In an effort to connect workers across the United States with jobs created by or connected to the economic legislation passed during President Joe Biden’s first two years in office, his administration unveiled a series of initiatives on Tuesday to help train workers and connect them with employers.


What You Need To Know

  • The Biden administration on Tuesday unveiled a series of initiatives to help train workers and connect them with employers

  • The initiatives include “workforce hubs” in five cities to coordinate hiring with local stakeholders, expanding access to advanced manufacturing jobs and training that won’t require a four-year college degree, and partnerships with another 15 cities to support their efforts to train workers and fill jobs in their respective regions

  • The five workforce hubs, which will work to funnel workers into the industries in need of labor, will open in Phoenix, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, and Augusta, Ga., beginning this summer

  • First Lady Jill Biden will take the point on announcing the initiatives at a Department of Labor event on Tuesday

The initiatives include “workforce hubs” in five cities to coordinate hiring with local stakeholders, expanding access to advanced manufacturing jobs and training that won’t require a four-year college degree, and partnerships with another 15 cities to support their efforts to train workers and fill jobs in their respective regions.

First Lady Jill Biden took point on announcing the initiatives at a Department of Labor event on Tuesday.

“She's traveled with senior officials from the Department's of Education, Labor, Commerce and Energy, all of which have a role in the arc of career connected learning,” a senior official from the first lady’s office said on the call. “These efforts will both prepare today and tomorrow's workforce for jobs and critical sectors, like advanced manufacturing, clean energy construction and semiconductors. As this administration accelerates its focus on workforce training, Dr. Biden will continue to champion this work, and the investing in America workforce initiative will be a core strategy for her efforts.”

The goal is to coordinate the public and private sector investment created by legislation like the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and the CHIPS and Science Act, which poured billions into the domestic semiconductor industry and science and technology research, to workers looking for better paying jobs that don’t require a four-year degree.

The White House said $470 billion in private sector investment into manufacturing and clean energy production has been announced since Biden took office in 2021, on top of the $220 billion in federally-funded infrastructure projects that have so far been announced.

The focus of the initiatives rolled out on Tuesday is on “advanced manufacturing,” defined by the official as “including production activities that depend on robotics, information automation, computation, software sensing and networking.”

“Advanced manufacturing differs from traditional manufacturing because it is more customizable. It also typically requires workers with greater skills,” the White House official said on Monday. “We know that whether it's in semiconductors, clean energy, electrifying or transportation infrastructure, medicine or biofuels, advanced manufacturing jobs that don't require a college degree are critical to these sectors and provide opportunities for American workers to access good paying and fulfilling careers.”

The Biden administration is pledging to encourage employers, unions, and other industry stakeholders to expand offerings for apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships, and career and technical education programs in advanced manufacturing fields, with a focus on access in underrepresented communities.

The five workforce hubs, which will work to funnel workers into the industries in need of labor, will open in Phoenix, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Columbus, Ohio, and Augusta, Ga., beginning this summer.

“Workforce hubs are in cities and regions where we've seen significant concentration of public and private sector investments often focused on specific industries,” another administration official said on the Monday call, citing Phoenix's investments in semiconductor manufacturing and Pittsburgh’s robotics and biomanufacturing industries. “These five workforce hubs are the first hubs we've identified and will target our efforts starting this summer, but our goal is for them to serve as a model that can be replicated in more cities and regions across the country.”

Through a partnership with the National League of Cities, an organization with over 19,000 municipal members, the Department of Labor also plans to launch a Good Jobs, Great Cities Academy with 15 cities across the country. The program will coordinate federal, state, local, union, private sector, and educational efforts to create new or expand workforce training programs that will place workers in better jobs.

Like the workforce hubs, the Biden administration is hoping the fifteen cities can serve as a model for expanding the training initiative to other regions.

The fifteen cities are:

  • Birmingham, Ala.

  • Chattanooga, Tenn.

  • Duluth, Minn.

  • Fort Lauderdale, Fla.

  • Frederick, Md.

  • Jamestown, N.Y.

  • Kokomo, Ind.

  • Lansing, Mich.

  • Missoula, Mont.

  • Monroe, N.C.

  • Newark, N.J.

  • San Antonio, Texas

  • Santa Fe, N.M.

  • Saint Louis, Mo.

  • Tempe, Ariz.