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Su Testifies on DOL Appropriations; Digital Skills Training Legislation Introduced

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April 22nd, 2024

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Washington Update

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House Appropriations Committee Hearing 

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On Wednesday, April 17, U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Acting Secretary Julie Su testified in support of President Biden’s FY25 budget request to the House Appropriations Committee. During the hearing on the White House’s $13.9 billion request for FY25, Su defended the proposed $2.9 billion in Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) grants and $285 million for registered apprentices in order to accomplish President Biden’s goal of building the economy from the “middle out and bottom up.” Su also emphasized her Department’s commitment to combating child labor violations, including the Administration’s request for $7.5 million for the DOL Wage and Hour Division to successfully confront the issue. Acting Secretary Su also reiterated Biden’s calls for paid family leave and expanded child care.

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Click here to access a video of the hearing.
 

Senate Appropriations Committee Hearing 

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On Tuesday, April 16, U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS) Xavier Becerra testified during a Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Biden’s FY25 budget request for his agency. One focus of the hearing was the President’s wide-ranging goals for early childhood education and care - ranging from Head Start to elder care. The budget request includes $12.5 billion for Head Start, which provides early education and health services to children from low-income families, as well as a $544 million increase to help programs comply with the administration’s proposal to increase compensation for Head Start workers, which will help programs retain and recruit workers. The increase is $1.6 billion short of what is needed in FY25 to stave off slot reductions. Senate Appropriations Chair Patty Murray (WA) supported the proposed rule but also noted a lot more work needs to be done to ensure all kids have access to high-quality early childhood education. Senator Murray’s Child Care for Working Families Act includes a similar proposal to support pay parity between elementary school teachers and Head Start educators with similar credentials. 

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Click here to access a video of the hearing.
 

Digital Skills for Today’s Workforce Act

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On Wednesday, April 17, Senator Tim Kaine (VA), along with Congresswoman Abigail Spanberger (VA) and Congressman David Valadao (CA), introduced the bipartisan, bicameral legislation Digital Skills for Today’s Workforce Act in order to expand access to digital skills training for job seekers. The legislation would amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to establish a new “Digital Skills at Work” grant program to expand digital skills training within postsecondary education, adult education, and workforce development systems. It would make specific, targeted investments in digital skills training to help individuals seeking jobs or upskilling opportunities, as well as Americans with barriers to employment, learn or build digital skills. It would also advance access to good-paying jobs and support the development of digitally resilient education and workforce systems.

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Click here to read a press release on the legislation and learn more. 
 

Initial Jobless Claims

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In the week ending April 13, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 212,000, unchanged from the previous week's revised level. The previous week's level was revised up by 1,000 from 211,000 to 212,000. The 4-week moving average was 214,500, unchanged from the previous week's revised average. The previous week's average was revised up by 250 from 214,250 to 214,500. The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 1.2 percent for the week ending April 6, unchanged from the previous week's unrevised rate.

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Click here to access the report.

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WDC TOOLKIT: Expanding Diversity, Equity, Inclusivity and Accessibility (DEIA) in the Public and Private Workforce.​

  • ​Click here to access the toolkit, learn more about DEIA best practices, and access free DEIA resources.

USCM/WDC STAFF ANALYSIS

  • Click here to read the entire April 22 weekly legislative update.

  • Click here to access legislative updates from previous weeks.

  • Click here to access the entire catalogue of WDC publications.

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

WDC in the News

  • As business leaders, we feel the pinch of worker shortages. Positions go unfilled for months; projects get delayed; and growth plans are put on hold—all due to a lack of qualified candidates. It's a frustrating reality, but are we doing enough to address the root issue? Are we proactively investing in developing tomorrow's workforce in our own communities? I would argue most of us are not. We get caught up in the day-to-day operations of our companies and expect the mythical "qualified candidate" to appear when we post a job listing. But the truth is that developing a strong talent pipeline begins long before someone submits a resume. It starts with investing in the youth. Click here to read the full article.

  • The American Council on Education announced plans this week to launch a Global Data Consortium in 2025. The nonprofit initiative aims to pool data across institutions worldwide and use AI to make sense of that data in a way that drives student success. “We suffer from both too much data and too little access to those data,” Ted Mitchell, president of ACE, said in announcing the consortium. “And we think the AI revolution is an opportunity to solve that problem.” The consortium would launch with records on 30-35M students worldwide if all the organizations that have committed to the effort move forward. And about two-thirds of those organizations–namely colleges and universities, but also testing companies and the like–would be in the United States. The big idea: Higher education and the testing industry collect reams of data on students, but even at the most sophisticated institutions, that data can be hard to parse. Click here to read the full article.

  • Generation Z, which will make up 30 percent of the workforce by 2030, is still something of a mystery to employers trying to figure out how to support them. Chelsea C. Williams, founder and CEO of Reimagine Talent, a national talent development firm headquartered in Raleigh, N.C., offered employers strategies during her session at the SHRM Talent Conference & Expo 2024 in Las Vegas on how to recruit and develop Generation Z. Click here to access the full article.

DOL/ETA Update​​

  • On Monday, April 15, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) announced that its Employee Benefits Security Administration is proposing to collect information from plan administrators on a voluntary basis to establish an online search tool to help America’s workers locate lost retirement savings they earned. Retirement plans, including pension and 401(k) plans, sometimes lose track of people owed benefits due to incomplete recordkeeping, people changing employers and other reasons. In other cases, workers may lose track of their retirement plans after their former employer goes out of business or when companies merge. People in these situations are considered “missing participants.” Click here to access the full press release.

Fast Fact: According to a recent report by MetLife, Gen Zers are the least happy employees of any generation — with only 62% of surveyed Gen Z workers reporting being happy with their job, compared with 67% of boomers, 66% of Generation X, and 66% of millennials. According to the report, a main reason for the lower happiness rate is a gap between their strong desire to find professional purpose and their satisfaction with this aspect of their work.

Experts Panel

Advocacy & Policy

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