The establishment of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board by the Trump Administration will hopefully help guide the private sector and the government in creating more opportunities for citizens and more skilled workers for companies large and small.
We are pleased to see executives from CompTIA members Apple, Lockheed Martin, SAP, and IBM were tapped to be part of the advisory board.
Business leaders on the Board include: Tim Cook, Apple; Marilyn Hewson, Lockheed Martin; Al Kelly, Visa, Bill McDermott, SAP; Doug McMillon, Walmart; Ginni Rometty, IBM; Barbara Humpton, Siemens; and Craig Menear, The Home Depot.
The Advisory Board will provide advice and recommendations to the National Council for the American Worker on specific ways to encourage the private sector and educational institutions to combat the skills crisis by investing in and increasing demand-driven education, training, and re-training, including training through apprenticeships and work-based learning opportunities.
The Board’s primary focus will be on:
- Devising a national strategy for empowering American workers on how the Federal government can work with non-Federal stakeholders to create and promote workforce development strategies that provide evidence-based, affordable education and skills-based training for youth and adults to prepare them for the jobs of today and of the future;
- Fostering close coordination, cooperation, and information exchange within the Federal government and between the government and non-Federal stakeholders as related to issues concerning the education and training of Americans, including through the use of online learning resources;
- Increasing transparency related to education and job-training program options, including those options offered at 4-year institutions and community colleges;
- Proposing ways to increase access to available job data, including data on industries and geographic locations with the greatest numbers of open jobs and projected future opportunities, as well as data on the underlying skills required to fill open jobs;
- Developing a national campaign to raise awareness of relevant matters, such as the urgency of the skills crisis; the importance of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics education; the creation of new industries and job opportunities spurred by emerging technologies; the changing nature of many careers in the trades and manufacturing; and the need for companies to invest in the training and re-training of their workers;
- Developing a plan for recognizing companies that demonstrate excellence in workplace education, training, and re-training policies and investments, in order to galvanize industries to identify and adopt best practices, innovate their workplace policies, and invest in their workforces; and
- Examining how the Federal government can work with non-Federal stakeholders to support the implementation of recommendations from the Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion established in Executive Order 13801 of June 15, 2017 (Expanding Apprenticeships in America).
Joining the business leaders are elected officials, leaders from higher education, trade associations and community groups. Elected officials include: Kim Reynolds, Governor of Iowa; Eric Holcomb, Governor of Indiana; and Vi Lyles, Mayor of Charlotte, N.C.
