all three of you, which are all three big pieces to the
puzzle, is we understand how interconnected so many of these
pieces are. Criminal justice reform, the issues of addiction,
the issues of transportation, the issues of education, talking
about driver's ed., right, I mean, not many people realize
that, and that is important. It is important for us to know and
to think about as we sort of craft solutions.
I want to encourage all three of you to maintain the lines
of communication with us. As you see areas of opportunity where
myself and Mr. Evans can generate a legislative fix or a policy
change, that can help us advance the ball as far as getting a
lot of these jobs filled. You are doing a tremendous service,
and I also want to thank Martin Williams of the Boilermakers.
Sir, thank you for opening your facility to us. You have been a
great partner as well.
We are going to close the hearing, and I also want to thank
my colleague, Mr. Evans, for joining us today. My hometown of
Levittown, thanks for coming here today, and I ask unanimous
consent that members may have 5 legislative days to submit
statements and supporting materials for the record. Without
objection, so ordered.
This hearing is adjourned. Thank you all for being here
today.
[Whereupon, at 12:49 p.m., the Committee was adjourned.]
A P P E N D I X
TESTIMONY OF PHILADELPHIA COUNCIL AFL-CIO PRESIDENT PATRICK
J. EIDING TO THE HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS 2/26/2018
Good Morning and thank you for the opportunity to discuss
Workforce Development.
My name is Pat Eiding and I am the President of the
Philadelphia Council AFL-CIO--representing 150,000 working
people.
I am proud to say that I have been on the board of
Philadelphia Works Inc. (PWI) since 2002 and am currently on
the Executive Committee. I also have the pleasure of serving on
the board of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Board and
as the only labor person on the board of National Association
of Workforce Board (NAWB). NAWB's main role in D.C. is to lobby
for jobs and the money to fund Workforce Boards across the
Country.
Since the focus of this hearing is on Workforce
Development, I must begin by requesting that you and your
colleagues in both chambers continue to fund the Workforce
Innovation and Opportunities Act (WIOA), I also would ask that
you maintain the conditions for Pell grants that allow for the
ability to benefit without the need to have a high school
diploma before you use a Pell grant. (ie: community college and
other training programs)
Programs: Programs that are Pell for skill development in
short term programs. Also, I would ask that we maintain the
focus on Registered Apprentice Programs. Additionally, we will
need more money for Adults For infrastructure jobs training.
One of my biggest concerns is the level of proficiency in
math and readings our students are graduating with. In some
cases, even graduates of CTE schools are at a sixth or seventh
grade level for both reading and math. We need to increase
education funding for these programs to better prepare these
students for graduation.
The Building Trades have some of the best training programs
in the Country, but our kids can't qualify for the Apprentice
Program. This is also a problem at the Shipyard Apprentice
Program.
At seventh grade math and reading a young person would not
be able to keep up with the training needed to become a journey
person.
Finally, we need more engagement and commitment from
employers both large and small so that we can perform the
special training needed to be their employees such as
internships and apprenticeships. Where we have meaningful
collaboration, we create life-sustaining jobs.
Areas of concern should include re-entry persons and
veterans: Helping to fund the very successful Helmets to
Hardhats program is a good example.
Thank you for this opportunity and I offer any help I can
be to foster economic development.
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Good morning, Representative Fitzpatrick, Representative
Evans, and audience members. Thank you for the invitation to
provide testimony on this very important topic.
The Center for Workforce Development at Bucks County
Community College (Bucks) works with local businesses to
provide customized training to build the skill level of their
current employees. Our offerings include a large range of
topics designed to assist the individual company in meeting
their specific needs. Topics include industrial safety,
computer applications, Lean Six Sigma, executive coaching and
leadership academies, to name just a few. These programs help
local businesses thrive by providing a highly skilled
workforce. We train approximately 2,800 incumbent workers a
year, and partner with over 50 companies, with 80% estimated to
be small businesses. Our clients have access to WEDnetPA*
funding through the state, as well as incumbent Worker raining
funding through the Bucks County Workforce Development Board.
Both are excellent programs that give preferential treatment to
small businesses, and bring significant value to our business
partners.
*WEDnetPA is a grant program created by the Department of
Community & Economic Development, (DCED) and made available
through the Workforce and Economic Development Network of
Pennsylvania. This program provides funding for qualified
employers to train new and existing employees, and allows
companies to stay competitive while keeping employee skills
current and relevant. Bucks is one of 27 partners across the
state of Pennsylvania awarding between 35 - 50 companies in
Bucks County funding between $250,000 - $400,000. Last year (FY
16-17) Bucks awarded 33 contracts, of which 26 were small
businesses.
The Center for Workforce Development also works closely
with businesses to help mitigate the shortage of skilled
workers in manufacturing. Working in partnership with the
County of Bucks, the Bucks County Workforce Development Board
and PA CareerLinkTM, the college has developed and
implemented pre-apprenticeship programs designed to upskill and
retrain un- and underemployed individuals to learn new skills
to fill the ever growing gap for well trained entry level
employees for manufacturing jobs. As retirements loom large for
businesses, more well-trained entry level employees will be
necessary to feed to manufacturing businesses to keep them
thriving in our local economy.
Bucks County expects to see nearly 3,000 new jobs in
advanced manufacturing in the next 10 years. This, coupled with
impending retirements of baby-boomers, make it vitally
important to provide accessible means for entry into the
industry sector. Most of our manufacturing partners are small
businesses. We use federal funding that flows through the BC
Workforce Development Board and County of Bucks to train entry-
level workers and feed them into these companies.
The College, in collaboration with the County of Bucks and
local manufacturing companies developed and launched the
Metalwork Training Program in 2014. The Program prepares
students with the skills to fill entry-level machining
positions for manufacturers in the region. As a result of the
success of this program, and in response to employer demand,
the college launched the Industrial Maintenance Training
Program in October 2017. This program prepares students for
entry-level jobs as electro-mechanical technicians in the
industrial maintenance field. Both programs provide
opportunities for students to earn industry-recognized
credentials including OSHA 10, Forklift Safety, and NIMS, and
both programs put a great deal of emphasis on employability
skills training and placement into good-paying jobs. The
Metalwork training takes place in Bristol, and the Industrial
Maintenance program trains out of the BC Public Safety Center
in Doylestown.
Over the past three years, we have trained approximately
170 un- and under-employed students in industrial skills and
have a job placement rate of over 92%. The average starting
wages are between $15 - $18/per hour, plus benefits, with the
opportunity to earn $40 - $50,000 per year within the first
couple of years of employment. This high success rate is due to
our robust candidate vetting and testing process, the ongoing
dedication of excellent industry experts as our instructors,
employability skills training, and the efforts of a dedicated
job developer. Once employed, students have the opportunity to
continue their training by entering OJT positions,
apprenticeship programs and/or continuing their education at
Bucks.
Manufacturing is alive and well in Bucks County and the
demand for skilled workers is higher than ever. In fact, our
recent Metalwork cohort graduated 11 students, and our partner
manufacturing companies had 33 job openings, providing for a
competitive job market favoring skilled job seekers. Bucks is
serving the business community by building the workforce
pipeline and connecting a new generation to the high-priority
occupations in manufacturing. Approximately 28% of our students
are under the age of 24, 50% under 30, and our average age is
32.
The Center for Workforce Development is continuing its
efforts to close the skills gaps in manufacturing by expanding
its 12-week Metalwork Training Program to serve the Upper Bucks
population of job seekers and manufacturing businesses. Through
a collaboration with the Upper Bucks County Technical School,
the Upper Bucks Chamber of Commerce, and the Quakertown Area
Planning Committee, we are on track to begin our first cohort
in Upper Bucks on February 26, 2018. The college is applying to
the County for CDBG funding to support our efforts beyond this
pilot cohort.
In addition, the college is collaborating with the Bucks
County Workforce Development Board to apply for the state's
Strategic Innovation Grant to provide a Manufacturing Career
Pathways Program to in-school and out-of-school youth between
the ages of 18 and 24. The demand in manufacturing is due, in
large part, to the aging of the skilled workforce coupled with
the fact that for generations, there has been little interest
in promoting this field as a viable career option. It is
imperative that high school students and their parents learn
more about these opportunities to help them make smart choices
for their futures and build the workforce pipeline. The College
will leverage the success of its industry programming into
working with our local high schools to begin educating in-
school youth and recent graduates between the ages of 18 and 24
on the benefits of a career in manufacturing. Our framework
will be similar to our manufacturing programs but geared more
towards students that are still unsure and looking to gain
exposure to the industry. The Manufacturing Career Pathways
Program will be a coursework introduction to manufacturing
partnered with an internship. This will give students a
foundational understanding of manufacturing while introducing
them to career options in the field. Students would begin with
classes at the Lower or Upper Bucks Campus. Once they have
successfully completed the coursework they would then
transition into an internship with one of our pilot companies.
The Manufacturing Career Pathways program will provide a new
opportunity for targeted youth to enter the Manufacturing
sector.
As with all workforce development programs, our programs'
success begins and ends with the symbiotic relationship we have
built with the manufacturing business community. Our business
partners participate in several ways. They assist with
developing and refining the curriculum, vetting training
candidates, offering company tours, and hiring our graduates.
Our business partnership has grown from an original 20
manufacturers, to over 70, spanning Bucks and surrounding
counties. Media articles, industry partnerships, and word of
mouth have contributed to the rapid increase.
The College is very thankful for the federal programs that
have provided funding to train individuals who most likely
would not have been able to afford the classes. The training
programs are strongly supported by the County of Bucks, through
past CDBG funding, and by the Bucks County Workforce
Development Board through individual Training Account funding
(ITAs) and currently, a US Department of Labor, Workforce
Innovation Fund (WIF) Grant. The WIF grant will support
training through September 2018, and the college is actively
pursuing other funding sources that will enable us to continue
to serve job seekers and our manufacturing partners.
In addition, in 2017 the college in partnership with Bucks
County Workforce Development Board, was awarded the PA Tech
Grant that will allow the college to upgrade existing
manufacturing equipment in order to build capacity at our
Advanced Manufacturing Training Center in Bristol.
Our students come to us facing barriers to employment, and
many of them are dealing with personal challenges that have
limited their ability to find financial stability, such as
addiction, homelessness, incarceration, single parenthood, and
disability. The College's pre-apprenticeship programs have
truly been life-transforming opportunities for these
individuals. Supportive family and friends attend our
graduation ceremonies, and it is humbling to receive their
heartfelt thanks for giving their loved ones a chance to be a
part of something that will forever change their lives.
Continued funding of Bucks County Community College's pre-
apprenticeship training programs is critical to sustaining our
work that has brought successful outcomes to so many of our
residents, while at the same time closing a skills gap that is
essential for the continued success of our small manufacturing
businesses in the region.
Thank you for the opportunity to testify at this morning's
hearing. I would be happy to answer any questions.
Respectfully submitted,
Susan C. Herring
Interim Executive Director, Center for Workforce
Development
Bucks County Community College
2/22/2018
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairman Chabot, Ranking Member Velazquez, Congressman
Fitzpatrick and other members of the Small Business Committee.
My name is Alex Halper and I am Director of Government Affairs
for the Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry. The PA
Chamber is the largest, broad-based business advocacy
association in Pennsylvania. We represent employers of all
sizes, crossing all industry sectors throughout the
Commonwealth. Thank you for the opportunity to testify today
regarding workforce development and closing the skills gap.
Pennsylvania employers face competition from businesses in
other states and, increasingly, around the world. While the
Commonwealth has tremendous assets--abundant natural recourses,
key geographic advantages, excellent higher education
institutions, etc--being successful in today's global economy
depends on Pennsylvania developing and harnessing the talent,
skills and capacities of its citizens. Students must be
prepared for careers or further education and workers must be
able to adapt and continually acquire the training and skills
required in the modern workplace. Unfortunately, feedback from
PA chamber members and employers around the Commonwealth has
made it clear we are falling short of these goals.
The PA Chamber conducts an annual survey of employers, both
PA Chamber members and non-members, focusing on the
Commonwealth's economic climate. The most recent survey of 654
Pennsylvania employers was conducted in August 2017 and several
questions focused on issues related to workforce3. When asked
to rate the quality of the workforce in Pennsylvania to meet
the business community's demand for skilled or trained workers,
a plurality of respondents answered just ``Fair'' (41 percent)
and far more chose the worst response of ``Poor'' (16 percent)
than those who responded ``Excellent'' (just five percent).
When asked for the most common problems experienced when
interviewing and considering job applicants and provided 13
answers from which to choose, the two most popular responses by
far were ``Lack of soft skills'' (35 percent) and ``Lack of
hard skills'' (34 percent). Examples of ``soft skills'' were
enumerated as work ethic, communication skills, punctuality,
dependability and team work; and ``hard skills'' were described
as training, education and certifications.
About a year earlier in 2016, the PA Chamber conducted a
survey specifically focusing on Pennsylvania employers'
experiences and expectations concerning the workforce. 428
Pennsylvania employers--PA Chamber members and non-members--
were contacted in early April 2016 and their responses painted
a daunting picture.
A combined 52 percent of respondents described it as very
or extremely difficult to recruit qualified candidates, with
the appropriate skills, training and/or education to fill the
workforce needs of their company. Most believed finding
qualified applicants had gotten more difficult over the last
five years (61 percent) and most also believe it will become
more difficult over the next five years (57 percent). Only two
percent of respondents believe it will get easier.
Feedback from this survey is consistent with anecdotal
insight from employers and much of the public discussion on the
skills gap and career readiness for those entering the
workforce: inadequate ``soft skills'' is a significant
challenge and just as common among job applicants, if not more
prominent, than those lacking ``hard skills''--i.e. specific
training or credentials. Employers across all industry sectors
describe difficulty recruiting applicants that exhibit
sufficient ability to think logically, work collaboratively
with others, behave properly, effectively communicate, etc.
While these questions in the survey helped quantify the
extent of the workforce challenges employers are facing and
captured the sentiment of Pennsylvania's business community,
the results were not surprising: they were consistent with
similar national surveys and individual insight PA Chamber
personnel hear from our members all over the Commonwealth.
Responses to and analysis of the next series of questions,
however, were somewhat more enlightening and, we hope,
instructive for how the business community can and should lead
efforts to address the skills gap.
Survey participants were asked about internal activities
and investments in workforce development and job training--
including internships, apprenticeship programs, internal
training, mentoring and partnering with local high schools and
trade schools. We then compared these responses with an earlier
question that simply asked employers the extent to which they
were experiencing workforce challenges. The analysis showed a
clear correlation between employers who invest resources and
time to workforce development programs and activities and those
who are more successful addressing their own workforce needs.
In other words, employers should not consider devoting time and
resources to addressing workforce challenges as simply
community service, but as a key piece of their company strategy
to accommodating their own internal workforce needs.
This is the message the PA Chamber has attempted to deliver
to our members and spread to employers throughout the
Commonwealth: the business community must take the lead in
workforce development and addressing the skills gap. We can
support smart public policy and encourage educational
institutions and members of the public to be close,
constructive partners--but ultimately it is incumbent on
Pennsylvania employers to make the commitment and do the work
necessary to ensure they have a qualified workforce today and
in the future.
The one caveat is the aforementioned deficit of ``soft
skills'' among those entering the workforce. Anecdotally, we
hear from employers who are committed to or interested in
establishing or expanding job training programs but are
frustrated by a dearth of potential participants they view as
possessing prerequisite communication skills or behavioral
attributes to qualify. Employers may be willing to invest more
in workforce development but may not have the inclination, or
think they have the ability, to teach these basics.
Accordingly, attention to soft skills development must remain a
priority even as policymakers focus on specific job training
and making tangible progress on facilitating career readiness.
Public schools should be encouraged and provided strategies
to better incorporate soft skills development into existing
curriculum. Also critically important is facilitating youth
employment. The prerequisite skills and work ethic sought by
employers--reporting on time, reliability, following
instructions, etc.--are attributes often acquired and honed as
youth working part-time and during the summer. Unfortunately,
youth unemployment remains a serious problem throughout
Pennsylvania and the country. According to the U.S. Department
of Labor Bureau of Labor Statistics, youth unemployment in
January 2018 was an unacceptably high rate of 13 percent; and
specifically African American youth unemployment was over 24
percent. Public policy should encourage and allow employers to
create new and maintain existing part-time, lesser-skilled jobs
that are often filled by the 16-19 year old demographic.
The PA Chamber also supports smart public policy that
compliments and encourages employer efforts related to
workforce development and job training. We urge lawmakers to
keep in mind the following principals and suggestions when
considering legislation:
- Regularly and thoroughly review existing workforce
development programs to make sure programs are
achieving intended objectives at an acceptable cost.
Reviews should be publicized, include a cost-benefit
analysis and strive to reduce fragmentation and provide
more efficient delivery of services.
- Focus locally and engage the business community to
best determine current and long-term community
workforce needs, tailor local programs accordingly and
create nimble systems that can react in a timely way to
market demands.
- Expand and improve educational options in the
technical fields and others that require some level of
post-secondary education to help job-seekers meet the
requirements for employers in the economy of today and
in the future. And help eliminate bias against
vocational education.
- Encourage institutions of higher education to offer
courses that align with workforce needs, such as online
programs, that are structured to best facilitate
participation from non-traditional students.
- Help promote public-private partnerships and
private sector educational and training programs, such
as apprenticeships and other innovative approaches to
providing workplace experience and skill attainment
opportunities.
One bill pending in Congress that is consistent with these
principals is H.R. 2353, the Strengthening Career and Technical
Education for the 21st Century Act, which was introduced by
Pennsylvania's own, Rep. Glenn Thompson, and passed the House
by voice vote last year. This bill would reauthorize Carl D.
Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006 and achieve
key objectives of aligning CTE programs to the needs of local
labor markets; support collaboration between educational
institutions and employers; increase student participation in
work-based learning opportunities; and promote the use of
industry recognized credentials and other recognized
postsecondary credentials. We thank the House for passing this
bill and urge you to work with your Senate colleagues to send
this legislation to the President.
Thanks again for the opportunity to testify. I'm happy to
answer any questions.