Industry Roundtable on Apprenticeships Held

The Department of Labor held an Industry Roundtable discussion focusing on the importance of  apprenticeships in the manufacturing industry sector.  The meeting was held in Chicago on June 19. US Labor Secretary Thomas Perez was at the event, encouraging companies to apply for the $100 million in apprenticeship funding available through the American Apprenticeship Grant. The Secretary explained that the goal of the Obama Administration is to double the number of registered apprenticeships from the current 375,000 level in order to combat the skills gap taking place in manufacturing. Other manufacturers who were present at the event discussed efforts to revive apprenticeship programs at their own factories, and several other nonprofit organizations focused on apprenticeship programs were on hand to discuss their efforts. This is the fifth roundtable held.  Previous roundtables foucsed on transportation and logistics, healthcare, construction and energy industry sectors.