U.S. Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) recently spoke on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives, urging his colleagues to support the USA Workforce Tax Credit Act that he introduced.
The act would create a federal tax credit for charitable donations to career and technical education, workforce development, educational preparedness programs and community-based apprenticeship programs. Additionally, the act would encourage partnerships with companies looking to sponsor these programs.
To sustained economic growth and jobs and to help people out of poverty, the nation must create more opportunities to connect workers with good paying positions, Smucker said.
“One of my priorities in Congress has been to work to expand opportunities for work-based learning – where individuals get real experience from real professionals as they’re learning,” Smucker said. “I was very happy to see the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act just came back from the Senate and will hopefully be passing that on to the president’s desk.”
The ability to fill available jobs is a growing problem, Smucker said, with 6 million jobs unfilled nationwide. This skill gap forces companies to expand or relocate based on the available workforce and sometimes consider offshore locations.