NSC responds to President's SOTU address.

State of the Union Response: President’s Call to Train 2 Million Workers
Reflects Main Street Realities, Defies Beltway Pundits

National Skills Coalition (NSC) released the following response by Executive Director Andy Van Kleunen to President Obama’s State of the Union Address:

President Obama has listened to Main Street instead of the Beltway, making skills for America’s workers central to his vision for an economy that’s built to last, and committing to train 2 million workers through a streamlined workforce system built on partnerships with businesses.

U.S. employers are ready to hire but cannot find workers with the right skills for available jobs. Some Washington pundits say this skills gap is fiction. Others say that efforts to address it are wasteful welfare spending for workers who don’t need it. Still others say workforce training is a distraction from the real barriers to economic recovery.

These pundits aren’t talking to employers: Countless industry surveys document the skills gap, particularly for middle-skill jobs that require technical training, not necessarily a four-year degree. And they aren’t talking to workers: Their demand for workforce training is at an all-time high. 

To be sure, workforce training alone will not put 13 million people back to work. We need greater demand for goods and services and more effective job creation strategies. But there are 3 million job openings waiting to be filled, and many are good-paying, skilled positions. Training 2 million adults for these jobs is a step toward getting the country back on track and prepared for an increasingly competitive 21st century economy.

We applaud the President for his pragmatic vision for the nation that includes the types of training needed for the largest portion of American jobs – middle-skill jobs. And we applaud his attention to the skills of today’s workforce – hard working adults like State of the Union guest Jackie Bray.

We hope the President backs this vision with meaningful policies and investments that give America’s workers and employers a fair shot at the skills to compete and prosper.

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National Skills Coalition is a broad-based coalition of employers, unions, education and training providers, and public officials working toward a vision of an America that grows its economy by investing in its people so that every worker and every industry has the skills to compete and prosper.