PRESS RELEASE
Harrisburg, PA – Yesterday, Governor Josh Shapiro signed an executive order creating the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program, a first-in-the-nation job training program that provides workforce development grants to ensure companies, contractors, unions, and others who are working to build Pennsylvania’s infrastructure have the skilled workforce they need while creating real opportunity for thousands of new workers across the Commonwealth.
The program allows organizations doing important infrastructure work funded by President Biden’s Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) or the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) to receive up to $40,000 for each new worker they train and up to a maximum of $400,000 per contract or award under the IRA and IIJA to help accelerate critical investments in infrastructure development – from repairing our roads and bridges, to modernizing our energy, water, and sewer infrastructure – all across Pennsylvania.
Under the CWTP, the Commonwealth will reserve at least 3% of all funding it receives from the IIJA and IRA to fund workforce development and on-the-job training, meaning that as much as $400 million could be used for workforce training in Pennsylvania over the next five years. This model initiative will be the largest infusion in funding for workforce training in Pennsylvania history and could support as many as 10,000 new jobs.
As Governor Shapiro showed with rebuilding I-95 in just 12 days, when government works together and when we have a skilled workforce ready to do the job, we can build big things again in Pennsylvania and across America.
Read what Pennsylvania leaders are saying about Governor Shapiro’s Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program:
- Labor & Industry Secretary Nancy A. Walker: “As Governor Shapiro has said many times – we need to build a well-trained workforce that is responsive to the needs of business and prepared for the jobs of the future. Our workforce is the key to Pennsylvania’s economy, and we must find new and creative ways to reach Pennsylvanians who want to work – and that is exactly what the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program will do.”
- Rep. Summer Lee: “The possibility of up to $400 million over the next five years flowing across Pennsylvania to help grow our economy and create new opportunities for generations to come should be enough to put a smile on anybody’s face here. We need the kind of federal and state partnership that Governor Shapiro was champion of today to start righting the wrongs of the past and building out the middle class from the ground up.”
- Allegheny County Executive Rich Fitzgerald: “I say to the young people out there, there are jobs, we need your talent, we need your work, and we’re going to get you involved in these training programs and this workforce development program and put you to work. Let’s keep moving forward.
- Pittsburgh Water and Sewer Authority Chief Executive Officer Will Pickering: “Governor Shapiro’s creation of the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program will ensure that Pennsylvania takes full advantage of the once in a generation opportunity provided by the IIJA to not only renew aging infrastructure, but to lift up those who seek meaningful and good paying jobs.”
- Allegheny-Fayette County Labor Council President Darrin Kelly: “Proud to join Governor Shapiro, Lieutenant Governor Davis, Representative Lee, elected officials and union leaders today to announce the Commonwealth Workforce Transformation Program to help prepare the next generation of union workers. We have the greatest workers in the world and we’re ready to go!”
See what Pennsylvanians are reading about Governor Shapiro’s new, first-in-the-nation workforce training program:
90.5 WESA: In Pittsburgh visit, Shapiro announces ‘unprecedented’ effort to provide job training
Lehigh Valley Business Journal: Shapiro executive order creates new workforce training program
City & State Pennsylvania: Shapiro announces $400M workforce training program
CNHI News: Shapiro pens order to bolster Pennsylvania workforce
Politics PA: Shapiro Establishes First-Of-Kind Workforce Training Program
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