Today, First Lady Jill Biden will join leaders in Columbus, Ohio as the city holds a kickoff for its Workforce Hub and announces plans to ensure students and workers have access to good-paying jobs created by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda. In May, the Biden-Harris Administration named Columbus as one of five Workforce Hubs—along with Pittsburgh, Augusta, Baltimore, and Phoenix—where historic legislation passed by President Biden, including the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS and Science Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, are catalyzing private and public investments and creating good-paying jobs. These investments demonstrate how Bidenomics—President Biden’s vision for growing the economy from the middle out and bottom up—is creating jobs and opportunity in cities and states across the country.
Columbus has emerged as a center of investment in key industries—including semiconductor manufacturing, clean energy, biotechnology, high-performance computing, and transportation. The Administration is working alongside Mayor Andrew Ginther and Columbus State Community College (CSCC) to bring together other institutions of higher education, employers, unions, high schools, and other stakeholders to ensure a diverse and skilled workforce that can meet the demand for labor driven by investments in and around Columbus
Today, Hub partners are announcing the following commitments and goals to expand pathways into these good jobs:
- SCC will work with partners across the state to quadruple the number of students trained for engineering technology jobs over the next five years.
- This fall, CSCC will launch a new certificate program for semiconductor technician roles that was developed in partnership with Intel through the Ohio Semiconductor Collaboration Network.
- Partners will prepare at least 10,000 skilled construction trades workers to meet the demandof announced expansion projects in the region. To help get there, the Columbus / Central Ohio Building and Construction Trades Council will expand the pipeline into critical Investing in America occupations:
- IBEW 683 Columbus will expand its Registered Apprenticeship program from 600 to 1,000 over the next four years.
- Ironworkers 172 Columbus will increase their Registered Apprenticeship program from 150 to 250 in the next two years.
- Plumbers and Pipefitters 189 Columbus, Sheet Metal Workers 24 Columbus, and Roofers 86 Columbus are all expanding their training facilities to meet the demand driven by these investments.
- IBEW 683 Columbus will expand its Registered Apprenticeship program from 600 to 1,000 over the next four years.
In addition to these initiatives, OhioHealth and CSCC recently announced a new $120 million investment to double the number of professionals trained in high-need healthcare occupations— including nursing, surgical technology, medical imaging, respiratory therapy, and sterile processing. This commitment will help to meet the region’s foundational labor supply needs and ensure Columbus’s workers and their families have access to the care they need.
President Biden’s Investing in America agenda is creating jobs and opportunities in Columbus and across Ohio – and these efforts will help fill those jobs with American workers. Since the beginning of the Biden-Harris Administration, private companies have announced $31 billion in manufacturing investments in Ohio, including $20 billion from Intel for semiconductor manufacturing, $8 billion for batteries and EVs, and another $2 billion for clean energy manufacturing.
Additionally, the Administration has already awarded $7.2 billion for public infrastructure projects in Ohio, including $27 million for the Central Ohio Transit Authority to replace diesel buses at the end of their useful life with battery electric ones through the Low or No-Emissions Grant Program; nearly $20 million to modernize John Glenn Columbus International through the Airport Infrastructure Grants Program; and $12 million to make safety improvements on Livingston Avenue West through the Safe Streets for All program. And, the Biden-Harris Administration has awarded Ohio $1.4 billion in funding to build out broadband infrastructure across the state to ensure every home and business has access to affordable, high-speed internet.
Over the coming months, Columbus Hub partners will continue their work with the Biden-Harris Administration to identify new efforts and strategies to meet the region’s workforce needs.
Following the Workforce Hub launch event in Columbus, First Lady Jill Biden will travel to two other Hubs—Augusta and Pittsburgh—in the coming week to highlight efforts in those communities to connect workers and families with good jobs created by President Biden’s Investing in America agenda.
