Harder Secures Inclusion of Two Critical Workforce Priorities in House Passed Bill

Press Release

Last night, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) passed the House. The bill includes two of Rep. Harder's amendments that are critical to ensuring everyone in the Central Valley has access to a good paying job.

The first amendment encourages funding for youth job training programs across the Central Valley. At present, after school programs that train young people for successful careers hosted by organizations, such as the Boys and Girls Club, do not regularly receive federal funding. Rep. Harder's amendment addresses a critical lapse in the system.

The second amendment targets areas of high unemployment such as the Central Valley for workforce training and skills programs. With this amendment, the bill targets areas where the local unemployment rate is higher than the national unemployment rate. San Joaquin County currently has an unemployment rate of 5.7%, more than two percentage points higher than the national unemployment rate of 3.6%.

"Everyone should be able to afford to live and raise their family in the Central Valley, but for too many folks our community is becoming unaffordable," said Rep. Harder. "I fought for these amendments so we can get the resources we need to train our youth and our workers for better and higher wage jobs right here in our community. No matter who you are or where you're from, you should have access to the skills you need to bring home a great check at the end of the month. And if you grow up here, you should know you have a future here."

Rep. Harder has been working to provide career education opportunities to Central Valley youth and workers throughout his time in office. His bipartisan, bicameral bill, the Youth Workforce Readiness Act, has set the standard for programming to give the next generation the skills they need for successful careers, whether or not they go to college. He also addressed the issue of career education in his latest op-ed in Fox News: America needs a Dad agenda, not partisan bickering.

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