Supporting Knowledge & Investing in Lifelong Skills
The SKILLS Act passed the House on March 15, 2013 in a 215-202 vote. Click here to see how your Representative voted »
Nearly twenty million Americans are unemployed or underemployed, many others are hoping to change careers, and countless businesses are looking for employees and having trouble finding individuals with the skills they need.
The SKILLS Act will modernize and reform our federal workforce development programs and help make life work for more people.
Eliminating arbitrary roadblocks that prevent workers from accessing job training immediately.
Eliminating unnecessary bureaucracy and overhead so more resources are devoted to helping job seekers.
The SKILLS Act eliminates arbitrary roadblocks that prevent workers from accessing job training immediately and helps ensure that support is tailored to the specific needs of individual workers.
Under the current system individuals must first go through a process that includes resume assistance and career counseling even if what the individual really needs for a new job is training.
The SKILLS Act ensures that the workforce investment system is responsive to the needs of employers by requiring that two-thirds of state and local Workforce Investment Board members are employers (workforce investment boards were created by Congress in the 1990s and are currently subject to numerous membership mandates, which the SKILLS Act streamlines).
The SKILLS Act also eliminates roadblocks that have prevented a growing number of community colleges from participating in the system.
Under current law, community colleges have to apply multiple times to be on every eligible training provider list in each local area.
The SKILLS Act eases this process, allowing community and technical colleges to apply once to be included on the list of eligible providers.
The bill also allows community and technical colleges to contract with local boards to provide group training.
The SKILLS Act eliminates and streamlines more than 30 separate federally funded workforce development programs and creates a single Workforce Investment Fund.
The bill also empowers governors to further consolidate different programs and streamline the administration of the workforce programs.
The SKILLS Act eliminates and streamlines dozens of ineffective and duplicative programs, and creates a flexible Workforce Investment Fund. This new fund will provide state and local leaders an efficient resource to deliver the support their workers need.
Source: @EdWorkforce
Source: @EdWorkforce
