Recognizing National Apprenticeship Week

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, I rise today to recognize National Apprenticeship Week. This year is the fifth anniversary for the celebration that aims to connect job seekers with businesses and educators in our communities to highlight the wealth of apprenticeship opportunities that are available.

For too long, it has been implied that the only respectable or worthwhile option available to achieve a successful career is spending 4 or more years on a campus to earn a college degree. Yet, the more than 7 million unfilled jobs in America today suggest workers don't have the necessary skills to fill these jobs.

We need to defy this misconception, invest in skills-based education, and fix our Nation's growing skills gap by providing students and job seekers with the skills and hands-on experience they need to improve their own lives.

As co-chair of the bipartisan Career and Technical Education Caucus, I am proud to push for accessible career and technical education alongside my good friend and colleague, Congressman Jim Langevin.

Career and technical education, or CTE, goes hand in hand with apprenticeships. Equipping learners of all ages with real-world experience in fields like STEM, nursing, information technology, cyber technology, agriculture, and more can bring us one step closer to closing our Nation's skills gap. In the past several years, we have seen a rapid expansion in skills-based education like on-the-job learning, earn-while-you-learn programs, and apprenticeships.

Workforce development programs are successful only if they are adaptable to the changing needs of employers. The notice of proposed rulemaking by the Department of Labor issued this past June recognizes this through the proposed establishment of industry-recognized apprenticeships programs, or IRAPS. IRAPS cut through the bureaucratic red tape to put businesses and employees at the center of the conversation.

The proposed flexibility in the notice of proposed rulemaking will allow businesses the ability to quickly meet labor market needs. These changes will help foster continued innovation that recognizes the dignity of all work and provides another tool for apprentices to move into meaningful work in the rapidly evolving 21st century economy.

We can ensure IRAPS create as many career opportunities as possible by encouraging employer innovation and allowing students and families the freedom to choose the path that is best for them. That is the power of work. That is the power of CTE. And that is the power of apprenticeships, putting employers and students in the driver's seat of their own professional futures.

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