News Release
ETA News Release: [December 31, 2003]
Contact Name: Lorette Post
Phone Number: 202-693-3984
Labor Department Awards $3 Million To Chester County Economic Development Council For High-Tech Training
EXTON, Pa. -- The U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has awarded $3 million to the Chester County Economic Development Council to train about 600 incumbent workers and 35 unemployed workers in information technology.
"This Administration is committed to helping workers get the training they need to get good paying jobs," said U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao. "This $3 million grant will be used to upgrade the skills of workers."
Conducted primarily in Pennsylvania and at some company branches in Nebraska and Massachusetts, the training will address specific employer needs. Exton, Pa.-based Chester County Economic Development Council will award funds to employers based on a survey of business needs and well-defined plans for project goals, including employee promotions and salary increases.
Training will focus on specific high-tech job categories, including consultant, software, network, web, systems, technical and quality assurance.
Selected partner employers will fully match training costs of each employee. Together with in-kind contributions of facilities and time, the total match will be $3.1 million.
"This grant illustrates the kind of workforce development partnerships we are encouraging to address the challenges facing 21st century businesses," said Emily Stover DeRocco, assistant secretary of labor for employment and training. "When businesses identify the skills their workforce needs, educators and our public workforce system can be key players in preparing workers for the highly skilled jobs in high-demand fields."
This grant and others totaling approximately $49 million were awarded competitively nationwide to business-led partnerships to train workers for high-skill, high-tech occupations.
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