Earlier this month, bipartisan Congress members introduced the Building U.S. Infrastructure by Leveraging Demands for Skills (BUILDS) Act to spur industry partnerships to encourage workforce training programs.
The bill proposes specific grants given to industry partnerships that encourage industry growth, competition, and collaboration to improve training, retention, and advancement in particular infrastructure and transportation-aligned industries. It also would encourage businesses and educators to work together on new school curricula that are more job-focused. Managers and workers would be prepared to mentor those in work-based learning programs, and their efforts would be supplemented by various resources and career awareness programming. Funds would also be set aside for supportive services such as skills training, child care, transportation, and mentoring to guarantee retention and advancement are available for all.
“The American workforce must be ready to meet our nation’s expanding infrastructure needs,” U.S. Rep. Paul Mitchell (R-MI), one of the bill’s sponsors, said. “Upgrading our country’s aging infrastructure is a national priority, and we need to prepare Americans to fill the millions of jobs that will be created by a major rebuilding of our infrastructure. The BUILDS Act helps achieve this goal through partnerships that encourage industry growth, and improve worker training, placement, and retention.”
Other bill sponsors included U.S. Reps. Suzanne Bonamici (D-OR), Jim Langevin (D-RI), and Glenn Thompson (R-PA). Their efforts are being supported by companion legislation in the Senate, via Sens. Rob Portman (R-OH) and Tim Kaine (D-VA), and from the endorsement of various trade associations such as the National Skills Coalition, National League of Cities and National Taskforce on Tradeswomen’s Issues.
“As we address our nation’s deteriorating infrastructure and transition to a clean energy economy, we must make meaningful investments in our workforce,” Bonamici said. “The BUILDS Act will help increase diversity in the transportation, infrastructure, and energy sectors by providing individuals who have historically faced barriers to employment with the support services and training to find and succeed in better-paying jobs. This bill is one piece of the greater need to invest in apprenticeships and paid, on-the-job training programs. The BUILDS Act will get more people back to work and meet the demands of our local employers.”
The sponsoring representatives noted a recent study by the Center of Education and the Workforce at Georgetown University as a reason for its necessity. That study found that a $1 trillion infrastructure investment would be needed to create 11 million new jobs, with nearly half of these requiring only a high school diploma, though infrastructure industries struggle to meet workforce demands.