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ENZI: GREEN JOB SKILLS DEVELOPMENT MUST BE PART OF COMPREHENSIVE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT


Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today said that programs to develop training for “green jobs” should be a part of a comprehensive effort to prepare America’s workforce with the knowledge and skills to succeed in the 21st century, global economy.

“We cannot afford to create a parallel system of job training just for one sector of the economy,” Enzi said. “We need to improve job training programs to prepare America’s students and workers for the high-skills, high-wage jobs of the 21st century – green or otherwise.” At today’s HELP Committee hearing titled, “Empowering Workers to Rebuild America’s Economy and Longer-Term Competitiveness: Green Skills Training for Workers,” Enzi cautioned that Congress must be careful not to disturb the demand-driven workforce system as it examines green skills training.

“The strength of our current workforce system is that it is demand-driven. We need to consider whether we are creating an artificial demand for green jobs or if we are responding to a true market demand for more workers to fill green jobs. Does the creation of green jobs mean the end of existing jobs for the skilled workers who are already doing those jobs?” said Enzi.

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