Look at the job market. I was out in it last year. There are millions of tech workers who are highly trained who simply cannot get jobs now, or are facing pay cuts in excess of fifty percent. And it's even worse for manufacturing workers - if they were to get training for technical jobs, they would graduate that training into the tech sector that is facing the greatest job loss. So training is NOT the answer. Doing something about H1-B and L1 visas, however, is a good start, as well as offering tax advantages to companies who keep jobs in this country - because it's better to the government to get less tax from an American job than it is to get NO tax on that job after it's gone elsewhere.
The point I am trying to make, poorly perhaps, is this is NOT what the president was saying. No part of the presidents answer was moving people into tech jobs.
The IEEE article tried to twist his response into saying Tech people were not adequately trained. That is not what he said either. Individuals do need to keep up with evolving technology or they will be left behind.
I am an consulting electrical engineer, working in the oil & gas industry. I GREATLY understand loss of jobs, and jobs going overseas. I have looked at taking a LARGE paycut in exchange for some job security.
The H1-B and L1 visas need to be brought back under control. There is some progress here, but not enough.
I am not wild about another government handout. But perhaps reasonable tariffs on import tech products (like software, design, etc) could be used as has been done in manufacturing.