Dive Brief:
- In a meeting at The White House on Thursday, manufacturing CEOs told President Donald Trump that there’s shortage not of jobs — a key contention of Trump's campaign — but of skilled workers, reports the Boston Globe.
- Factory heads told the president that plenty of jobs are available, but employers don't have enough trained workers with the skills needed to fill them. White House officials said Trump met with the group to discuss taxes, trade, regulatory reform, rebuilding infrastructure and the president’s ‘‘workforce of the future’’ agenda, the latter of which they claim emphasizes worker training.
- One White House official told the Globe that some factory heads expressed support for a measure that would tax imports, known as a “border adjustment.” Exports would be excluded from the proposed tax.
Dive Insight:
Trump reportedly said everything will be based on “bringing our jobs back." As employers celebrate the pervading pro-business climate under the Trump administration, the president must understand and prioritize training and recruitment to improve workers' chances of employment.
Job training, however, presents challenges for employers. In an interview with NPR's Ari Shapiro, Mark Muro, a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution, said that job creation programs for laid-off workers don’t provide training in the technological skills needed.
Employers, however, can help bridge the gap on their own. Companies can continue to experiment with digital learning platforms that emphasize both on-demand accessibility and career improvement. Several industries have realized the benefits of external training. The rise of e-learning has even helped the industrial, blue collar industries Trump might be interested in bolstering.
