U.S.-Switzerland Skilled Trades Cooperation

Floor Speech

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Mr. THOMPSON of Pennsylvania. Mr. Speaker, last week U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker and Switzerland's Vice President and Federal Councilor, Johann Schneider-Ammann, signed a joint declaration that will provide a framework for cooperation between our two countries in areas such as work-based training, pathways to career development, and the expansion of existing programs into new industry sectors. This notable agreement comes just 1 month after a similar signing with Germany that was largely focused on apprenticeships and vocational education and training.

As co-chair of the Congressional Career and Technical Education Caucus, I applaud these international partnerships and recognize their role in helping us to close our Nation's skills gap.

The skilled trades are the hardest jobs to fill in the United States, with recent data citing 550,000 jobs open in the trade and transportation sectors and 246,000 jobs open in manufacturing.

Working with our allies to address this issue will undoubtedly benefit our economy and allow us to remain globally competitive.

I am confident in our ability to make continued progress in the area of workforce development and am grateful for the assistance of our international partners.

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