Senior White House adviser Ivanka Trump and IBM CEO Ginni Rometty on Thursday announced the launch of a new program to fill job vacancies called the Pledge to America's Workers.
Over 400 companies have signed the pledge, including IBM, which aims to bring "new jobs and skill training opportunity" to about 15 million Americans.
"We as a collective with our board — [Apple CEO] Tim Cook was a co-chair of this working group for us — are developing a national campaign that we're unveiling in February to really open the aperture and expose people to all the different pathways available," Trump told Fox Business Network's Maria Bartiormo at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland.
She added that "apprenticeship is one of the great ones."
Trump said the apprenticeship programs have vowed to provide work for the two-thirds of Americans who lack a college degree but want training in a specific skill.
"There are plenty of occupations that will require advanced degrees," Trump said. "But cybersecurity, IT, a lot of these different programs require a credential that is achievable without racking up enormous amounts of student debt."
Rometty added that IBM has started 23 apprenticeships since the program was first introduced.
"We've got almost 100 companies [that have] been picking [up] those frameworks and going with them," she said. "And on just a very narrow slice of these apprenticeships, I'm already up to 500 a year and moving. So to me, it's very scalable for everyone that is out there."
She added that these efforts began a few years ago by offering mentorships and a combined high school-associates degree program to "underserved" areas.
"Fast forward [all] these years, 150,000 kids are coming through over 200 schools," Rometty added. "They are, in fact, making up 15% of my hires last year in the United States. They and apprentices — [from] Ivanka's apprenticeship program."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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