Jobs Day: Skills Gap and Welfare Programs Must Be Addressed to Meet Labor Force Demands of Trump Presidency

Atlanta—Today, the Job Creators Network (JCN) praised President Trump’s Workforce Development Initiative and called on further measures to address the shortage of skilled labor indicated by the 6.2 million jobs currently available that the August jobs report released today indicates are not being filled. Because of the Trump Administration’s deregulation efforts, Q2 economic growth was revealed this week to be three percent. In order to fill the jobs that this economic growth will produce, apprenticeships and vocational training programs like the workforce initiative must be supported. JCN’s Fight for $50 campaign, which advocates the pathways for $50,000 a year jobs, not counterproductive $15 minimum wages, is part of this effort.

JCN President and CEO Alfredo Ortiz had an op-ed this year in USA Today highlighting this initiative. Read it here.

JCN is also highlighting the need to expand the Working Americans Credit, also known as the Earned Income Tax Credit, in order to get potential workers out of the welfare hammock and into the job market. The WAC supplements the incomes of working Americans directly through the tax code, providing an incentive to work – not stay on the labor force sidelines like current welfare programs. Evidence by economists from across the political spectrum support the principles of the WAC, which rewards work, not welfare.

In order to sustain and further boost the recent three percent economic growth, JCN is calling on Congress to pass small business and middle class tax cuts that will provide relief to hardworking taxpayers and dramatically stimulate the economy. A recent nationwide poll of small business owners conducted by the Job Creators Network finds that most small businesses would reinvest their tax cut savings in the form of increased wages, more jobs, and expansion. Such a tax cut would boost hiring, increase wages, and make three percent economic growth the baseline rather than the North Star.

Alfredo Ortiz, JCN President and CEO, released the following statement:

President Trump’s deregulation efforts have helped the economy get back to 3 percent growth, but to make this growth the baseline rather than the North Star Congress must pass small business and middle class tax cuts to provide relief to the hardworking taxpayers who are the engines of the American economy. In order to fill the jobs that this economic growth will produce, the skills gap and welfare programs must be addressed. President Trump’s Workforce Development Initiative and folding perverse welfare programs into an expanded Working Americans Credit are the best ways to meet the labor demands of a Trump presidency.