Congress Moves Toward Building Technical Workforce

(July 14, 2014) — On July 9, the House of Representatives overwhelmingly approved the Workforce Innovation & Opportunity Act (WIOA) (H.R. 803), 415-6. The bill now awaits President Obama’s signature as the Senate passed it at the end of June.

WIOA eliminates duplicative workforce programs, streamlines many of the burdensome requirements that hamstring existing outdated workforce systems and allows for increased incumbent worker training. Additionally, the legislation will provide greater flexibility to state, local and regional boards to tailor services to an area’s specific employment needs.

While modest in scope, the legislation takes important steps toward addressing worker shortages and ensuring the federal government is using limited resources to give future employees in-demand skills.

Lawmakers on Capitol Hill are shining a rare spotlight on a problem that has plagued the equipment industry for years: the technical worker shortage. Talent shortages are a reality for American businesses, making this bill particularly important for Associated Equipment Distributors (AED) and its members. “In prerecession days there was a critical shortage of technicians. It may not be quite as severe now as then on a nationwide scale, but we’re moving back towards those kinds of numbers,” said Steve Johnson, executive director of the AED Foundation. “In areas where energy production has significant regional economic impact, technician shortages are already a big challenge.”

While the federal government should be doing more to address this economy-wide crisis, Congress has taken a step in the right direction by overhauling skilled worker programs and updating the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), which was enacted in 1998.

“We’re glad Congress has finally woken up to what AED members have known for years: There simply aren’t enough skilled workers to fill technical jobs in our industry and others,” said Christian Klein, AED’s vice president of government affairs. “WIOA is step in the right direction. Now it’s up to the government to implement the reforms and better match skills training with career opportunities. And it’s up to AED and our members to make sure the people running the programs understand our industry’s workforce needs.”

To view a summary of key provisions of WIOA, click here.

Source: Associated Equipment Distributors