(This is a guest blog post by Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, chairman of the Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning, and Competitiveness.)
America’s workers are in dire straits -- 3.6 million jobs have been lost since December 2007, with 598,000 jobs shed last month alone and unemployment surging to 7.6 percent.
Worse, we have failed to provide our workers with the education and skills that would help them weather the storm. According to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, 80 to 90 million U.S. adults, roughly half of the nation’s workforce, currently lack the basic education and communication skills required for jobs that pay family sustaining wages.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which includes $4 billion for job training to help prepare laid-off, adult, and younger workers for work in emerging industries, is a critical first step toward getting America back to work.
However, our Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which authorizes our job training, adult education, and vocational rehabilitative services programs, is also long overdue for an upgrade. The current authorization expired in 2003, and the law has not been reauthorized since 1998 – when the economy was stronger and we were adding jobs rather than shedding them.
America’s workers are in dire straits -- 3.6 million jobs have been lost since December 2007, with 598,000 jobs shed last month alone and unemployment surging to 7.6 percent.Worse, we have failed to provide our workers with the education and skills that would help them weather the storm. According to the National Commission on Adult Literacy, 80 to 90 million U.S. adults, roughly half of the nation’s workforce, currently lack the basic education and communication skills required for jobs that pay family sustaining wages.
The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which includes $4 billion for job training to help prepare laid-off, adult, and younger workers for work in emerging industries, is a critical first step toward getting America back to work.
However, our Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which authorizes our job training, adult education, and vocational rehabilitative services programs, is also long overdue for an upgrade. The current authorization expired in 2003, and the law has not been reauthorized since 1998 – when the economy was stronger and we were adding jobs rather than shedding them.
We must strengthen WIA to meet today’s challenges and position our workers for long-term success in the global economy.
An improved WIA should be a key plank in our plans to restore economic prosperity to America’s working families. We have an opportunity to update our job training programs so that they not only place workers into jobs but onto career pathways that lead to better wages and advancement in the workplace. We should seize the moment to re-engage adult learners who struggle with low literacy levels or who lack a high school diploma, providing them with the skills and credentials they need for success on the job and an improved quality of life at home and in the community.
The Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness will kick off the drive to reauthorization with a hearing looking at innovation and best practices under the current Workforce Investment Act. We will be seeking input from all stakeholders on how we need to modernize WIA to weather today’s economic crisis and to lay the foundation for a dynamic, highly skilled workforce for the future.
An improved WIA should be a key plank in our plans to restore economic prosperity to America’s working families. We have an opportunity to update our job training programs so that they not only place workers into jobs but onto career pathways that lead to better wages and advancement in the workplace. We should seize the moment to re-engage adult learners who struggle with low literacy levels or who lack a high school diploma, providing them with the skills and credentials they need for success on the job and an improved quality of life at home and in the community.
The Subcommittee on Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness will kick off the drive to reauthorization with a hearing looking at innovation and best practices under the current Workforce Investment Act. We will be seeking input from all stakeholders on how we need to modernize WIA to weather today’s economic crisis and to lay the foundation for a dynamic, highly skilled workforce for the future.
