President Obama Signs Jobs Training Bill Into Law

President Obama on July 22 signed into law H.R. 803, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.

Championed by NAHB, the legislation will help alleviate labor shortages in the housing industry by providing investment and resources to train workers for careers in home building and other industries.

Further, the law reauthorizes the Job Corps and Youthbuild programs as federal programs operated through the U.S. Department of Labor.

In partnership with NAHB and Job Corps, HBI, formerly the Home Building Instutute, is a national leader for career training and job placement in the building industry. HBI’s Job Corps training programs are national in scope, but implemented locally using proven models that can be customized to meet the workforce needs of communities across the United States and internationally.

At the signing ceremony, Obama said the bill “will give communities more certainty to invest in job-training programs for the long run. It will help us bring those programs into the 21stcentury by building on what we know works based on evidence, based on tracking what actually delivers on behalf of folks who enroll in these programs – more partnerships with employers, more tools to measure performance, more flexibilities for states and cities to innovate and to run their workforce programs in ways that are best suited for their particular demographic and their particular industries.”

Job Corps prepares students with the skills and experience they need for successful careers through pre-apprenticeship training, job placement services, mentoring, certification programs, textbooks and curricula. With an 80% job placement rate for graduates, HBI Job Corps programs provide services for disadvantaged youth in 73 centers across the country.

View a summary of the bill.