Excerpts of the "Manufacturing In America" report by the U.S. Department of Commerce. "... Strengthening Education, Retraining, and Economic Diversification Manufacturing"

1. Strengthening Education,
Retraining, and Economic
Diversification
To remain globally competitive, edu-
cation and worker training strategies must
be at the top of the national priority list.
The administration successfully passed the
No Child Left Behind Act in 2001, and is
now working to fully implement this
landmark education reform. The adminis-
tration is also investing $1 billion over
five years to improve math and science
education.
In addition, under President Bush’s
leadership, the Departments of Commerce
and Labor have worked together through-
out the country to link workforce devel-
opment efforts with economic develop-
ment efforts. Important initiatives include
the Department of Commerce’s Economic
Adjustment Program and the Department
of Labor’s new 21st Century Workforce
Initiative, which strive to strengthen re-
training systems that maintain the U.S.
skills advantage in manufacturing. The
Department of Labor’s Employment and
Training Administration invests approxi-
mately $10 billion a year in an array of
workforce investment programs.
Building on that record should take
the form of the steps set out below.
Enhance Workforce Skills
Essential for Employment in
Manufacturing Enterprises of the
Future
Manufacturers across the country
raised significant concerns about whether
America was training the next generation
of workers required to meet the needs of
an increasingly high-tech workplace as
well as to develop the manufacturing in-
dustries of the future. There was clear sup-
port for the development of improved vo-
cational/technical training at both the
secondary and post-secondary level, as
well as for programs designed to improve
MANUFACTURING IN AMERICA 71

2. the skills of career-changing adults inter- Establish a High School and
ested in manufacturing jobs. There was Technical Education Partnership
also support for improvements in basic Initiative
math and science education, such as the Congress should pass legislation cre-
current five-year, $1-billion initiative for a ating a coordinated high schools and
new math and science partnership pro- technical education improvement pro-
gram that will strengthen math and sci- gram, utilizing secondary and technical
ence teaching and education at all levels. education state grants, as proposed in the
It is important to define the starting president’s budget for fiscal year 2004.
point for improving the skills and prepara- This program would provide high-quality
tion of the U.S. workforce. Toward that technical education through partnerships
end, the Department of Labor, in conjunc- between high schools and postsecondary
tion with the Departments of Commerce institutions. Such an initiative, adminis-
and Education, should undertake a bench- tered by the Department of Education,
mark analysis of the existing skills of the would support secondary and postsec-
U.S. workforce and the future needs of the ondary career and technical education
U.S. manufacturing sector. The effort programs in high-demand occupational
should be designed to inform both pro- areas. The high school component would
grammatic changes at the federal level and include a challenging academic core to
suggestions for curricula at the local level. ensure that students in the program meet
The analysis should address ways that state achievement standards and obtain a
federal programs that support basic educa- clear pathway to further education be-
tion for elementary and secondary stu- yond high school, through apprenticeship
dents will prepare them to enter the work- or postsecondary technical certificates and
force without the need for significant associate or baccalaureate degree pro-
remedial education. The analysis should grams. Such an initiative will ensure that
catalog the basic academic skills needed students are being taught the necessary
for individuals entering the manufactur- skills to make successful transitions from
ing workforce and assess the extent to high school to college and college to the
which primary and secondary education workforce.
in the United States provide those skills.
The second step in the analysis goes Establish Personal Reemployment
to the specialized training needed to suc- Accounts
ceed in the manufacturing environment In any period of economic adjust-
of the future. Historically, U.S. schools, ment, the most significant challenge is
particularly in secondary education, pro- how best to ensure that workers who lose
vided a number of opportunities for voca- their jobs can successfully re-enter the
tional training. Over time, these opportu- workforce. The federal and state govern-
nities have declined, and the educational ments provide a number of programs de-
system has relied more heavily on special- signed to help workers find new jobs with
ized vocational-technical schools, at both training and re-employment assistance.
the secondary and post-secondary level, to Toward that end, President Bush has
fill in the gap. The analysis should exam- proposed a Personal Reemployment Ac-
ine whether the existing system of voca- count initiative to assist Americans who
tional-technical education is sufficient to need the most help getting back to work.
meet the needs of the U.S. manufacturing This innovative approach to worker ad-
sector and should propose recommenda- justment would offer accounts of up to
tions for change where needed. $3,000 each to eligible individuals to pur-
chase job training and key services, such
72 U. S. D E P A R T M E N T O F C O M M E R C E

3. as child care and transportation, to help Given that early intervention and
them look for a job and get back to work planning are critical for communities at
quickly. As a further incentive, recipients risk, the first step the task force should
would be able to keep the balance of the take is to identify criteria for determining
account as a cash reemployment bonus if when a rapid response is needed. The task
they become reemployed within 13 force would then work with the commu-
weeks. The Bush administration has in- nities identified under these criteria to
cluded Personal Reemployment Accounts develop market-based development poli-
in its legislative proposal to reauthorize cies that seek to retain manufacturing
and reform the Workforce Investment Act. jobs in a community, while beginning
the efforts to diversify the economic base
Coordinate Economic Adjustment of the community.
for Manufacturing Communities
Communities are hard hit when local Improve Delivery of Assistance for
manufacturing declines, particularly when and Retraining of Displaced
a local factory accounts for much of the Workers
employment in a city or town. Just as in- The challenges unfolding in manu-
dividuals may need retraining to reenter facturing and in the job market represent
the workforce, communities must, at a significant change from years past. In-
times, develop alternative bases of eco- stead of individual industries facing par-
nomic development. ticular adjustment issues due to stronger
The federal government already has a import competition, the U.S. economy in
number of programs available that can be general is adjusting to fundamental
used to develop the competitiveness of changes underway in the world economy.
communities and support innovation in While that process is particularly acute in
manufacturing. The challenge for commu- the manufacturing sector, it extends
nities often involves sorting out the pur- broadly throughout the U.S. economy.
poses and requirements of those federal Current worker adjustment programs,
programs and how they might best be em- in general, take one of two forms. The
ployed or tailored to local circumstances. first involves the traditional suite of un-
What is needed is an interagency fed- employment insurance and related pro-
eral task force, chaired by the Assistant Sec- grams that are designed with the individ-
retary of Commerce for Economic Develop- ual worker in mind. That individual’s
ment, to coordinate the efforts of relevant employment prospects may or may not be
federal agencies, particularly the Depart- related to more fundamental changes un-
ments of Labor and Education, in address- derway in the economy. The alternative
ing the structural economic challenges form is the suite of trade adjustment assis-
faced by manufacturing-dependent com- tance programs that fund extended unem-
munities. The task force would ensure that ployment and retraining for eligible work-
all federal agencies work together, coordi- ers. Here, eligibility is defined in terms of
nating resources and strategies to best pro- whether the employee can point to some
vide a range of assistance to eligible com- direct trade impact that has displaced him
munities. More specifically, the task force or her from a job.
would provide a means of rapid response, Neither of the current programs fully
identifying communities where the em- addresses the sort of adjustment under-
ployment base is substantially dependent way in today’s economy. What that calls
on only a few manufacturing companies
and the communities that are at a signifi-
cant risk of economic dislocation.
MANUFACTURING IN AMERICA 73

4. for is a fundamental reassessment of both able workers to transform their skills in
types of programs to see how they might order to gain employment in emerging
best be integrated into a coordinated ap- and growing industries. The administra-
proach to adjustment, reemployment, and tion is seeking to strengthen this system
retraining. Toward that end, the Com- through the re-authorization of the Work-
merce and Labor Departments, with the force Investment Act. Among the changes
assistance of the Department of Educa- sought are to make funding more accessi-
tion, should review the existing programs ble through consolidation, to make the
and provide recommendations on how system more responsive to business needs,
best to integrate them into a coherent and to strengthen accountability.
program that is dedicated to addressing
the needs of workers affected by the ongo-
ing adjustment in the rapidly changing
economic environment.
This effort should build on the work
currently underway through the Labor
Department’s High Growth Job Training
Initiative. That initiative facilitates collab-
oration among employers, industry lead-
ers, business associations, educators, com-
munity and technical colleges, and the
public workforce system to tailor training
programs to meet local workforce needs.
As part of this initiative, the Depart-
ment of Labor is working with the manu-
facturing industry and others to conduct a
nationwide review of workforce chal-
lenges. Key manufacturing sectors include
electronics, motor vehicles, communica-
tions equipment, aerospace, plastics and
pharmaceuticals. These sectors, and the
manufacturing industry in general, are
undergoing a transformation as a result of
technological advances, requiring workers
to adopt and perform new skills. Through
collaborative efforts, the High Growth Job
Training Initiative will identify those skills
and work with institutions to develop suc-
cessful training models.
In addition, Congress must pass the
Bush administration’s plan to strengthen
the Workforce Investment Act. Annually,
the Department of Labor spends $15 bil-
lion on the nation’s “One-Stop” employ-
ment and job training system. Over 3,800
One-Stop centers provide services that en-
74 U. S. D E P A R T M E N T O F C O M M E R C E