In every congressional district across the country, businesses are reporting a common problem: high-skill, high-paying jobs are open, but applicants don’t have the necessary skills to serve in the positions. Today, hundreds of thousands of jobs in manufacturing, information technology and other skilled trades remain unfilled, and as the workforce ages, the gap continues to grow.
This “skills gap” first came to my attention in 2008. During the height of the Great Recession, I traveled the state speaking to business owners. I asked them when they planned to start hiring again, and I was surprised to hear from many that they had never stopped. But even as the unemployment rate spiked, businesses simply couldn’t find workers qualified for the jobs. Fortunately, there was a proven solution to this problem: career and technical education.
CTE provides students with technical, employability and core academic skills. Work-based learning helps them apply classroom knowledge, explore career options and develop an understanding of the work environment, all of which prepares them for jobs in high-demand fields. CTE students are more likely to graduate high school, meet career-readiness goals and achieve higher earnings than other students.
Government investment in CTE also yields impressive returns for states. According to the Association for Career and Technical Education, every dollar spent in the state of Washington supporting high school CTE yields a $9 return in revenue and benefits, and in Wisconsin, dollars invested in the technical-college system are returned more than 12 to one. CTE is a smart investment for every local economy.
As co-chair of the bipartisan Congressional CTE Caucus with my friend Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Pa., I’m working to expand and modernize federal CTE programs. The caucus has over 100 members from both sides of the aisle, and earlier this year, we sent a letter to the House Appropriations Committee urging strong support for CTE funding in the 2018 budget.
In June, the House passed the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, a bipartisan bill to reauthorize the Perkins Act, which governs most federally supported CTE programs. I was proud to co-lead the introduction of this bill, which makes many improvements to a program that hasn’t been updated in over a decade.
The Strengthening CTE Act better aligns CTE programs with local industry needs, improves collaboration among community stakeholders and promotes apprenticeships, all while increasing federal investment by 9 percent over the next five years. It encourages partnerships between business, education and government to ensure CTE programs are not one-size-fits-all, but instead meet local businesses’ needs.
In Rhode Island, job-training programs such as General Dynamics Electric Boat’s, the development of the Westerly Education Center, and Gov. Gina M. Raimondo’s Real Jobs Rhode Island initiative demonstrate the power of these partnerships. Students graduating from Electric Boat’s job-training program end up with high-paying careers. And classes at the Westerly Education Center partner industry with higher education to provide students of all ages with management, computer, design and other skills for in-demand jobs.
It’s clear that if we’re going to build a workforce that is ready to take on the challenges of our global economy, we need to invest in CTE. I’m glad my colleagues on both sides of the aisle in the House came together to take a crucial step in the right direction, and I’m proud to help lead the fight.
Rep. James R. Langevin is a Democrat representing Rhode Island’s 2nd Congressional District.
