Training and education have become increasingly important in our modern economy. It’s no longer the case that businesses can rely on a large pool of untrained laborers to perform relatively routine and low-skill tasks from their first day on the job.
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Instead, the economy relies on highly educated, highly skilled, and highly trained workers, and so do the companies that drive that economy. The U.S. government seems to be well aware of that, as well, based on some potential bureaucratic realignment.
Just an Idea—For Now
The White House recently announced, to a cabinet meeting on June 21, that the Trump administration has proposed a merger of the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Education (DOE), among other plans to consolidate the federal government. According to The Washington Post, the combined department would be known as the Department of Education and the Workforce.
At this point, the idea is just that—an idea. There would be many hurdles for such a major shift, including congressional approval, as well as potential resistance from within the bureaucracies themselves. However, the current head of Education at least seems on board.
Restructuring to Meet Shifting Environmental Needs
In a statement from DOE, Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos applauded the idea. “Artificial barriers between education and workforce programs have existed for far too long,” she said in the statement. “We must reform our 20th century federal agencies to meet the challenges of the 21st century.”
Education and employment are intrinsically intertwined. Indeed, much of the reason for providing public education in the first place is to create an educated and capable workforce to help drive the economy.
It’s therefore intuitive to consider improving the coordination between these two arms of the executive bureaucracy, and it will be interesting to see if anything comes out of the proposed merger.