Infrastructure Investment and Workforce Development Key

Joe Weinlick
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During the keynote speech at the 2014 Career and Technical Education Workforce Development Summit, U.S. Vice President Joe Biden named infrastructure investment and workforce development as the keys to job growth and moving people out of poverty. The summit, hosted by the AFL-CIO and the American Federation of Teachers, was created to increase awareness of the role union-industry partnerships play in workforce development, but infrastructure investment is just as important to the manufacturing industry.

Infrastructure is the foundation of manufacturing. Without adequate transportation methods and routes, energy networks, waste and water management programs, and telecommunication systems, manufacturing falters. Biden maintains that investing in the American infrastructure helps grow the middle class by creating jobs. Workers are needed to repair roads, bridges, railways and ports, to construct and improve energy networks, and to update telecommunication systems. Then, employment increases in the factories supported by the new infrastructure. This leads to a cycle of job creation, as more factories are pulled into the area by the quality of the infrastructure, and then more infrastructure is required as manufacturing industries grow.

Workforce development goes hand in hand with an improved infrastructure to boost manufacturing. It does not matter how many jobs are created if there are no skilled workers available to meet the need. Improving the workforce helps people step out of poverty and into the middle class one job at a time. Gone are the days when manufacturing offered unskilled workers a chance at good job. Many of the manufacturing jobs of the 21st century require skilled workers who are competent in high-tech manufacturing environments. Biden lays the responsibility for this training on labor unions and businesses alike. He suggests that partnerships between unions and manufacturing enterprises as well as community colleges are the ideal way to train the future manufacturing workforce. Bolstering workforce development programs also creates jobs in the education and support fields.

Community colleges are well-suited for providing training programs for manufacturing. Their flexibility allows the integration of hands-on training and internships, and their low cost and adaptable programs open the training to many unskilled Americans with few employment options. When manufacturing businesses work together with community colleges to help design programs to train the workforce they need, opportunities flourish for those who want to work at a job with a living wage. Most Americans desire to move out of poverty, and the right training programs pave the way.

Strengthening America's middle class starts with infrastructure investment and workforce development. Watch for an increase in jobs related to infrastructure improvements, including transportation, energy, communications, and water and waste management. To qualify for new skilled manufacturing positions, consider entering training through a workforce development program sponsored by a local labor union or manufacturing business, or consider a manufacturing technology program at your local community college.

 


Photo courtesy of 9comeback at FreeDigitalPhotos.net
 

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