TAMPA, Fla. -- College isn't the best option nor pathway to a career for everyone, and President Donald Trump highlighted those alternatives while signing a workforce development bill in Tampa Bay.
Trump signed the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, which was reauthorized by Congress last week after its passage in 2006, during a roundtable discussion at Tampa Bay Technical High School.
The law administers at least $1 billion in grants for students to receive on-the-job training in technical career fields lacking skilled workers.
"In the twelve years since Congress passed the last Perkins reauthorization, the economy has evolved tremendously, becoming increasingly dependent on science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) disciplines and other skilled labor," Trump said in a statement, in part.
"By enacting it into law, we will continue to prepare students for today’s constantly shifting job market, and we will help employers find the workers they need to compete."
A 2017 Tampa Bay Tech graduate, Lavareis Anderson, is competing in this ever-changing job market. Upon graduating, he landed a welding job at B&I Contractors.
“I love it,” Anderson said. “I love going to work every day.”
The need for skilled workers is high. Aaron Wells, a piping superintendent for B&I Contractors, says there are more positions than people to fill them.
Wells said he actively recruits students from tech schools to try to fill the open positions.
“There’s an abundance of work,” said Wells, “we pay them an outstanding wage because they know the things that these tech schools can teach them.”
That wage can be upward of $18 an hour. They also offer benefits, retirement plans and the opportunity to continue education as an apprentice, which will only lead to more opportunities and higher wages.
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