[Congressional Record Volume 141, Number 141 (Tuesday, September 12, 1995)]
[Senate]
[Page S13478]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]


  THE INCREASING AND IMPORTANT ROLE OF PRIVATE TRAINING FACILITIES IN 
                          WORK FORCE TRAINING

 Mr. GORTON. Mr. President, today I bring to the attention of 
my colleagues an industry that is growing almost unnoticed in this 
country, an industry that demonstrates the ability of the private 
sector to meet the challenges posed by our expanding and 
technologically advanced economy. I am speaking of the hundreds of 
private professional firms across the Nation that provide job training 
to American workers. Since the early 1980's, a new breed of high-
quality private sector training providers have proliferated in response 
to the need of business and industry for highly skilled workers. This 
is especially true of providers who train people who train people in 
the information-technology sector of the American economy.
  Each year, American employers wisely spend billions of dollars to 
train and educate their employees. This training enhances the skills of 
those workers and often enables them to assume new, more challenging 
positions. The training market in information technology alone--which 
is one of the fastest growing and most promising sectors of our 
economy--totaled $2 billion in 1994, and almost all of this need was 
met with private sector resources. Private professional firms have 
developed extensive programs and nationwide networks to serve the huge 
and growing needs of large and small businesses in this field. Many of 
these firms, although often small enterprises, work in partnerships 
with large employers who demand that they provide only the highest 
quality training and who require that they teach skills that conform to 
industry-based benchmarks and standards.
  Today, training providers, which include both public education 
institutions and private training companies, are using skill standards 
as benchmarks to develop their courses and to prepare professional 
workers for exams that will certify them as qualified to perform 
certain high-skill jobs. Skill standards in this context are not rigid 
definitions of ``jobs,'' but rather a large comprehensive set of well 
articulated, competency-based skill statements that are industry driven 
and nationally recognized. By reflecting the true and detailed needs of 
the workplace, and by being used in the hiring, promotion, and training 
of the work force, these become de facto standards at the national 
level, and they transcend national borders as do businesses in today's 
global economy. In short, private sector training providers in the 
information-technology field reflect developments in the marketplace 
and prepare individuals to handle the jobs of the future.
  According to Training magazine, U.S. organizations with 100 employees 
or more spent $48 billion on training in 1993, and it is likely that 
the total increased in 1994 and will again in 1995. Employers are 
recognizing the need to train the individuals they hire in order to 
keep pace with rapidly evolving technology and to remain competitive in 
the global economy. Nowhere is training more important than in the 
information-technology industries, where technological innovations and 
product upgrades that require new or enhanced skills are coming to 
market everyday.
  Within the information-technology industry it is clear that private 
sector training providers are one of the main resources to turn to for 
training. for example, most of the large American software companies 
use what is known as a leveraged training mode, wherein independent 
training providers develop courses that teach individuals how to 
operate the application or
 systems of a given software company. In turn, the software company 
will denote the training provider as one that is authorized to award 
certification in the operation or maintenance of that company's 
products. This is just one of many examples of how corporations and 
smaller businesses are using the resources of private training 
providers.

  Whether individuals are updating their skills to improve performance 
on the job or are unemployed and seeking new skills, by completing 
training and receiving an industry recognized credential they are 
improving their own career prospects as well as keeping the American 
work force competitive.
  These training centers must meet the demands of industry and of the 
market that will eventually employ their students; therefore they must 
provide only the highest quality training. And while the information-
technology market demands quality, it also demands more and more 
qualified individuals each year. For example, the software and 
computing industry grew at an annual rate of over 28 percent between 
1980 and 1992, while the GDP for that time averaged 2.4-percent growth. 
Not only is the number of jobs in this field increasing, but those jobs 
pay wages that are significantly higher than wages in many other 
industries. In addition, given that the information-technology 
companies have no geographic-specific resource requirements, they 
contribute to the economy of virtually every State in the country.
  Mr. President, it is quite apparent that the individuals with high-
technology skills are in great demand throughout the Nation, and it is 
apparent that the demand will only increase. Private training providers 
have been rising to this challenge, and they have done so with 
entrepreneurial vigor and a commitment to quality. As the number of 
people in need of training increases, and as the number of people that 
organizations intend to train outstrips their capability to train them 
in house, private sector providers of training services will become an 
ever more important part of the American economy.
  It has been my pleasure today to recognize and share with my 
colleagues the merits of this growing American industry.


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