Legislation has been introduced to invest $15 billion in our nation’s workforce training system. The Relaunching America’s Workforce Act authorizes funding to provide essential career services and help workers attain additional skills and credentials as the economy emerges from its deepest decline since the Great Depression.
The Relaunching America’s Workforce Act expands support for dislocated workers and funds layoff aversion strategies to help employers keep workers on the job. The bill invests in workforce training programs to help workers improve their skills and transition into new jobs in high-demand industries, including the health care, manufacturing, and infrastructure sectors. The legislation also restarts a successful grant program supporting partnerships between community colleges and employers, which was implemented during the Great Recession to help workers learn skills for in-demand jobs.
The Relaunching America’s Workforce Act:
- Provides over $11 billion to the state and local public workforce system to support dislocated workers, employers, youth, and adults who are seeking jobs. These funds will strengthen workforce training activities—including on-the-job training and registered apprenticeships—as well as career services—including career navigation support, online skills training, and employment services. The funds will also prioritize short-term training for health care and essential frontline workers;
- Invests $1 billion in expanding the capacity of adult education providers to serve adults with low-literacy levels who have been negatively impacted by the economic consequences of the COVID-19 national emergency, including $100 million reserved for adult education in correctional facilities;
- Invests $1 billion in high-quality, work-based learning opportunities and career and technical education to prepare students for careers in high-skill, high-wage, or in-demand industry sectors and occupations; and,
- Invests $2 billion to restart the community college career training grant program, which was initiated during the Great Recession to help employers find talent in their local area, and provide individuals with career pathways to high-skill, high-wage, and in-demand employment opportunities.
For a fact sheet on the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act, click here.
For a section-by-section of the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act, click here.
For the bill text of the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act, click here.