Rather than throw more money at four-year universities, JPMorgan Chase and Co. announced it would donate $350 million over five years toward career training programs. This “New Skills at Work” investment will target fields such as information technology, healthcare, and advanced manufacturing, helping to close the skills gap that has plagued our economy and others around the world.
Previously, the financial giant made a similar investment of $250 million over the last five years in middle-skills job training, which included $50 million in funding for community colleges to better partner with employers for relevant skills training programs.
Jennie Sparandara, executive director of Global Philanthropy at JPMorgan, says the goal of their latest donation is to build upon their past funding efforts. The company is also pushing for a “much clearer demand signal from the business community,” involving employers directly in the programs they fund.
In total, $125 million will be allocated toward systems of collaboration and communication between employers and educators, including community colleges, in the effort to better align supply and demand in the workforce. Another $200 million will go toward program development. Workforce training and career readiness for women, people of color, and U.S. military veterans will be the key focus of the initiative.
The remaining $25 million will be invested in labor-market research, aimed at properly targeting the most underserved areas to ensure they are effectively lifting people “out of low-wage jobs and into good careers in their communities.”
“The new world of work is about skills, not necessarily degrees,” said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase & Co. “Unfortunately, too many people are stuck in low-skill jobs that have no future, and too many businesses cannot find the skilled workers they need. We must remove the stigma of a community college and career education, look for opportunities to upskill or reskill workers, and give those who have been left behind the chance to compete for well-paying careers today and tomorrow.”
The stigma of vocational education is real, and has been primarily fueled by educational leaders and other societal pressures to attend a four-year college even though most trade programs have a similar and more immediate return on investment.
As Ivanka Trump noted last summer, rapid economic change is one reason why more than 6 million U.S. jobs remain unfilled. Many of these jobs require skills training rather than a college degree.
JPMorgan’s trust in workforce training speaks volumes, and acts as a strong endorsement of the Trump administration’s focus on vocational skills. When one of the biggest banks in the nation casts doubt on the value of a four-year degree, you know there’s a problem with our universities.
Brendan Pringle (@BrendanPringle) is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a freelance journalist in California.
