U.S. Reps. Frank Mrvan, Gary’s representative in the U.S. House, and Nikki Budzinski, D-Illinois, hosted a workforce development roundtable Wednesday in Gary focused on expanding federal investment in job training and education.
Held at the United Steelworkers Local 1066 union hall, the discussion brought together union leaders, educators, and nonprofits from across Northwest Indiana to examine barriers to employment and explore how training and education can better align with the region’s evolving economic needs.
Workforce development leaders say the region’s economic recovery is being held back by two major challenges: a shortage of professional skills among jobseekers, and a lack of funding for the training programs needed to close that gap. Nowhere is this more urgent than in Gary, which has the largest pool of job applicants in the region and an unemployment rate of 4.7%, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics — a figure that underscores the disconnect between available workers and the skills employers need.
“It’s important for us to gather today and be able to have an honest, authentic dialog, because the future depends upon it,” Mrvan, D-1st, said at the onset.
“Brief conversations that I’ve had, the uncertainty of investments in workforce development has caused delays, and it’s also caused a lack of productivity. That also has impacted industry.”
Several themes emerged from the conversation, chief among them being the absence of nontechnical skills among potential employees.
“Every single meeting that any one of us on the team ever has with an employer, every single meeting, speaks to the need for employability skills,” said Lisa Daugherty, president and CEO of the Center for Workforce Innovations.
“Very basic, 80% showing up, showing up on time, eye contact, teamwork, following instructions, respect, and employers will tell us … they can provide the technical training in so many cases, but they’ve got to have somebody that’s ready to be employed.”
The Center for Workforce serves Northwest Indiana, but it is particularly crucial to Gary residents seeking employment. Daugherty said that while there are jobs, the struggle is finding applicants who are prepared to work.
“Our busiest office is in Gary,” Daugherty explained. “We see tens of thousands [of people] in a year’s time, and many of them desperately want to work, but there’s such a gap between what jobs they’re eligible for. Hard Rock Casino — they have postings constantly of good jobs paying more than $40,000 a year. But the demand of that job requires those basic employability skills, and our folks aren’t ready.”
Emmanuel Turner, regional director at Indiana Plan, an apprenticeship readiness program, works with union apprenticeship directors and union contractors to secure work/training opportunities for the people who complete their program. Turner said many participants enter the Indiana Plan lacking soft skills and real-world awareness, and the program helps them mature.
“In those 80 hours that we’re with them, we teach them how to apply. We teach them how to interview. We teach them if you want to be successful on a job site, find a way to make your foreman’s job easier. We teach those kinds of skills,” Turner said.
Nearly all roundtable participants agreed that funding for workforce development does not currently meet the need and that there is a significant lack of stable, dedicated funding for workforce development programs, which creates uncertainty and makes long-term planning and investment difficult.
Daugherty explained that while eligible individuals can receive up to $5,500 a year in training funds through the federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which was passed in 2014, those dollars can be used only if the training leads directly to a job paying at least $57,000. Despite the desire to train more people, many aren’t ready and are lacking the skills or stability to complete the programs or succeed afterward.
“We need to create boot camps, intensive training,” said Daugherty. “We have to invest more in that basic, very basic level of training, exploration, whatever we think youth need, or adults need to right like they need to understand all the different options that are available to them, and assess their interests, so they’re not just coming into our place saying, ‘Hey, I want to be a CDL driver because I heard it makes a lot of money.’ But then when they get through the training, they realize, Oh my gosh.”
Budzinski shared that in her district which contains Champaign, Urbana, and most of Springfield, holding annual workforce summits that bring together trade union representatives, community colleges, and especially superintendents has been key to building effective pipelines for students into workforce and apprenticeship programs. She noted that superintendents’ buy-in is crucial for success, as they help connect students to opportunities and broaden the pool of young people entering the trades.
“We also bring our community colleges together, but our superintendents were really key to the conversation,” Budzinski said.
“In central and southern Illinois, where we found success with the workforce is we get the buy-in from the school districts and from the superintendents to be that pipeline. I’ve seen the other trades work in my area to help these kids get those skills. But it’s really the superintendents who have been key.”
While Budzinski shared Illinois’ success stories, Indiana’s curriculum received criticism for its lack of dedication to trade work. Last year, legislation was proposed to make sweeping changes to diplomas that eliminated requirements for career and technical education among other subjects.
“We utilize high school transcripts as a means of adding bulk to their application. And it just seems like educationally, we’ve just stripped the curriculum out of high school education [and] middle school that starts the culture that wants to be in the trades and the construction industry from the kids,” said International Union of Operating Engineers Local 150 assistant apprenticeship coordinator Mark Kara.
Mrvan intends to speak further with the group going forward, referencing U.S. Sen. Todd Young’s shipbuilding legislation, stressing the need for workforce and apprenticeship programs to support it and ensure a skilled labor force is in place.
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