Trump Budget Will Hurt State Workers

President Trump visited the Milwaukee area recently, tweeting that he was “heading to the Great State of Wisconsin to talk about “JOBS, JOBS, JOBS!” Expanding opportunities for workers and developing the state’s workforce should be a top priority for policymakers at both the state and federal levels, but President Trump’s rhetoric doesn’t match his actions on this issue. His proposed budget makes deep cuts to the federal resources that Wisconsin uses to develop the state’s skilled and work-ready labor force.

In his visit to Waukesha County Technical College, President Trump emphasized the importance of developing a skilled workforce, declaring that “America must not only teach, but celebrate skilled labor.” But the 2018 budget he proposed would deeply cut federal funding for programs and services that states deliver that are critical for the development of a healthy, well-educated workforce – programs like Medicaid, which helps people with low incomes see a doctor when they need one, and SNAP (previously known as food stamps), which helps people with low incomes put food on the table. Many Wisconsin workers who work for low wages rely on Medicaid and SNAP to make ends meet. Deep cuts to those programs, and the resulting reduction in services, could destabilize those households, making workers more likely to miss time from work or not reach their full productivity...

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Ken Notes: A problem companies have with training their worker is the overhead costs of health care, wage mandates, and the impact on the other skilled workers as they add supervision and training to their workload.