June 15,2017

(Educators)PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP on Thursday announced a new executive order aimed at broadening the scope of the government's apprenticeship initiatives and retooling its skills-training programs.

Speaking from the White House on Thursday morning, Trump said the order would "expand apprenticeships and vocational training to help all Americans find a rewarding career, earn a great living and support themselves and their families, and love going to work in the morning."

Earlier in the day, a senior White House official said the order would direct the Department of Labor to work with the private sector on setting up what the administration is calling "earn and learn" programs that would include some form of on-the-job training and compensation.

The official indicated "third-party" entities like companies, unions and trade associations would establish industry-specific criteria for such training programs, which the Labor Department then would consider for approval. An apprenticeship task force also will reportedly be set up to gather additional skills-training input from those in the private sector.

"We're empowering these companies, these unions, industry groups, federal agencies to go out and create new apprenticeships for millions of our citizens," Trump said Thursday.

The Trump administration is aiming to address an apparent skills gap that has contributed to more than 6 million domestic vacancies that employers are struggling to fill.

"This is the highest number of job vacancies on record. Americans want to hire … but there's a skills gap between skills available and the skills that workers currently have," Labor Secretary Alexander Acosta said at the White House on Thursday. "Apprenticeships teach the skills needed to find good jobs and to succeed in those jobs."

In conjunction with the order, the White House reportedly is calling on businesses to increase their apprenticeship offerings, as well as on schools and community colleges to communicate more with employers and recruiters outside of academia to ensure students are gaining the marketable skills and training they will need after graduation.