Today, the Biden-Harris Administration is announcing new efforts to ensure all Americans can access the good jobs created by the President’s Investing in America agenda, including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. These strategies build off the Administration’s Roadmap to Support Good Jobs, a collaborative agency effort to align on guideposts to build our workforce by ensuring every American—whether they go to college or not—will have equitable access to high-quality training, education, and services that provide a path to a good career without leaving their community.
Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, private companies have announced $470 billion in manufacturing and clean energy investments, which is in addition to the $220 billion already announced by the Administration for infrastructure projects funded by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. These projects and investments are creating good job opportunities for hardworking Americans, many of which don’t require a four-year degree. Today’s announcements highlight how the Administration will ensure American workers and families have access to those job opportunities and the training and skills needed to fill those jobs. First Lady Jill Biden will highlight the announcements today during her remarks at the Department of Labor’s Vision 2030 National Workforce Convening.
The Investing in America Workforce Initiatives include:
In addition to these efforts, the Department of Labor will support local leaders and communities in driving workforce development efforts that build pathways for diverse workers into good jobs created by Investing in America investments. The Department will provide tools and resources for facilitating labor-management partnerships that bring together employers, labor unions, community colleges, high-road training providers, and community organizations to jointly develop and implement training programs that advance job quality, equity, and worker voice.
Workforce Hubs
The President’s Investing in America agenda presents an unprecedented opportunity to help more students and workers—including women, people of color, youth, and others underrepresented in growing fields—advance in good jobs and careers in industries mobilized by the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act. Already, President Biden has unleashed $470 billion in private sector investments in clean energy, semiconductors, and manufacturing—and that’s in addition to the $220 billion in infrastructure projects that have been announced since the President signed the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. As a result of many of these investments, centers of opportunity have emerged around specific sectors in particular regions of the country.
To unleash the full economic and job-creation potential of these public- and private-sector investments, the Administration has identified an initial set of five Workforce Hubs, each centered on key industries. In each Hub, the Administration will partner with state and local elected officials and community leaders to drive effective place-based workforce development efforts that are essential to building an economy from the bottom up and the middle out. Each Workforce Hub, consistent with the needs of the specific city or region, will work to secure private-sector and state and local commitments to expand pre-apprenticeship and Registered Apprenticeship programs, develop or expand career and technical education programs aligned to Investing in America jobs and careers, and provide supportive services that are particularly critical to helping underrepresented students and workers succeed.
The first five Workforce Hubs are:
Workforce Sprint
Through prior workforce sprints, the Administration has driven commitments to equitable workforce development and job quality improvement to address critical needs. These include efforts to expand Registered Apprenticeships in trucking and cybersecurity, and to build pathways into good jobs and careers in broadband, electrification, and construction through the Talent Pipeline Challenge.
Today, the Administration is announcing a new sprint in advanced manufacturing. Advanced manufacturing spans critical technologies of the future supported through the Investing in America agenda—from electric vehicles and semiconductors to high-tech heat pumps (super-efficient HVAC technology), as well as biobased products like medicines, vaccines, and biofuels. Many of the skills and occupations across advanced manufacturing do not require a bachelor’s degree, including advanced manufacturing technicians, biomedical technicians, and machinists. Through this sprint, the Administration will work with employers, unions, and other stakeholders—such as the Manufacturing USA Institutes—to expand pre-apprenticeships, Registered Apprenticeships, and career and technical education (CTE) programs at the secondary and postsecondary level for advanced manufacturing occupations. The Administration will call on employers and others to partner to ensure these jobs are good jobs, and to expand access to underrepresented communities, such as by providing supportive services.
Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy
To complement the White House’s Workforce Hubs, the Department of Labor is announcing the 15 cities that have been selected to join the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy. Through partnership with the National League of Cities, the Academy will spur innovative and scalable city-led solutions that upskill and reskill all workers—including those who have too often been left behind—into quality, high-demand jobs in infrastructure, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing, made possible by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
The Academy will provide its 15-member cohort with in-depth technical assistance to accelerate each city’s efforts to design, develop, and launch a new workforce initiative. The initiative will leverage partnerships with local government, workforce boards, education and training providers, industry, labor unions, labor-management partnerships, and community-based organizations. City participation will culminate in the launch of new or expanded training programs that place workers in quality jobs.
Cities participating in the Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy:
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