Third Way Statement on the Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act

This morning Vice President Biden released his Ready to Work report which reviews training programs for American workers, an effort he was asked to undertake by President Obama during the State of the Union address. In addition, President Obama will sign the reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act today.

In support of the review, last month Third Way President Jon Cowan hosted Vice President Biden and Secretary of Labor Tom Perez, along with a panel of experts, to discuss replicable, scalable workforce training ideas. That roundtable discussion was followed by the recent release of The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Workforce Programs, a report in which Third Way’s Economic Program outlined the findings of their research to uncover the secret sauce that makes workforce programs go from good to great.

In that context, the following is a statement from Gabe Horwitz, Director of the Economic Program at Third Way, on today’s Workforce Investment Act reauthorization bill signing:

“By their 46th birthday, the average baby boomer held more than 11 different jobs. That trend is continuing today—American workers are switching jobs frequently and many need to change careers entirely to keep up with the rapidly changing global economy.”

“Because of that, it’s good to see that Congress was able to come together on a bipartisan agreement on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. This legislation represents an important step towards improving federal job training by making it more flexible and better aligned to the needs of employers. The jobs of tomorrow will require a different set of skills, and federal policy needs to continually adapt to ensure that American workers have the tools necessary to compete in a globalized society.”