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Workforce Training

Central to improving the quality of life in the 15th Congressional District of Texas is expanding the pool of job opportunities and developing the highly skilled workforce to seize them. The district is home to one of the fastest growing areas in the country with respect to job growth and population growth. Sadly, although the unemployment rates have dropped dramatically from above 20 percent in the early nineties to single digits, several parts of the 15th District still contend with double digit unemployment.

Congressman Hinojosa supports training initiatives to expand apprenticeship programs. He has worked to develop partnerships between community colleges, universities, businesses, and workforce development boards, and the U.S. Department of Labor to match job training opportunities with employers needs. Hinojosa helped secure a $4.5 million WIRED grant from the Department of Labor that will bring the universities, community colleges, the Greater McAllen Alliance and other business leaders in the Rio Grande Valley together in the development of a Rapid Response, Manufacturing project to develop high skill jobs and train workers to fill them.

In addition to promoting job creation and job training opportunities, Hinojosa is committed to protecting America’s workers’ rights. He fought the Department of Labor’s proposal to change the overtime regulations, effectively denying millions of Americans the right to earn overtime wages. He fought off attempts to replace overtime wages with compensatory time – a move which could drastically reduce family earnings. He supports workers’ rights to collective bargaining and a living wage. During the 110th Congress, Hinojosa supported the passage of the first increase in the minimum wage law in more than a decade.

During the 110th Congress, as Chairman of the Higher Education, Lifelong Learning and Competitiveness subcommittee, Hinojosa will shepherd the Workforce Investment Act through Congress. This bill is the main source of federal funding for workforce training.