Ivanka Trump-The President’s Daughter
Do not think for a minute that Ivanka Trump is just another daughter of a powerful person. Ivanka is, of course, the daughter of The President of the United States. And she is passionate about a number of issues, many of which are close to my heart.
One of Ivanka's initiatives (the term that is used by the Trump Administration to refer to a White House or Administrative “hot button” issue) is worker training.
In my workers' compensation and automobile accident business in Metro Atlanta, Georgia, I have seen many workers cut adrift from their long time jobs due to a serious injury, surgery and an inability to return to their job once they recover from medical care, The worker has no training and nowhere to go to find alternative employment. Settlement of their workers' compensation or automobile accident claim gives them a temporary “fix” of income replacement, but it is not the same as finding a new job with skill training.
So this is where Ivanka comes into the picture. She has been able to push a number of Fortune 500 companies to expand or create educational programs for those who want to be re-trained. One such company is Google. The CEO of Google has committed to providing 250,000 training opportunities for Americans in technology skills over the next 5 years. Frankly, that is not a lot of newly skilled workers, 50,000 per year for 5 years. But it is a start.
Ivanka is pushing these large companies not only to train young folks out of High School, but to retrain those who have lost their jobs (like my workers' compensation and automobile accident victims) through no fault of their own.
Some of the critics of the large tech companies' policies and possible anti-trust “behaviors” are pointing to the more attention that is being paid by these big tech executives to the politicians who can regulate their companies. The head of Facebook and Apple seem to be more interested in the White House initiatives with regard to workforce re-training because they want to be on the “good side” of those who can regulate them. While this view is quite cynical, and possibly quite true, I will be very happy to see Ivanka's vocational training blossom for whatever reason. If we can bridge the skill gap, it is all good for the USA and its growing workforce. Made in America means re-training. Ivanka is pushing the right buttons!