The US is planning on investing $150 million (Rs 1000 crores) in upskilling middle-to-high-skilled H-1B workers in fields like IT where thousands of Indians are employed.
Let us find out why…
The US Govt Plans On Training Employees, Job Seekers!
The tech firms each year hire many employees from countries like India and China. Over 70% of the H-1B visas are granted to Indian nationals.
The H-1B visa is a non-immigrant visa that allows US companies to temporarily employ foreign workers in specialty occupations.
The Department of Labor (DOL) in a statement said that the COVID-19 pandemic has disturbed the labor market massively and forced many training providers and employers to rethink how to deliver training.
Hence, the department’s Employment and Training Administration is planning to introduce an H-1B ‘One Workforce’ grant program.
Assistant Secretary for Employment and Training John Pallasch said, “The U.S. Department of Labor is challenging communities to think as ‘One Workforce’.”
More About One Workforce Program!
The aim of the H-1B ‘One Workforce’ grant program is to upskill the present and train the new workforce in sectors like information technology (IT), cybersecurity, advanced manufacturing, transportation.
The applicants need to be over the age of 17 and unemployed, or not studying in secondary school. This would also include under-paid individuals seeking full-time jobs and full-time employees needing to upskill to continue employment or get promoted into the middle- to high-skilled positions.
The grant program aims to integrate the workforce systems that will include classroom and on-the-job training, customized training, mandatory worker training, registered apprenticeship programs, and industry-recognized apprenticeship programs. It will also offer a mix of training strategies and support creative modes of training delivery.
With the help of local public-private partnerships, “grantees would deploy training to provide individuals in their communities with skills necessary to advance career pathways to employment in middle- to high-skilled H-1B occupations within key industry sectors,” said DOL.
The four kinds of organizations will be offered grants —
- Businesses and nonprofit organizations like industry and trade associations,
- Education and training providers,
- Entities involved in administering the public workforce system under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and
- Economic development agencies.
The tech companies have already complained about the lack of local talent and their need for foreign workers. This program will benefit local job seekers, fresh graduates as well as employers.
Comments are closed, but trackbacks and pingbacks are open.