Small Business Workforce Pipeline Act of 2022

Floor Speech

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Mr. FITZGERALD. Madam Speaker, I thank my colleague from Texas (Mr. Williams) for yielding me time. I thank my colleagues, specifically Mr. Crow, for co-leading H.R. 7622, the Small Business Workforce Pipeline Act of 2022.

The bill would allow small business development centers to provide information and assistance to small businesses on how to establish and improve work-based learning opportunities. It also would enhance apprenticeship programs, pre-apprenticeship programs, and other job training programs that many of us are very familiar with.

I hear all the time from Wisconsin small businesses back in my district about how the country's labor shortage is affecting not only the recruitment of skilled employees but, in particular, manufacturing and, in my district, light manufacturing.

The latest National Federation for Independent Businesses' economic trends report showed that while optimism in recovering to prepandemic employment levels is increasing, we still are very much behind the eight ball. Sixty percent of manufacturing firms report unfilled job openings.

Apprenticeships and other job training programs provide a solution to address the needs of the manufacturing sector. Apprenticeships are among the most successful forms of workforce development, and through paid and on-the-job training programs, alongside classroom education, we can make significant strides.

This bill would directly benefit manufacturers and other businesses in Wisconsin's Fifth District by having apprenticeships and other job- training materials readily available to them.

Madam Speaker, I support the passage of this bill.

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