The U.S. Department of Labor will provide $30 million in funding to the Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund grant program to help address critical workforce shortages nationwide, according to a Monday press release.
The department’s Employment and Training Administration will use the grants to provide outcome-based reimbursements to employers that offer training in “high-demand and emerging industries,” DOL said.
Those industries are ones identified by the Trump administration in executive orders and action plans and include skilled trades, artificial intelligence and maritime, among others.
“The Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund grants will ensure employers drive workforce training that is critical for their business needs, while also upskilling workers and developing a critical talent pipeline to fulfill this Administration’s goal of putting American workers and employers first,” Secretary of Labor Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement.
“These grant opportunities will help fill the good-paying, in-demand jobs being created by President Trump’s successful efforts to restore America as the world’s leading manufacturing superpower and secure our position as the dominant global leader in AI.”
ETA will award grants of up to $8 million to state workforce agencies to create training funds that encourage employers to both develop and expand training programs, DOL said. If more funding becomes available, DOL said it could provide additional rounds of grants.
Massachusetts example
Programs the state of Massachusetts announced in the past week are examples of how one state is trying to use training to boost the pipeline of workers in skilled trades.
The state awarded $24.2 million in Career Technical Initiative implementation grants to 23 school districts to train 2,490 people for high-demand occupations within the trades, construction and manufacturing sectors across the state.
In addition to the grants for career and technical education schools to provide adult learners with career training and technical skills, the administration awarded a planning grant to an organization to prepare and design future training.
The state also approved a program operated by a private company, C&W Services, a Cushman & Wakefield subsidiary, to sponsor a state-recognized apprenticeship program in HVAC/R and electrical trades. The program aims to address critical workforce shortages by providing employees a direct pathway to state licensure in high-demand trades, the company says.
Editor’s note. Facilities Dive added information on Massachusetts’ training programs to HR Dive’s news coverage of the Labor Department’s grant program.
