Trump presses for job training as employers search for workers

WASHINGTON — Promoting a robust U.S. economy, President Donald Trump is pressing U.S. companies and trade associations to bolster their job training opportunities as employers search for qualified skilled workers to fill vacancies.

The president said nearly two dozen companies and trade organizations are signing his pledge to provide job training and apprenticeship programs as a way to boost the U.S. economy.

Trump said Thursday at an event at the White House that the pledge will help train about 3.8 million students and workers for new jobs and rewarding careers. Some of the companies signing the pledge include IBM, Lockheed Martin and FedEx.

The president says the nation needs “people with training” to fill vacancies at a time of a low unemployment of 4 percent. He has signed an executive order creating a National Council for the American Worker and a workplace policy advisory board.

The White House said it expected the “Pledge to America’s Workers” to provide at least 500,000 new career opportunities for students and workers over the next five years, including apprenticeships, work-based learning and continuing education.

Apple and Chicago-based Boeing are among the companies that are committing to provide increased training to their workers.

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Apple, the software, computer and mobile phone giant, says it will provide additional training to 10,000 people as part of its ongoing initiatives with community colleges.

Boeing, the aerospace company, says it will provide increased training and continuing education opportunities to its 100,000 U.S. employees as part of a $100 million commitment made after last year’s tax cuts.

Walmart, Microsoft, IBM, Lockheed Martin and General Motors were among the companies that made job-training pledges.

The administration wants to bring millions of Americans who are not working or searching for work — and therefore aren’t included in the unemployment rate — back into the job market. More people with jobs would accelerate economic growth and could help the White House achieve its goal of sustained growth of 3 percent or higher.

The additional workers could also help fill 6.6 million open jobs, a near-record high and more than the number of unemployed workers.

Yet a lack of skills is just one reason some Americans have given up on their job search. Economic research has found that opioid addiction and related health problems have kept millions of Americans sidelined.

The aging population and retirement of baby boomers is also a challenge. The proportion of Americans ages 25 to 54 who are working or looking for work has risen steadily in the past three years. But that increase has largely been offset by retirements, leaving the overall percentage of Americans in the workforce stuck at about 63 percent.

Some economists are unsympathetic to businesses’ complaints about the lack of unqualified workers. They argue that companies should pay more to attract more applicants. That would also signal to those out of work where the greatest demand for jobs is and what kind of training they should seek.

Yet pay has risen modestly since the recession ended in 2009 and in the past year has been offset by rising inflation.

And if employers are desperate, they should be willing to conduct more training themselves, labor experts say.