News

Posted On: 06/10/2011

President Obama announces initiatives critical to improving manufacturing workforce

The White House

President Obama has announced a major expansion of Skills for America’s Future, an industry-led initiative to improve industry partnerships with community colleges and build a nation-wide network to maximize workforce development strategies, job training programs and job placements.

“Last year, we launched Skills for America’s Future to bring together companies and community colleges around a simple idea: making it easier for workers to gain new skills will make America more competitive in the global economy.  Today, we are announcing a number of partnerships that will help us make this a reality, by opening doors to new jobs for workers, and helping employers find the trained people they need to compete against companies around the world,” said President Barack Obama.

As one of the key partners of Skills for America’s Future, an initiative of the Aspen Institute that was launched by the Administration last year, The Manufacturing Institute, the affiliated non-profit of the National Association of Manufacturers (NAM), will announce an effort to help provide 500,000 community college students with industry-recognized credentials that will help them get secure jobs in the manufacturing sector. Several other partners of Skills for America’s Future and The Manufacturing Institute will also help enhance these efforts through their own initiatives to bolster our nation’s manufacturing workforce.

This builds on the Administration strong leadership on manufacturing. The manufacturing sector has led the economic recovery over the past two years, with over 230,000 jobs added since the beginning of 2010.

Learn more about the expansion of Skills for America’s Future