WASHINGTON — ITI, the global voice of the tech sector, welcomed an executive order signed by President Donald Trump today, aimed at expanding apprenticeship programs backed by technology companies for U.S. workers to attain skills needed to compete and get jobs in the innovation economy.
“Americans want good paying jobs at the same time tech companies and other businesses across the country are ready to hire. The paradox is that we cannot find enough skilled workers to fill the 3.3 million open STEM-related jobs in the United States. For example, we need tens of thousands of cybersecurity professionals but that number dwarfs the pool of professionals available, which only numbers in the thousands. This executive order is a good step in creating pathways that help more Americans gain the skills they need to get into good-paying jobs across the country,” said ITI President and CEO Dean Garfield.
Before the announcement, Garfield wrote a blog noting that technology companies face a very real need for talent in the U.S. These vacancies also exist in small businesses and companies across industries as employers seek to leverage technology in their enterprises and find there are not enough U.S. workers with the necessary skillsets to fill these jobs.
- The U.S. Skilled Worker Shortage is Real. Recent studies by the New American Economy (NAE) found that last year alone there were over 3.3 million open science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) jobs posted online. Additionally, today, it is estimated that there are over half a million open computing jobs across the country.
- Tech Companies Are Invested in Boosting a Skilled U.S. Workforce and Hiring Americans. The tech industry is committed to hiring more Americans and is investing billions of dollars to make good on that commitment. For example: Apple and Corning announced a partnership to invest $200 million into a research and development (R&D) facility in Kentucky; Amazon committed to create 100,000 U.S. jobs in the next 18 months; Intel pumped $7 billion into its production facilities in Arizona to spur 3,000 jobs; IBM pledged $1 billion for employment development and training programs; and Samsung expanded its manufacturing operations by $1 billion.
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