Trump presses firms to boost job training

‘Pledge to America’s Workers’ aims to help fill vacancies

WASHINGTON — Promoting a robust economy, President Donald Trump pressed U.S. companies and trade associations on Thursday to enhance their job training programs as employers search for qualified skilled workers to fill vacancies.

“We need people with training,” Trump declared.

At an event in the East Room, Trump told corporate leaders and workers that the nation’s students and workers need more opportunities for apprenticeships and job training. The president said nearly two dozen companies and trade organizations have agreed to sign a pledge to provide the training for their workforces during the next five years.

“Companies are pouring back into our country — companies that frankly left 10 and 20 years ago — and they’re coming back, and we need people to work for those companies,” Trump said. “We need talented people. We need people with training.”

The White House said the “Pledge to America’s Workers” would provide at least 3.8 million new career opportunities for students and workers over the next five years, including apprenticeships, workbased learning and continuing education.

Companies that have signed the pledge include Apple, Boeing, General Motors, FedEx, Home Depot, IBM, Lockheed Martin, Microsoft, Northrop Grumman and Walmart.

The administration wants to bring millions of Americans who are not working or searching for work — and therefore aren’t included in the unemployment rate — back into the job market. More people with jobs would accelerate economic growth and could help the White House achieve its goal of sustained growth of 3 percent or higher.

The additional workers could also help fill 6.6 million open jobs, a nearrecord high and more than the number of unemployed workers.

Yet a lack of skills is just one reason some Americans have given up the job search.

Labor economists say there are plenty of middle-skill jobs that don’t require a college degree but do require post-high school education or training, including jobs in advanced manufacturing, in which workers increasingly deal with software and robotics. Many health care jobs, such as radiology and physical therapy, are growing and don’t require college degrees. The same is true for marketing and sales jobs in banking and insurance firms.