WASHINGTON – The White House will kick off a new effort Thursday to invest in American workers that Ivanka Trump said will dovetail with her father’s goal of limiting legal immigration to workers with certain skills.
“It’s complementary to the president’s message of merit-based immigration,” she said Wednesday.
President Trump plans to sign an executive order Thursday to encourage companies to expand apprenticeships and career training programs for US workers.
The action is needed because there’s a “vocational crisis,” Ivanka said. Companies are having a hard time finding skilled workers because there are more job vacancies (6.6 million) than unemployed Americans (6.1 million), she said.
The hire-and-train American effort comes as Trump’s Mar-a-Lago resort continues to recruit foreign workers to fill waiter and cook openings, citing a lack of Americans to fill the jobs.
“We want employers to be having job openings,” Ivanka said on a conference call. “That is good for the American worker and will lead to wage increases and will lead to enhanced opportunities… A tight labor market is very good.”
People who had previously dropped out of the labor force and felons getting out of prison could especially see benefits in the booming economy, she added.
“We think skills training benefits everyone. It disproportionately will benefit those who have been on the sidelines of the economy,” she said. “… Now employers are seeking to give them a chance.”
Trump’s executive order will create new National Council for the American Worker to devise a unified workforce strategy, promote vocational training and develop data on where vacant jobs are located.
CEOs will be at the White House Thursday to sign a Pledge to American Workers – a commitment to invest in on-the-job training, expand apprenticeship programs, and create education opportunities for future workers. The leaders of FedEx, IBM and Lockheed Martin are expected to participate.