Out-Innovating, Out-Educating & Out-Building Our Competitors

In his latest weekly address, President Obama discusses his visit to a company in Manitowoc, Wisconsin and how it exemplified his agenda for America to “win the future” spelled out in the State of the Union Address. The president also visited GE in Schenectady, New York last week. Check it out on the January 28 [...]

Fund up to 50% of Employee Training with an ETIP Grant

The Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity’s (DCEO) Employer Training Investment Program (ETIP) supports Illinois workers’ efforts to upgrade their skills and remain current in new technologies and business practices. Apply Now! Grant applications are due February 25 ETIP grants may reimburse Illinois companies for up to 50 percent of the cost of training their [...]

Good News at Austin Polytech

Austin Polytechnical Academy has made great strides since first opening in 2007, but has also faced its fair share of challenges. This month, we’re happy to report a number of success stories as we kick off the new year: This week, 50 APA students earned industry-recognized credentials from the National Institute for Metalworking Skills, bringing [...]

Seizing our Generation’s Sputnik Moment — Together

In this week’s State of the Union address, President Obama highlighted many of the critical issues the Renaissance Council has been tackling for over five years. “The only way to move to full employment is to lay a new foundation for long-term economic growth,” he said, proposing an aggressive agenda to create jobs and ensure [...]

Joan Fitzgerald on US competition with China on green tech

Check out “We Need a Manufacturing Agenda” by Prof. Joan Fitzgerld, director of the Law, Policy and Society Program at Northeastern University and author of Emerald Cities: Urban Sustainability and Economic Development. In this recent editorial for the New York Times, Joan discusses what it’ll take for the US to stay competitive on green energy [...]

Manufacturing is “the shining star of this recovery”

For the first time since 1997, the US manufacturing sector is creating more jobs than it eliminates. Over the last year, the number of jobs in manufacturing grew by 1.2%, or 136,000. The Wall Street Journal reports: After a steep slump during the recession, manufacturing is “the shining star of this recovery,” says Thomas Runiewicz, [...]

What Makes a Job Menial?

“What makes a job menial? I’m tired of this stuff about menial labor. What makes it menial is that we don’t pay folk anything. Give somebody a job and pay them some money so they can live and educate their children and buy a home and have the basic necessities of life. And no matter [...]

Battling a skilled labor shortage

As part of their Retooling Chicago series, Crain’s Chicago Business profiled a program at Advanced Technology Services (ATS) to connect veterans with high-skilled jobs in manufacturing:

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Survey Shows Overwhelming Public Support

for America’s manufacturing sector From Deloitte’s Manufacturing Institute Labor Day Survey: Americans support nation’s workforce, but see government policies creating a disadvantage for manufacturing sector NEW YORK, September 3, 2010 — Americans expressed faith in the country’s workforce but voiced concerns that government policies may be putting the manufacturing sector at a disadvantage and dissuading [...]