[House Hearing, 117 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND OPPORTUNITY
ACT REAUTHORIZATION: CREATING
OPPORTUNITIES FOR YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
=======================================================================
HEARING
BEFORE THE
SUBCOMMITTEE ON
HIGHER EDUCATION AND
WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, MAY 27, 2021
__________
Serial No. 117-16
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Education and Labor
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via: edlabor.house.gov or www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
44-800 PDF WASHINGTON : 2022
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND LABOR
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia, Chairman
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina,
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut Ranking Member
GREGORIO KILILI CAMACHO SABLAN, JOE WILSON, South Carolina
Northern Mariana Islands GLENN THOMPSON, Pennsylvania
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida TIM WALBERG, Michigan
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
MARK TAKANO, California ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
ALMA S. ADAMS, North Carolina RICK W. ALLEN, Georgia
MARK DeSAULNIER, California JIM BANKS, Indiana
DONALD NORCROSS, New Jersey JAMES COMER, Kentucky
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
JOSEPH D. MORELLE, New York FRED KELLER, Pennsylvania
SUSAN WILD, Pennsylvania GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
LUCY McBATH, Georgia MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JAHANA HAYES, Connecticut BURGESS OWENS, Utah
ANDY LEVIN, Michigan BOB GOOD, Virginia
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
HALEY M. STEVENS, Michigan DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico MARY E. MILLER, Illinois
MONDAIRE JONES, New York VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina SCOTT FITZGERALD, Wisconsin
FRANK J. MRVAN, Indiana MADISON CAWTHORN, North Carolina
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York, Vice-Chair MICHELLE STEEL, California
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas Vacancy
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey
JOHN A. YARMUTH, Kentucky
ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
KWEISI MFUME, Maryland
Veronique Pluviose, Staff Director
Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director
------
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
FREDERICA S. WILSON, Florida, Chairwoman
MARK TAKANO, California GREGORY F. MURPHY, North Carolina
PRAMILA JAYAPAL, Washington Ranking Member
ILHAN OMAR, Minnesota GLENN GROTHMAN, Wisconsin
TERESA LEGER FERNANDEZ, New Mexico ELISE M. STEFANIK, New York
MONDAIRE JONES, New York JIM BANKS, Indiana
KATHY E. MANNING, North Carolina JAMES COMER, Kentucky
JAMAAL BOWMAN, New York RUSS FULCHER, Idaho
MARK POCAN, Wisconsin MARIANNETTE MILLER-MEEKS, Iowa
JOAQUIN CASTRO, Texas BOB GOOD, Virginia
MIKIE SHERRILL, New Jersey LISA C. McCLAIN, Michigan
ARIANO ESPAILLAT, New York DIANA HARSHBARGER, Tennessee
RAUL M. GRIJALVA, Arizona VICTORIA SPARTZ, Indiana
JOE COURTNEY, Connecticut JULIA LETLOW, Louisiana
SUZANNE BONAMICI, Oregon VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina
ROBERT C. ``BOBBY'' SCOTT, Virginia (ex officio)
(ex officio)
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on May 27, 2021..................................... 1
Statement of Members:
Wilson, Hon. Frederica S., Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Investment......................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 5
Foxx, Hon. Virginia, Ranking Member, Committee on Education
and Labor.................................................. 7
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Statement of Witnesses:
Barela, Joe, Executive Director, Colorado Department of Labor
and
Employment................................................. 10
Prepared statement of.................................... 13
McGrew, Patrick J., Executive Director, Indiana Governor's
Workforce Cabinet.......................................... 15
Prepared statement of.................................... 17
Sigelman, Mathew, CEO, Burning Glass Technologies............ 19
Prepared statement of.................................... 21
Wu, Portia, Managing Director for Public Policy, US
Government Affairs, Microsoft Corporation.................. 31
Prepared statement of.................................... 34
Additional Submissions:
Questions submitted for the record by:
Omar, Hon. Ilhan, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Minnesota..................................... 74
Response to question submitted for the record by:
Mr. McGrew............................................... 75
WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND
OPPORTUNITY ACT REAUTHORIZATION:
CREATING OPPORTUNITIES FOR
YOUTH EMPLOYMENT
----------
Thursday, May 27, 2021
House of Representatives,
Subcommittee on Education and
Workforce Investment,
Committee on Education and Labor,
Washington, DC.
The Subcommittee met, pursuant to notice, at 12:05 p.m.,
via Zoom, Hon. Frederica S. Wilson (Chairwoman of the
Subcommittee) presiding.
Present: Representatives Wilson, Takano, Jayapal, Omar,
Leger Fernandez, Jones, Manning, Bowman, Pocan, Grijalva,
Courtney, Bonamici, Scott (ex officio), Grothman, Stefanik,
Fulcher, Miller-Meeks, Good, Spartz, Letlow, and Foxx (ex
officio).
Staff present: Jessica Bowen, Professional Staff; Ilana
Brunner, General Counsel; Scott Estrada, Professional Staff;
Rashage Green, Director of Education Policy; Sheila Havenner,
Director of Information Technology; Eli Hovland, Policy
Associate; Ariel Jones, Policy Associate; Katie McClelland,
Professional Staff; Richard Miller, Director of Labor Policy;
Max Moore, Staff Assistant; Mariah Mowbray, Clerk/Special
Assistant to the Staff Director; Lorin Obler, GAO Detailee;
Kayla Pennebecker, Staff Assistant; Veronique Pluviose, Staff
Director; Banyon Vassar, Deputy Director of Information
Technology; Claire Viall, Professional Staff; Joshua Weisz,
Communications Director; Cyrus Artz, Minority Staff Director;
Courtney Butcher, Minority Director of Member Services and
Coalitions; Amy Raaf Jones, Minority Director of Education and
Human Resources Policy; Hannah Matesic, Minority Director of
Operations; Jake Middlebrooks, Minority Professional Staff
Member; Mandy Schaumburg, Minority Chief Counsel and Deputy
Director of Education Policy; Brad Thomas, Minority Senior
Education Policy Advisor.
Chairwoman Wilson. The Subcommittee on Higher Education and
Workforce Investment will come to order. Welcome everyone. I
note that a quorum is present. I note for the Subcommittee that
Mr. Mrvan of Indiana is permitted to participate in today's
hearing with the understanding that his questions will come
only after all members of the Subcommittee on Higher Education
and Workforce Investment on both sides of the aisle who are
present and had an opportunity to question the witnesses.
The Subcommittee is meeting today to hear testimony on
``Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Reauthorization:
Creating Employment Pathways for Dislocated Workers''.
This is an entirely remote hearing. All microphones will be
kept muted as a general rule to avoid unnecessary background
noise. Members and witnesses will be responsible for unmuting
themselves when they are recognized to speak, or when they wish
to seek recognition.
I also ask that Members please identify themselves before
they speak, so call out your name before you speak. Members
should keep their cameras on while in the proceeding. Members
shall be considered present in the proceedings when they are
visible on camera, and they shall be considered not present
when they are not visible on camera.
The only exception to this is if they are experiencing
technical difficulty and inform Committee staff of such
difficulty. If any Member experiences technical difficulties
during the hearing you should stay connected on the platform,
make sure that you are muted and use your phone to immediately
call the Committee's IT director, you have been given that
number in advance.
Should the Chair experience technical difficulty or need to
stop to leave, or step away to vote on the floor Mr. Takano, or
another majority Member as a Member is hereby authorized to
assume the gavel in the Chair's absence.
This is an entirely remote hearing and as such the
Committee's hearing room is officially closed. Members who
choose to sit with their individual devices in the hearing room
must wear headphones to avoid feedback, echoes and distortion
resulting from more than one person on the software platform
sitting in the same room.
Members are also expected to adhere to social distancing
and safe healthcare guidelines, including the use of masks,
hand sanitizers and wiping down their areas both before and
after their presence in the hearing room.
In order to ensure that the Committee's five-minute rule is
adhered to, staff will be keeping track of time using the
Committee's field timer. The field timer will appear on its own
thumbnail picture and will be named 001_timer. There will be no
one-minute remaining warning. The field timer will show a
blinking light when time is up.
Members and witnesses are asked to wrap up promptly when
their time has expired. While a roll call is not necessary to
establish a quorum in official proceedings conducted remotely
or with remote participation, the Committee has made it a
practice whenever there is an official proceeding with remote
participation for the Clerk to call the roll and help make
clear who is present at the start of the proceeding.
Members should say their name before announcing they are
present. This helps the Clerk, and also helps those watching
the platform and the livestream who may experience a few
seconds delay.
At this time I ask the Clerk to please call the roll.
The Clerk. Chairwoman Wilson?
Chairwoman Wilson. Congresswoman Wilson is present.
The Clerk. Mr. Takano?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ms. Jayapal?
Ms. Jayapal. Jayapal is present.
The Clerk. Ms. Omar?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ms. Leger Fernandez?
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Ms. Leger Fernandez is present.
The Clerk. Mr. Jones?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ms. Manning?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Bowman?
Mr. Bowman. Mr. Bowman is present.
The Clerk. Mr. Pocan?
Mr. Pocan. Mr. Pocan is present.
The Clerk. Mr. Castro?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ms. Sherill?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Espaillat?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Grijalva?
Mr. Grijalva. Grijalva present.
The Clerk. Mr. Courtney?
Mr. Courtney. Courtney present.
The Clerk. Ms. Bonamici?
Ms. Bonamici. Suzanne Bonamici's present.
The Clerk. Mr. Scott?
Mr. Scott. Scott's present.
The Clerk. Ranking Member Murphy?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Grothman?
Mr. Grothman. Present.
The Clerk. Ms. Stefanik?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Banks?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Comer?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Fulcher?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ms. Miller-Meeks?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mr. Good?
Mr. Good. Good here.
The Clerk. Mrs. McClain?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mrs. Harshbarger?
[No response.]
The Clerk. Mrs. Spartz?
Mrs. Spartz. Spartz is present.
The Clerk. Ms. Letlow.
[No response.]
The Clerk. Ranking Member Foxx?
Ms. Foxx. Foxx is here.
The Clerk. Chairwoman Wilson that concludes the roll call.
Ms. Wilson. Thank you so much.
Mr. Jones. Madam Chair how is Jones recorded?
The Clerk. Mr. Jones, I have marked you as present.
Mr. Jones. Thank you.
Mr. Takano. Madam Chair how is Takano recorded?
The Clerk. Mr. Takano you are present as well.
Mr. Takano. Thank you.
Chairwoman Wilson. So everyone has been recorded. Thank
you. Thank you so much. Pursuant to Committee Rule 8(c) opening
statements are limited to the Chair and the Ranking Member.
This allows us to hear from our witnesses sooner and provides
all Members with adequate time to ask questions.
I now recognize myself now for the purpose of making an
opening statement. Today we meet for our second bipartisan
hearing on reauthorizing the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, or WIOA.
This hearing will address key priorities to support workers
who have been forced out of their jobs and to help workers
avoid future displacement through lifelong learning. WIOA
supports an array of programs that provide displaced workers
with the skills and support they need to attain higher paying
and more rewarding careers.
These include career services ranging from career planning
and counseling to supportive services including lead-based
payments. WIOA also provides workers with access to training
services, including on the job training which allows workers to
earn while they train. That is so important and have individual
training accounts or ITA's which workers can use on approved
in-State training programs.
There is no better time to strengthen critical initiatives
that help displaced workers get back on their feet,
particularly as millions of workers remain unemployed, or under
employed due to the pandemic. Worse, too many of the jobs lost
during the pandemic will not be coming back, yet since well
before COVID-19, Congress has underfunded workforce development
programs under WIOA making their services largely unavailable
to the workers and business they're intended to serve.
Over the last decade Federal funding for workforce systems
has decreased by nearly 20 percent adjusted for inflation.
WIOA's core dislocated worker programs specifically received
appropriate funding but lower authorized levels by combined 500
million between fiscal years 2016 and 2020.
As a nation we have repeated failed to sufficiently invest
in workforce infrastructure. The United States currently spends
on about 0.1 percent of its gross domestic product of workforce
policy, compared to an average of 0.6 percent in other
developed nations.
In fact, in the last program year only allowed 30 percent
of people who interacted with the public workforce system were
actually able to access training because of the lack of
funding. This chronic underfunding is a significant barrier to
preparing workers to remain competitive in the global economy.
It is also particularly frustrating given WIOA's programs'
long record of helping employers and displaced workers overcome
the challenges they currently fact. For example, a 2017 study
found that individualized career services under WIOA included
individualized employment plans and counseling, increased
earnings for worker by up to 20 percent over a 30-month period.
And in 2019 WIOA's displaced workers program served more
than 250,000 people with more than 70 percent of those workers
employed 1 year after they left. However, we should aim higher
than just adequately funding WIOA to respond to workers
displacement.
We must also take proactive steps to prevent workers from
being displaced in the first place. Today with the help of our
expert witnesses, we will discuss how we can expand access to
the lifelong learning and career navigation support that
workers need in this ever-changing economy.
These steps include expanding program eligibility to ensure
more workers can access the full range of benefits and
supportive services. Currently workers displaced by trade
receive comprehensive support under the Trade Adjustment
Assistance Act, but workers displaced for other reasons have
access to a far more limited range of services under WIOA.
We can also expand other career services and better track
and demand skills and competencies for workers to upgrade their
skills. This will enable more workers to rejoin or stay
connected to the workforce at a time when businesses need
talented employees.
The importance of this effort to strength the WIOA is best
understood through the real-life success stories. Let me give
you one. Take for instance Wendy, an Idaho resident who was
laid off from her job as a sales representative when she earned
$21.00 an hour and benefits.
After several unsuccessful interviews she had a temporary
part-time and on-call retail position at Walmart paying $9.00
an hour with no benefits. Here was Wendy, an unemployed worker
over the age of 50 was feeling discouraged and doubtful that
she could compete in the modern economy.
With support from WIOA funded programs, she enrolled in a
training program that helped actually turn her life around.
After completing the program she was hired for an upper
management job with Walmart's home office while making $25.00
an hour with benefits.
This success story can be replicated for millions of
workers if we simply commit to funding and strengthening WIOA.
Today we will discuss how we can help displaced workers forge a
pathway forward while also preparing them with the lifelong
education and training to navigate our changing economy.
[The prepared statement of Chairwoman Wilson follows:]
Statement of Hon. Frederica S. Wilson, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on
Higher Education and Workforce Investment
Today, we meet for our second bipartisan hearing on reauthorizing
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, or WIOA. This hearing
will address key priorities to support workers who have been forced out
of their jobs and to help workers avoid future displacement through
lifelong learning.
WIOA supports an array of programs that provide displaced workers
with the skills and support they need to attain higher-paying and more
rewarding careers.
These include career services--ranging from career planning and
counseling to supportive services and needs-based payments. WIOA also
provides workers with access to training services--that is support so
important--including on-the-job training, which allows workers to earn
while they train and have individual training accounts, or I-T-As,
which workers can use on approved, in-State training programs.
There is no better time to strengthen critical initiatives that
help displaced workers get back on their feet, particularly as millions
of workers remain unemployed or underemployed due to the pandemic.
What's worse--too many of the jobs lost during the pandemic will not be
coming back.
Yet, since well before COVID-19, Congress has underfunded workforce
development programs under WIOA, making their services largely
unavailable to the workers and businesses they are intended to serve.
Over the last decade, Federal funding for workforce systems has
decreased by nearly 20 percent--adjusted for inflation. WIOA's core
dislocated worker programs, specifically, received appropriated funding
below authorized levels by a combined $500 million between fiscal years
2016 and 2020.
As a Nation, we have repeatedly failed to sufficiently invest in
workforce infrastructure. The United States currently spends only about
0.1 percent of its gross domestic product on workforce policy, compared
to an average of 0.6 percent in other developed nations.
In fact, in the last program year, only around 30 percent of people
who interacted with the public workforce system were actually able to
access training because of the lack of funding.
This chronic underfunding is a significant barrier to preparing
workers to remain competitive in the global economy. It is also
particularly frustrating given WIOA programs' long record of helping
employers and displaced workers overcome the challenges they currently
face.
For example, a 2017 study found that individualized career services
under WIOA, including individualized employment plans and counseling,
increased earnings for workers by up to 20 percent over a 30-month
period.
And, in 2019, WIOA's Displaced Worker programs served more than
250,000 people--with more than 70 percent of those workers employed 1
year after they left.
However, we should aim higher than just adequately funding WIOA to
respond to workers' displacement. We must also take proactive steps to
prevent workers from being displaced in the first place.
Today, with the help of our expert witnesses, we will discuss how
we can expand access to the lifelong learning and career navigation
support that workers need in this ever-changing economy.
These steps include expanding program eligibility to ensure more
workers can access the full range of benefits and supportive services.
Currently, workers displaced by trade receive comprehensive support
under the Trade Adjustment Assistance Act, but workers displaced for
other reasons have access to a far more limited range of services under
WIOA.
We can also expand other career services and better track in-demand
skills and competencies for workers to upgrade their skills. This will
enable more workers to rejoin or stay connected to the workforce at a
time when businesses need talented employees.
The importance of this effort to strengthen WIOA is best understood
through real-life success stories. Take--for instance--Wendie, an Idaho
resident who was laid off from her job as a sales representative where
she earned $21.00 an hour and benefits.
After several unsuccessful interviews, she had a temporary, part-
time, and on-call retail position at Walmart paying $9.00 an hour, with
no benefits.
Here was Wendie, an unemployed worker over the age of 50, who was
feeling discouraged and doubtful that she could compete in the modern
economy. With support from WIOA-funded programs, she enrolled in a
training program that helped actually turn her life around.
After completing the program, she was hired for an upper management
job with Walmart's home office, making $25.00 an hour with benefits.
This success story can be replicated for millions of workers if we
simply commit to funding and strengthening WIOA.
Today, we will discuss how we can help displaced workers forge a
pathway forward while also preparing them with the lifelong education
and training to navigate our changing economy.
______
I now recognize the distinguished Ranking Member of the
full Committee on Education and Labor, Dr. Foxx for the purpose
of making an opening statement. Dr. Foxx.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson. I appreciate that.
The skills gap is a growing concern for all sectors of the
American economy, and it impacts businesses and workers alike.
In February of this year McKinsey study estimated that 45
million Americans, that's a quarter of our workforce, will lose
their jobs due to automation by the year 2030. Perhaps more
concerning is the study's second conclusion, that only 17
percent of those employees are likely to find new work, leaving
an estimated and unprecedented 39 million Americans jobless.
And the pandemic threatens is to exacerbate this troubling
trend. We know that during economic recessions companies turn
to machines and automation as an alternative to human labor.
However, even with increased automation, businesses across the
country still have open jobs, but are hampered by a lack of
skilled workers.
This is not an abstract concern. Even before COVID-19 7
million jobs were unfilled due to the skills gap. Wayne Gretzky
was the greatest hockey player ever and he once observed he
never wanted to skate to where the puck was, but where it was
going to be. The same is true in workforce development.
If our workforce system focuses on today's jobs only, then
we won't be equipped for the economy of the future which is why
we're here today, to learn from folks on the ground what is
working, what isn't. How can we get out of your way to expand
upon the innovation that business is already leading?
By battling this problem now we can remove bureaucratic
barriers to help millions find employment opportunities today,
and nearly a quarter of Americans avoid dislocation and
unemployment in the future. I listened to the Chairwoman when
she was talking about having a 70 percent placement rate in
some of the workforce development programs that currently
exist, and people working in those jobs a year later.
She's a former educator, and I know she would agree with me
70 percent is not a passing grade, and we can do better. If we
have only 70 percent of the people in jobs 1 year after they go
through a program that we've spent billions of dollars on,
something's not working right, and we need to work on that.
And perhaps it is looking toward where that puck is going
to be, not where it currently is. As we consider
reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act, and incidentally, for those of you who weren't around,
when we passed that bill and President Obama signed it, when we
passed it out of the House it was called the Skills Act.
I think we were very pressured in calling the bill the
Skills Act then, but when it passed the House that's what it
was called, and the Senate insisted on changing the title to
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act which is a mouthful.
We should have called it the Skills Act, but we ceded to their
wanting to change it because we wanted to get the bill passed.
But as we consider the re-authorization, our primary goal
and focus should be creating additional pathways for workers to
reskill and upskill to meet the demands of our evolving 21st
Century economy.
I am very encouraged by the Democrats' commitment to
examine this reauthorization thoroughly, and I'm hopeful we
will come to a solution that works not just for politicians,
but for the people who have everything to gain from these vital
job savings efforts.
And the word I think coming back to when discussing WIOA
programs is in the hearing title: pathways. Congress creates
pathways when we remove unnecessary barriers and offer services
that help workers build skills that lead to lasting successful
employment and self-sufficiency.
Most importantly, these pathways must be responsive to the
need of business industry. A workforce system that does not
provide workers with in-demand skills for the region is a poor
use of taxpayer dollars and can handicap our Nation's economic
growth and global competitiveness for years to come.
We must ensure that any Federal initiative embrace
technological advances and economic innovation so that our
workforce development programs can meet regional economic
development needs. This will require the power of the free
market to create an economy better than anything government can
mandate into existence.
I think we have a great panel of witnesses, and I want to
thank them for joining us today for a productive discussion
about how to reauthorize WIOA to ensure that 21st Century
workers are prepared to meet 21st Century challenges, and with
that Madam Chair, I yield back.
[The prepared statement of Ranking Member Foxx follows:]
Statement of Hon. Virginia Foxx, Ranking Member, Committee on Education
and Labor
The skills gap is a growing concern for all sectors of the American
economy and it impacts businesses and workers alike. In February of
this year, a McKinsey study estimated that 45 million Americans--that's
a quarter of our workforce--will lose their jobs due to automation by
the year 2030.
Perhaps more concerning is the study's second conclusion; only 14
percent of those employees are likely to find new work, leaving an
estimated and unprecedented 39 million Americans jobless.
And the pandemic threatens to exacerbate this troubling trend. We
know that during economic recessions companies turn to machines and
automation as an alternative to human labor. However, even with
increased automation, businesses across the country still have open
jobs but are hampered by a lack of skilled workers. This is not an
abstract concern; even before COVID-19, seven million jobs were
unfilled due to the skills gap.
Wayne Gretzky was the greatest hockey player ever, and he once
observed he never wanted to skate to where the puck was but where it
was going to be. The same is true in workforce development. If our
workforce system focuses on today's jobs only then we won't be equipped
for the economy of the future.
Which is why we are here today--to learn from folks on the ground.
What is working? What isn't? How can we get out of your way to expand
upon the innovation that business is already leading?
By battling this problem now, we can remove bureaucratic barriers
to help millions find employment opportunities today and nearly a
quarter of Americans avoid dislocation and unemployment in the future.
As we consider a reauthorization of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, our primary goal and focus should be creating
additional pathways for workers to reskill and upskill to meet the
demands of our evolving 21st century economy.
I am encouraged by the Democrats' commitment to examine this
reauthorization thoroughly and am hopeful we will come to a solution
that works not just for politicians, but for the people who have
everything to gain from these vital, jobs-saving efforts.
The word I keep coming back to when discussing WIOA programs is in
the hearing title: pathways. Congress creates pathways when we remove
unnecessary barriers and offer services that help workers build skills
that lead to lasting, successful employment and self-sufficiency.
Most importantly, these pathways must be responsive to the needs of
business and industry. A workforce system that does not provide workers
with in-demand skills for the region is a poor use of taxpayer dollars
and could handicap our Nation's economic growth and global
competitiveness for years to come.
We must ensure that any Federal initiatives embrace technological
advances and economic innovation so that our workforce development
programs can meet regional economic development needs. This will
require the power of the free market to create an economy better than
anything government can mandate into existence.
I thank the witnesses for joining us today for a productive
discussion about how to reauthorize WIOA to ensure that 21st century
workers are prepared to meet 21st century challenges.
______
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. All other Members who wish to
insert written statements into the record may do so by
submitting them to the Committee Clerk electronically in
Microsoft Word format by 5 p.m. on June 10.
I will now introduce the witnesses. Mr. Joe Barela is the
Executive Director of the Colorado Department of Labor and
Employment. Previously Mr. Barela served as the U.S. Department
of Labor as a Senior Advisor where he helped coordinate the
implementation of the WIOA at State and local levels. Welcome
to our panel today. We're so happy to have you.
Mr. PJ McGrew is Executive director of the Indiana
Governor's Workforce Cabinet which serves as the state's
workforce board. As Executive Director Mr. McGrew tries to find
solutions to workforce issues paramount to Indiana's long-term
economic viability and the economic mobility of its citizens.
Thank you for being with us today Mr. McGrew.
Mr. Sigelman is the CEO of Burning Class Technologies, a
leading labor market analytics company that carries out big
data analysis of job posting and career businesses. I now wish
to recognize one of our distinguished Committee Members from
Washington, Ms. Jayapal, a leader in the Nation, a leader in
our Congress, and we are so proud of her as she Chairs a
congressional Progressive Caucus.
She is going to introduce our final witness, Ms. Jayapal
let us hear from you.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you so much Madam Chair for that
beautiful introduction of me, but also for allowing me to
recognize one of our witnesses and thank you for your
tremendous leadership of this Committee.
One of our witnesses is Portia Wu, she is currently the
Managing Director of the U.S. Public Policy for Microsoft. She
is focused on issues regarding workforce skills and
immigration, and of course Microsoft is a powerful force across
the country and headquartered right here in the Seattle area.
Ms. Wu previously served in the Obama administration, first
as Special Assistant to the President for Labor and Workforce
Policy, before becoming Assistant Secretary of the Employment
and Training Administration at the U.S. Department of Labor. In
that role she oversaw billions of dollars in Federal workforce
and training investments.
She also worked for Senator Edward Kennedy as Labor Policy
Director, and General Counsel as well as serving as the Vice
President of Work and Family Issues at the National Partnership
of Women and Families, and as an attorney at Bredhoff and
Kaiser where she represented workers, unions, and pension fund
trustees.
As we celebrate AAPI Heritage Month, it is a pleasure to
see you here Ms. Wu and to hear the powerful voice that we know
you will bring. Thank you and I look forward to your testimony.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much. Thank you. We
appreciate the witnesses for participating today and we look
forward to your testimony. Let me remind the witnesses that we
have read your written statements, and they will appear in full
in the hearing record pursuant to Committee Rule 8(d) and
Committee practice, each of you is asked to limit your oral
presentation to a 5-minute summary of your written statement.
Before you begin your testimony, please remember to unmute
your microphone. During your testimony staff will be keeping
track of time, and a light will blink that time is up. Please
be attentive to the time and wrap up when your time is over, so
I won't have to tell you to wrap up. Then after you wrap up you
re-mute your microphone.
If any of you experience technical difficulties during your
testimony, or later in the hearing, you should stay connected
on the platform, but make sure you are muted, and use your
phone to immediately call the Committee's IT director and that
number was provided to you.
We will let all of the witnesses make their presentations
before we move to the Member questions. When answering a
question please remember to unmute your microphone. The
witnesses are aware of their responsibility to provide accurate
information to the Subcommittee, and therefore we will proceed
with their testimony.
I now will recognize Mr. Barela for his five minutes. Mr.
Barela?
STATEMENT OF JOSEPH M. BARELA, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, COLORADO
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND EMPLOYMENT
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Chairman Wilson, Ranking Member Dr.
Foxx, and Members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for the
opportunity to appear before you today. As this Subcommittee
considers the reauthorization of WIOA, I am honored to share
Colorado's approaches to serving dislocated workers and
supporting lifelong learning, reskilling, upskilling, and next
skilling of the workforce, and to provide recommendations to
ensure that all workers, learners, and employers are future
ready.
The Colorado Workforce Development eco-system responded to
COVID-19 with agility, shifting to remote work and virtual
service delivery, so we could serve thousands of Coloradans,
hundreds of thousands of Coloradans. Now as we look to recover
from the pandemic, in preparation for the future of work, we
have the opportunity to create a proactive workforce system
that builds lifelong learners, a skilled workforce, and
connects people with economic success.
Our workforce system must be able to act proactively to
support workers and communities. In Colorado our just
transition office is using State funds and existing WIOA
resources to support call workers, employers, and communities
as they plan for the future closings of coal plants, upon which
their communities depend.
We know that the transition from coal and the COVID-19
pandemic are just a few of many disruptions our communities
will face as technology advances and work evolves. WIOA
eligibility that allows us to support workers before they are
laid off will mitigate the economic impact of these
transitions, and it will help us keep communities together.
To be successful, our workforce system must also be funded
based on more recent data and have the agility to pivot in
order to be responsive in a timely manner. Colorado has a
dynamic economy, and a funding formula based on 2-year lags and
data prevents our system from providing adequate services when
it is most needed in the community.
Our workforce system must support lifelong learning and
facilitate upskilling, reskilling, and next skilling throughout
an individual's work lifecycle. Increased investments in work-
based learning, especially earn and learn models, like
apprenticeships, are critical to this effort.
Work based learning combines skill development with
training opportunities and is a key strategy in Colorado for
developing talent and preparing Coloradans for the workforce
and evolving labor market. So many underemployed and dislocated
workers do not have the ability to stop working, earning a
wage, and attending education training that is separate from
workplace.
CDLE partners with local workforce systems, the U.S.
Department of Labor, and partner organizations like Career Wise
to help implement a high-quality apprentice system with more
than 6,000 apprenticeships, and more than 400 registered
apprenticeship programs.
These programs work and their reach needs to be expanded to
youth, underemployed, mid-career professionals and dislocated
workers. When Brandon, a general manager at Old Chicago
Restaurant was laid off due to COVID, he decided to make a
career change. With support from his local workforce center he
became an apprentice with a local electrician, and he had costs
covered for his supplies from the dislocated worker program.
The first year of related instructions were covered as
well. He is on track with an industry that is growing and has
the potential to reach more than minimum wage, a livable wage
in a community he chooses to live in here in Colorado.
Our workforce system must partner with business and
industry. Sector, partnerships are partnerships of business
leaders from the same industry and in shared regions who work
with education, workforce development, economic development,
and community organizations to address the talent and
competitiveness needs of their industry.
More than 1,600 businesses are actively involved in 30
sector partnerships across Colorado. These sector partnerships
inform competency-based career paths that ensure education,
training and workforce systems stay attuned and responsive to
the needs of the labor market in order to ensure businesses
have the access to appropriately skilled talent pipelines and
prepare students and workers with the skills and credentials
they need for jobs and careers.
The model for partnership works in all corners of the
State, and with any type of industry. During the past year
sector partnerships have developed and engaged training
strategies to support both incumbent workers and new workers in
the field. Our workforce system must provide for workers to
reskill, upskill, and connect with quality career paths.
This requires effective career coaching, with a partnership
and support from the Markle Foundation, Skillful, and the
Rework American Alliance, Colorado invests in professional
development and support for frontline career development
professionals, so they apply skills-based practices, labor
market insights, and high-quality coaching practices to connect
underemployed, mid-career professionals and dislocated workers
to opportunities.
I encourage you to consider increased investments in career
coaching within the workforce system, so people have access to
this valuable resource throughout their careers. In Colorado we
know that with strategic career navigation job seekers using
workforce system earn about $12,700.00 more in annualized wages
than those who find work on their own.
This truly is the value add of the public workforce system.
Access to well-trained coaches, availability of, and access to
career connected learning, to reskill, upskill and next skill
and labor market aligned with job placement retention. Let me
close by saying again how proud I am of Colorado's workforce
system which promotes a driving employment environment with
opportunity for every Coloradan to prosper.
I hope my remarks have been helpful as you work to
reauthorize the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and
ensure all Americans have the ability to find a career and
economic success in the future of work. I'm happy to answer any
questions from the Subcommittee. Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Barela follows:]
Prepared Statement of Joe Barela
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Wilson. We will now hear from Mr. McGrew.
STATEMENT OF PJ McGREW, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, INDIANA GOVERNOR'S
WORKFORCE CABINET
Mr. McGrew. Thank you, Chair Wilson, and Ranking Member
Foxx. Good afternoon Subcommittee Members. My name is PJ McGrew
and I serve as the Executive Director for Indiana Governor Eric
J. Holcomb's Workforce Cabinet. I'm pleased to be able to
provide and speak to you today about the unique and successful
program he has implemented in Indiana to address critical
workforce shortages, providing Hoosiers with the skills they
need for greater economic mobility.
The Governor's Workforce Cabinet serves as the state's
workforce board as outlined in the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act however, we serve as much more than a typical
workforce board.
In 2018 at the direction of Governor Holcomb we were tasked
to rethink how our workforce system operated. We worked with
the State legislature to separate and elevate our workforce
board from within the Department of Workforce Development,
restructure our membership, and added additional
responsibilities that would allow us to begin to break down the
silos that exist between State and Federal programs.
The restructuring of our workforce board necessitated a
waiver from the U.S. Department of Labor. Our cabinet is still
comprised of a majority of employer partners however, our Chair
is from within State government, and that helps us coordinate
day to day operations across State agencies.
The Governor's Workforce Cabinet is able to coordinate
activity across the Department of Workforce Development and the
Commission for Higher Education on the state's signature state-
funded workforce program NextLevel Jobs.
NextLevel Jobs was created in partnership with the Governor
and the Indiana general assembly in 2017 and includes two
different funding streams: The Workforce Ready Grant, and the
Employer Training Grant.
Our Workforce Ready Grant program is targeted to
individuals and includes free training for up to a 1-year
certificate, and several post-secondary institutions as well as
qualified providers on our eligible training provider list
maintained through WIOA.
Each program must be in one of five targeted sectors that
are vital to the state's economic growth, advanced
manufacturing, building and construction trades, business and
IT, health and life science and transportation and logistics.
The training must also meet a threshold for wages and
occupational planning.
In just 3 years of operation we have had over 44,000
individuals enroll in training, 22,000 individuals complete,
and we are seeing median wage gains of $6,800.00 1-year post
program completion.
Last year under the leadership of Governor Holcomb and the
new cabinet, Indiana submitted its first combined WIOA plan, A
Better Future for Every Hoosier. In the plan we prioritized
integration across State and Federal programs, and we are now
leveraging our local workforce boards to help implement our
NextLevel Job's programs.
This type of collaboration would not be possible without
restructuring and redesigning the role of the State workforce
board to be more intentionally focused on other parts of the
talent development system other than WIOA. A key focus of our
State plan also includes better employer engagement, and the
other critical component of our NextLevel Jobs program includes
an investment in employer-led training through our Employer
Training Grant program.
Employers can work with a business service representative
from their local workforce board, or directly with the
Department of Workforce Development to access the grant.
Employers fill out a brief training plan and once the training
is complete and we have verified wage gains and employment
retention, the employer is eligible for up to a $50,000.00
reimbursement to help cover the costs of training.
Over the past 3 years over 2,900 employers have
participated in the program. We've trained 26,500 individuals,
and we're seeing average wage gains of $5,900.00 per year post-
training. Access to training is only one variable in the
equation to help provide Hoosiers an opportunity to gain
quality employment. Career coaching and working with employers
to identify their needs are reasons that we have been proud to
partner with the Markle Foundation in Skillful, Indiana the
past 3 years.
In partnership with Skillful, we have launched the
Governor's coaching corps. This annual cohort of career coaches
was established to provide comprehensive training to career
coaches from across the talent development system. During the
pandemic we were able to work with Skillful to quickly
transition they're in-person training to online modules that
were piloted within our community college system and are now
being scaled beyond.
Skillful has also been working with our local boards and
employers across the State to take a deeper look at the skills
necessary for open positions throughout Indiana. This has
resulted in more employers transitioning to skills-based hiring
practices.
We're extremely proud of the progress we've made in Indiana
to address critical workforce shortages and believe the work we
have done can help serve as a model to how State and Federal
programs can work together to serve clients throughout the
system.
With targeted investments and training programs, we could
help equip more Americans with the training necessary to
connect occupations that provide greater economic mobility, and
employers the talent they need. Thank you for the opportunity
to provide Committee Members an overview of our work, and as
the conversation to reauthorize this important Federal
legislation continue, we stand ready to help serve you all.
Thank you.
[The prepared statement of Mr. McGrew follows:]
Prepared Statement of Patrick J. McGrew
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Mr. McGrew. Next, we'll hear
from Mr. Sigelman.
STATEMENT OF MATT SIGELMAN, CHIEF EXECUTIVE
OFFICER, BURNING GLASS TECHNOLOGIES,
BOSTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Mr. Sigelman. Good afternoon, Chairwoman Wilson, Ranking
Member Foxx, distinguished Members of the Committee, and thank
you for the opportunity to testify today about this important
issue. My name is Matthew Sigelman, I'm the CEO of Burning
Glass Technologies, a leading labor markets analytics company.
Our big data analysis of job postings and of career
histories gives us a unique perspective on what employers want,
what workers need, and what kind of workforce system the
country should pursue as Congress considers reauthorization of
the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
The challenge facing the American work is unprecedented.
The short-term disruption of the pandemic combines with a
longer-term trend of profound change, and even disruption in
skills. Across the economy 30 percent of the skills required in
the average occupation today are different from those needed
just a decade ago.
In fact the velocity of skill change is outpacing the
ability of traditional labor market information sources even to
track it. In addition there is a growing disjoint between the
skills of America's workforce, and the skills sought by
employers. The problem is particularly acute in underserved
communities where the opportunity gulf has existed for decades.
A study by Policy Link in University of Southern California
using data from Burning Glass estimated there were 2.3 trillion
dollars in unrealized economic opportunity in 2018 alone
because of the inequity in the workforce. This supply/demand
mismatch will serve as a potent drag on our national economy, a
driver of inequality, and a threat to America's ability to be
globally competitive.
Fortunately, there are opportunities to reframe the model
of workforce development. These new skill adjacency
methodologies such as that developed by Burning Glass for the
World Economic Forum build on the skills workers already heavy
to identify the shortest, most efficient reskilling paths.
For instance, a laid-off administrative assistant making on
average about $36,000.00 a year can share many skills with a
production planner. Now that's a role with a strong future, an
average salary of $49,000.00 a year as opposed to $36,000.00
and direct path onward to clear as a logistician earning
$78,000.00 a year.
So by targeting the specific skills required to follow this
pathway such as building inventory management skills, the
workforce system can place people more quickly, less
expensively, and with greater long-term success. From this
perspective we need a workforce system that brings us closer to
three great objectives. First, we need a system that can better
support the displaced.
Now this is the primary mission of the workforce system as
it exists today, yet the massive dislocation caused by the
pandemic underscores how ill-prepared we are. To meet this
challenge the workforce system must go beyond focusing on
referring people to jobs.
Instead the workforce system will need to train people for
the specific skill gaps that will enable their transition. It
will need to assess eligible training provider list, EDPL
programs rigorously against metrics of demand to ensure that
funds are spent on programs that lead to good opportunities,
and not to dead ends.
It will need to leverage modern skill-based methods for
identifying a wider set of relevant job openings for each
worker, and our workforce system will need to empower workers
themselves with the information they need to navigate the
opportunity.
Second, we need a system that can provide critical skill
development resources for all American workers, not just for
those who have been displaced, or who are at risk. We often
hear of jobs being created and destroyed by technology, but the
more significant impact is in how fast existing jobs are being
reprogramed.
The rapid pace of skill change will demand that many
workers gain skills just to keep the jobs they have. The need
for lifelong learning has been evident for some time, but it is
also evident that our workforce and educational systems are not
equipped currently to support it.
This will require that workforce funding be restructured to
provide for ongoing learning over time even after a worker has
been successfully placed. And third, we need a system that can
be a better partner to industry. Today's system is focused on
how to place unemployed workers in jobs, but we need to go
beyond that and shift more of our focus to opportunity.
What are the opportunities for those workers, and what are
the skills employers demand to unlock those careers? That will
require a workforce system with new information sources aligned
not only with what employers are looking for today, but also
the strategic trends that will shape what industry needs
tomorrow.
Skills are increasingly becoming the currency of the job
market. We all can play a vital role in assisting American
workers to thrive in this new landscape. Once again thank you
for inviting me to testify. I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Sigelman follows.]
Prepared Statement of Mathew Sigelman
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Wilson. We will now hear from Mr. Wu, Ms. Wu I'm
sorry.
STATEMENT OF PORTIA WU, MANAGING DIRECTOR, U.S.
PUBLIC POLICY, MICROSOFT CORPORATION,
U.S. GOVERNMENT AFFAIRS
Ms. Wu. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you to Full Committee
Chair Scott and Ranking Member Foxx, and I also want to thank
Congresswoman Jayapal for that kind introduction. Members of
the Subcommittee thank you for inviting me to testify today. My
name is Portia Wu, and I'm here on behalf of Microsoft and our
subsidiary LinkedIn to share our views, as leading technology
providers who care deeply about our workforce system.
As Mr. Sigelman said, our economy, labor markets and
workplaces have changed in fundamental ways since 2014 when
WIOA was enacted, and these changes have been accelerated by
the COVID-19 pandemic. If we want to have a more resilient and
equitable economy, our workforce system needs to change too.
Change should include bold and innovative investments. That
means not just investing more, although we believe that is
critical, it also means investing smarter. Federal funds should
provide more support for skills training that is relevant to
employers and leads to good jobs.
We also need to leverage private sector innovations and
technology so we can maximum the use of resources. This is not
something government can achieve alone, employers, education,
and training providers, non-profits, libraries and other
stakeholders all have a role to play. I'd like to touch quickly
on four key recommendations.
First, workforce systems must support people to gain
technology skills over a lifetime. Technology skills have
become a core requirement of every industry. I'm guessing every
single person in this virtual room learned to use new digital
skills or tools during this pandemic. That's because work is
where most people learn new skills.
But people who are out of work, or in jobs that don't
provide these opportunities are getting left behind. By some
estimates roughly one-third of the U.S. workforce lacks the
digital skills that are essential in today's economy, and that
number is over 50 percent for black and Latino workers.
Private sector has a role to play here, and I'm happy to
talk about some of our partnerships that we are supporting to
advance digital skills, but truly addressing these inequities
will require strong, deliberate collaboration across
government.
The workforce programs that means WIOA should dedicate
funds for digital skills, assessments, and training. And as
part of State plans, Governors should address digital skill
needs for all individuals, particularly those in underserved
communities.
Second, we need to make better use of low-cost widely
available resources. Now last year the world of online learning
has exploded. LinkedIn learning saw an 80 percent increase in
online learning, with over one million hours of content being
accessed worldwide every single year.
The workforce system could do more to leverage free, or
low-cost online training courses. For example, many states
require that eligible training providers have a physical in-
State presence, which could discourage online training.
States should update ETPL's and use other options to ensure
cutting edge tools are available to assist job seekers and
employers. Third, we should provide incentives for employers to
upskill. The Workforce system as we have discussed is also
charged with supporting employers.
During the pandemic, El Paso-based Workforce Solutions
Borderplex partnered with Microsoft and city, county, and State
government to launch a program to help entrepreneurs and small
business owners grow their businesses with technology.
That involved helping businesses to get online and provide
digital literacy training for employers and employees. More
than 200 business have already participated, and the program
continues to help more business and their workers to adapt and
grow.
We encourage the Subcommittee to consider how WIOA can
support innovative partnerships like these. It should also
consider expanding flexibility and the amount of funds that can
be used for incumbent worker training and encourage the use of
these funds for acquisition of digital skills. Finally, we
should make better use of private sector data and tools to
connect workers to jobs and opportunities to learn in demand
skills.
While it is important to assess what skills individuals
still need to learn, we also need to find better ways to assess
the skills and experience they already have. Job platforms can
see information across millions of employers and jobs, and we
need to use those insights to help make better connections.
For example, we know that one-third of food service workers
could not go to work during the pandemic, and many of them are
permanently out of a job. But food service workers typically
have 70 percent of the skills for customer service jobs which
are in high demand.
Employers and workers need to know of these possible skills
matches to take advantage of them. WIOA should encourage and
leverage skills and job matching to open up a more equitable
and efficient labor market.
These are just some of the ways in which we believe our
workforce system can be improved to meet the challenges of
today and to better serve both workers and tomorrow's as we
face the opportunities of the future. Thank you for your
attention and I look forward to your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Wu follows.]
Prepared Statement of Portia Wu
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much. And now
under Committee Rule 9(a) we will now question our witnesses
under the five-minute rule. I will be recognizing our
Subcommittee Members in seniority order, again to ensure that
the Members' five-minute rule is adhered to, staff will be
keeping track of time.
And the timer will show a blinking light when time has
expired. Please be attentive to the time. Wrap up when your
time is over, and re-mute your microphone.
As Chair I now recognize myself for five minutes. Ms. Wu in
your testimony you highlight Microsoft company skills program
which supports black, local workforce development
organizations, including the Opa-Locka Development Corporation
which operates in my district, I'm well aware of it. How can
our workforce system best target investments in under resourced
communities and engage employers to address the persistent
skills gap among workers of color?
Ms. Wu. Thank you, Madam Chair. I think it's very important
to recognize that who sits at the table influences how
workforce funds are distributed and focused, and so it's very
important that we have a diverse set of organizations like Opa-
Locka Community Development Corporation to be there to
contribute and to partner with the workforce system.
So the Federal Government can encourage that certainly, but
those are decisions that also need to be made at the State and
local level to have a diversity of voices at the table, and
certainly for employers, employers want to have diverse talent.
They also want to make sure that their needs are being met, and
so thinking about how the workforce system can better serve
small and medium business in particular as they seek to survive
and evolve in this pandemic.
I think that provides a value add to employers so they will
be eager to participate and work more closely with the
workforce system.
Chairwoman Wilson. All right thank you so much. This is for
Mr. Barela. Should we consider extending individuals access to
supported services while they are working after training
program completion and placement employment, and how would
lower income individuals with barriers to employment benefit
from such an extension.
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Mrs. Chair, for a great question.
And you know I think you mentioned in your opening address that
it's not only the placement, but the retention in these
occupations or jobs and career advancement, and so support
services when people go to work are so critical so that they
can be successful to access the tools, maybe additional
training, so that they could see advancement in that initial
career placement. But I do think the Workforce Innovation
Opportunity Act needs to allow us to provide support services
beyond just a short period of time. It's important for people
to stay at work 6 months, 1 year and beyond.
And so the ability to offer support services, and then
again look at what are the resources available, not only in the
public workforce system, but through community-based
organizations, and other funds to allow those support services
to be available, particularly for what we just saw in the
pandemic. Those occupations who weren't able to work from home
to access childcare, to access transportation, those are all
costs that only are increased when someone is able to go to
work.
So definitely the opportunity and the availability of
support service is critical to not only retention but career
advancement.
Chairwoman Wilson. Ms. Wu, in your current capacity as
Managing Director for public policy, and as a former Assistant
Secretary for the Employment and Training Administration at the
Department of Labor, can you speak to the importance of fully
funding WIOA adult programs which supports incumbent worker
training?
Ms. Wu. Absolutely. As has been referenced earlier, the
workforce system has been underfunded for quite some time, and
this has never been a more dire situation because frankly we
have millions more Americans who need this help and need these
supports. We know workforce system supports work, supportive
services work, and also helping people find jobs is more
critical than ever.
So we believe absolutely there is more funding and more
support that's needed. The private sector needs to do its part
too, but we all need to work together to support this system
and get more people the skills for the jobs of tomorrow.
Chairwoman Wilson. All right. Mr. Barela due to funding
shortfalls only about 30 percent of individuals who interact
with the workforce are able to access training. How do
individual training accounts function? And should Congress
expand funding in these ITA's?
Mr. Barela. Madam Chair great question. In Colorado, and I
believe as you referenced before, only 30 percent are accessing
training. In the last program you reported on about 77,000
individuals received services through the public workforce
system.
Chairwoman Wilson. Should they be funded under Pell Grants?
Should the funding levels be provided as high as Pell Grants
which is currently $6,500.00?
Mr. Barela. Definitely. And I think it should be
encouraged. A lot of workforce boards are keeping those
training caps down just because of low funding levels and they
want to serve more people, and so if we could raise those funds
to Pell Grant levels it requires more funding to do so, but
also the availability with additional funding so that we can
serve more people through upskilling, reskilling, and next
skilling, that there's a cost involved.
And so it's very important to increase the availability. I
think workforce boards have that ability to do so, and also to
attach the training to labor market information in those
communities.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much. I'm out of time. I
now recognize Representative Foxx for the purpose of
questioning the witnesses.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson, and again I thank
our witnesses for being with us today. Mr. Sigelman, you
discussed at length in your testimony the need for our
workforce system to be more demand driven, and a better partner
for industry.
At the same time workers are not well-served by a system
that focuses solely on credentials without identifying skills
that individuals already possess.
What is driving this disconnect between supply and demand?
How can WIOA help to address the problem, and what benefits
will workers and employers see if we can close this gap?
Mr. Sigelman. Thank you, Ranking Member Foxx, for the
question. You asked about the question of the mismatch between
supply and demand. And it's a critical one because one of the
things that we're seeing right now is a very strange
phenomenon. What seems on the surface to be a strange
phenomenon of millions of people who have been displaced, and
at the same time increasingly urgent skills gaps.
And I will put it simply this way, a million displaced wait
staff can't fill a single cybersecurity job. And so what we're
seeing is that as employers let go you know, have had to let go
of people, as they begin to rehire now as the economy recovers,
employers are making a bet whenever you make a hire, on the
future of your business. And so employers are starting to hire
for the future skills that they need.
So as a result on the one hand workers who have been
working in a field for decades may not have the skills, they
need to get their old job back. And at the same time it means
that employers are doubling down on skills that were already in
short supply.
Our workforce system can help to bridge that gap by
tracking the sets of skills that are in demand for jobs today,
and by being responsive to those changes in demand.
Ms. Foxx. Well thank you very much. Mr. McGrew thanks for
sharing the exciting work that Indiana is doing to strengthen
the workforce in your State. We often talk about how states can
serve as ``laboratories of democracy'' that are often more
innovative than the Federal Government.
One issue you mentioned that seems to plaque our workforce
system is the balance between accountability and flexibility
for the list of eligible providers of education services. What
recommendations do you have on how to maintain the quality of
providers while also welcoming new and innovative actors onto
these lists to address in demand skills needed in the future.
Mr. McGrew. Well thank you Ranking Member Foxx for that
question. I think it has in part things to do with what Matt
was just discussing in terms of looking at in demand jobs and
skills, and it's really two-fold. What we do here we have two
mechanisms. That wage and demand threshold that we look at for
program eligibility, while at the same time we are monitoring
outcomes of our programs.
Looking at job placement rates, looking at completion
rates, and looking at wages. I think if more states took an
open-end approach to looking at both the labor market
information to drive investment, as well as the outcomes of
programs we would be able to better serve all Americans.
Ms. Foxx. I want to inject something in here that I think
is important that none of you have talked about in your written
testimony, or in your spoken testimony. And I think it's a
tremendous opportunity that's being left out.
Every employer has the opportunity to spend $5,250.00 for
education expenses for an employee. You all are asking us for a
lot more money through WIOA when I hear nobody talking about
the fact that employers who have the greatest interest at heart
in filling their jobs, could be using this money.
Furthermore, I'm not sure exactly which one of the CARES
Act bills that passed, but we are currently approving $5,250.00
for any employer to pay off student loans, and for an employee.
I do not understand why those things aren't getting more play,
and while you all aren't talking about that.
Every one of you should be pushing those things, and nobody
is mentioning that. We need to be pushing that too, every
Member of Congress needs to be doing that. It is no cost to the
employers to pay those expenses, and it is not income to the
employee.
And I'm doing everything I can to get that word out, and I
think we need to do more. I don't think we need more money in
these programs. I don't think the money is being spent very
well, and I don't think all the resources that are available to
employers are being used wisely.
And I think I'm going to be asking you all a lot more
questions when this hearing is over about what you're doing to
get accountability, and to use all the resources that are
available to you.
But I thank you very much and Mr. Barela please tell
Governor Polis I said hello because he was one of two
republicans who voted for the Skills Act when it originally
passed the House of Representatives. He got it a long time ago.
Thank you very much.
Mr. Scott. One of the few Democrats.
Ms. Foxx. Yes, one of the two I said.
Mr. Scott. You said Republicans.
Ms. Foxx. I'm sorry one of the two Democrats, excuse me,
that voted for it, so thank you Mr. Scott. I appreciate your
correcting me thank you.
Mr. Barela. Madam Chair I will convey that message to
Governor Polis thank you.
Chairwoman Wilson. Leadership, leadership, all of you are
over time. Dr. Scott I think it's important also while we are
fighting to bring up why we're fighting so hard for this $15.00
minimum wage to be instituted, but also, we need to make sure
that our employers know all of the benefits that came out of
the CARES package. I agree with you 100 percent. And now Mr.
Takano.
Mr. Takano. Thank you, Madam Chair. I'm certain that
Governor Polis is relieved that he is still known as a
democrat. My first question is to Mr. Barela. Mr. Barela
research has indicated that career navigation services can make
a big difference in helping connect workers, especially with
individuals with barriers to employment to the right training
in jobs.
What are navigation services? Can you answer it? What is
meant by navigation services Mr. Barela?
Mr. Barela. Rep. Takano thank you for the question. You
know what we feel in Colorado is when people have access to a
career navigator, career coach that knows about the labor
market, knows about what training demands from industries that
are growing or in their communities, there's a better
connection to their current portfolio skills and what they may
need to boost our access skills training so that there's a
better placement.
And the career connected input is related to the labor
market in that community. And so you know what that coach will
do is assess where they are, their life experience, maybe their
education, but also the skills they've learned on their job.
And then match that to what's it's the point in the economy. So
if there is an investment or could be work-based learning where
there's a wage involved where we put them in on the job
training, or in an apprenticeship program, there's a better
connection to career path and the retention is better.
When you know that there's a good match when you place
someone in training and then a job, we hope that the retention
into the career path and that will lead to a better outcome for
that worker, and for the employer. Employers don't like to
rehire and rehire when there's not a good fit.
Mr. Takano. Well thank you for that. Thank you for letting
us know what navigation services are. How does Colorado's
workforce system provide job seekers or career changers access
to these services that determine which employment or training
options are right for them? I just wanted to kind of embellish
on what you were saying.
Mr. Barela. Sure in Colorado again as I mentioned in my
testimony, work very closely with the Markle Foundation, and we
started with their career ``coaching'' training, and we've had
over 60 coaches that have gone through that 1-year program.
We're in discussions to look at how do we make it available to
every career coach in every American job center of the 53 we
have in Colorado, have that training virtually and ongoing, so
that they have the ability from that curriculum to look at
labor market information, to do assessments, to look at
profiles of individuals, to look at a human center design.
But the counterpart to that is making sure we work with
employers so they're not shutting the door to people who may
not have proxies such as an education credential or years of
experience, that they're really looking at the jobs and the
competences and skills that are needed in those growing
sectors, and they may look at a resume that is skills-based, so
that they're not shutting the door, especially for marginal
communities, people of color, low-income individuals that may
not have that credential, that most employers look for with an
associate's degree or a bachelor's degree.
Mr. Takano. Yes, it's getting not how to be stuck on the
credential, there is other ways to validate. What impact would
be expanding access to individualized career services and
navigation supports through a WIOA reauthorization have on
helping people get back to work or find better career pathways?
Mr. Barela. I think I heard you. I think the access was in
regard to I talked about you know people who have the
opportunity to work with our current workforce system, not all
the coaches have been trained, and our annualized outcomes of
the workforce system about $12,700.00 better for the people
that come into our centers, than someone who tries to find a
job on their own.
If we would have all our coaches trained in upskilled and
consistently up to date with the labor market information, and
tools that would make them better, that outcome would be even
higher I believe, and you know, I think Ranking Member Foxx
mentioned that we need to see a better retention rate of 70
percent.
I do think that would be impacted when we'd see a better
retention rate from the training inputs, or even the direct
labor exchange we offer individuals would greatly be improved.
Mr. Takano. Oh great. Mr. McGrew, you've noted that there
are not enough slots in qualified training programs to meet the
demand for training in your State. What are the challenges to
expanding training program capacity?
Mr. McGrew. Thank you Representative for the question. It
really is I think twofold here, capacity of the provider
community to actually have those slots available. You know we
work primarily with our community college system on our next
level jobs programs, so making sure that all of the training
that has been identified is available at those campuses and are
able to meet those local needs is extremely important things
that we are thinking we need to work through with them.
But I also think you know we look at how we fund our
current programs within the State funds that we have available.
There is so much demand that we often times run out of that
funding halfway through the year. So we are you know borrowing
from other programs in order to fill that need.
And then creating our awareness in the connectivity through
the employer it is extremely important in getting them to
recognize investments that they are making as well, and that's
why I think on our employer training grant program we're seeing
employers invest many more dollars in that $50,000.00
reimbursement that we're seeing.
So it really is trying to take that comprehensive approach
to the entire system is really what our goal is.
Mr. Takano. Thank you. Ms. Madam Chair I apologize for
going over time, but I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much. We all have our days.
Mr. Good of Virginia? You're next.
Mr. Good. Thank you Madam Chair and I thank you to our
entire panel and all of our witnesses here today and thank you
for the opportunity to ask you some questions.
And I'm actually going to do something today that we don't
hear enough of, and that's the innovation and the economic
opportunity that comes from the results achieved by the real
leaders in the private sector in rural America, instead of more
Washington knows best promises that we often here from.
In order to address the needs of displaced workers I think
it's important to acknowledge private innovation, and the
investment that is already meeting these needs I want to give
credit where it is due. I want to highlight specifically
Microsoft's presence in my district, as one such example.
Microsoft has a facility in rural Mecklenburg County that
acts as a data center and a major employer for the area. For
most of you who probably don't know Mecklenburg, it's a
beautiful county with great communities, and I'm proud to
represent them. Sadly, it has endured the pain of economic
displacement like other rural areas throughout the country as
some of its historic industries have shrunk or have been
displaced.
But Microsoft has a presence going back some 10 years in
the district in this community, bringing digital innovation to
this part of rural southside Virginia, and this does not simply
represent one additional employer for my district, but it's
actually helped change the way we view education and workforce
development more broadly.
Mecklenburg County is currently in the process of
constructing a modern high school expected to open in fall of
2022, with specialized career tracks for students to develop
the skills they need to thrive in a skill-based economy.
Among the many skilled job-ready specialties offered,
things such as: Electrical, mechanical, plumbing, welding, et
cetera, also included is advanced technology with a credential
that is required to work at this local Microsoft data center.
So for those looking to Washington, DC, or Congress to have
all the answers, and I say go to Mecklenburg and see what
Microsoft and our community education leaders there are doing
that this body so often fails to do, innovate, and recognize
the value in rural America.
So my question probably expectedly with that lead-in, is
for Ms. Wu with Microsoft. Ms. Wu aside from direct investment
of more hard-working taxpayer dollars, how can Congress help
and encourage the private sector to develop innovative
opportunities like what Microsoft has done in rural Mecklenberg
County in Virginia?
Ms. Wu. Thank you, Congressman, and we're very proud of our
work in your district. And frankly, we've learned a lot from
working with southside Virginia Community College. I think
something we learned from that as they say it takes a village,
and so sometimes Federal dollars can be a helpful sort of
leveraging point.
They can also be a helpful convenor of the workforce system
to sort of bring people together, and show look, here are where
are the gaps, here are some partners that can work together.
They can use non-Federal dollars as you said, but sort of
bringing people together to have a better understanding of the
needs and the different supports is very important.
Something we really learned from that partnership for
example, is there needs to be supports all the way along. You
have got to recruit students, students need scholarships which
we provided, they need devices. Their devices weren't up to
snuff.
When we worked with the community college to say OK, we'll
have a data center lab, so we can simulate what it's like to
work in the data center. It turned out in the building you know
the electrical systems needed to be upgraded to build the lab.
So there are many stages along the way, and many ways that
different partners, Governor or non-government can pitch in to
help.
Mr. Good. Thank you for that answer. Why do you think some
might view rural America as an economic liability, rather than
an opportunity for investment as Microsoft did a few years back
here in Mecklenburg? And what could be done to improve of how
that perception of rural America?
Ms. Wu. Well first of all I think it's going out to our
communities and really listening and working with partners.
Microsoft is proud to partner with 4H and Future Farmers of
America on making sure people all over the United States have
digital skills.
And we learned our lesson. You know people want to stay in
the communities where they were raised. You can try to bring in
talent from somewhere else, but those people maybe won't stay.
So actually investing in communities, getting people the skills
they need, it benefits us not only because they may work at the
data center, but they may open other business, start their own
tech firms in the area, and that way we can help to grow a hub
of innovation which is what we're really trying to do.
Mr. Good. Well thank you all for being part of the solution
there in that rural part of Virginia, Mecklenburg County, and
Chairman my time has expired, so I yield back thank you.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much Representative Good.
And now Representative Jayapal from Washington.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you so much Madam Chair and great to
hear the bipartisan support for this. I've seen in my district
how WIOA can help workers connect with strong well-paying jobs.
And I wanted to root it also in a real person's story. This is
the story of Gloria, a woman that was helped by My Neighborhood
Houses WIOA program.
Gloria wanted to earn more, so she could move out of her
doubled-up living situation, but she also needed a swing shift
because she only had evening care for her children.
Neighborhood House, which is a non-profit here identified a job
at Harbor View Medical Center and helped her to apply and
negotiate her salary to $21.40 an hour.
She is now living with her family in a two-bedroom
apartment, has a savings account, and is becoming more
financially secure. I think that's the type of assistance that
is more critical than ever as we recover from a recession that
has hit women, people of color, and people in lower wage jobs
particularly hard.
Women, many of them women of color, have lost 5.4 million
jobs overall during the recession, and in December 2020 alone
women accounted for nearly all the jobs lost with a
disproportionately high number of job losses coming from women
of color.
Mr. Barela what role should the public workforce system
play in making sure that workers hardest hit by this pandemic
are not being left behind?
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Representative, great question. We
know that the disruption that has happened as of the economic
crisis from COVID has hit young people and women, and people of
color exponentially difficult. I think we need to make sure
that access points for these individuals are available like you
mentioned in the community, the Neighborhood Housing, or the
House Program.
We need to make sure that no matter what door someone walks
in that the public workforce system has resources and
availability of upscaling potential. We also need to get back
to that learning doesn't have to be separate from earning, and
for especially people of color and young women, single mothers,
where we can train them, credential them while they're working
and earning a wage is so critical.
And those need to be available at every juncture of their
career, not just when there's disruption. I think we need to
make sure that we work in partnership with our businesses and
industries so that skilling, upskilling, reskilling, next
skilling is happening while they're working, so that
potentially they can escape the next economic downturn because
of those interventions.
And so we need to look at how apprenticeships, lifetime,
not just when they're young people, but mid-career
professionals can access the opportunity to be relevant in
growing industries and with skills as they earn money as well.
Ms. Jayapal. Very important. Thank you so much. Mr.
Sigelman as of last month 4.2 million people were experiencing
long-term unemployment. And in the last recession we saw that
Asian Americans experienced more long-term employment than any
other group.
That trend has continued under this recession. What lessons
should we take from the last recession to not only ensure that
people find new employment, but also find more suitable careers
that keep them in the labor force, and are there particular
steps that should be taken to address long-term unemployment
among Asian Americans and other groups?
Mr. Sigelman. One of the greatest tragedies of the job
market as we've seen in past recessions, and we're seeing in
this one, is also one of its greatest opportunities. It's kind
of what your rearview mirror says: Objects in the mirror are
closer than they appear.
And people and opportunities are often just a few skills
apart. We too often try to match people on very literal levels.
If somebody loses a job in a field and in many places,
workforce systems are trying to find another job in that same
occupation. Opportunities in that occupation often experience
shortage at the same time.
And so we need to be able to refocus the way first of all
that we look for how people look and identify opportunities,
and to be based on the skills that they have, rather than the
jobs that they've been in. And second, we need to use that same
idea to refocus workforce training programs to make sure that
we are being as efficient as possible.
People will often have to take a step down and as a result,
and one of the things we've learned from the past recessions is
that people who have been displaced wind up as you've pointed
out, on the sidelines of the economy for long periods of time,
and ultimately sometimes unfortunately never get back to where
they were.
The key is as Mr. Barela was just saying, it's so important
to make sure that we can provide ongoing support to workers.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you.
Mr. Sigelman. Sorry go ahead.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you. I just wanted to make sure I get
Ms. Wu in here because she worked on this in the last recession
for the Obama administration. Anything you want to add on this
topic Ms. Wu from your experience?
Ms. Wu. I agree with what Mr. Sigelman said. I think it's
also important for the Department to think about under WIOA or
otherwise, how to have some targeted interventions, especially
for those who end up long-term unemployed.
When people get unemployed for a long time, they can lose
hope. They lose attachment, and I think there are a lot of
tools that can keep people sort of continuously learning and
showing their skills in other ways and provide that positive
affirmation for that.
Ms. Jayapal. Thank you so much. Madam Chair my time has
expired so I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much. And now our
Representative Grothman of Wisconsin. Representative Grothman?
Ms. Foxx. Glenn, can you hear? Obviously can't, Madam
Chairman I apologize. Go ahead to the next person. We'll get to
him when he's available the next time, thank you.
Chairwoman Wilson. Representative Spartz?
Mr. Spartz. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am very happy to see
PJ here in the Committee from Indiana. I know that Indiana is
very forward looking on an innovative approach to workforce
development, and it's very needed, and I was proud to be part
of this effort, and I know I just would like you to share some
of the things regarding how we can have a better operation
between State and Federal Governments.
And I wanted for you to just maybe mentioned a few of the
things what we can improve in the flexibility of structure. How
the State managed workforce development problems, and also
maybe in the flexibility of funding streams that you could
streamline all of these processes. Could you just share some of
the examples how we look to do better so we could have a better
return on investment when we invest in human capital which is
very important.
Mr. McGrew. Thank you representative. It's great to see you
again. I think a couple of things on that topic. What we've
been able to do with the waiver that we received from the US
DOL from our broad structure so that we could really start to
coordinate more activity across State and Federal programs
which was so important.
What we found was that you know our former workforce board
was really driven by the workforce development agency and we
want to see that connectivity across all of our programs, so by
removing that, separating that out, elevating that a little
bit, and including that directly underneath the Governor's
office and driving for his vision with a Chair from our
government system to better coordinate those activities on a
day in and day out basis is so vital to what we've been able to
do the last several years.
In terms of flexibility I know we have talked a lot about
supportive services, and other programs to be able to connect
people to. I think taking a broader look across where various
funding streams are and Federal programs, especially those
programs that also provide employment and training services to
individuals that are on SNAP and other Federal programs is
very, very important.
And one of the reasons why we opted to do a combined plan.
So that we looked at it from in terms of eligibility across
these programs so that we could start to stack funding streams
together to see that ROI, instead of having disparate systems
trying to accomplish some of the same goals.
So I think as we consider WIOA reauthorization, that
connectivity, flexibility of funding streams I think especially
as it relates to the core programs within WIOA, and the people
that are being served at a local level and how we can transfer
funds back and forth between those programs will definitely go
a long way.
Ms. Spartz. Thank you very much. And the bottom of that
issues is also maybe all of the panelists can briefly mention
as a CPA and someone who works a lot in the financial fields,
it seems like you know financial illiteracy is really something
that is a big discussion, because ultimately you know we start
our careers, but our investment in our future investments in
assets and in our careers really creates an understanding of
finances.
That's why we create wealth in advance of our careers. And
it seems like out of college a little bit too, accounting and
was a high school Ambassador for CPA's society, and it seems
like there is such a lack of understanding core basic principle
you know of finances, and we are like a powerhouse of finance
and not educated our children you know about the finances.
So I want to know just from the panelists if you've been
successful in implementing, and PJ you can start and maybe go
quickly through all of the panelists and give us a success of
some of the initiatives, and where you see maybe we can do
better.
Mr. McGrew. Yes. I think we can again as several Members of
the Subcommittee have already alluded to of the other
panelists. What is happening within the private sector, I just
met with an employer last week who had mentioned that they were
raising their wages from $11.50 an hour to over $15.00 an hour,
but you know recognizing with those wage chains that employees
were going to have other issues that they were dealing with,
with that new income and wanting to provide them more
comprehensive financial planning services to be able to
accomplish that.
I think we need to interject just like digital literacy
skills that financial planning within our workforce system, so
that as individuals go through training and are placed at
higher wage occupations, they know how to use those resources
going forward.
Ms. Spartz. Anyone else?
Mr. Sigelman. Mr. Barela before discussed the importance of
career navigation programs and I couldn't agree more. And I
think I bring that up here because we have to think about
career navigation, not just as once and done, but as an ongoing
support for people to have the skills that will enable them to
keep going in their careers, not just to place into the first
job, but to keep progressing upward and to achieve the American
dream, they need a broad set of skills, a broad set of
foundational skills, as well as kind of the financial literacy
skills to enable them to navigate their careers and build
prosperity.
Ms. Spartz. Thank you very much, but I agree with you. We
have to teach people how to create wealth, so thank you. I
think my time expired. I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much.
Representative Omar welcome?
Ms. Omar. Thank you, Chairwoman. Really appreciate this
hearing today. My home State of Minnesota has started taking an
important step in addressing the racial disparities of economic
and educational outcomes in our workforce system.
The Minnesota Strategy Plan has two racial equity goals,
reducing educational, and skilled training and employment
disparities based on race, disability, gender, or disconnected
youth, and building employment-led partnerships that expand the
talent pipeline to be inclusive of race disability gender and
age.
However, as I'm sure you all know, there aren't Federal
guidelines to encourage all states and localities to explicitly
include demographic goals in their workforce plan. Mr. Barela
I'm curious to hear if Colorado has similar goals in their
strategic plan to close racial equity gaps and improve outcomes
for disenfranchised communities.
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Representative Omar. Great question.
And I think in part of the documents that I sent you is we have
the talent equity agenda that really sets the pathway for
Colorado workers and business industry, and even educators to
start looking at how we are serving our diverse population in
Colorado, and the goal of that equity agenda is that every
Coloradan has the opportunity to upskill, reskill, and next
skill, so they have a valid career path to live in the
community that they call home here in Colorado.
And so we will be looking at how we can you know first of
all put out there that we aren't doing as well with some of our
marginalized populations, our people of color, our disabled,
and what we need to put in resources and programs so that they
have a fair opportunity to reach success in the world of work,
so great question.
And we are paying attention to that. We have that equity
agenda plan, and we also have a talent pipeline that
specifically targets where we're not meeting the mark in
Colorado, and we need to do better.
Ms. Omar. Glad to hear that. Have these efforts yielded
positive results for historically disenfranchised communities
in your state?
Mr. Barela. They have and over the years we've done the
talent equity, but this is the first year for the talent equity
agenda, but with the talent pipeline report has seen progress
in our Hispanic populations, and in our black populations.
We know that we have to do better with attainment of not
only basic skills and high school education, but we also need
to see how we can make opportunities for credentialling post-
high school, post-secondary education, so that they have a
chance to look at career paths that look beyond minimum wage.
Ms. Omar. Thank you so much. I've been talking to many
communities in our district about their concerns during this
post-COVID economic recovery. The most common priority brought
up to me was that we need to create a holistic support system
to help people fully participate in our economy and greater
society. This means improving access to essential supportive
services from cash assistant to childcare, and from
transportation to housing.
The economic and human toll of the COVID-19 pandemic has
been devastating, and so it is understandable that many
Americans will need additional support just to be able to
participate and succeed in these programs, putting funds toward
training and career services can only take us so far if we also
aren't addressing the underlying socio-economic disparities,
preventing many people from entering or staying in the
workforce in the first place.
So Mr. McGrew can you discuss how your State is handling
the delivery of support services to address the systematic
inequities faced by underserved communities?
Mr. McGrew. Thank you Representative for that question. I
think one of the main focuses that we had in our strategic plan
was really colocation services and cross-trained staff, so that
you were making sure that all of our staff were aware of the
various programs that existed to help support individuals
through their education training journey such as cash
assistance, or food assistance.
I think one of the unique things that we are doing in
Indiana is we have deployed a group of Ambassadors to select
locations across the State to learn how these programs are
actually being implemented at a local level to understand the
barriers, and then we can come back and pull what policy levers
we need to, to be able to provide those supports that are
needed and changes within the system.
The other thing that we have done, and this was strategic
on our part of the data that we were using in that scene of the
first couple of years of our employer training grant program
was that we carved out a set amount of funding and we actually
went above and beyond this past fall of our employer training
grant designated to minority businesses, women owned
businesses, and we set aside five million dollars initially for
that effort, and then we ended up spending over seven million
dollars and saw an increase of about 200 percent of such
employers, so.
Ms. Omar. That's great. I know I'm out of time. It would be
really interesting to see if any of these training programs
have helped with retention in employment in your State. Madam
Chair I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. He can followup in writing if you would
so desire. Thank you so much. And now Mr. Grothman are you
here?
Mr. Grothman. Thank you yes, can you hear me?
Chairwoman Wilson. We can hear you.
Mr. Grothman. I'm going to switch the original question I
had after hearing that last question from the Congresswoman
from Minneapolis. A big complaint I get from my employers is
they feel the government benefits are so generous they are
paying people to sit on the sideline, which means they are not
only getting not only not working, but not getting the work
experience you need to move in a more highly skilled position.
Have any of the four of you as you talk to your employers,
heard about the complaints of the current dollars pouring out
of Washington, that they're too generous and are causing
people's life to stagnate? Mr. McGrew, anybody? I mean I hear
it all the time that's why I wondered, anybody? Nobody heard
that?
Mr. McGrew. I'd like to talk a little bit about what we're
doing to help resolve some of those issues with the folks that
we had on unemployment insurance currently and using data to
better serve those individuals.
What we have done throughout the pandemic is really been to
look at our unemployment insurance claimant's data, their
educational attainment levels, their job experiences, and I've
started to use that data to group that into various groups by
workforce region, and then provide very specific and targeted
information about if they do not have a high school diploma,
the adult education program nearest them in their region. If
they are looking for certain jobs, sending them job postings
Mr. Grothman. What if the employers think they're sitting
on the sideline, and when they come in, they offer them a job
and then they won't show up? What do you do with people like
that?
Mr. McGrew. I have not heard that specific complaint from
our employers about offering jobs and people not showing up to
work.
Mr. Grothman. OK. My second concern is we continue to I
think get too many people who are directed wrongly, and then
they get a big college degree that doesn't lead to a job, and
later on get a skills-based education from a tech school, or
for a second degree, or from their employer themselves.
Could you comment on what you are all doing to prevent
people from getting degrees that don't lead to a valuable
skill. Does anybody know about that?
Mr. Barela. Congressman Grothman this is Joe Barela. I
would say again I would stress how important that career
navigation is for young people and mid-career professionals, so
that if we're going to invest public money, or private money of
their own, or even loan money, that that training leads to
employment in a career pathway.
We are so far beyond the days where we could train and pray
that there's a job at the end of the training process.
Mr. Grothman. I just asked you guys because I talk to young
people all the time. Could you give me say three or four
college degrees that you would suggest I advise my high school
students to stay away from?
Mr. Barela. College degrees or high school degrees, I'm
sorry?
Mr. Grothman. College degrees, yes, yes, yes.
Mr. Barela. You know I don't know if there's a particular
one, I would say stay away from. Young people need to be in
tune with their local labor markets. Where do they want to
work, and are they hiring?
Mr. Grothman. OK. I'll rattle off four for you: Psychology,
political science, communication arts, and social work. What do
you think when people say I'm getting a degree in one of those
four fields?
Mr. Barela. Well I will tell you I have a dual degree, one
in psychology, and one in biology, and I'm working and have
really enjoyed my profession in the human services, and
workforce development, human capital development. So I really
think it depends on the individual and what they want to do
with that degree, and that's where coaching comes into play.
If you can attach any type of learning, if it's
professional education, if it's academic education, is there a
job in a career path at the end of the day.
Mr. Grothman. I'll ask you this. We put a lot of money into
this. The last thing we need is more money because we're paying
people to get one degree, and then later on another
certificate. Do you think we should condition Federal Pell
Grants, Federal loans, and aiming for a skills-based degree
that people need like nursing?
Mr. Barela. I do think that any resources that are spent on
a degree in education should be attached to skills and
competencies in those industries and sectors that are growing.
Mr. Grothman. OK. So not Pell Grants for everything under
the sun. Thank you. I will quote you on that. Anybody else
comment on that?
Mr. Barela. Well and that's the role of the local workforce
board. They can decide how they can use their resources in any
of the Title I programs in how they reward and allow people to
use those funds that are connected to the labor market in their
community.
Mr. Grothman. OK. Thank you very much. We have lots of
other questions, but I'm sure the other people will catch some.
Chairwoman Wilson. OK. Before recognizing our next witness
I just want to note that there has been plenty of reporting
done to show that people are not in fact sitting on the
sidelines out of the labor market because of pandemic
unemployment, but because the wages and the benefits employers
are offering are too, too low they don't even make the
positions attractive to potential candidates.
That is why even some republicans have now acknowledged
that we need to raise the minimum wage, and why this Committee
right here that you're sitting on has led the charge of
increasing the minimum wage to $15.00 an hour. If there were
really a labor shortage then wages would go up, but they
aren't.
We also need more resources for our workforce system to
help people find pathways to new jobs, which is what we are
discussing today. Not unemployment insurance, which our
Committee has no jurisdiction over, and with that I now
recognize Representative Leger Fernandez of New Mexico.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you, Chairwoman Wilson, for that
clarification, and for holding this hearing and Ranking Member
Murphy. I want to also thank our witnesses for joining us today
to share the apprenticeships, the coaching, the talent equity
approaches, and life-long learning programs that work.
You know I am struck by the Burning Glass documentation of
a 2.3 trillion-dollar opportunity grab, and I hope that we can
meet that challenge using WIOA. I want to talk a little bit
about something that I think affects my home State a lot, but
also this entire country, and that is in New Mexico one in 10
paychecks is tied to the arts.
And how that's especially important in New Mexico, the
creative economy is essential to the entire U.S. economy. But
since the start of the pandemic the United States has lost an
estimated 15.2 billion dollars in the arts and cultural sector.
Creative workers have been some of the most severely impacted
by the COVID pandemic at the height 63 percent of creative
workers experienced unemployment.
Mr. Barela can you elaborate on what Colorado is doing to
help provide employment opportunities for those engaged in the
creative economy?
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Representative Fernandez. And my
heart is with you. My family has roots in New Mexico and
southern Colorado, so my parents have a home in Santa Fe, so
the arts are so important to me growing up.
And so I wanted to let you know in Colorado I've mentioned
sector partnerships. We do have a specific sector partnership
that works on the creative arts industry, and so bringing
together employers and community-based organizations to work
with us through the workforce system to make sure that we have
pipelines for people interested in going into the career arts,
and even the entrepreneurial field with creative industries.
So that's how we are making sure that the arts industry is
recognized, and we're supporting that in Colorado because it's
so important to our economy as well. We also have to the
pandemic people who are unemployment insurance highlighting
sectors that are hiring and growing.
In April one of our weeks was specifically spent on the
growing job openings in the creative arts industries. And so I
want to let you know that you know just as in New Mexico, thank
you to that people have a variety of opportunities to take to
the public workforce system and go into careers that are
growing, and we need them to grow to support our tourism
industry and our heritage are important to the public workforce
system.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you for summarizing that. I'm
actually working on Federal legislation to create a grants
program under the Department of Labor in consultation with the
national endowment for the arts to put creatives to work, so
creating that art and experiences that can be enjoyed by the
public, this is inspired by the WPA.
We all remember the beautiful WPA Federal project one after
the depression, and we see the murals, the beautiful art that
has been preserved some of our most iconic artwork coming out
of the depression and the WPA. And what I loved about it is it
was celebrating cultures as you mentioned, our heritage across
diverse communities.
I hope you'd really be willing to work with me on getting
that structured and with great input from Colorado as well.
Mr. Barela. We'd love that opportunity thank you.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you. And you know when we think
about the ability of the arts to inspire a nation, I only need
to remember Amanda Gorman's inauguration poem, ``For there is
always light, if only we were brave enough to see it. If only
we're brave enough to be it.''
So on the issue of light, another workforce that needs our
help in New Mexico and across the entire country is fossil fuel
workers. And as we move toward clean energy to address the
climate crisis, I want to make sure we don't forget the folks
that earned their living supplying energy to our Nation.
Mr. Sigelman I'm struck by your Burning Glass model, and
how that could be applied to displaced oil and gas workers.
Have you found any best practices for these folks in particular
that we can adopt in this reauthorization of WIOA?
Mr. Siegelman. Thank you, Representative Leger Fernandez.
And such an important opportunity right now to build on the
skills that those working in the carbon economy have. As we see
growing levels of decarbonization of the economy, we're going
to need to be able to build bridges.
And that starts by recognizing the skills that oil and gas
workers have and using those to identify a broader set of
opportunities for them. One of the things compounding the
challenge there is of course the geography of the carbon
economy and the geography of the green economy don't always
align.
And so one of the things we'll have to do in addition to
aligning up skills is making sure that we can leverage remote
technologies and the like to be able to build bridges for those
workers that can find the opportunities and the kinds of
incomes they deserve.
Ms. Leger Fernandez. Thank you very much Mr. Sigelman, but
my time has expired, but that goes to the point that was
mentioned earlier people want to stay and live in the place
they call home. I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much. Ms.
Fulcher of Idaho? No? Ms. Miller-Meeks?
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. Thank you so much Madam Chair and I'll
just say I've spent my day today traveling to various employers
in my district, and contrary to statements just made here in
Iowa they're having tremendous difficulty in hiring people, and
these are not jobs at minimum wage, these are jobs at $16.00,
$25.00, $30.00 an hour, and even some employers jobs that are
between $80.00 to $130,000.00 a year with excellent benefits.
So I just wanted to add that in that there are good paying
jobs in Iowa, so if people want to relocate, we would welcome
them here. Mr. McGrew it seems like Indiana has a rather unique
structure for your State workforce system. This structure has
also seemingly influenced your State planning process across
multiple programs.
How have you maintained a stronger employer voice on your
State board, while also increasing coordination across
government agencies at the State level? Has this structure
enabled you to bridge gaps more effectively between the
education and workforce systems?
Mr. McGrew. Well thank you Representative for that
question. In terms of maintaining employer voice. So we do have
a policy Committee underneath the cabinet, and it is primarily
employers, so we have five employers on that representing the
various sectors that are a part of our workforce program, and
then we have four members from different State agencies that
are implementing programs, the Commission for Higher Education,
Department of Workforce Development, our Department of
Education and then myself.
So you know we really get to hear from our employers there,
but also then working with our local workforce boards and their
employers and serving them and sitting in on their quarterly
meetings of our workforce board association to get that
feedback of what's happening at a local level.
In terms of coordinating across the agencies I do believe
by having a Chair that serves in State government, and runs a
State agency, we are better able to better coordinate that
activity, especially since you know the Governor appointed our
commissioner to higher education, we are seeing the bridging of
that education and workforce gap.
I often times would like to say that you know workforce
development anymore is educational attainment paired with
supportive services and skills that are aligned to economic
needs, and that's what we're doing with the targeted
investments that we're making in our next level jobs program.
Mrs. Miller-Meeks. So thank you for that, and here in Iowa
we're similar where our employers have a voice because they
know what skillsets they need, so that training can be provided
whether it's at the high school level, concurrent enrollment at
community college, or there at the facility for that skills
training, so thank you very much.
Ms. Wu after LinkedIn's experience piloting skills-based
hiring, you found that the company was both able to broaden the
talent pool you were drawing from and improve hiring
efficiency. I believe that efforts like this will be
increasingly important as the world moves into a more skills-
based economy.
And so two questions. Do avenues like TikTok which have
been hiring. We learned that they were hiring people to help
the cartels bring people across the border, but I know that
TikTok has now for young people to become an avenue that they
look for employment.
And then also through LinkedIn and other avenues, how could
the workforce system do a better job of focusing not just on
credentials, but on individual skills?
Ms. Wu. Thank you for that question. I think you know one
of the things I'm not as familiar with some of the TikTok
workforce efforts, but you know part of it is the workforce
system has to go to where people are to try to reach them.
And there was a question earlier about how they can do a
better job of serving employers, this partnership we had in El
Paso. You know they were very creative. They had laptops.
Workforce staff went out. They went to where businesses are,
business owners are busy. They're trying to run their business.
And so in order to support them, coming to where people are
in providing those services is tremendously important. We do
think we're building on our skills-based hiring pilot, working
with other companies that are interested in the same thing, and
I think we have to remember actually before the pandemic the
labor market was really tight, and so there were a lot of jobs
already going unfilled, and a lot of employers are saying we're
having a tough time filling these jobs.
Maybe if we have a slightly broader lens, cast a wider net,
we'll find more people, and at the same time achieve the ends
of acknowledging people's skills and hiring people who maybe
don't have the existing job title or degree, but can do the job
very well.
You know everyone has to do a job for the first time, and
so making sure that people who have skills, but not necessarily
the job title already are included as important.
Ms. Miller-Meeks. And some of the data and information you
gain through these events and outreach, do you relay those back
to like a community college, or other apprenticeship programs,
so they're aware of what's available and what skills are
needed?
Ms. Wu. Yes absolutely. We try to partner with local
workforce boards and provide that information to them as well
as community colleges and other partners.
Ms. Miller-Meeks. Thank you. My time ran out. I yield back
my time. Thank you so much.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. And now the very patient
superstar Mr. Jones of New York.
Mr. Jones. Thank you, Madam Chair, for those kind words,
and to all of our witnesses for being here to share your
testimony today. I'm glad the Committee is looking at how we
can create pathways to employment for workers who have lost
their jobs for one reason for another. The past year has
demonstrated why investments in workforce development are
critically needed.
Millions of people lost their jobs as a result of the
COVID-19 pandemic, and the subsequent economic fallout. And
during this time many turned to workforce programs for
assistance. Fortunately, we are on the path to recovery as
things get back to normal.
In my district the unemployment rate has dropped from 15
percent at the height of the pandemic to around 6 percent
today. There is still so much that needs to be done as we
recover from the past year, which is why I'm glad our focus
today is on the workforce in fostering employment
opportunities.
As Members of Congress it is our responsibility to ensure
that all people have the resources they need to get back into
the workforce after having lost a job, especially our
vulnerable populations which are at a disadvantage because they
lack those resources.
Mr. Sigelman, I read in your testimony that racial inequity
in our workforce isn't just a social problem, but an economic
one. And you cite a study that found racial inequity accounts
for 2.3 trillion dollars in unrealized economic gains in just
2018 alone. Can you describe how we are limiting ourselves
economically by not doing more to address racial inequity in
the workforce, and how can WIOA better serve woman and people
of color?
Mr. Sigelman. Thank you, Representative Jones, for the very
important question. So first the study that you're referring to
was developed by policy Lincoln with Burning Glass using our
data, and it provides an in-depth analysis of a disaggregated
equity indicators in labor market dynamics.
It found that white workers are 50 percent more likely than
workers of color to hold good jobs, and that if you could
eliminate those racial inequities in income, it would boost the
U.S. economy, and as you sited by 2.3 million, trillion dollars
here.
I think it's important first of all to recognize that there
will be really a double gain there. Not only does that
represent 2.3 trillion dollars more in wages for workers of
color, but it also says even in a free-market economy wages are
a proxy for correctivity.
So not only would that 2.3 trillion dollar gain to workers
be a gain to workers, but it would also be a gain to industry
having an even more productive workforce. So to your question
the mechanism for being able to bridge that gap, and I think
this is why it's skilled.
What's most exciting is that the opportunity here to bridge
the gap is real, it's clear, and it's achievable. The key is to
look at what are the jobs that are going unfilled, and there
has been a number of representatives who have cited that there
are a lot of employers who are unable to find talent for jobs,
there are critical talent shortages throughout the economy in
New York and every district.
If we start there with the landscape of opportunity and
then work backward and say OK, where are there talent pools
that have high representation of people of color, of women, of
immigrants, and how do we think about the specific skill
pathways that will enable people in those talent pools with
strong representative to move into better paying jobs with more
upward mobility with lower rates of representation.
The workforce system can be designed to help people bridge
those gaps by specifically acquiring the skills for those
particular transitions.
Mr. Jones. Thank you so much. Ms. Wu, since the beginning
of the COVID-19 pandemic, we have witnessed a historic number
of displayed workers, particularly in communities of color. As
my colleague from Washington Ms. Jayapal pointed out, reports
show that women of color have been disproportionately affected.
What kinds of resources and funding can employers like
Microsoft bring to the table to ensure that when displaced
workers return to the workforce, they are earning livable wages
that allow them to support their families?
Ms. Wu. Thank you, Congressman. This is something I feel
very passionately about. I actually started my career
representing workers, a lot of steelworkers, tobacco workers,
hotel workers, who had lost their jobs, and it is really tough
on not just the worker, but their whole family when this
happens.
Microsoft has partnered with non-profits around the country
to make sure that we're meeting people where they are, serving
communities, diverse communities. We actually have a focused
effort right now especially working with black and African
American led, and serving non-profits, 50 non-profits around
the country to provide career services, counseling, skills
education, opportunities to connect to jobs.
And doing that you know, that's part of what private sector
can do. We have to do it in partnership with government and
others, community colleges, libraries, wherever people are to
meet people, and to help them do the best match they can to try
to find good jobs as we talked about earlier, and also say if
you need a few more skills here are some options.
We're providing low and no cost training and
certifications, but we know people do better when they have a
partner to help them and support them, and so it's important to
invest in those partnerships too.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you so much. If you want to
respond more to Mr. Representative Jones, you can do so in
writing. Everyone is interested in what you're saying.
Representative Letlow?
Ms. Letlow. Members of the Committee and witnesses, thank
you taking the time to discuss opportunities for dislocated
workers under the Workforce and Innovation and Opportunity Act.
I'd like to highlight one workforce program that has benefited
dislocated workers as well as new entrants into the workforce
in my district and State. The Department of Labor has partnered
with Delta Regional Authority and the Appalachian Regional
Commission to administer an initiative called the workforce
opportunity for rural communities.
This program has boosted rural community workforce
development efforts across the State and within the Fifth
District. In fact, my alma mater and former employer, the
University of Louisiana Monroe, was able to benefit from one of
these grants.
ULM partnered with numerous local parish school systems,
community colleges, and workforce boards to create a high
school business academy which taught students the basics of
entrepreneurship, management, marketing, and accounting while
allowing them to earn college credit.
This partnership sought to align curriculum to regional
needs. I hope Congress will continue to invest in the DOL Rural
Community Workforce Program. Ms. Wu, you said that the most
critical component of skilled programs is an immediate prospect
to connect to good jobs.
This seems to be a straightforward point, yet our workforce
system all too often misses the opportunity to successfully
partner with the business community. How can WIOA maximize
employer engagement to ensure that workforce development
priorities are closely aligned to regional economic development
needs?
Ms. Wu. Thank you for the question, and it's exciting to
hear about that partnership. I think you know a couple things.
As I said earlier small and medium size businesses, especially
the ones that rely on the workforce system often are very
stretched. They don't have a separate HR person, they don't
have an internal training department, so working with them to
really understand employer's needs.
And as Dr. Foxx and others referenced, there are some great
incentives and financial supports out there on the system, but
sometimes business owners are too busy to find out about them,
and so I think it's very important for the workforce system to
sort of go to where employers are, provide them that support
and information, and you know help them upscale their current
workforce.
You know, skating to where the puck is going, we want to
skill all workers of course, but helping you know maybe being a
little more flexible or providing more funds or programs for
incumbent worker training, existing workers, they can develop
skills on the job, that will help businesses and workers too.
Ms. Letlow. Awesome. Thank you, Ms. Wu and to the other
witnesses. I yield back my remaining time.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you so much. And now
Ms. Manning of North Carolina.
Ms. Manning. Thank you, Madam, Chair, and thank you to all
the witnesses for being with us and staying right through to
the end. I represent a district in North Carolina that lost
thousands of jobs in the textile and furniture manufacturing
industries in the late 1990's--early 2000's.
And those were good jobs that workers could do with only a
high school degree. Today as well look at the manufacturing
jobs we currently are getting, they are advanced manufacturing
jobs. They require more skills than people can gain with just a
high school diploma, and I know that we're going to see more
technological change, and more automation, and workers will
need more skills if they have a shot at keeping their jobs.
So Mr. Barela, can you talk to us about how the public
workforce development system can adapt to provide access to
upscaling opportunities for workers, so they can keep their
jobs, rather than having a system that's reactive, and
intervenes only after workers are displaced?
Mr. Barela. Right. And I believe Assistant Secretary Wu
mentioned incumbent worker training, and I think that's what
workforce boards need to do with the Workforce Innovation
Opportunity Act, but we need more opportunities that we can go
and partner with our industry associations through sector
initiatives, or even individual employers that could be small
businesses, to work with those impacted works who need to be
upscaled to work alongside technology, and not be displaced by
technology to keep those jobs in advanced manufacturing.
So I do think we have the opportunity, but we need to
enhance the funding available to do that, and also encourage
workforce boards to use those resources in that way. So much of
our performance is based on reactionary displaced workers, and
we need to look at how we measure success working with impacts
to incumbent workers.
The disruption that happened with COVID only exasperated
what we're going to have to look at the disruption in other
industries as automation becomes more prevalent, and is work is
done by technology. But that technology needs human support,
and so how do we do that?
In Colorado you know we are working with advanced
manufacturers with our in-school high school students who are
apprenticeship programs, starting them at their junior and
senior year, they're learning on the job, it's complemented
with not only curriculum in high school, but in community
college the third year they work mostly and get trained on the
job, and then they have a choice to make.
Do I want to continue my education in formal structures
education, or do I stay employed and have the employer work
with me with the career that I have, or earned while I was
still in high school?
Ms. Manning. Great thank you very much. And I have to say I
have spent time visiting both of the great community colleges
in my district, and they are working with employers to make
sure that the training they're offering is in areas that
employers need workers, and that they're also reaching into the
high schools to make sure that they're getting training,
getting high school kids interested, getting them summer
internships or paid jobs while they are in high school, so they
can also develop those skills or work toward those skills and
then go into community colleges and continue to develop those
skills.
Mr. Sigelman I'd like to ask you if you have comments along
the same lines, and also what can the Federal workforce system
do to best meet the needs of the employers and workers?
Mr. Sigelman. Thank you, Representative Manning. I think a
lot of this comes down to being able to start by understanding
what employers need. And you mentioned some of the excellent
work that's being done by North Carolina community colleges
where I'm very proud of our work with the number of community
colleges in North Carolina and around the country.
And helping them to take a data driven approach to
understanding the landscape of opportunity for their
communities. That's very important because very often we find
is that all too often we find is that workforce systems, our
career and technical education system, our CT system that is
and others, are often misaligned in terms of how they are
serving the landscape of demand and the landscape of
opportunity.
I'll give you an example. We recently did an analysis of
the spending on TGE programs for the Excel and Ed Foundation,
post the Perkins Act reauthorization. There's billions of
dollars flowing into CT's and an incredible valuable resource
in helping make sure that students can acquire an industry,
recognize credentials.
Unfortunately, what we found is that only 18 percent of the
credentials that are being funded are actually in demand by
employers, so then we start with opportunity first, use that as
a key threshold to create standards for what kinds of training
we fund, subject the ETPL community college programs to a
standard of assessing their E2 jobs that are locally in demand
and lead to good wages and upward mobility, then we can really
turn the corner.
Ms. Manning. Thanks very much. I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Ms. Manning. And now Mr.
Bowman, Vice Chair of the Education and Labor Committee, you're
on.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you very much Madam Chairwoman. Ms. Wu, I
have a question about digital literacy and upskilling. Thinking
about employees who have been in the workplace for 10 to 15
years who now find themselves needing to upskill. Given
Microsoft's work on many digital literacy training efforts, can
you describe what the key components are for making digital
literacy training effective for workers who may need to upskill
after having been in the workforce for some time?
What additional support like childcare is needed beyond the
content of the training?
Ms. Wu. Thank you for that question. Well as you know from
your background in education as well, people do need different
kinds of supports to succeed. First of all we know adults learn
best in context. And work is a great motivating context. When
people know that you have to get on that conference call for
work to be there with their boss, they are going to learn those
tools, or they need to take these orders so the business will
survive and thrive. They are very motivated.
So that's first of all finding ways to help adults learn in
context makes a big difference. Cohorts make a big difference.
The people learning together with other peers, understanding
hey, I'm having this challenge, how are you working through
this challenge? That's also very important.
And mentorship. People have gone through the program
already and saying I had troubles there too, but actually this
can make a big difference and you will get there. And a lot of
our through community college partnerships, we find that
people, you know, we have to give people also an opportunity to
fall down and get back up.
And so they need those other supports. That's why working
with the public systems is important to provide transportation,
maybe childcare, IT troubleshooting. My device at home is too
old. I can't even log on to that course to get to it online.
It's too slow, or it's too old. What do I do? How can I access
resources? Get better broadband access, or to have you know
some technical support to achieve what I want to.
Mr. Bowman. Would you say that context and cohorts are also
important as we think about high school education and even
middle school education as well?
Ms. Wu. Absolutely. Microsoft has a long-standing skills
program which is basically teaching computer science in high
school. We recognize that far too many students didn't even
have a computer science class in their high school, and we've
been expanding our effort in particular because we know for
underserved populations if they get a class in high school,
they are seven to 10 times more likely to pursue it in college.
So you've got to start early, absolutely agree. Our
approach there has been focusing on supporting teachers to sort
of train the trainer, so we teach teachers in local high
schools who are already there, already have the relationships,
already are known to the students, and help students and
teachers move forward together.
But I absolutely agree you know at middle school and high
school we all need support, right? We all succeed better when
we're part of a team, and so having those supports and
encouragement, and repeated exposure. It's not just a one time
you're running across this, but you get to see technology
opportunities, education, and people who look like you, or who
are like you succeeding in technology fields is very important.
Mr. Bowman. You made me very proud when I was a middle
school Principal, we had one of the only computer science
courses in New York City, and I have two former students. One
is currently at MIT, the other is at Brum Science, excuse me,
at Cornell after going to Brum Science. And we were located
right around the corner from a housing project and as a Title I
school.
And I just got a text today from a former student who's
going to be going to North Carolina A and T, so yes, computer
science really matters. One quick question, what would you say
to critics that argue workers cannot successfully make the
transition, or make the change?
Ms. Wu. I'm sorry to stay to critics that they can't do it.
Mr. Bowman. Yes.
Ms. Wu. Well you know I think everyone has the capacity to
learn right? We're human, and that is part of being human. If
people aren't successfully able to transition over to other
things, we need to look at first of all we have to give people
options. We have to look at the skills they already have as Mr.
Sigelman also said, and not to say what don't you have, but
what skills and experience do you have, and how can we build on
that?
And what are your aptitudes? Not all technology is the
same. There are lots of things that you know it could be
technology focused on energy and the environment. It could be
in the helping professions, helping in healthcare. It could be
counseling. It could be in gaming.
So there are a lot of different opportunities across
technology, and what we really need to do I think is open up
that world, show people how technology is relevant to their
lives and can help them advance, and find what's a good fit for
them.
Mr. Bowman. Thank you so much my time is running out. Sorry
Mr. Sigelman and everyone else. I really wanted to ask you all
a question, there's just not enough time. Thank you and I yield
back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you, Mr. Bowman. And
now Mr. Pocan of Wisconsin.
Mr. Pocan. Thank you, Madam Chair, and thanks to all the
witnesses for being here today. You know I was struck by
something that you said Ms. Wu about who sits at the table
really matters right? I think that's in so many aspects of
life.
And you know one thing I haven't heard talked about a whole
lot today are the role of unions because as we know
apprenticeships; although Mr. Barela you did mention registered
apprenticeships in your initial remarks, are joint labor
management cooperative processes.
And so Mr. Barela if I can first, please extend my
greetings to your Governor and to Marlon please, they were good
friends and I appreciate them. But could you talk a little bit
more about that registered apprenticeship experience?
And then second, what more could we do to put unions at the
table to help make these decisions, because I just left 2 days
ago, I was at the apprenticeship program here at the painters
and trades in Madison. We had Secretary Walsh here in town, we
had him out to see it.
So if you could just talk a little more about that I just
haven't seen a whole lot of those conversations today.
Mr. Barela. Thank you for that question, Representative.
And you know part of our whole eco-system is making sure that
through our earned learned models in the apprenticeship
programs are highlighted.
And I think our unions with the skills, trades,
construction apprenticeships, offer such an opportunity for
people in high school, people that are recently graduated from
high school, and even mid-career professionals to go into an
opportunity to get into a relative career pathway that offers a
wage while they're going through that process.
We have the Bell Commission here in Colorado which is our
business experiential learning commission that was first
created by Governor Hickenlooper and now Governor Polis which
takes the business community and really exposes them to not
only the opportunity through the State Department, the
Department of Education, Department of High Education,
Department of Economic Development, International Trade and
Department of Labor, and figure out how can we make sure that
people have pathways into industry that involve professional
experience education and credentialling, and not just
formalized academic credentials?
And so our union apprenticeships and our merit-based
apprenticeship programs sit at the table and discuss how we
create opportunities for people to look at going into the
apprenticeship field when they're young. But you know our
average age of our apprenticeship when they join Colorado is 27
years old, so we need to make sure that people, I don't want to
say floundering, but they want to look for better opportunities
and livable wages in the communities.
The apprenticeship system is to both unionize and merit-
based apprenticeships here in Colorado offer great
opportunities so that they don't have to stop earning and get a
credential at the same time.
Mr. Pocan. And let me ask you a quick followup to something
kind of related, trade adjustment assistance. Can you talk a
little bit more about that because in our area I know that I
still you know even since I've been in Congress, I'm still
watching companies go overseas or south of the border, and
we're still having some workers who are displaced out of that?
Can you talk a bit more about no matter what the job loss
is, how we can try to make trade adjustments assistance, what
we could add to this bill in that area?
Mr. Barela. For Colorado, what a great question as far as
we go through coal disruption and the closing of our coal
plants, our coal mines. If we could look at the trade
adjustment model to in this particular case, the coal industry.
And I think one of your previous colleagues asked about the
fossil fuel industry. How do we take care of those workers who
are probably in primary jobs in their communities, and help
with transitioning from those jobs into jobs in those
communities that pay at or close to that rate?
And so we could take the trade adjustment model and make
sure that we look at them holistically. In Colorado we're using
State and some WIOA funds to do it now as we plan for that, but
there are not a lot of resources to deal with those huge
impacts not only to the workers, but the tax revenue that those
industries provide to the communities to support them is going
to be something that we struggle with.
Here it's the coal industry, but because of technology the
disruption will happen in many industries, and so we need to be
prepared. What is the package that best serves not only the
employer, but the worker and the community that's left behind
from those disruptions?
Mr. Pocan. Thank you. And Ms. Wu since you brought up the
comment about at the table, any thoughts on how we can help
bring labor to the table to try to help improve in this area as
well?
Ms. Wu. Well I know that's an important place where labor's
voice is heard is at the workforce boards. And you know as
technology is changing workplaces it's important to hear what
worker's perspective is there because they're the ones doing
the job every day.
They have a lot of insights about how technology can be
used efficiently and well, and you know I think it's important
to bring everyone into the conversation and help workers see
the opportunities for them as well as address the concerns they
may have.
Mr. Pocan. Great thank you. Madam Chair I'll yield back my
two seconds.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you appreciate it. And now we'll
go forward with Ms. Bonamici the very patient Ms. Bonamici.
Ms. Bonamici. Thank you so much Chair Wilson, Chair Scott,
Ranking Member Foxx and thank so much to our witnesses. Just to
briefly followup on that conversation we were having about the
need for partnerships and meeting local demand, I have a great
agriculture of science example.
Here in northwest Oregon where Yamhill Carlton High School
students, typically FFA members have classes in viniculture.
It's probably the only vineyard in the country planted and
managed by high school students. They can get credit at
Chemeketa Community College and they're ready to work in the
wine industry which is a big part of the economy and part of
the district I represent.
So I want to move on, and you know recognize that as we
have in the comments today that the economic consequences of
COVID-19 and the pandemic have been kind of a stark reminder of
the problems of consistently underfunding our Nation's
workforce system.
We do not have adequate pathways now and supportive
services for displaced workers to help them access probably the
upskilling and reskilling opportunities, and at the same time
entire sectors of our economy like manufacturing and energy are
on the brink of significant transformation that will create new
good-paying jobs.
In fact, I'm also in a science Committee hearing with
Secretary Granholm today talking about these workforce issues
with the energy transition. So we need to make sure that those
have been affected by structural changes in our economy have
access to transition assistance programs, investments in
workforce training and economic support, development support.
So Mr. Barela I appreciated your reference to Colorado's
Just Transition Office. I'm currently working on a bill to
establish a national economic transition office which is
modeled on Colorado's efforts that will help scale up and
target Federal economic and workforce development assistance to
communities and workers beginning with the coal economy.
So in my work on this legislation I've heard from many in
the workforce system about the strengths of the trade
adjustment assistance program, which of course Mr. Pocan just
mentioned for training and income support, but Mr. Barela,
should displaced workers receive different benefits based on
the reason for their displacement, or do we need a model that
serves as sort of a universal dislocated worker program, and
how can this Committee expand WIOA benefits to serve more
workers regardless of the cause of displacement?
Mr. Barela. Representative great question and thank you for
that. I do think that it should matter, the reason of the cause
of displacement, but the package that's available to workers is
robust enough for them to be successful transitioning in their
communities.
So many of what has happened is people realize that you
know I'm getting back to the power generation. If there's a job
somewhere else those workers are forced to move to where the
jobs still exist, rather than look at opportunities to stay in
their community that they chose to live with in Colorado.
So I think you know you look at housing assistance,
transportation assistance, support services, access to
training. I know a lot of these unionized positions in the
generation, power generation, you know if they have to move
into another category or program and then they have to start
back at that apprentice level, and it could take four or 5
years to get back to the journeyman level and is to say power
transmission.
And so, I don't want to say wage guarantee, but the wage
replacement to keep them whole as they're upskilling and moving
to that new opportunity would be a great opportunity that we
just can't resource through the dislocated worker program. So
when you look at how the disruption is going to happen through
industry after industry because of technology, it would be
great to have a package that's universal to dislocated workers.
Ms. Bonamici. Absolutely. And I don't want to cut you off,
but I wanted to get in another question. We also need to
consider strategies that help workers avoid displacement before
it occurs. So for example, here in northwest Oregon, Oregon
Manufacturing Innovation Center, also known as OMIC brings
together industry leaders, Boeing, educational institutions
including Portland Community College, Oregon Institute of
Technology, Oregon State, Portland State.
Together they're developing a registered apprenticeship
program in advanced manufacturing. So Mr. Barela you talked
about Colorado's efforts to secure more than 1,600 sector
partnerships, so what are some of the best practices for sector
partnerships that could be scaled at a national level, or
codified when we reauthorize WIOA and how have they helped
create career pathways and emerging industries to meet the
needs of local businesses?
Mr. Barela. I think I'll highlight the healthcare industry
in looking at how it's really dependent on industry and
business partners coming together at the table forgetting they
may be competitors out in the real world and figure out how
they meet critical talent needs collectively as an industry and
getting them to the table and saying here are the critical
skill shortages, but also maybe the occupational shortage.
And then making sure that there are educational pipeline
systems hearing them and creating programs that can meet their
needs. And that's not stagnant. That has to be agile because we
know those needs change very rapidly now. You know they're not
5 and 10 years, they're 1 year and 2 year, and so that
education pipeline system needs to be agile in listening to
business and industry.
Ms. Bonamici. Terrific. Thank you very much. And my time is
expired, I yield back thank you Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. I remind my colleagues sorry
our Chair of the Committee Dr. Foxx are you ready? Chairman
Scott.
Mr. Scott. Thank you, Madam Chair. Mr. Barela we've heard a
lot, you've mentioned I think in your testimony about the
possibility of counter cyclical spending with Medicaid when
poverty goes up, Medicaid spending goes up, SNAP benefits,
unemployment benefits, and there's a recession should workforce
training benefits be also on a counter cyclical basis?
Mr. Barela. Thank you, Chairman Scott. What a great
question. We're so reactive in the dislocated worker program
and several of our Title I programs. It should be made
available. I don't know I think if there could be a trust fund
like we have with the unemployment insurance system that's
available for states, localities to take advantage of.
When there is a surprise and economic downturn that's
acute, so that we have resources to serve and maybe prevent the
dislocation. I do feel when people stay attached to employment
if it's through upskilling and reskilling, and working with the
employer, we're much better off.
And so I do think it should be that funding formula needs
to be looked at so that local workforce boards, State workforce
councils have access to that fund when they need it, not
waiting for the bulk of that resource to be seen 2 years out
when you may not need it.
Mr. Scott. Yes, we keep hearing that we're serving about
one-third of the people that actually need assistance. Does
that mean we're serving one-third of the people at the full
cost of service? Or we're serving everybody in about one-third
of what we ought to be spending on each one?
Mr. Barela. Great question. You know I think I mentioned in
2019 Colorado had about 77,000 people use the public workforce
system. Only 7,000 of those individuals received intensive
services or training, or upskilling.
The far majority of those are just getting career coaching
and navigation. So we could do so much better to be responsive
to the critical skill shortages we have if we could upskill
people when they're dislocated, or before they're dislocated.
So it's a very good question.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Mr. Sigelman. The first step I think
is getting on the vendor's list to provide services. If you're
on the vendor's list how does the program actually target the
job training to where it's needed? If everybody wants to be a
dental assistant, but the area needs welders, how does that
work?
Mr. Sigelman. Representative Scott I'm so glad you asked
that question because it's a critical and urgent problem right
now with our eligible training provider lists. In most places
there are no defined standards for what qualifies as fundable
training.
And so there's often a political process of what sectors
are able to shout the loudest. We need, and I think this is an
opportunity for Congress to act, in creating rigorous standards
to make sure that the training that we fund aligns to jobs that
are in demand, that are in demand locally, because jobs that
are maybe in demand in one part of the State may not be
elsewhere.
That they are also vetting that they are teaching the
skills that differentiate people for those jobs, and that those
are jobs that are good jobs, that pay well and provide people
with upward mobility from there.
Mr. Scott. Well we thought that's what we were doing when
we funded and had the local board and didn't tell them what to
do, that I guess we need to do a little more work on that. But
in terms of skills how do what are called soft skills, how do
they fit into the program?
Mr. Sigelman. They're very important and I think they need
to be part of every kind of training program that we do. Just
teaching somebody how to code, or how to weld isn't enough to
get them a job. In the 21st Century economy jobs blend skills.
Our research shows the new foundational skills that are cross-
cutting across most kinds of jobs in the 21st Century economy,
and they include not only technical skills, but also human
skills, like creativity and ability to communicate.
They include data skills and digital skills as has been
pointed out earlier in the hearing, and of course also business
skills. We're finding there are certain business skills like
project management whether you're a nurse case manager, or
whether you're in construction, or whether you're in IT. Those
are sets of skills which are broadly needed.
We need to make sure that students have the full package,
that our workforce training integrates those foundational
skills alongside technical training.
Mr. Scott. Are people that provide those kinds of skills,
are generally found on the vendor lists?
Mr. Sigelman. I think the vendor lists have a very wide
array of providers. Some of them are doing really excellent
work.
Mr. Scott. I mean if you have a provider of soft skills, is
it likely that they could be providing those services in the
community?
Mr. Sigelman. I'm sure they're provided. I would want to
make sure that those soft skills are being provided alongside
hard skills. If somebody just takes a course in communications,
but they still don't have the technical skills, it's going to
be tricky. The 21st Century economy industry needs are both
that as valuable as foundational skills are, people also need
to be able to have the technical skills that enable them to be
productive on the job on Day 1.
Mr. Scott. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you. Representative
Mrvan.
Mr. Mrvan. Thank you, Chairwoman. First, I'd like to extend
my thanks to Chairwoman Wilson and Ranking Member Murphy for
allowing me to participate in today's hearing as a non-
Subcommittee Member. I would also like to extend my thanks to
Subcommittee and to staff for recognizing the workforce
development initiatives taken in the State of Indiana and
providing the opportunity for Mr. McGrew to testify today.
As a representative from Indiana's First congressional
District, I am proud that Indiana with the leadership of
Governor Holcomb and Mr. McGrew have demonstrated the
incredible value of innovative and effective workforce
development programs with proven results.
As we toward the end of the hearing I want to ask Mr.
McGrew are there any other successful Indiana actions you would
like to highlight? And, if not already discussed, what Federal
actions can be taken to support your initiatives and to allow
other states to follow your example?
Mr. McGrew. Thank you Representative Mrvan. You know I
think one of the things that we continue to try to do is
connect employers to you know, and that has been one thing that
has come up time and time again today is how we're going about
doing those things.
I previously mentioned the UI data project that we're
working on to provide direct targeted information to our UI
clients on educational opportunities, as well as job
opportunities to fit their needs. And today we're also
launching an employer connector tool for our career in tech ed
program.
The workforce cabinet also serves as the state's eligible
Perkins recipient, so we direct all of the career and technical
education activity throughout the State, and so we provide
opportunities for our high school students to opt into sharing
their contact information with employers.
And so we're using that information that we have to get
that out and of course directly to our employer communities. So
we think that will help alleviate some of those you know issues
that employers are dealing with, especially as we come into
better alignment for our CTE programs with our local labor
market needs.
So we're very excited about that. I'd also say looking
outside of government for work and activity that's being done,
I serve on our State Chamber of Commerce as New Institute for
Workforce Excellence board, and they are working to identify
not only State and Federal resources that are available to
employers to work on talent attraction, talent development,
talent recruitment, but also what is happening at a local
level.
So whether or not local chambers have programs or county
community foundations have programs, so I think looking outside
of the system for support is another way that we can really
leverage things and work better together.
Mr. Mrvan. I thank you very much. And my followup question
is coming from the First District obviously labor is extremely
important, also labor unions, but my question is what the State
of Indiana is, and any of you might want to add to this, on
manufacturing and making sure we bring workers along to the
next generation of manufacturing and the renewable energies
exactly if we could just have your view of that Mr. McGrew what
we're doing in Indiana.
Mr. McGrew. Yes. So I think one exciting opportunity that
we have is our smart manufacturing grants that we're providing
employers to help transition to new technologies. With that
comes obviously the reskilling, and upskilling of incumbent
workers to meet those new technological needs.
So I think with our employer training grant, and the fact
that it can be used for incumbent workers provided there is a
wage gain, that the employee sees as important, but I also
think in redesigning and using employers to really look at our
community college system, and our high school career and tech
ed system to make sure that we have the skills that are going
to be needed once those graduates complete the program in two
or 3 years really fit with where technology is going.
Mr. Mrvan. Thank you very much. And I thank the
Subcommittee and at this time I'd like to yield back my time.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you. Thank you for visiting us
today. I don't believe we have any other Members questioning
OK. I'll remind my colleagues that pursuant to Committee
practice materials for submission of the hearing record must be
submitted to the Committee Clerk within 14 days following the
last day of the hearing.
So by close of business on June 10, 2021, preferably in
Microsoft Word format. The materials submitted must address the
subject matter of the hearing. Only a Member of the
Subcommittee, or an invited witness may submit materials for
inclusion in the hearing record.
Documents are limited to 50 pages each. Documents longer
than 50 pages will be incorporated into the record by way of an
internet link that you must provide to the Committee Clerk
within the required timeframe.
But please recognize that in the future that link may no
longer work. Pursuant to House rules and regulations, items for
the record must be submitted to the Clerk electronically by
email submissions to [email protected].
Again, I want to thank these amazing witnesses for their
participation today. Great information. You have given us a
path forward and we thank you. Members of the Subcommittee may
have additional questions for you, and we ask the witnesses to
please respond to those questions in writing.
The hearing record will be held open for 14 days in order
to receive those responses. I remind my colleagues that
pursuant to Committee practice when there's questions for the
hearing record, must be submitted to the Majority Committee
Staff or Committee Clerk within 7 days. The questions submitted
must address the subject matter of the hearing.
I now recognize the distinguished Member of the full
meeting for a closing statement, Dr. Foxx.
Ms. Foxx. Thank you Chairwoman Wilson I appreciate that
very much. And again I thank the witnesses for sharing their
perspectives on how our workforce system can be better prepared
for the 21st Century skill-based economy.
I note that most of the other Members have left the hearing
and that's fine with me because I want to make a little speech
that they've all heard before, and I apologize to the
Chairwoman and to the Chair of the Committee.
We've invested billions of dollars from hard-working
taxpayers into the workforce system, but it's clear that the
system is not effectively meeting the needs of workers or
employers across the country leading to a vast and growing
skills gap, and the situation that we have described today.
And I want to bring up something particularly to our panel
Members that I think leads to this and leads to it
significantly. I read all of your testimonies yesterday and
last evening, and over and over and over in your testimony and
today you have used what I call the T word, training.
I believe that a big part of the problem that we have in
our country is the fact that we have segregated and divided our
workforce into two different groups, and I've listened very
carefully today to your comments. I've noted at no point did we
talk about people with baccalaureate degrees who may be out of
work and may need upskilling or reskilling.
You know I'm an English major. I was an English major went
on and got two degrees beyond that, but probably if I weren't
in the Congress I might need upskilling, particularly in the
use of computers, but we didn't talk about that.
So what we've been talking about primarily today are the 70
percent of the people who don't have baccalaureate degrees. And
I think that you've contradicted yourself in several places,
and I don't mean to be critical, I want to raise your
awareness.
You keep talking about training, but Mr. Sigelman you
particularly said we need people to have human skills, we need
people with awareness skills, we need people with project
management skills. Well the only thing I remember from my
doctoral program is that you train dogs, and you educate
people.
And I think that what we've so much talked about today is
having people learn specific kinds of skills that aren't
necessarily ability to be upskilled or to be reskilled because
we're not talking about the kind of things that will help them
learn over and over and over again.
And so I'm very, very concerned about that. And I would
like to urge you all to look at all of your literature and say
should we be talking about education where we think with
education, certainly I think all of us feel that way, we are
helping the whole person learn, and learn throughout their
lives.
I'm a big believer in continuing education and lifelong
learning, so I really want to urge you to do that because I
think it's a great issue. I want to associate myself also with
the comments that Chairman Scott made in his comments where he
talked about how we tried in WIOA to give a lot of local
control, and yet I think again Mr. Sigelman you talked about
the fact that you find in so many cases people are not offering
the skills that are needed for the 21st Century jobs, but
what's available now.
So I think we have to look very carefully, and I don't
think we've got enough feedback on this today on how we balance
accountability with local control. We push local control a lot,
but we have to have accountability, or we're pouring money down
a rat hole.
And we would be seeing better results in terms of where our
workforce is now if we were able to balance those two things I
think better. And I do appreciate the fact that we've talked
about removing obstacles. I think we have to do that. We have
to use all the tools at our disposal. I did notice some of the
witnesses jotting down the $5,250.00 tax deduction for the
private sector, which made me believe that all the witnesses
understood that or understood the $5,250.00 that can be used.
And I think it's very important that we do that. I think
this was a great conversation today. It brought out a lot of
issues that I think we need to be dealing with as we look to
the reauthorization. I think we have a lot better understanding
of what the needs are going to be in the 21st Century, but I do
urge we ourselves on the Committee, and those of you out there
doing the work that you're doing, to rethink how you talk about
these things.
Because if we want to get people to stay in the education
system, which is what it is, or come back into the education
system, whether they left at the end of high school, or after
some community college, or even after baccalaureate degree, or
even after a master's degree, we've got to talk about treating
these people with dignity.
And I don't think we talk about dignity when you talk about
training. That's my point. If you understand that we want to
talk about education and workforce development, and I think
that's so important. So I want to urge you to do that, and
again I want to thank the Chairwoman and the Chairman of the
Committee for helping put together a good bipartisan panel
today and hearing and with that Madam Chairman I yield back.
Chairwoman Wilson. Thank you, Dr. Foxx. I now recognize
myself for the purpose of making my closing statement. Thank
you again to our witnesses for your testimony and for guiding
today's discussion on the need to help workers recover from
displacement, navigate future changes in employment, and access
lifelong learning opportunities.
Today we affirmed WIOA's proven track record of supporting
workers who have lost their jobs, whether it is due to
automation, climate change, or global pandemic. These programs
are among the best tools that we have to ensure that displaced
workers can get the skills and support they need to build more
rewarding careers.
This bipartisan reauthorization is an opportunity for
Congress to realize the full potential of WIOA's program for
both workers and employers. That means addressing the current
underfunding of training programs, including individual
training accounts. And it means making the serious investment
in workforce development that our competitors in other
industrialized economies have made for decades.
It means ensuring the workforce system has the necessary
data to help workers leverage the skills they already have so
that programs can serve people more rapidly, less expensively,
and with greater long-term success.
It also means expanding comprehensive support to help
dislocated workers find new and rewarding career pathways, even
beyond the pandemic. Most important it means prioritizing
investment in lifelong learning and career support so that
workers can avoid being displaced without the skills required
to transition to better jobs.
I look forward to working with my colleagues on this
Committee to pass a WIOA reauthorization that not only helps
workers recover from displacement, but also prepares them to
thrive, in a changing economy for years to come.
If there's no further business before this Committee
without objection this Subcommittee stands adjourned.
[Question submitted for the record and the response by
Mr. McGrew follow:]
[GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
[Whereupon, at 2:49 p.m., the Subcommittee was adjourned.]
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