OVERHAULING FEDERAL WORKFORCE TRAINING: Today, President Donald J. Trump signed an Executive Order to modernize American workforce programs to prepare citizens for the high-paying skilled trade jobs of the future.
- The order directs the Secretaries of Labor, Education, and Commerce to review all federal workforce programs to modernize, integrate, and re-align programs to address critical workforce needs in emerging industries.
- These Secretaries shall provide President Trump with a streamlined and integrated plan to re-orient federal workforce programs to prepare the American economy for the opportunities presented by reshoring and re-industrialization.
- This Comprehensive Workforce Strategy will further America’s global economic leadership and domination of key sectors by, among other things, capitalizing on the AI revolution.
PROVIDING RETURN ON WORKFORCE INVESTMENT: After years of shuffling Americans through an economically unproductive postsecondary system, President Trump will refocus young Americans on career preparation.
- Decades of failed political leadership have left America with a one-size-fits-all approach to workforce preparedness, which previous Administrations promoted as “college for all.”
- The Federal Government invests over $700 billion a year in American higher education, but only about half of new college graduates find jobs that require college degrees.
- Meanwhile, the Federal Government spends $4.1 billion on the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act and $1.4 billion on Career and Technical Education through the Perkins Act. Neither of these programs are structured to promote apprenticeships or have incentives to meet workforce training needs.
- The Trump Administration is putting American workers first, unleashing domestic advanced manufacturing to produce the best American-made products and implement world-leading, American-developed technologies.
BACK TO THE FUTURE OF JOBS: After decades of leadership by so-called “Experts” making wrong predictions on what the future will hold, President Trump will restore focus on sectors and programs that Made the American Economy Great in the first place.
- In 2024, there was a shortage of 447,00 construction workers and 94,000 durable goods workers. The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that the annual shortage of skilled tradesman over the next decade will be close to half a million—and grow as the years go by.
- This understates the problem—and the opportunity. Even the best federal government statisticians cannot predict the future. As the potential of American AI increases, and as America reshores manufacturing and makes Made in America a mark of international envy, America will need more skilled tradesman than we’re prepared to train.
- President Trump’s Executive Order will meet the needs of the future with a focus on registered apprenticeships. The Administration will submit a plan to support more than 1 million apprenticeships per year.