(Washington,
D.C.) – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray toured the Pacific Fisherman Shipyard
in Seattle with local workers and businesses owners and discussed her work
making sure workers have the skills and training they need to fill local jobs.
Attending the tour and discussion with Senator Murray was Marléna Sessions, CEO
of Workforce Development Council of Seattle-King County, Kaelan Haynie, a
former intern and now full-time employee, Jeffery Harris, a local worker, and
Doug Dixon, General Manager, Pacific Fisherman Shipyard.
“I
hear from so many business owners here in Seattle who want to hire, but who
can’t find workers with the skills and training they need to fill those open
positions,”
said Senator Patty Murray. “This doesn’t make sense—we have workers
who want to work, and we have businesses that want to hire. But we need to do a
better job of bridging that skills gap—and that is what I am fighting so hard
to do in the Senate.”
Murray
discussed her Career
Pathways legislation, which would help young people leaving high school get
the skills and training they need to enter the workforce, as well as the
Workforce Investment Act, which Senator Murray is currently working to
reauthorize and reform, and is critical to retraining workers, including those
who have recently been laid off.
According
to a recent
report released by the Washington State Employment Security Department, statewide
job openings were up 31% last fall compared to a year earlier and there are an
estimated 41,889 vacant positions. According to the same report, 46 percent of
those jobs or an estimated 19,366 open jobs are located in the Seattle-King
County area. However, often employers can’t find local workers with the
skills needed to fill those jobs.
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