President Obama Goes Directly to Cities to Launch Tech Training Initiative

Employee Relations, Jobs, Skills and Training

President Obama this week announced an initiative to partner with cities to get workers trained to fill some of the 500,000 information technology jobs available today.  The United States has about 5 million open jobs today, with more than half a million of those being in information technology fields like software development, network administration, user-interface design and cybersecurity.  Speaking at the National League of Cities annual meeting, President Obama's TechHire initiative announcement signaled a shift in which he will go around Republicans in Congress and Republican governors to work directly with Democratic large city mayors who have been supportive of his workplace agenda on issues such as raising the minimum wage.  The initiative is being launched in 21 large "forward-leaning" cities in which there are over 120,000 open technology jobs.  The Department of Labor will establish a $100 million H-1B grant competition to fund innovative approaches to training and employing individuals who face barriers to training and employment, including those with child care responsibilities, people with disabilities, disconnected youth, and workers with limited English proficiency, using evidence-based strategies such as accelerated learning, work-based learning, and Registered Apprenticeships.  A list of the participating cities and organizations can be found at WhiteHouse.gov/TechHire.