{"database": "press", "table": "releases", "rows": [["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221042529/http://www.reed.senate.gov/news/release/reed-calls-for-congress-to-focus-on-manufacturing-jobs", "Reed Calls for Congress to Focus on Manufacturing Jobs", "2013-10-29", "2013", "2013-10", "Democrat", "House", "RI", "Jack Reed", "R000122", "web.archive.org", null, null, "legacy", "Tuesday, October 29, 2013\n             Reed Calls for Congress to Focus on Manufacturing Jobs \n            \n                 The \u201cManufacturing Jobs for America\u201d initiative features Reed\u2019s plan to increase investment in job training \n            \n            \n            WASHINGTON, DC \u2013 In an effort to get Congress to refocus on manufacturing jobs, U.S. Senator Jack Reed (D-RI) today joined a group of 21 U.S. senators in launching the \u201cManufacturing Jobs for America\u201d initiative, which seeks to build bipartisan support for legislation that will help create jobs, modernize America\u2019s manufacturing sector, and improve workforce training.\u00a0 A key piece of the initiative is Senator Reed\u2019s Adult Education and Economic Growth Act (S. 1400), which will reform and increase investment in job training and adult education and help connect adult learners with opportunities for jobs.\nSpecifically, the Adult Education and Economic Growth Act would:\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Encourage employers to invest in lower skilled working adults by providing a tax credit for employers who invest in their employee's education;\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Increase funding for adult education to provide additional support for state and local authorities to ensure collaboration between adult education and workforce needs; and\n\u2022\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Expand access to adult education services through the use of technology.\n\u201cThe best way to keep our economy moving forward is to get people back to work, and the best resource for our economy is an educated and skilled workforce.\u00a0 We need to invest in human capital,\u201d said Senator Reed.\u00a0 \u201cThe \u201cManufacturing Jobs in America\u201d agenda shows there is a broad range of things Congress should be doing to help create jobs.\u00a0 One of the initiatives I have put forward as part of this effort is the Adult Education and Economic Growth Act, which creates and supports avenues for adults to continue their education and build their career skills.\u00a0 By better aligning education and workforce training programs to the jobs that are available we can help people get the jobs of today and prepare them for the jobs of tomorrow.\u201d\nDespite high unemployment levels, a recent Deloitte and Manufacturing Institute online survey found there are an estimated 600,000 unfilled U.S. manufacturing jobs due to a lack of workers with the right skills.\u00a0\nBut the U.S. has chronically under-invested in job-training and workforce development.\u00a0 According to Senator Reed, 150,000 Rhode Islanders could benefit from some form of job-skills training or adult education right now.\u00a0 But today there\u2019s only enough financing to help 6,500 (4.3%).\n\u201cAdult education can help bridge the skills gap that separates people seeking work from those who are offering good paying jobs.\u00a0 We need to effectively prepare our workers to meet the demands of a shifting economy.\u00a0 Investing in adult education programs helps American workers learn new skills and improve their lives.\u00a0 It gives them a platform for upward mobility both professionally and personally.\u00a0 It can help lift individuals, communities, and businesses together because the more skilled workers out there earning a paycheck, the more demand there is for the goods and services our businesses offer.\u201d\nAccording to the National Institute of Standards and Technology\u2019s (NIST), Rhode Island has an estimated 1,500 manufacturers, and 95 percent have fewer than 100 employees.\u00a0 In 2011, these manufacturers employed 40,349 workers.\u00a0\nTo help local manufacturers, Senator Reed has secured federal funding for the Rhode Island Manufacturing Extension Services (RIMES), a nonprofit funded jointly by the federal and private investments.\u00a0 RIMES has a strong record of helping local small and medium-sized manufacturers in the state with improving operations and increasing efficiency. \u00a0Earlier this year, Reed helped secure $750,000 in federal Hollings Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) funding for the University of Rhode Island Research Foundation to help local manufacturers accelerate development and adoption of cutting edge manufacturing technologies.\u00a0 Reed also helped the state land a $100,000 first round \u201cInvesting in Manufacturing Community Partnership\u201d (IMCP) grant to help the Rhode Island Economic Development Corporation (RIEDC) and its collaborative partners enact long-term economic development strategies intended to create a business environment that leads to well-paying, sustainable manufacturing jobs.\n\u201cOur nation has learned an important lesson: we have to put people on the shop floor because it\u2019s not only the ability of the United States to create and innovate, it is a competitive global marketplace out there.\u00a0 Unless you are actually manufacturing these products, you don\u2019t have the advantage of learning how to do it better, how to improve it, how to be more competitive.\u00a0 Think of all the things, the manufacturing products we\u2019ve invented.\u00a0 But then we\u2019ve lost the ability to reproduce them and as a result we\u2019ve lost the jobs.\u00a0 So this whole effort is designed to rekindle that spirit of giving people the skills, the incentives, and the encouragement to go back and manufacture.\u00a0 The greatest phrase we have been hearing is Made in America, so let\u2019s make it in America,\u201d concluded Reed.", 1, "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z", "2026-03-30T12:14:52Z"]], "columns": ["url", "title", "date", "year", "month", "party", "chamber", "state", "member_name", "bioguide_id", "domain", "scraper", "source", "date_source", "text", "has_text", "collected_at", "updated_at"], "primary_keys": ["url"], "primary_key_values": ["https://web.archive.org/web/20140221042529/http://www.reed.senate.gov/news/release/reed-calls-for-congress-to-focus-on-manufacturing-jobs"], "units": {}, "query_ms": 1.8347622826695442, "source": "dwillis/congress-press", "source_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press", "license": "MIT", "license_url": "https://github.com/dwillis/congress-press/blob/main/LICENSE"}