New grants are all business

New round of grants focus on what business needs from college grads

Putting America back to work requires more than just vigorous economic growth and private-sector investments that lead to more hiring. We also have to make sure that the potential employees entering — or returning — to the workforce have the skills to succeed once they are hired.

The Obama administration’s recent announcement of a new round of training grants to help Americans gain those skills can contribute toward achieving those goals.

Unemployment is a slow-motion disaster that disrupts families, robs capable workers of a prosperous future and saps American vitality. America will never achieve real long-term economic or job growth until we have a workforce that is prepared for success.

Unfortunately, many employers struggle to find candidates who have the training to take the jobs produced by our modern economy.

The Department of Labor recently reported that there were 4.2 million job openings at the end of February, up from 3.9 million in January. So jobs are available, but too often, applicants’ abilities and knowledge do not match the need.

While many people refer to this problem as a skills gap, I prefer to call it a training gap.

(Next page: Requirements of the ‘training’ grants)