    [House Hearing, 115 Congress]
    [From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]

      SHRINKING THE SKILLS GAP: SOLUTIONS TO THE SMALL BUSINESS WORKFORCE
                                    SHORTAGE

    =======================================================================

                                    HEARING

                                   before the

            SUBCOMMITTEE ON ECONOMIC GROWTH, TAX, AND CAPITAL ACCESS

                                     OF THE

                          COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS
                                 UNITED STATES
                            HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                         ONE HUNDRED FIFTEENTH CONGRESS

                                 SECOND SESSION

                                   __________

                                  HEARING HELD
                                 JUNE 14, 2018

                                   __________

    [GRAPHIC(S) NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]

                Small Business Committee Document Number 115-077
                 Available via the GPO Website: www.govinfo.gov

                                 _________

                    U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE

    30-502                  WASHINGTON : 2019

                       HOUSE COMMITTEE ON SMALL BUSINESS

                          STEVE CHABOT, Ohio, Chairman
                                STEVE KING, Iowa
                          BLAINE LUETKEMEYER, Missouri
                              DAVE BRAT, Virginia
                 AUMUA AMATA COLEMAN RADEWAGEN, American Samoa
                            STEVE KNIGHT, California
                            TRENT KELLY, Mississippi
                                 ROD BLUM, Iowa
                             JAMES COMER, Kentucky
                     JENNIFFER GONZALEZ-COLON, Puerto Rico
                        BRIAN FITZPATRICK, Pennsylvania
                             ROGER MARSHALL, Kansas
                          RALPH NORMAN, South Carolina
                               JOHN CURTIS, Utah
                   NYDIA VELAZQUEZ, New York, Ranking Member
                           DWIGHT EVANS, Pennsylvania
                           STEPHANIE MURPHY, Florida
                            AL LAWSON, JR., Florida
                             YVETTE CLARK, New York
                              JUDY CHU, California
                           ALMA ADAMS, North Carolina
                          ADRIANO ESPAILLAT, New York
                            BRAD SCHNEIDER, Illinois
                                     VACANT

                   Kevin Fitzpatrick, Majority Staff Director
          Jan Oliver, Majority Deputy Staff Director and Chief Counsel
                         Adam Minehardt, Staff Director

                                C O N T E N T S

                               OPENING STATEMENTS

                                                                       Page
    Hon. Dave Brat...................................................     1
    Hon. Dwight Evans................................................     2

                                   WITNESSES

    Mr. Todd Hitt, CEO, Kiddar Capital, Falls Church, VA.............     4
    Mr. Kelly McCreight, President and CEO, Hamilton-Ryker IT
      Solutions, Nashville, TN, testifying on behalf of the American
      Staffing Association...........................................     6
    Ms. Angela Dine Schmeisser, President and CEO, St. Marys Foundry,
      Inc., St. Marys, OH............................................     8
    Mr. Bryant Greene, Administrator, Always Best Care Senior
      Services, Philadelphia, PA.....................................    10

                                    APPENDIX

    Prepared Statements:
        Mr. Todd Hitt, CEO, Kiddar Capital, Falls Church, VA.........    23
        Mr. Kelly McCreight, President and CEO, Hamilton-Ryker IT
          Solutions, Nashville, TN, testifying on behalf of the
          American Staffing Association..............................    36
        Ms. Angela Dine Schmeisser, President and CEO, St. Marys
          Foundry, Inc., St. Marys, OH...............................    41
        Mr. Bryant Greene, Administrator, Always Best Care Senior
          Services, Philadelphia, PA.................................    50
    Questions for the Record:
        None.
    Answers for the Record:
        None.
    Additional Material for the Record:
        CompTIA......................................................    53
        WIPP - Women Impacting Public Policy.........................    57

      SHRINKING THE SKILLS GAP: SOLUTIONS TO THE SMALL BUSINESS WORKFORCE
                                    SHORTAGE

                                  ----------

                            THURSDAY, JUNE 14, 2018

                      House of Representatives,
                   Committee on Small Business,
                       Subcommittee on Economic Growth,
                                       Tax, and Capital Access,
                                                        Washington, DC.
        The Subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:00 a.m. in
    Room 2360, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Dave Brat
    [chairman of the Subcommittee] presiding.
        Present: Representatives Brat, Chabot, Norman, Evans, and
    Murphy.
        Chairman BRAT. Good morning. I would like to call this
    hearing to order.
        Welcome to our C-SPAN friends in the back of the room. The
    cameras are rolling, so everyone be on your best behavior. And
    I call this hearing to order right now.
        We are waiting for some of our colleagues to get here. I
    think they are on their way, but I do want to--I usually don't
    start off by calling attention to the title of our hearing
    today, but I think it is one of the most important issues
    facing the country. And so today we are having a hearing on
    shrinking the skills gap: solutions to the small business
    workforce shortage. And we have got a great panel before us
    this morning, and so I would like to welcome everybody. And
    let's get underway.
        The American economy is creating jobs at historic rates.
    Over 1 million jobs have been created so far this year. The
    unemployment rate is at an 18-year low of 3.8 percent, and
    there are now more vacant jobs than unemployed job seekers in
    the United Stares. That is the good news. On June 1, there was
    even an article in The New York Times with the title, ``We Ran
    Out of Words to Describe How Good the Jobs Numbers Are.''
        Small business optimism is at an all-time high. Tax reform
    has created an opportunity for small businesses to hire that
    extra employee or make that needed expansion or renovation.
        The problems is when there are 6.6 million job vacancies,
    small businesses have a particularly difficult time finding and
    retaining qualified employees. According to the National
    Federation of Independent Business, 57 percent of surveyed
    small business owners either hired workers or were trying to
    hire workers in the last month. However, 88 percent of those
    hiring or trying to hire reported few to no qualified
    applicants for vacant positions.
        This raises a significant secondary issue. According to the
    American Enterprise Institute, there are 7 million men
    currently missing from the workforce. The female labor force
    participation rate has declined by 6 percent since 2000. Also,
    one in seven 16- to 24-year-olds are neither in school nor
    working, which could have serious economic implications for
    decades to come. These groups are not even included in our
    labor market. We do not want to forget them either.
        Our Committee has held several hearings in the past few
    months that have examined the workforce shortage and the skills
    gap. This morning we have brought together an excellent panel
    to learn more about how to solve this problem. Through today's
    hearing, we hope to hear ideas that will ensure America's small
    businesses have a workforce with the right skill set to propel
    the American economy forward.
        To be clear, this hearing is not about a few tweaks here
    and there. These distortions in the labor market affect every
    State, every congressional district, and the nearly 30 million
    small businesses in our Nation.
        I thank you all for being here this morning, and I yield to
    the Ranking Member for his opening remarks.
        Mr. Evans.
        Mr. EVANS. Good morning. And thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        As our Nation strives to regain its global competitiveness,
    it is critical that companies of all sizes have access to the
    skilled workforce they need to succeed. In fact, in the next
    decade, nearly two-thirds of all job vacancies will require
    some postsecondary education. And this will only increase as
    the pace of technology changes accelerate. Small business
    creates 70 percent of all new jobs, and it is essential that
    these workers have sufficient technical skills.
        Analyzing the United States workforce reveals two areas of
    concern: an existing skills gap among workers and a large
    increase in the retirement of baby boomers within the next
    decade. Both emphasize the importance of transforming the
    education process and requirements for future workers.
        For businesses, this reality has dire consequences. If we
    are unable to meet the demand for trained workers, it will
    weaken our ability to compete globally. The manufacturing,
    technology, and healthcare sectors in particular face
    challenging obstacles to this deficiency.
        And what is essentially troubling is that there are fewer
    workers seeking jobs, compounding the problems further. With
    the unemployment rate at a low of 3.8 percent, small businesses
    will be at even more of a disadvantage as they compete for any
    workers, especially those with training.
        This begs the question, how do we address this skills gap
    now to get people qualified for these jobs?
        Targeted postsecondary education, such as skill certificate
    systems, can assist small firms in securing qualified employees
    to help them grow. Novel partnerships among industry,
    educators, and policymakers are also playing a role by
    preparing the workforce and incentivize school completion.
        Too many American workers and small businesses have been
    left behind. That is why creating incentives for training,
    certification, and apprenticeship programs leads to a stronger
    workforce, better learning, higher productivity. Most
    important, we must change the stigma surrounding these jobs and
    refocus the discussion for our future generation as they need
    it.
        Efforts such as these we will discuss today are critical to
    our economic recovery. By preparing America's workforce to
    compete in a global marketplace, firms will be better
    positioned to succeed, paving the way for stronger growth.
    Prudent investments in training and education will also reduce
    the unemployment rate, leading to higher consumer confidence
    and demand.
        This is exactly what our Nation needs now that we look to
    turn the corner, create more jobs, ensure that America's small
    businesses are prepared to move our economy forward.
        I look forward to today's hearing, and thank the witnesses
    for being here.
        Thank you, Mr. Chairman, for bringing this very important
    panel together, and I yield back the balance of my time.
        Chairman BRAT. Thank you, Dwight.
        If Committee members have an opening statement prepared, I
    ask they be submitted for the record.
        I would like to take a moment to explain the timing lights
    for each of you today. You will each have 5 minutes to deliver
    your testimony. The light will start out green. When you have 1
    minute remaining, the light will turn yellow. Finally, at the
    end of your 5 minutes, it will turn red. I ask you try to
    adhere somewhat to that, but we are flexible. I think we have
    got a pretty flexible hearing today with plenty of time to
    spare.
        And so with that, let's get to introducing our first
    witness. Our first witness today is Mr. Todd Hitt, CEO of
    Kiddar Capital in Falls Church, Virginia. Kiddar Capital is a
    global asset management firm that manages investments and
    private equity, real estate, infrastructure, and hospitality.
    They have expertise on labor markets across all of these
    sectors and are a good leadoff to explain what is going on in
    the real world this morning.
        Mr. Hitt frequently speaks across the country and writes
    about how to improve the American economy, create opportunities
    for the middle class, and is a bold, innovative voice on
    navigating America's greatest economic challenges.
        And so we welcome you today and thank you for joining us,
    Mr. Hitt, and you may begin.

     STATEMENT OF TODD HITT, CEO, KIDDAR CAPITAL; KELLY MCCREIGHT,
      PRESIDENT AND CEO, HAMILTON-RYKER IT SOLUTIONS; ANGELA DINE
      SCHMEISSER, PRESIDENT AND CEO, ST. MARYS FOUNDRY, INC.; AND
     BRYANT GREENE, ADMINISTRATOR, ALWAYS BEST CARE SENIOR SERVICES

                         STATEMENT OF TODD HITT

        Mr. HITT. Well, good morning. Chairman Brat, Ranking Member
    Evans, I really appreciate the opportunity to be here this
    morning and talk with you about this critical problem our
    country is facing.
        My name is Todd Hitt. I am the founder and CEO of Kiddar
    Capital, a private equity firm based in the Washington, D.C.,
    area. Kiddar manages a wide variety of assets across
    established and emerging asset classes, including venture real
    estate, construction, and energy.
        Through my work, it has become clear to me that the United
    States is facing a critical labor shortage that could well
    topple the economy if we don't fix it. There are pockets of the
    country that have few jobs and too many workers, but there are
    far more with many jobs and too few workers.
        Labor shortages mean small businesses can expand and they
    constrain economic growth in a visceral way. Turning down work
    is the last thing an entrepreneur and business owner wants to
    do, but when you don't have the labor you need, it is one of
    the only options you have.
        My goal today is to offer practical solutions to address
    our labor shortage. First, let me briefly illustrate the scope
    of the problem we face.
        In April, there were 6.7 million jobs open in the United
    States, and while the unemployment number doesn't include
    workers who have simply dropped out of the workforce, it was
    the first time since 2000 that the number of jobs open exceeded
    the number of workers. I site many of these stories in my
    written testimony.
        The firms Kiddar Capital has worked with have lived the
    labor shortage that is definitely an issue that the CEOs and
    investors I know talk about constantly. In my written
    testimony, I have included a graphic that shows the ratio of
    unemployed individuals to jobs available. Two years after the
    Great Recession was over, there were four unemployed workers
    for every U.S. job open. Today, it is less than a one-to-one
    ratio.
        The worker shortage affects all regions of the country. In
    my written testimony, I have also included graphics showing the
    divergence between the prime age population and the number of
    workers in large cities and midsize cities and suburbs and in
    rural America. Everywhere there is a gap between jobs and the
    prime age working population.
        As I noted above, these shortages hit small businesses the
    hardest. As candidates for office, you are familiar with the
    issue of name ID. Well-known candidates have an instant
    advantage. The same principle applies to hiring workers. When
    you are smaller, a potential employee is less likely to be
    familiar with your reputation and your name. Many people
    perceive working for a smaller business, especially a startup
    or a riskier--a far riskier challenge, of course. Main Street
    employers also have a harder time absorbing the wage inflation
    that goes along with the labor shortage.
        There are economists who will argue today's shortage could
    be solved if employers simply offer higher wages, but higher
    wages can't attract workers who aren't there, and more often
    than not, higher wages impact pricing and make the businesses'
    thesis untenable.
        There are several factors that contribute to the nation's
    labor shortage. Today, I will address one: labor mobility. This
    is one we don't hear enough about, I think.
        If you remember one statistic from my remarks today, I want
    it to be this: In 2017, fewer Americans moved than in any year
    in at least the last 50 years. The U.S. mover rate is now 11
    percent. That is an historic low, and it is half of what it was
    just 30 years ago. Instead of moving in search of a new job,
    today's out-of-work Americans are more likely to drop out of
    the workforce.
        The University of California at Berkeley's Enrico Moretti
    even has connected to the client and labor mobility to
    increased income equality. Family ties, housing costs, and
    level of education all impact a family's willingness to move,
    but I believe if we make it easier for them to move, Americans
    will get moving again.
        Businesses clearly have a role when it comes to encouraging
    mobility. We must attract talent with fair wages, family
    sustaining benefits, and the promise of a stable job, but I
    believe lawmakers need to work in tandem with American job
    creators to solve this problem.
        The first solution is to reinstitute the tax deduction
    individuals can receive for work-related moving expenses. I was
    a vocal supporter of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, but I believe
    doing away with that deduction was a mistake.
        As you know, when you tax something, you generally get less
    of it. When you incentivize it, you get more. Mobility
    incentives will help unstick our workers.
        One way to pay for these grants is to let unemployed
    individuals collect their State and Federal unemployment
    benefits up front if they are using them to move to another
    location in order to take a job.
        The U.S. Labor Department executed a small scale mobility
    grant program in the 1970s. The Job Search and Relocation
    Assistance Program involved 40 different unemployment offices
    across several southern States. Different offices offered
    different types of assistance ranging from providing
    information about jobs to actually giving individuals grants to
    take jobs in other places.
        A 1981 analysis of the program found wages for those who
    relocated through the program were higher. Local, State, and
    Federal levels of government provide tax incentives to
    businesses to provide worker training. Similar incentives
    should be given to employers who spend capital to relocate
    workers. Very important issue.
        Differing rules for Federal programs like Medicaid and
    Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program create a major
    barrier to keep people from moving. And while Section 8 rental
    housing vouchers promote mobility within metro areas, a long
    waiting list in most areas are a strong disincentive against
    relocation. High housing costs are a major reason families
    don't move to cities with robust job markets.
        I am running out of time here, Chairman. I maybe have
    another 40 seconds.
        Chairman BRAT. That is fine.
        Mr. HITT. High housing costs are a major reason families
    don't move to cities with robust job markets. In The Atlantic,
    last fall, Alana Semuels pointed out that states like Texas,
    which have less strict zoning laws, have high in-migration
    rates. Cities should loosen land use regulations.
        It is not only urban areas that struggle to provide housing
    for new workers. The Wall Street Journal's Shayndi Raice found
    that in Platte County, Nebraska, there are around 990 jobs
    available, but only a total of 65 homes for sale. Housing
    prices are rising so fast in Nebraska the State is considering
    incentives for homebuilders to build. Reducing occupational
    licensing regulations also will reduce disincentives for
    professionals to move.
        I want to thank you again for the opportunity to testify
    here this morning. The labor shortage and the lack of labor
    mobility should concern Republicans and Democrats alike. This
    is a nontribal issue. It is an issue we must tackle to increase
    growth rates and to improve income inequality.
        Thank you for your time and consideration today and for
    your service to our great country.
        Chairman BRAT. Thank you for your testimony, Mr. Hitt. It
    is good to have a nontribal win-win, and I think you hit the
    nail on the labor mobility piece. And so we will be coming back
    to you on the Q&A part.
        Next witness today is Kelly McCreight, president and CEO of
    Hamilton-Ryker IT Solutions in Nashville, Tennessee. Hamilton-
    Ryker is an information technology staffing firm, and also
    provides businesses with recruiting, management consulting, and
    information technology solutions.
        Thank you for joining us today and for lending your
    expertise, Mr. McCreight, and you may begin. Thank you.

                      STATEMENT OF KELLY MCCREIGHT

        Mr. MCCREIGHT. Good morning, Chairman Brat, Ranking Member
    Evans, and other members of the Committee. Again, I am Kelly
    McCreight. I am the chief executive officer of Hamilton-Ryker,
    and I am also current Chairman of the American Staffing
    Association. It is my privilege to represent both organizations
    this morning.
        Founded in 1971, Hamilton-Ryker is a total workforce
    solution and industry leader for the provision of industrial,
    administrative, and information technology staffing, as well as
    recruiting, management consulting, and IT solutions. We are
    headquartered in Nashville, Tennessee. We have 35 locations
    across the U.S. For 45 years, we have helped thousands of
    people find great jobs in great careers, while providing our
    customers, many of which are small businesses, with a staffing
    solution concentrating on manufacturing, distribution,
    clerical, and skilled trade disciplines.
        The American Staffing Association is a national trade
    association that has been the voice of the U.S. staffing
    industry for more than 50 years, promoting the interests of the
    industry and flexible employment opportunities through legal
    and legislative advocacy, public relations, education, and the
    establishment of high standards of ethical conduct. The ASA
    strongly supports policies that help America's workers, and is
    working closely with the Department of Labor and other Federal
    agencies on the development of a new and expanded
    apprenticeship program.
        The staffing industry employs more than 3 million employees
    per day and more than 15 million each year. Staffing firms
    recruit and hire their own employees and assign them to
    businesses to assist in special work situations, such as
    employee absences, skill shortages, and seasonal workload, or
    to perform special assignments or projects. Employees work in
    virtually every skill level and job category, including
    industrial labor, office support, engineering, IT, legal, and
    accounting.
        Most everyone is aware of the latest reports highlighting
    the current situation in the workforce. Basically, there is
    more jobs than people. We see that firsthand at Hamilton-Ryker
    in almost all of our markets. We are in a lot of small towns in
    Tennessee, Mississippi, and Kentucky, as well as in larger
    cities like Houston and Nashville.
        With the economy at full employment, we are taking measures
    to upskill the existing workforce. For instance, by taking
    workers that may have a certain skill set and providing them
    training to allow them to be promoted or move into another
    position at a higher wage rate. Additionally, we have
    instituted soft skill orientations that address issues like
    conflict resolution, workplace violence, and even basic
    workplace practices, such as on time arrival to work, call-in
    procedures, and how to deal with differing workplace cultures.
        This morning, I wanted to highlight specific measures our
    company is taking in Tupelo, Mississippi, in order to assess
    skills and train workers for one of our manufacturing clients.
    Last year, our company partnered with IVR Train, a spin-off
    company from Tennessee Tech University that develops virtual
    reality training for manufacturers. For those of you that don't
    know, virtual reality is an interactive computer-generated
    experience taking place within a simulated environment that
    incorporates auditory, visual, and other types of sensory
    feedback.
        Current VR technology most commonly uses headsets or
    multiprojected environments, sometimes in combination with
    physical environments or props, to generate realistic images
    and other sensations that simulate a user's physical presence
    and a virtual or imaginary environment.
        In Tupelo, we specifically were interested in how VR could
    assist us in recruiting, testing, and training forklift
    drivers. We purchased a VR forklift and installed it in our
    office in early January. The VR forklift has eight assessments
    that test a variety of forklift skills from beginner to
    advanced. Prior to purchasing the VR forklift, we could only
    interview our applicants and then send them out to our client
    for testing on the actual machine. We are now better able to
    assess the applicants' skills using the VR technology,
    resulting in a 70 percent plus pass rate for our applicants
    versus less than 50 percent in 2017.
        This summer, we are implementing a training program for
    those workers who may have had previous forklift experience but
    need to upgrade their skills before being placed at client
    sites.
        I have included a short video that will give the Committee
    a better understanding of how the VR forklift operates. This is
    just one of the examples our company and other members of the
    ASA are doing to train workers for tomorrow's jobs and help
    close those skills gap.
        Thank you for your time.
        So I don't believe there is any sound, but this is the
    actual machine in our office. And so it fits on about a 12-by-
    12 space. And he is putting on the glasses and he is going
    through one of the test assessments.
        [Video shown.]
        Mr. MCCREIGHT. So the major cost for this is the computer,
    obviously, and the video card that is inside there. So the
    costs are $15- to $20,000, which includes a simulator and the
    computer equipment. We have eight assessments that we can test.
        Chairman BRAT. How is he doing?
        Mr. MCCREIGHT. He has passed. I included the one that
    passed.
        So that is--I wanted to show you that is what he is
    looking--that is what it looks like. So the first assessment is
    go through the cones and can he turn the forklift, and then it
    gets progressively harder each time, including going into a
    trailer, picking up a pallet, backing it out. So if they pass
    the first three, then we will send them on for testing on the
    physical machine.
        So thank you.
        Chairman BRAT. All right. Super. Thanks for your testimony,
    Mr. McCreight.
        Our next witness is Angela Dine Schmeisser. Ms. Dine
    Schmeisser is president and CEO of St. Marys Foundry, Inc., an
    iron casting producer in St. Marys, Ohio. Under her leadership,
    St. Marys Foundry recently established the St. Marys Foundry
    Technical Institute, which encourages employees to set goals
    and take classes outside of their department specialty to be
    well rounded, while remaining experts in their field.
        Thank you for being with us today, and you may begin your
    testimony. Thank you.

                  STATEMENT OF ANGELA DINE SCHMEISSER

        Ms. DINE SCHMEISSER. Good morning, Chairman Brat, Ranking
    Member Evans, and members of the Committee. Thank you for the
    opportunity to testify today to discuss the skills gap and
    workforce shortage facing U.S. metal casting industry and for
    taking the time and energy to address this challenge.
        As announced, I am Angela Dine Schmeisser, fourth
    generation president of St. Marys Foundry. My great grandfather
    started our manufacturing facility in 1917 in St. Marys, Ohio.
    I care about the state of manufacturing in our country, which
    is why I am here today, and which is why I actively participate
    in the American Foundry Society and serve on the board and as
    president of the Ohio Cast Metals Association.
        Ohio remains among the top three States for manufacturing
    employment in the country, and is also home to over 150 metal
    casting facilities, which is the highest concentration of metal
    casters in the Nation. Metal casting is one of our Nation's
    oldest and most important industries, as castings made from
    iron, steel, or aluminum alloys are used to produce 90 percent
    of manufactured durable goods and nearly all manufacturing
    machinery in the U.S.
        Today, St. Marys Foundry employs 160 associates and
    manufactures iron castings ranging from 500 to 60,000 pounds.
    We melt scrap metal, add necessary alloys, and transform them
    into key components, such as compression cylinders for the
    natural gas pipeline and diffusers for flood control. If you
    have ever used natural gas, I can proudly say one of our fine
    castings has touched your lives.
        As you know, America's labor shortage has reached a record
    high, and as Chairman Brat said, with U.S. unemployment rate
    dropping to an 18-year low of 3.8 percent in May, this is a
    real challenge. If you gather a group of metal casters and ask
    them what their biggest challenge is today, more than 80
    percent will cite the talent shortage of both skilled and
    unskilled workers. This shortage threatens to slow the economy,
    impede manufacturers' ability to deliver on customer demands,
    burn out our workers, and hurt our bottom line through lost
    revenues and lost opportunities.
        At St. Marys Foundry, we have a great working environment
    with competitive wages and benefits, and we are still
    struggling to fill job openings. We are challenged on a number
    of fronts: an aging workforce, local housing shortages, a local
    unemployment rate averaging 2.8 percent, the drug epidemic, and
    less people choosing manufacturing careers due to the
    perception that manufacturing is outdated and legacy work. With
    a combination of all these factors, the shortage of skilled and
    unskilled workers has turned into a perfect storm.
        We currently have 16 openings for a variety of jobs
    specific to our industry, such as casting finishers and mold
    makers. In January, we held a job fair. We promoted the fair on
    our Facebook page, put up billboards along the interstate, and
    encouraged our employees through incentives to promote our job
    openings on social media. Our job fair resulted in 76
    applicants, which we felt was successful. However, out of those
    76 applicants, 46 failed the onsite drug test, and six
    applicants didn't follow up on the next step of the interview
    process. We ended up hiring 24 applicants, and now, primarily
    due to attendance issues, only four of these individuals remain
    employed at the foundry today.
        As you can see from the results of our job fair, finding
    applicants, especially drug-free applicants, is a real
    struggle. Typically, only 25 to 30 percent of perspective
    employees can pass the drug test. Given the fact that we have
    heavy equipment and molten metal in foundries, it is vitally
    important that our workers are drug free.
        Our industry is stepping up and making a commitment to
    actively reach out to introduce the metal casting process to
    local elementary, middle schools, high schools, and other
    venues. Foundries are working with their local labor
    departments, technical colleges, veteran organizations, and
    correctional facilities for referrals. We are providing in-
    house training, including apprenticeships for our more
    technical positions, and paying for our associates to go to
    technical classes.
        There is a role for Congress to help facilitate the
    rebuilding of this pipeline of students into manufacturing by
    refocusing resources in vocational and technical programs
    available to high schools and community colleges across the
    country.
        We appreciate the House passing the Strengthening Career
    and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, also known as
    the Carl Perkins Career and Technical Education bill, which
    provides resources for secondary schools and community colleges
    to teach manufacturing skills and other technical trades. I
    understand that the Senate Health Committee is scheduled to act
    on several Perkins Career and Technical Education bills on June
    20, and I hope that the Senate will vote to move forward on
    bipartisan legislation soon.
        In addition, it would be helpful if Congress would fully
    fund the Perkins Career and Technical Education Act. Increasing
    student participation in work-based learning opportunities
    would go a long way to help increase interest in manufacturing
    job opportunities. I personally believe we should also consider
    connecting these educational programs to drug rehabilitation
    programs and behavioral correction programs for exponential
    success.
        I want to thank you again for the opportunity to be here
    today and share our company and industry workforce challenges,
    and I look forward to your questions.
        Chairman BRAT. Thank you very much for that compelling
    testimony. It was very good.
        And now I would like to yield to our Ranking Member, Mr.
    Evans, for introduction of the final witness.
        Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        It is my pleasure to introduce Mr. Bryant Greene, owner and
    administrator of Always Best Care, a senior service healthcare
    serving greater Philadelphia. He has a TV and radio show ``Did
    You Know'' connecting people to home, community, and business
    resources. Mr. Bryant is the advisory board over 1199C, an
    ASME-affiliated labor management partnership. They provide
    training to community members, as well as union members, to
    help secure a skilled workforce, something his industry is in
    dire need of acquiring.
        Mr. Greene is a graduate of Philadelphia University where
    he received his MBA.
        Welcome, Mr. Greene.

                       STATEMENT OF BRYANT GREENE

        Mr. GREENE. Thank you.
        Good morning, Chairman Brat, Ranking Member Evans, and
    distinguished members of the Subcommittee. Thank you for
    convening today's hearing on small business workforce
    development needs and how to address the skills gap.
        My name is Bryant Greene, and I am the owner of Always Best
    Care Senior Services in both Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and
    throughout Delaware. Always Best Care Senior Services is one of
    the Nation's leading providers of nonmedical in-home care,
    assisted living placement services, and skilled home
    healthcare.
        It is an honor for me to be here today to testify before
    this Subcommittee and to share my experience as a private
    sector employer working to address the skills gap in my
    industry.
        As the owner of Always Best Care, I have more than 25 years
    of day-to-day operations experience, which includes staffing
    and workforce development in a healthcare environment. In
    addition to my experience in home healthcare, I currently serve
    on the public policy committee/political action committee board
    of the Pennsylvania Home Care Association, and I am a member of
    the Board of Trustees of the Philadelphia University Legacy
    Board, now acquired by Thomas Jefferson University; the
    Overbrook School for the Blind in Philadelphia; the Magee
    Rehabilitation Hospital Foundation Board of Directors; and the
    board of Philadanco.
        Growing up, I was a part of the family who qualified for
    1199C benefits, which provide eligible union members with
    comprehensive educational services in the healthcare field. As
    a result, my mother, grandmother, and I were able to attend
    college in the same timeframe, giving us a chance to persist
    and succeed in our chosen fields. Without access to this type
    of targeted training, I would not be where I am today.
        Middle-skill jobs like those at Always Best Care Senior
    Services account for 53 percent of United States labor market,
    but only 43 percent of the country's workers are trained at the
    middle-skill level. In healthcare industries, this skills gap
    is even more pronounced.
        Home healthcare is one of the fastest growing industries in
    the U.S. As the labor market has tightened, employers like
    Always Best Care increasingly struggle to identify hires with
    credentials and work experience, both of which are required to
    earn licenses. When there were more workers looking for jobs,
    new entrants earned work experience in helper roles, enabling a
    constant stream of newly licensed workers to meet middle-skill
    demand. With lower levels of unemployment, the pipeline no
    longer exists.
        For small- and middle-sized businesses like Always Best
    Care in particular, the skill care gap can create daunting
    challenges when it comes to hiring and retaining workers.
        Challenges in recruiting workers. First, quality in-home
    care requires the right kind of person. Always Best Care looks
    for kind, compassionate caregivers who treat clients with
    dignity and respect. We provide in-home care services, both
    companion and personal care. We serve patients with
    Alzheimer's, dementia, and cancer. In addition to comfort and
    companionship, we offer dressing, escort transportation,
    errands, bathing and grooming, incontinence care, light
    housekeeping, grocery shopping and meal preparation, laundry,
    and medication reminders.
        Recruiting the right person for this work requires
    significant outreach to our communities, a detailed interview
    process, and a structured onboarding process. Always Best Care
    has over 1,000 caregivers, but we can't do this on our own. We
    have worked with the PA career link, diversity career fairs,
    social organizations, and training programs like 1199C to
    recruit individuals into the field. These community
    partnerships help us identify a diverse set of workers across
    our service area and fill roles in the company.
        I also work with community organizations and reentry
    programs that serve individuals who have been released from
    incarceration. The Pennsylvania Older Adult Protective Services
    Act, OAPSA, requires all home care agencies to complete
    criminal background checks prior to hire. However, a 2015 court
    decision by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania known as Peake v.
    Commonwealth found lifetime bans on unemployment
    unconstitutional. Although background checks are still
    required, the Department of Aging now recommends that providers
    perform a risk assessment if they choose to hire an individual
    with a prior criminal conviction. While we are awaiting more
    guidance from the State, we believe this is a step in the right
    direction and urge Federal policymakers to consider similar
    measures when it comes to addressing barriers to hiring.
        Challenges training new and incumbent workers. Training new
    workers in home healthcare requires dedication and intensity.
    All of the jobs at Always Best Care call for on-the-job
    training to ensure each client has access to quality,
    personalized individual home care program. Every one of our
    team members and caregivers receive comprehensive training
    before assigned on a care plan. Our workers also achieve
    periodic reviews and upskilling opportunities. To help
    provide--I am about to run out of time, sorry.
        Chairman BRAT. That is okay.
        Mr. GREENE. To help provide greater opportunities for our
    workers, I sit on the advisory board of 1199C Training and
    Upgrading Fund, AFSCME-affiliated labor management partnership.
    I along with several other business leaders work with 1199C
    staff to identify core competencies in home healthcare workers
    and translate into curriculum and training 1199C can deliver,
    complemented by the training my team can deliver workers on the
    job.
        This partnership is vital but takes significant work.
    Currently, 1199C is a funding portion of their work and
    subsidizing the cost of training through Federal Department of
    Labor grants and with funding from Workforce Innovation and
    Opportunity Act. I urge policymakers to continue investments in
    our workforce and apprenticeship systems, as they are crucial
    to supporting the efforts of small business workers to close
    the skills gap.
        Challenges retaining workers. Retaining workers is also a
    tremendous challenge. Much of my workforce consists of part-
    time workers, since the average care plan is 3 to 6 hours a
    day. Additionally, because of low Medicaid reimbursement rates,
    home care agencies can only afford to pay $10 to $12 an hour,
    on average. Given the nature of tasks caregivers must perform
    daily, I feel this level of compensation is inadequate, not
    enough, and does not provide an incentive for individuals to
    remain in the field. These workers can easily find higher pay
    in retail and food service industries, which is one of the main
    reasons the industry has a turnover rate of 70 percent.
        Also, the insufficient Medicaid reimbursement rate makes it
    difficult for home care agencies to cover the increasing cost
    of providing care and services to seniors. Within the last 6
    months, additional background check and child abuse clearance
    requirements for home healthcare workers have been handed down
    by the State of Pennsylvania. While these background checks are
    undeniably important, the cost of hiring just one direct care
    worker is projected to increase by $43 in 2019, yet Medicaid
    reimbursement rates are set to stay the same.
        In conclusion, we can all agree that home healthcare
    workers are crucial to providing high quality to some of the
    most vulnerable members of our society. I am here today to tell
    you that our industry is facing significant hurdles when it
    comes to building and maintaining a strong pipeline of workers,
    and there is no doubt in my mind that this will adversely
    affect millions of Americans if not corrected.
        I ask that the Federal policymakers work to help provide
    education and training opportunities to individuals from all
    backgrounds who are likely to find and retain gainful
    employment. We cannot afford to miss this opportunity too close
    to our Nation's growing skills gap.
        Thank you.
        Chairman BRAT. Great. Thank you very much, Mr. Greene, for
    your testimony.
        All four of you together put together, I don't want to say
    a depressing package, but a set of challenges right from
    mobility through, Ms. Dine Schmeisser, I think you gave us
    quite a list. And I will just go over that and just kind of at
    a gut feel, if you each just want, we will start with Mr. Hitt,
    and if you want to move down.
        You started off with 76 applicants, and then the whole
    panel brought up showing up on time, quitting, 70 percent
    turnover, the stigma of going to college versus getting
    technical skills in K to 12, people being skill ready, huge
    dropoff due to the drug issue, labor mobility. And so you are
    at the Federal Government right now, and in some ways, we can
    be very helpful on certain policy levers and on others it is
    very blunt.
        So like on education, K to 12, we probably control 10
    percent of the funding, et cetera, right, and then State and
    local is 90 percent. But we do put mandates down, right? And we
    lifted mandates last year. And so the only required testing
    going forward under last year's education bill for K to 12 now
    is going to be math and reading, et cetera. And schools are
    free to do and have a little more flexibility.
        So I am curious to hear your--if we are spending $13,000 a
    year per kid for 13 years, what can we do to get folks ready
    for the labor market in a better way K to 12? And then higher
    ed, you gave some hints as to where Perkins loans and those
    kind of things, how can we shift things. And then these are a
    lot of band-aid programs, and Mr. Hitt is kind of getting at
    the bigger package of labor mobility, making sure we are
    getting people to the right labor markets in the first place.
    But there is a daunting task, right, when you go from 76 apps
    to 46 drugs to showing up on time, setting the alarm clock in
    the morning, work ethic is involved. And this is common, right,
    this is what we hear, and that is why we are having this
    hearing. It is a daunting challenge.
        And so, Mr. Hitt, the Federal Government--I mean, and don't
    limit yourself to what the Federal Government can do, but where
    would you--right, in economics you do efficiency and you aim
    for the low hanging fruit first. Where would you aim our
    resources to get the biggest bang for the buck in terms of
    improving this situation?
        Mr. HITT. Well, Chairman Brat, for me, ultimately, the
    number of people in the country feeling disenfranchised because
    of the labor issues that we have go to the American Dream. The
    American Dream is the belief that your children will do better
    than you. They will always be set up to do better than you. And
    when you lose that vision of that American Dream, and people
    think that they can't possibly do better than their parents
    did, and their parents can't do better, aren't mobile enough to
    move to a higher paying job in a better spot, then I think you
    do get this inertia that we have in the country right now. And
    in middle America, many people are stuck.
        From my perspective, I would be incentivizing big business
    to get these people moved. And that, to me, are tax credits,
    tax breaks, maybe on a multiple--you know, to go ahead and move
    people. If you think about it right now, there are people in
    the country who, you know, their houses are still upsidedown in
    pockets of the country. You know, so the idea of moving from
    maybe Youngstown to Seattle, it is untenable because your house
    is still $50,000 upsidedown and you are working two jobs. So
    these are huge problems, I think.
        I also think, to the problem that Ms. Dime Schmeisser has,
    I think that you are really talking about great education and
    market at the education level K through 12. We need to change
    the way we educate people, and we need to let them see the
    future of what can happen in our job markets. We are rolling
    through a very digitized economy right now, and it is going to
    move far faster than we ever saw the economy moved through the
    industrial revolution. It is going to move in 15 years where
    the industrial revolution took us 35. It is going to move
    quickly. So we want to let them know that through spot
    education that there are great opportunities coming for them in
    other areas in other industries.
        So that is where I would start, because I think when you
    have 46 applicants where over 50 percent failing a drug test,
    you have a far bigger problem, and to me that goes right back
    to the American Dream. They need to believe that there is great
    hope and that their future will be better and better. It is in
    our DNA. It is why we are Americans. It is why we originally
    came here. We all came here from somewhere, right? Over 200
    years ago. It is in our DNA to move. And I think I made the
    point in my testimony, in my written testimony that we were
    moving at rates of 22 percent. That is almost one in four
    Americans every year moved. It is almost like that sort of gold
    rush dream, you know, I have got to move for a better
    opportunity. The impacts of this are huge.
        Think about a recession. When you have a recession and you
    are in it, you might be in a recession for 3 years, but when
    people are moving to find that better opportunity, they are
    picking up GDP by going where jobs are instead of just staying
    stuck in that spot. So you actually have--recessions are
    actually balanced out when people are moving. So, to me,
    mobility is the number one issue we have. It is not talked
    about enough, and I would like to see it be at the forefront,
    and I would like to see these solutions start to be tested and
    start to be implemented so we can actually get these people
    moving again and get them in better spots and better jobs.
        Chairman BRAT. Great. Thank you much.
        We will circle around to everyone else on the panel with
    that question coming up too, but I want to yield to the Ranking
    Member.
        Dwight, why don't you kick it off.
        Mr. EVANS. Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
        Mr. Hitt, I want to go to something that this Committee was
    conducting a discussion last week and see if you can reconcile
    this balance. We just held a hearing on millennium
    entrepreneurship. We talked about the gig economy, and we found
    that many are choosing to work for themselves for many reasons.
    How do we balance the need for encouraging more startup
    activity with ensuring the next generation of workers also
    consider the skilled workforce?
        Mr. HITT. Yes, I think it is a tough one. You know, we went
    through--you know, unfortunately, we went through a financial
    crisis in 2006, 2007 and 2008, you know, and millennials were
    caught up. I hate to call them millennials, they are just, you
    know, the next generation, young, hardworking Americans. You
    know, they were caught up in a time that was tough for them.
    Many of them went through foreclosures on their homes. Many of
    them saw their parents lose their jobs. Many of them watched
    some big business get sort of taken out and taken out to
    pasture a little bit for failures that, you know, they had, and
    so they lost some of their faith in big business. So the idea
    of working for yourself is actually a great thing for them. I
    think it is a natural reaction, human nature to feel that way,
    right?
        So I think what we need to be doing are simple things to
    bring them back in to big business to help train them so that
    they are actually in a better position to go out and take
    advantage of the gig economy. You know, part of that is making
    sure that we are talking about all the wonderful things that
    are happening in big business, Congressman, you know, that 99
    percent of big business and small business, you know, they are
    wonderful actors. You know, they are conscious, you know, about
    their capital's pursuits. And so I would like to see more of
    that and more discussion of that on broader things.
        And then I think from the perspective of startup activity,
    you know, we didn't incentivize investment and startup
    activity. I mean, we are involved in that. You know, we are
    involved in the venture world in a very big way. And, you know,
    from our perspective, you know, there is great opportunity in
    that world, and we want to attract millennials into that space
    as well. So we have--sort of have both these spaces that we
    want to, you know, be incentivizing them to jump in and get
    into the labor force.
        Mr. EVANS. Mr. Greene, me--can you speak about the
    important training programs with a chronic unemployed that can
    help aid the growth of our economy?
        Mr. GREENE. So the stigma associated with technical
    training in place of a 4-year degree will be a difficult one to
    erase in today's youth. However, the growing cost of
    postsecondary education, young adults are beginning to
    recognize that the technical careers can play in reducing or
    even preventing student loan debt and starting them on an
    earlier path to financial independence. Successful training
    programs need to take advantage of their graduates and alumni
    and use peer reviews to entice other young adults into the
    field. Students do not respond well to schools and counselors
    pushing them toward technical training, but they appreciate the
    experience of their peers in their generation who have taken
    this option and can prove that in a promising career.
        I just think that, you know, these organizations that
    exist, you have to make them more available, make them more
    known. The community partnerships, the not-for-profits, all of
    that out there, you just have to evangelize it better amongst,
    I guess, the growing workforce.
        Mr. EVANS. You used an interesting word. You said
    ``evangelize.'' You think we are at that point that we have to
    do that?
        Mr. GREENE. We have to, and we have to--I say that because,
    you know, you look at how we are communicating as a whole. I
    mean, you know, how are we--the traditional putting an ad in
    the paper for programs or jobs is just, in my opinion, obsolete
    amongst the young folks. They want to see things, or they look
    for jobs on Craigslist, at least in my workforce, you know,
    which is highly part time. So when I say evangelize, yes, of
    course, evangelize on social media, on radio, TV. You know,
    every time you turn on the TV now, you hear one or more
    programs, but sometimes to the young people that translates to
    debt.
        So I think they have to see the reward to really with the--
    you can't get instant gratification all the time in this
    workforce. You have to put in the time, and I think that is the
    balance of what millennials don't see. They want instant
    gratification, and as you asked the question about
    entrepreneurship, it is the freedom--as I talk to them a lot, a
    lot of times I am connecting young people--in my season, I am
    connecting young people a lot of times to older folks, which is
    kind of an intergenerational vibe, if you will. But when you
    talk to young people and you listen to them, they want the
    freedom of the entrepreneur spirit as opposed to routine. So I
    guess it is nonconformity, and bring them into the workforce to
    know that they have value.
        Mr. EVANS. I yield back the balance of my time. Thank you,
    Mr. Chairman.
        Chairman BRAT. Thank you, Mr. Evans.
        I would like to now yield to my good friend from South
    Carolina, Ralph Norman.
        Mr. NORMAN. Thank you, Chairman Brat.
        I want to thank the panel for taking the time to come
    today. It is valuable to hear your comments.
        I am a contractor and, you know, the challenge that I see
    for hiring people is if you are 19, have never worked, it is
    kind of hard to get them in the routine. That is a society
    problem to have people work as they come up, but that is an
    issue now.
        But, Mr. McCreight, we have in our area colleges, technical
    schools. And do you find businesses partnering with them to,
    one, let the millennials know that a welder, a framer, a truck
    driver with a CDL can make 80 to--on up thousand a year? Have
    you all partnered with them? And if not, how do we spur that
    on?
        Mr. MCCREIGHT. Yes, we definitely have partnered with them.
    I can remember, you know, maybe 15, 20 years ago, if you had
    openings, you would just send the openings over to the
    community college and then they would send you some applicants,
    and that was how you would hire from them. And it is not like
    that anymore, because everybody wants to access that pool that
    is there. And so it is almost a cradle-to-career kind of
    approach. You have got to get in there early in high school.
        I think there is a stigma, maybe I will speak to the
    manufacturing piece, that it is not cool to be in
    manufacturing. But you are exactly right, there are so many
    great jobs that you don't have to go to college for. And I know
    States have--in our State of Tennessee, we have promoted that.
    I know the other southeast States have promoted that because of
    the influx of the automotive jobs that we have seen over really
    the last 25 or 30 years. But we have got to do a better job of
    making it cool to be in manufacturing, and you don't have to go
    to--you know, even go to community college. You can literally
    be an apprentice right out of high school, come in and have a
    great job and have a great career.
        Mr. NORMAN. I just got off a panel with opioid addictions.
    What--and this is to not any particular person, what is your
    take on beginning to solve that? And how would you--as a
    business person, how would you start the ball to try to unravel
    that issue?
        Mr. Hitt, I will start with you.
        Mr. HITT. Well, I think we need programs that, you know,
    obviously add a mental health element to the hiring and
    training issues that we have. I mean, clearly, you know where I
    stand on this. I mean, you know, you fall into these huge
    crises in our country when people are feeling disenfranchised.
    There is a reason we have an opioid conflict. It just didn't
    pop up. You know, it comes from a lack of opportunity and a
    feeling of disenfranchisement. And I think that there is some
    failed leadership in our business communities. There is
    probably some failed leadership, you know, overall in the
    country in this entire area.
        You can't just have people on the coasts being wonderfully
    prosperous and people around middle America not being
    prosperous. And so I do think this come down to programs that,
    again, move people where the opportunity is and create
    incentives for opportunities where they do live so we can
    create better jobs for them there. Then you can work on the
    training element of it, and through the training element of it,
    certainly mental health has to be a part of that.
        We don't do a great job in this country in the mental
    health area. It is an area that we should be focusing on more.
    If anybody in the room has any experience in it, you know, with
    children or family members, you probably understand the
    frustration, you know, of trying to get the appropriate help
    for people that are, you know, addicted to something or
    depressed or have anxiety disorders. You know, these are big
    issues, you know, and they are not solved with a snap of the
    finger, so real leadership has to come.
        And I think it comes back to incentivizing business to step
    in and work with, you know, both local and State governments
    and the Federal Government to help solve these problems. Get
    people in jobs. The dignity and respect that comes with a job,
    you know, the ability to go home and actually enjoy your
    weekend with your family, you know, instead of going to work
    the second or third job to try to make ends meet where you are
    and you become critically underemployed. I mean, it is a very
    vicious circle, you know, that is there. So that is how I would
    address it, Congressman.
        Mr. NORMAN. Anybody else want to take a pop at that?
        Mr. GREENE. Sure. I deal with recovering addicts all the
    time, and so, I guess, again, what we have started to do, at
    least with the reentry programs where people have been recently
    released from incarceration, we try to connect those folks with
    the folks that are currently going through a stage in their
    addiction. Addressing it first. I guess, you know, a lot of
    times in the culture people, have to reach their bottom, but if
    you are trying to address it positively, I think you just have
    to keep in tune with the outreach, understand why, you know,
    different folks are getting high or seeking to get high, and
    then really connecting them to the multiple choice of what
    happens if you continue to get high.
        There are all types of programs out there, and the ones
    that are successful are the ones that have people that have
    joined that haven't been forced by their parole officer or by a
    judge or by a priest or by a family member. The most successful
    programs that I work with are the ones that people have hit
    rock bottom and want to make a change.
        And so then when you talk to people that are currently
    using, at least it has been my experience, you just continue to
    encourage them to make better choices, and give them better
    options out there, whether that be in entertainment,
    horticulture, art, different things and different hobbies.
        A lot of times if we talk to, particularly young people,
    they don't feel that they have a lot of options. There is a lot
    of depression, and I know it personally because I raised a
    child with depression. So, you know, you really have to really
    have this honest assessment and you have to deal with it. You
    know, you have to deal with it directly.
        And again, I guess what we are trying to do, and in a lot
    of ways we have reached some success, is that we connect folks
    that have gone through addiction and are on the other side of
    it, and we continue to talk to the people that are going
    through it currently.
        Mr. NORMAN. Great. I am out of time. Thank you so much.
        Chairman BRAT. Thank you, Ralph.
        I would like to yield to Stephanie Murphy of Florida.
        Mrs. MURPHY. Thank you all for being here. I really
    appreciate it.
        And, Mr. McCreight, I appreciate you showing us a sample of
    how virtual reality can be integrated for training. I represent
    a district in Orlando that is known for being the hub of
    modeling, simulation, and training, and there are a number of
    companies there that build those machines just--or technology
    just like the one that you showed to train people in the
    healthcare space, for military purposes, and a variety of other
    jobs. And so I think it is an exciting space that we are
    probably likely to see more of as we look at workforce
    training.
        But my question, you know, we have held a similar hearing
    here on this Committee where we discussed the possible causes
    of this persistent skill gap problem, labor force job gap
    issue, and one idea is that schools might not be adequately
    preparing students with the exact skills that they need for
    specific jobs. And on the other side, it appears that there is
    a guessing game that students have to play as far as what jobs
    might exist. So as they try to figure out what to go to school
    for, they are not quite sure what the demand signal on the
    other side is.
        And so it is suggested there is a communications gap
    between higher ed and industry or educational institutions and
    industry. And, in fact, in 2012, a McKinsey report found that
    72 percent of higher education institutions believe that
    graduates are fully prepared for the workforce, and only 42
    percent of employers agree.
        So what kinds of things do you think we can do to close
    this gap, better prepare our students, also give them a better
    sense of what the demand signals are from industry? Kind of
    open question.
        Mr. MCCREIGHT. I will start. I think that, you know, there
    is, to me, there is two skills gaps. There is the technical
    skills gap, which I showed on the forklift of how we would
    address that, and then we also see what we call the soft skill
    gap or basic skills, and it is things that you just would not
    think you would have to teach someone, which is showing up for
    work on time and not walking off a job, or if you are going to
    be out calling in advance, and things that probable many of us
    were just inherent in maybe the way we were raised or a
    culture. And, you know, so we find that we are having to teach
    that, which is really surprising. As an employer, you wouldn't
    think you would have to do that. And I do think that the K
    through 12 could address that in some form or manner, and
    whether it is job readiness or how they would do that, rather
    than the employers.
        I think probably most of us have stories of that that we
    just can't believe that these people don't understand kind of
    the basic 101 of working.
        Mr. GREENE. I think that public schools can do a better job
    of discussing postsecondary training options, but the better
    solution is creating more opportunity for public and private
    efforts. Schools should have relationships with local training
    institutions that can talk about what students can expect in
    their programs and what kind of positions and salaries they can
    attain with training.
        We are going to be participating with a program, as I sit
    here and think about it, with 1199C, again, with high school
    students. And so getting them more involved or at least, you
    know, 4 days out of a workweek. And again, you know, in my--
    again, in my workspace in terms of workers, at least caregivers
    are in a situation where they are in a lot of ways highly
    unsupervised.
        But when we talk about soft skills too, I think another
    thing that we talk about, again, with young people, a lot of
    times with the seniors, is just general courtesy. A good
    morning, good afternoon. Putting down the cell phones. You
    know, we have almost gotten to a culture, at least in my place,
    where the cell phones are a big no-no in the workplace because
    people can't live without them. But when you talk to young
    people, you know, we try to tell them we don't want to talk to
    the top of your head, we want to talk to your face. And it is
    reinforced in our workforce because, again, we are connecting a
    lot of times this intergenerational vibe where we are putting a
    young person into a senior's home.
        And for me, the struggle is twofold. One, there are not a
    lot of people standing in a long line to be a caregiver to help
    people for the low salary that we can offer because of the
    Medicaid rate. But the other part of it is too, a lot of the
    young people are, I don't want to say entitled so much as
    uninformed. And the attention span of trying to keep them
    sometimes engaged, because that is--it is not my only
    workforce, I supervise probably four generations of folk. And
    so really, again, just having diversity and inclusion, but soft
    skills training, more intern programs, you know, and really
    making it more attractive for employers like myself to get
    involved with kind of training programs, creating some type of
    benefit for that.
        Mrs. MURPHY. Thank you. And I yield back.
        Chairman BRAT. All right. I get now to yield to my boss,
    the Chairman of the full Committee, Steve Chabot, and thank you
    very much.
        Mr. CHABOT. Thank you very much, Mr. Chairman.
        And I apologize if any of the questions I ask have already
    been asked. I had another hearing going on, which I have to go
    back to, but Small Business Committee is the most important
    committee in Congress so those others can wait. That is my
    attitude. I know that is the others as well.
        The first question I would like to ask is kind of relative
    to the education system. It seems like obviously, you know,
    parents, at least a lot of us, perhaps have encouraged our
    young folks over the years that a 4-year college is absolutely
    critical nowadays. But in reality, obviously, there is a lot of
    jobs and opportunities out there that don't require a 4-year
    degree, you know, a 2-year community college degree, or
    vocational degree, or a technical certification of some sort or
    another.
        And if you could, whoever would like to, just kind of
    address that issue and perhaps how we ought to look at that
    either differently or more thoughtfully or just kind of as a
    society. Are we pushing too many of our young people into 4-
    year liberal arts degrees when perhaps there are other
    alternatives to that? Anybody like to address that?
        Ms. DINE SCHMEISSER. I am going to go ahead and jump in so
    I have a chance to respond. I think a lot of it is about what
    the panel has said today, redefining the American Dream. What
    does it mean to have it all? Because I think have it all now
    can be a home that you can pay for and children you can clothe
    and food you can buy. And there is a housing shortage, but the
    stigma does start with how you are raised, and I think business
    can do a lot about that.
        If you put yourself out in the community and you connect,
    and--like when we got business of the year, I made sure we
    talked about that a lot, so that that is something they can
    talk about around the table, and say, hey, I wonder what they
    are doing down there, and make it seem--make people realize
    that there is opportunities that aren't 4-year colleges.
        In the educational system. I just had a son graduate. No
    one talked to him about any other choices other than college,
    and at graduation, the kids that didn't go to college, they
    didn't even announce what their future plans were going to be.
    And I think we could really glorify that and make it seem
    better by the fact that if the Federal Government thinks it is
    important enough to increase Pell grants, or technical colleges
    or vocational schools get more money, then it must be a really
    big need.
        And I think when there is a lot said about millennials that
    is not kind, but I do think they go where they are needed. They
    feel a draw to being needed and being part of a bigger picture
    and being part of something that is successful. And I know when
    we wanted to get--when we want more employees, I realized I had
    to reintroduce ourselves to the community, because the image we
    had was old and dated. And so what we did was ask the
    employees, what is important to you? What is important to your
    kids? Where should we be?
        We pay our employees to volunteer in the community. People
    see that and they say, wow, I would like to be part of that.
    And I think that same energy can be put towards vocational
    schools and technical colleges or, you know, really on-the-job
    training is huge. There is nothing that can be offered at a
    vocational school that we need, other than like forklift
    training. Everything we teach is on the job. But I would love
    it if somebody in K through 12 would have a life skills class
    so they know how to balance a checkbook or get to work on time
    and realize they have to bring a lunch with them. No one is
    going to give them lunch at work.
        There is so many things that they really don't know, and I
    can say that without, you know, being smug because my son is
    one of them. The first day he showed up for summer internship,
    he didn't understand why there wasn't a lunch for him just
    because everywhere else he had worked had been so generous and
    things like that. So I think there is a lot of things they
    don't know.
        And I agree, it is not because they are entitled, they are
    just completely uninformed. And I think a lot of it comes from
    the support they get at home, what they see both--maybe both
    parents are super busy, and they don't have time to show them
    that. So as business leaders and elected officials, we have to
    show them what is important in life and what matters and what
    will get them recognition.
        Mr. CHABOT. Thank you very much.
        Mr. Chairman, I will yield back my time. Thank you.
        Chairman BRAT. Well, I think we couldn't have had a better
    panel today. I appreciate just--we covered, I think, the full
    spectrum of all the issues. And the closing, that was fantastic
    testimony you just gave that I think will give us plenty to
    think about to move forward on. And that is why we do hold
    these panels. We do seek your input. I am from the business
    community, and we are going to prepare another round and zoom
    in until we hit the target and solve the problem.
        And so I want to again thank all of our panelists today for
    coming in and sharing your time and expertise.
        I ask unanimous consent that members have 5 legislative
    days to submit statements and supporting materials for the
    record. Without objection, so ordered.
        This hearing is now adjourned. And thank you again very
    much.
        [Whereupon, at 11:07 a.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]

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