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THE WORKFORCE

Rep. Bobby Scott

CHAIR OF THE EDUCATION AND LABOR COMMITTEE

“All of the jobs of the future will require some education and
training past the high school level, so we need to make sure that
those opportunities are there.”

Leaders in the public and private sectors have been trying to plan the
future of America’s workforce for decades. Covid-19 certainly
complicated matters.

The pandemic upended entire industries’ meticulous planning for the
future of their workplaces. Employees were thrust into juggling work
while at the same time acting as full-time caregivers for parents
and children. Hundreds of thousands of employees in the retail and
service industries were laid off as companies were forced to shut
their doors.

As the United States emerges from the Covid-19 pandemic, we are
going through the most severe worker shortage on record. Despite the
end of federal jobless programs, businesses across the country have
struggled to rehire or find employees.

Big questions have arisen: Where can workers be found? Will they
ever show up? What can be done to entice employees to come back? The
recent surge in Covid-19 infections due to the Delta variant and
breakthrough cases among the vaccinated have only added to the
concerns about how long it will take companies to recover.

Enter: The Workforce. Punchbowl News’ effort to identify four
leaders who are focused on leading the country back to economic
stability and ensuring that there is a well-prepared workforce that
will allow America to remain competitive.

Presented By

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offering jobs at all levels – and investing in our workforce through
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Earlier this year, we announced a five-year, $1 billion investment in
career training and development. And we’re paying 100% of college
tuition and books for nearly 1.5 million eligible associates. Learn
how we’re creating a path of opportunity for associates to grow their
careers, so they can continue to build better lives for themselves and
their families.
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THE BACKGROUND

Virginia Democratic Rep. Bobby Scott has been focused on workforce
issues for decades. Scott, who grew up in Newport News, Va., first
focused on labor issues as a member of the Virginia House of
Delegates. Throughout his tenure in the Virginia legislature, Scott
pushed for a higher minimum wage and for increased job training. One
of his signature accomplishments included creating the Virginia
Governor’s Employment and Training Council, which focuses on
improving health care for women and children.

A longtime progressive, Scott serves as the dean of the Virginia
congressional delegation. He also holds an annual Labor Day picnic
in Newport News, a key campaign stop for state and federal
candidates in Virginia.

Creating jobs and job training have been two of his biggest focuses
since he entered public office. “When I was in the state senate,
two-thirds of the jobs required education past the high school level.
That does not necessarily mean a four-year liberal arts degree, but it
does mean some educational training past the high school level,” Scott
said.

Since getting elected to Congress in 1992, Scott has continued to
focus on these issues. In 2010, he co-sponsored legislation with Rep.
Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) to make it easier for Americans who had
exhausted their unemployment benefits to continue to receive benefits.
His focus on education has also remained. Scott was a leader in the
passage of the Every Student Succeeds Act, the Obama-era law that
replaced the No Child Left Behind Act, and he also has worked to
reform and update the country’s technical education system.

Current

Like all Democrats on Capitol Hill, Scott has been focused on
implementing President Joe Biden’s bipartisan infrastructure and
reconciliation packages. One key area Scott hopes will remain in the
reconciliation bill is training opportunities for apprenticeships in
sectors like shipbuilding. He also noted that the legislation would
help ensure there are workers who have the necessary skills to not
only manufacture but also repair electric cars, a critical area of
technical training the industry will need as America transitions
toward a green economy. Scott also introduced a bill in January —
Relaunching America’s Workforce Act — that included billions in
spending for career training programs for unemployed adults and
students.

“Congress’ biggest challenge right now is to fund workforce
development.”

– Rep. Bobby Scott,
Chair of the Education and Labor Committee

For Scott, it’s key to ensure these workforce priorities are funded.
One of the “major factors right now is appropriate funding” for
workforce boards. Scott noted that job training programs can only
accommodate about one-third of the people who come to them due to lack
of money. Scott also said these programs need to be designed with an
eye on the future. “Making sure that we’re training people in the jobs
that will actually exist in a year, five years, 10 and 20 years in the
future will be one of the major factors that we need to consider,” he
said.

Fastest Growing Occupations in the U.S. 2020-2030

Source: BLS.Gov

68.2%

Wind turbine service technicians

52.1%

Nurse practitioners

52.1%

Solar photovoltaic installers

35.4%

Statisticians

35.4%

Physical therapist assistants

33.3%

Information security analysts

32.6%

Home health and personal care aides

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their success stories. We’re investing in our associates by offering
competitive pay, advanced training through Walmart Academies, and
most of all, a chance to build a career. Despite the challenges
posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, we trained approximately 95,000
associates via Walmart Academy, including in-person and virtual
trainings last year. To help associates prepare for the jobs of
today and tomorrow, we are investing $1 billion in career training
and development.
Learn More

PEOPLE TO WATCH

AFL-CIO chief economist

William Spriggs

Spriggs serves as the chief economist to the AFL-CIO. A former
chair of Howard University’s economics department, Spriggs
chairs the Economic Policy Working Group for the Trade Union
Advisory Committee to the Organization for the Economic
Co-operation and Development. Spriggs also serves on the board
of the National Bureau of Economic Research. He has recently
written pieces on Black unemployment being as important as
white unemployment and how unions are spurring changes in
worker conditions.

president of the Service Employees International Union

Mary Kay Henry

Henry is the first woman president of the Service Employees
International Union, which represents two million members in
the service industry. During her time at SEIU, Henry has
focused on improving jobs for workers in the health care,
property services and public sectors. She has also backed
workers in the fast-food industry for their “Fight for $15 and
a Union” movement. Throughout the pandemic, Henry has pushed
for caregivers to qualify as essential workers. Over the
summer, SEIU organized forums for six weeks in nearly two
dozen states to lobby members of Congress to back President
Joe Biden’s significant increase in spending to support home
care workers.

CEO OF NATIONAL SKILLS COALITION

Andy Van Kleunen

Van Kleunen is the CEO of the National Skills Coalition, a
group he founded in 2000 along with leaders from the workforce
development and nonprofit sectors. Van Kleunen works across
federal and state operations as a nonpartisan advisor on
workforce and education policy issues. Van Kleunen has been a
strong advocate for President Joe Biden’s call for the $100
billion investment in workforce training. He believes the
funding is an important element to make sure that workers of
color and low-wage workers aren’t left behind as the economy
reopens.

FUTURE

While advocates like Scott have worked for decades on how to better
equip the next generation for the labor market, the Virginia Democrat
knows it’s hard to predict exactly what is going to be needed in the
future and convince the federal government and private sector to
invest.

“You don’t really see the benefits of a good job training program
until after you’ve recruited the trainees and after they’ve completed
their training and gotten on the workforce. That could be a year or
two down the line,” Scott said. “But if you don’t make those
investments, people are wondering why we can’t find those skilled
workers and that’s because we didn’t make the investments in workforce
development that we needed to make in a timely fashion.”

One of the thorny issues that persists coming out of the pandemic is
the inability of finding workers to take good-paying jobs. “With all
of the talk of low-paying jobs, the difficulty getting people just the
minimum skills to get on track for jobs that pay well above the median
has been a surprising challenge,” Scott said.

But finding the money to help train workers for the future is
critical, Scott said. “Within the job training arena, getting ready
for the next generation, making sure we have sufficient funding so
that people will be prepared for the jobs of the future will be a
challenge,” Scott said.

Career and Training Services Provided under the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act in 2019

Source: BLS.Gov

501,835

Total participants served

381,963

Total participants completed

$677,006,439

Total spend

$1,349

Cost per participant served

Presented By

Presented by

THE WORKFORCE

Government and the private sector are rethinking their roles in
preparing for the future labor market needs. And Covid-19 has
only added to the urgency as we are undergoing the most severe
worker shortage on record.