Tuesday, November 11, 2014

Shortage of training and apprenticeships for skilled workers

83% of construction contractors are reporting a shortage of trained workers. Was it the last recession (ended in 2009) when 2 million were laid off, or something bigger like a failure in the education pipeline for new construction workers? Those factors include the dismantling of the public vocational and technical education programs, declining participation in union apprenticeship training and an increasing focus on college preparatory programs at the high school level. Surely, there must be some recent veterans who can stand in the gap.

 http://www.agc.org/…/2014_AGC_Workforce_Development_Plan.pdf

It’s unfortunate that many ideas in this report want the federal government to come to the aid of the unions, and they want legal recognition for illegal construction workers.  Local schools and communities and businesses need to step up.

One of the promises of the current administration was to streamline the regulations that choke small businesses, but the figure is still over $2 trillion in added costs according to a study by the  National Association of Manufacturers.  http://www.foxnews.com/opinion/2014/09/10/study-federal-regulations-cost-us-businesses-2-trillion/

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