President Trump and U.S. Secretary of Labor Acosta Discuss Apprenticeships and the American Workforce

BEDMINSTER, NJ –Today, U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta delivered remarks following his meeting with President Donald J. Trump on the optimistic outlook of the American workforce. They specifically discussed the Department of Labor’s progress implementing his Executive Order on Apprenticeships.

Excerpts from his remarks are below:

It’s a pleasure to be here to update President Trump on the optimistic outlook of the American workforce.

Today, we specifically discussed our progress implementing his Executive Order on Apprenticeships.

The President’s top priority for Labor is jobs, more jobs, and even more jobs.

The Department of Labor is implementing the President’s vision to ensure that Americans have the skills that they need to fill good, stable jobs.

There are 6.2 million job openings nationwide. This is the highest number on record.

Yet 7 million Americans are looking for jobs.

Americans want to work.

American companies want to hire.

We need to close the skills gap between the skills demanded by these open jobs and the skills offered by the American people.

That is why the President signed this Executive Order on June 15th to expand apprenticeships to all sectors of our economy.

The concept of demand-driven education has been enthusiastically received by private industry, educational institutions and state and local officials across the country.

The CEOs of 180 major companies signed a joint letter in support of the Executive Order.

I have spoken with dozens of CEOs across a number of industries, college and university presidents, unions, and industry groups.

To a person, they are excited about apprenticeships and many have begun working on developing apprenticeship programs.

We are currently evaluating nominations for the Apprenticeship Expansion Task Force. We received hundreds of submissions.

We expect the Task Force to begin in September. It will advise the Administration on effective apprenticeship strategies for their industries.

The Department of Labor is partnering with industry groups, companies, non-profit organizations, unions, joint labor-management organizations and so many others to help them design apprenticeship programs.

Industry-recognized apprenticeships will teach workers skills that are transferrable within their industries, resulting in more job opportunities.

I want to thank the President for his leadership.

I also want to thank Ivanka Trump and the Office of American Innovation for their tireless efforts on this initiative.