Remarks by President Trump at an American Workforce Policy Advisory Board Meeting | Eastern North Carolina Now

Press Release:

Workforce Policy Advisory Board Meeting: Above. (White House photo)     Click image to expand.
    MS. TRUMP: Mr. President, Mr. Vice President, on behalf of my co-chair, Secretary Ross, and the entire American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, it's an honor to have here for today's inaugural board meeting. We have spent the last several hours in excellent discussion with the objective of advancing a national workforce strategy.

    Our collective aim is to ensure that all Americans can benefit from the nation's historic economic boom and record low unemployment rates. This board of industry, education, government, and non-profit leaders are deeply passionate about bringing more Americans off the sidelines and into the workforce. We are seeking to increase the country's workforce participation rates by connecting workers with good-paying jobs.

    We must also focus on helping those most vulnerable to having their jobs displaced due to the rapid pace of technological change, and work together to assist them in learning a new skill so they can continue to provide for themselves and for their families.

    Today, we discussed in detail the four goals that are the mandate of this specific council. First is to develop a robust campaign to promote multiple pathways to good-paying jobs, dispelling the myth that there is only one path to a successful career.

    Second, improving the availability of high-quality, transparent, and timely data to better inform students and educators, as well as match American workers to American jobs.

    Third, modernizing candidate recruitment and training practices to expand the pool of job applicants employers are looking to hire.

    And finally, measuring and encouraging employer-led training and investments. We are championing and seeking to further private-sector leadership and investment in workforce development.

    As we look to the future, this Board will also influence our legislative agenda to mobilize our higher education system and help us be more responsive to today's students and job creators. And this is something that we're optimistic can be done in this Congress.

    I'd like to thank you, Mr. President, for being here, and for your steadfast commitment to a pro-growth economic agenda that is creating tremendous opportunity for all Americans. Just this past quarter, a remarkable 73 percent of people who started out work had been out of the workforce the previous month, rather than being unemployed. That's the highest share of people entering the labor force from the sidelines since we started tracking this metric decades ago.


    With record low unemployment rates across all demographics, we will continue to focus on fostering inclusive growth that lifts up all of our citizens. We have an extraordinary opportunity, and this extraordinary group around the table - titans of industry, education innovators, and pillars of our community - will help us make a difference in the lives of millions of our fellow citizens.

    We are taking advantage of this incredible moment to ensure America retains its leadership role.

    And, now, Mr. President, I turn the floor over to you.

    THE PRESIDENT: She's so formal. (Laughter.)

    A special person. And she's worked so hard, as you all know. And I want to thank you, Ivanka, for your devotion to the America workers - our great workers. And nobody has workers like we do. So I just want to thank you, honey, because - great job. Really great job. (Applause.)

    She works very hard on this, I will say. And she's created a lot of happy families. Because you're going to be up to close to 7 million people pretty soon that you are very responsible, along with many of the people at this table.

    And I'm going to ask, I think, for you - maybe before I even speak - to go around the table, because this is such a distinguished group, and just introduce yourself. We have a few of the media back there, and just a small group.

    You know, Tim, sometimes you have to see some of these groups. It's pretty amazing what they do. They break down the walls and the windows and everything else in order to get in. But we have great representative media back.

    And I thought you should really take some of the credit for what you've done. And I'd maybe like to start with Tim Cook who has done such an incredible job at Apple. He's become a friend of mine. And he's a friend because he does a great job. I mean, we want to get things done. Employs so many people. Brought a lot of money back into our country because of the new tax law, and he's spending that money very wisely. And just done an incredible job.

    So, Tim, maybe you could just start. Please.

    MR. COOK: Sure. Thank you, Mr. President. It's an honor to serve on this council. I've always thought that America is so special in so many ways, but at the heart of all of it is people. And that, to me, is what this group is about.

    For - our company, as you know, was founded by a college drop-out.

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    MR. COOK: So we've never really thought that a college degree was the thing that you had to have to do well. We've always tried to expand our horizons.


    And so that degree - about half of our U.S. employment last year were people that did not have a four-year degree. And we're very proud of that, but we want to go further.

    And so to that end, as we've looked at the - sort of, the mismatch between the skills that are coming out of colleges and what the skills are that we believe we need in the future, and many other businesses do, we've identified coding as a very key one.

    And we believe strongly that it should be a requirement in the United States for every kid to have coding before they graduate from K-12, and become somewhat proficient at it.

    And so we've provided a - we've done a curriculum now and provided it to all schools in the United States. Four thousand have picked it up. Now, we have a lot further to go because there's a lot more than 4,000 schools in America, but that is a start.

    We've also done that with 80 community colleges. And we're really proud of that, particularly with the work that we're doing in Austin, and providing coding education there.

    There's an enormous deficit in the number of jobs versus the number of candidates. And so we're - we are proud to take part and to help to get this alignment much better between education and private sector. We realize that in something this large, it takes government, private sector, and education all kind of oaring in the same direction, and we're very proud to be a part of it.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you, Tim. Great job you're doing.

    MR. COOK: Thank you. Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. Kim?

    GOVERNOR REYNOLDS: Well, I too want to echo my appreciation for having the opportunity to serve on this Board. I'm excited about what's happening across this country. Iowa has the lowest unemployment rate the nation at 2.4 percent. Our economy is growing. We've had four straight quarters of wage growth in Iowa. We are no different than other states. We have jobs looking for people.

    So I'm anxious to work. And public-private partnership is the answer. That is how it's going to work. We have an initiative, Future Ready Iowa, that has a goal of having 70 percent of Iowans in the workforce to have education or training beyond high school by the year 2025. And we're at about 58 percent right now, but set the goals high, right? -

    THE PRESIDENT: Right.

    GOVERNOR REYNOLDS: - and work hard to get it.

    And we're doing that through registered apprenticeship programs. And we just - we'll be launching an initiative, Computer Science is Elementary, that will launch six computer-science elementaries in the state that will target high-poverty, high-needs areas so we can help produce a capable, ready workforce.

    Most importantly, though - and then I'll pass it - is to make sure that our students and that Iowans know that there are multiple paths to great careers and those careers exist in Iowa. Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Well, thank you. And, Kim, just had a great victory - Governor of Iowa. She just defeated somebody who spent unlimited money. It was unlimited. And it's called "talent." You've done a great job. Thank you very much, Kim. Great job.

    MAYOR LYLES: Mr. President, thank you for the opportunity to be here today. I'm Vi Lyles, from the city of Charlotte. And what I'd like to say is that we're a city where we want everyone to have the ability to participate in the economic opportunity. And we are the second largest banking center now in the country. That may be good or bad. But nonetheless, when we look at that, we also have to weigh it against those that haven't had a chance.

    And this opportunity, I think, will provide us pathways, innovations, collaborations to accomplish that, so that people left out can get in a great home, a place - safe place to live, and a job that they can be proud of.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much. And we have our big convention in your city, as you know.

    MAYOR LYLES: That's true. We're getting ready for it.

    THE PRESIDENT: And you worked very hard. And a lot of people wanted it and you got it. So congratulations, and I'll see you soon. Thank you.

    MR. MCGARVEY: Mr. President, Sean McGarvey with North America's Building and Trades Unions. And I too want to thank you for the opportunity to work with terrific co-chairs and colleagues around this table on issues that are really important to the building trades.

    And I want to let you know that we made a commitment to you last year of 250,000 new apprentices over the next five years, and 56,000 of those last year were registered with the Department of Labor. So we're following through on our commitment. Thank you.

    THE PRESIDENT: Thank you very much.


    MR. BOX: Mr. President, Jay Box from the great state - the great commonwealth of Kentucky, representing 4.3 million people, and more particularly, representing the 16 comprehensive community colleges and our 73 campuses around the state.

    And in Kentucky, we are committed to speeding the time to a degree and a credential because we know the workforce needs us to turn out our workers faster.

    And so, we like to say: Instead of a career pathway, a career freeway, with many onramps and exit ramps so that students can come into our institutions at any time and exit once they get a credential and right into the workforce. And later on they can come right back in for further skill training.