[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.]
A P P E N D I X
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