The secretary of the US Department of Commerce has asked the recently-formed American Workforce Policy Advisory Board to come up with a coherent policy for spurring job training initiatives by July 2020. These are primarily in the manufacturing sector, Kallanish learns from a White House release.

Secretary Wilbur Ross charged the board with four goals. The board must develop a campaign promoting “... multiple pathways to career success,” with better data transparency for job matching; modernised candidate recruitment and traning; and incentivised employer-led training initiatives.

Secretary Ross co-chairs the related National Council for the American Worker with President Donald Trump’s daughter Ivanka Trump, Domestic Policy Council Director Joe Grogan, and Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta.

Several steel-related trade groups – notably the American Institute of Architects and the Associated General Contracts – have called for increased manufacturing and construction job training to fill anticipated shortfalls of skilled labour in the sectors.

“We all know that the status quo is not remotely good enough,” Ross says. “Simply stated: Our system of workforce education and training is not providing American businesses with the skilled individuals we all need to help us. The current training and educational system is also inappropriate for older American workers who are not equipped for the skilled, high-paying jobs that remain vacant in every sector of our growing economy.”

Ross estimates a shortfall of 7.3 million jobs – up 1.6m from last year – related to insufficient training.