The telecommunications industry is experiencing a shortage of workers to meet the growing demand for broadband buildout. WIA believes the recently enacted Infrastructure Law that includes historic funding for broadband deployment will make the workforce shortage even more acute.
“This major new federal investment in broadband infrastructure will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs, increasing demand on the already short supply of skilled and diverse workers,” WIA President/CEO Jonathan Adelstein said in comments submitted for the record to a subcommittee of the Senate Health, Education, Labor & Pensions Committee this week. To increase the efficiency and success of this federal funding, a corresponding initiative is needed to develop the broadband workforce through support for registered apprenticeships and the educational system, WIA believes.
Adelstein commended the Labor Department for supporting a pipeline of skilled broadband workers through apprenticeships, but more federal investment and focus are needed, he told lawmakers. “Of the more than $850 million in Department of Labor grants for apprenticeship, less than one percent has gone to support broadband or the telecommunications workforce,” noted Adelstein. “Current broadband buildout had already created 106,000 direct jobs in installation and engineering. At the current rate of deployment, there will be 500,000 more new direct broadband jobs through 2025.”
He praised the Good Jobs Challenge from the U.S. Economic Development Administration as an example of a program that recognizes that workforce development and economic development are intertwined. It allocates $500 million to get Americans back to work by building and strengthening systems and partnerships that bring together employers who have hiring needs with other key entities to train workers with in-demand skills that lead to good-paying jobs. It encourages efforts to reach historically underserved populations and areas.
Adelstein called the challenge “a great opportunity to invest and support the broadband workforce.” WIA urges Congress and the Administration to fund impactful projects that will rapidly expand education and workforce development, “with wireless and broadband being a high priority,” he said in his written comments.
By Leslie Stimson, Inside Towers Washington Bureau Chief
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