On May 3, the Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety of the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee held a hearing on supporting and developing the broadband workforce. Members of the subcommittee heard from broadband experts and stakeholders about the need to improve broadband access across the country.
Brent Gillum, president and CEO of Indiana telecommunications provider LightStream, described the ways that Congress can help support broadband providers.
“A concerted effort by industry, government and educational interests will be needed to develop a skilled workforce able to meet this challenge and fulfill this national mission by deploying next generation wired and wireless networks,” said Gillum. “To develop the telecommunications jobs needed in the short-term and mid-term, Congress could help by bolstering the capabilities of postsecondary education, including two-year and four-year colleges, and other institutions and providing support for employers to expand registered apprenticeships and associated technical instruction and certification costs.
Other measures Congress may consider would be to promote the ‘learn and earn’ model, whether through paid apprenticeships or internships. The federal government can assist in supporting such programs or individual students in seeking these training programs. It could also look to support individual state efforts, like those with reimbursement programs for employers who pay for their employees to further their trade by being reskilled or upskilled.”
Dan Hendricks, training director for the Denver Joint Electrical Apprenticeship and the Western Colorado Joint Electrical Apprenticeship, described the benefits of registered apprenticeships.
“The contractors who provide the on-the-job training opportunities for our apprentices know this system works,” said Hendricks. “They know when they request an apprentice from the apprenticeship, they can count on getting a quality worker. A worker whose training they had a part in crafting even if that person has not worked for them before.”
Ron Holcomb, president and CEO of Indiana utility provider Tipmont Wintek, said that Tipmont Wintek is collaborating with Faith Christian Schools in Lafayette, Indiana, to develop a pathway program in CTE, which will be open to 600-plus students from an eight-county area. This hands-on, comprehensive CTE curriculum will start in the 2022-23 school year and inspire students to consider a career path in energy or broadband IT.
Dr. Nicol Turner Lee of the Brookings Institution said that broadband and fiberoptic technicians and customer service positions have not seen enough workers to fill those positions, especially as the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act was passed by Congress. “There are not enough available trained workers to fill these in broadband occupations, mirroring the huge vacancies in cybersecurity jobs that also required a specialized approach to recruitment and training. An added challenge in fulfilling broadband roles is the geographic distribution of workers with these skills do not often match locations where jobs are most needed, like rural areas that will be laying fiber optics.”
You can watch the full hearing at the link above.
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