Giving Compass' Take:

• The author offers three principles that can potentially act as a guiding light as to how politicians can work toward sustainable solutions for filling America's skilled worker gap.

• One guiding principal mentioned is the involvement of the private sector in developing skills training programs. Is this an effective strategy or should skills training be left to educators or employers? 

• Read AEI's discussion piece on who is more responsible for workforce training. 

Employers are increasingly vocal about the growing shortages of skilled workers across a wide range of industries, especially manufacturing, construction, mining, and some technology sectors. Addressing this growing problem was a major theme in the 2016 election, on which there was rare bipartisan agreement. President Trump and his cabinet are actively using the bully pulpit and executive orders to spur rethinking of skills training programs, such as apprenticeships and vocational education. However, there is less agreement on how to accomplish the objectives.

As Congress begins to work with the administration, hopefully in a broad, bipartisan way, there are some practical principles that can guide its efforts, based on new approaches with proven track records here and in other advanced industrial nations.

First, most federal programs are only marginally effective in addressing the problem, whatever name they are given: vocational education, adjustment assistance, dislocated workers, career and technical education, or job corps. Many programs are expensive and show few lifetime income or employment gains. Generally, fewer than 50 percent of workers or students who enter such programs complete them.

Second, serious consideration should be given to moving federal involvement toward block grants to states. Most of the creative and effective programs are launched at the state and local levels, often in conjunction with local development authorities and employers. Many of the most visible and effective new programs are based on apprenticeships.

The third principle is to be proactive rather than reactive. Job retraining is much harder than preparing young students for careers in fields with proven labor shortages.

The last principle is to include the private sector more deeply and consistently in developing and sustaining skills training programs.

Read the full article about filling America's skilled worker gap by Thomas Duesterberg at Hudson Institute