Workforce Investments in Economic Recovery








Dear  Leader Schumer, Speaker Pelosi, Leader McConnell, and Leader McCarthy,

Thank you for your leadership as our country recovers from the most devastating economic crisis since the Great Depression. Congressional efforts to meet the needs of working people and local businesses are vital right now. The undersigned organizations urge you to invest at least $100 billion in workforce development, as proposed in the American Jobs Plan, to ensure workers have skills necessary to access and succeed in good jobs that businesses need filled.

A staggering number of workers – particularly historically underserved workers of color, young people, women, and immigrants – have lost jobs that aren’t coming back. An equitable recovery for these populations will be mostly served through the local workforce system and its stakeholders. There are nearly 10 million workers who are unemployed right now, with increasing job losses in states such as Michigan, Texas, Kentucky, Missouri and Illinois. More than 1/3 of the job loss over the pandemic will be permanent.

Permanent job loss means workers will need to reskill and upskill to enter new industries. Of workers over 25 who are unemployed, more than 44 percent have no education past high school. Yet, based on projections and lessons learned from past economic downturns, almost all the jobs created in recovery efforts will require some education past high school.

Businesses already faced challenges finding skilled workers prior to the pandemic, a challenge the crisis only exacerbated. Surveys of manufacturing, energy and construction executives found difficulties finding skilled workers were a top concern going into the pandemic and in 2021. Across industries, more than half of workers need access to digital skills to succeed in jobs of the 21st century.

And anticipated industry changes – such as technological adoption – and proposed federal investment will even further add to this challenge. Analyses of previous infrastructure deals suggests that every $100 billion invested creates 1 million new jobs, the majority of which require some training after high school. Employment in healthcare occupations will grow 15 percent from 2019 to 2029, adding 2.4 million new jobs.
Investing in workers’ access to skills that meet industry demand must be a component of the federal response to the current crisis. And workers themselves agree - according to polling commissioned in the summer of 2020, 84% of unemployed workers want Congress to immediately increase investments in training to support their journey back into the workforce.

The nation’s workforce system - convened through workforce development boards, career and technical education, adult basic education providers, and the nation’s community colleges - stand poised to address this need, but desperately need federal investments to meet this demand. Further compounding the funding issues is a two-decade history of declining federal investments in the workforce system.

Except for an initial investment of $345 million, Congress has not funded workforce development in any of its COVID response packages to date. A $100 billion investment in workforce development would mean Congress lives up to its responsibility to workers, to businesses and to communities across the country.

We urge you to make critical investments of no less than $100 billion for workforce development in the next recovery package to ensure that all workers have the skills and reemployment assistance necessary, and all businesses can contribute to, a truly inclusive economic recovery. This scale of investment is critical to meeting U.S. workers’ and businesses’ need in the current crisis. We thank you for your attention to these important issues.

Sign in to Google to save your progress. Learn more
Name *
Email *
Organization (as you would like it to appear on the letter) *
Do you have the authority to sign on your organization? *
Submit
Clear form
Never submit passwords through Google Forms.
This content is neither created nor endorsed by Google. Report Abuse - Terms of Service - Privacy Policy