COMMITMENT TO THE AMERICAN WORKER: The President’s Executive Order established the President’s National Council for the American Worker and the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board to solve the new challenges faced by American workers.
- The President’s National Council for the American Worker (Council) will provide a forum for the development of a national strategy to address urgent workforce issues. The Council will:
- Develop a national campaign to raise awareness of workforce issues, such as the urgency of the skills crisis and the importance of STEM education;
- Create a plan for recognizing companies that demonstrate excellence in workplace education, training, retraining policies, and workforce investment;
- Help expand the number of apprenticeships and encourage increased investment in training and re-training American workers;
- Recommend a specific course of action for increasing transparency related to education and job-training programs, and propose ways to increase available job data; and
- Consider and implement the recommendations of the American Workforce Policy Advisory Board (Board), as appropriate.
- The Board will draw upon the knowledge and expertise of leaders from outside government to develop recommendations on how to improve our country’s education and training.
- The Board will play an important role in encouraging the private, education, and not-for-profit sectors to commit to investing in and re-training their workers.
- The Administration is also calling on American companies, associations, and foundations to sign a pledge committing to invest in workers and students.
GROWING AMERICA’S WORKFORCE: The Executive Order follows a report by the Council of Economic Advisers (CEA) showing the importance of growing the American workforce.
- America needs more workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, there are not enough unemployed workers in the current United States labor pool to match the demand for new workers unleashed by the Trump Administration’s pro-growth policies.
- Under President Trump, the economy has boomed, creating over 3.7 million jobs since the election and achieving a 4.0% unemployment rate in June and a 3.8% rate a month earlier in May, matching a 45-year low.
- In addition, to account for new technology and automation, new skill-sets will be required for future United States workers. Reskilling workers will be essential for future economic growth.
- Already, the labor market is tight with an estimated 6.6 million job vacancies presumably caused, in part, by a lack of workers with the required skillsets.
- Reskilling the American workforce is critically important for those without bachelor degrees.
- CEA research shows that American workers with only a high school degree receive an estimated $26,000 in employer-provided skills training over the course of their prime working years, which is approximately half that of someone with a bachelor’s degree.
- Reforming Federal policies to promote life-long skills training will be essential to closing the ever-widening skills gap caused by technological advancement.
- Currently, investment in skills development is “frontloaded” during the first 25 years of life. This is due, in part, to restrictions on use of Federal funds incentivizing job training.
