Free Republic

The Trump economy has delivered strong growth and low unemployment — now the challenge is to keep it all going. Cutting taxes and clearing out burdensome regulations offer businesses better incentives to invest but as in Tinkerbell’s admonitions to Wendy, Americans have to believe for it to happen. Despite relentless criticism from Democrats on the Hill, the liberal-dominated media and barnstorming socialists like Bernie Sanders, the president has persuaded businesses and ordinary folks that good old fashioned capitalism and enlightened self-interest still works. It’s in the numbers. The pace of hiring is up, and Mr. Trump’s economy coming off a...

Even if you disagree with President Donald Trump and his administration, there are some positive kernels out there. Trump has put an emphasis on jobs, for example, specifically jobs for the struggling middle and lower class. Although those promised jobs might not necessarily come to fruition, it’s good to hear somebody at least talk about blue-collar struggles. One way the president is focusing on jobs is by attempting to bring back apprenticeships. Apprenticeships, of course, are on-the-job training programs that used to be quite popular but have fizzled out with time. There are still plenty of them out there, but...

It will also provide more funding and create a task force of business leaders to help promote the programs across new sectors, as well as assess the effectiveness of the job-training programs now in place. Trump plans to sign an executive order that would reorient and expand ApprenticeshipUSA, a grant program that was previously championed by the Obama administration and has been supported by Democrats and Republicans alike. Trump's executive order also requires all federal agencies that participate in apprenticeship programs or workforce training to examine whether their efforts are duplicative or could be combined with other programs to greater...

President Donald Trump’s push to expand apprenticeship opportunities is being met with support from business leaders who are now pledging to take part. Trump has put working class issues at the forefront of his agenda. He signed an executive order Thursday aimed at increasing the number apprenticeship programs. The president hopes to address the skills gap by ensuring people are being trained for jobs that exist. While there are plenty of jobs available, the challenge has been a significant divide between the skills companies need and the training and experience workers have. The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last week...

Indian-American CEOs Indra Nooyi of Pepsico and Ajay Banga of Mastercard along with India's IT major Wipro on Saturday joined scores of US companies in welcoming President Donald Trump's ambitious apprenticeship programme aimed at developing job-related skills among the workforce. . . "We applaud the president's commitment to industry-driven apprenticeships as a powerful tool to build the skilled workforce prepared for the jobs of the 21st century," Business Roundtable -- a group of chief executive officers of leading US companies -- said in a full-page advertisement released in The Wall Street Journal and The New York Times today. . ....

President Donald Trump wants to blow out the number of apprentices working for U.S. companies — but it doesn't look like he'll spend the money to do it. Apprenticeships blend on-the-job work with paid classroom instruction, and they usually last two to six years. The federal government has regulated and certified apprenticeships since 1937, but the jobs were not actively promoted by more recent presidents until the Obama administration. Trump wants to create 5 million new apprenticeships over the next five years, which would be almost 10 times the total that exist now. But the money he has appropriated to...

President Trump is trying to focus this week on one thing: Jobs, jobs and more jobs. The White House is dubbing it "workforce development week" and has filled the president's schedule with workplace visits, speeches and roundtable discussions on the subject. The aim is to present a fix to a big U.S. problem: job skills. What's clear: Trump wants to make a big commitment to expand apprenticeship programs. What's unclear: How his budget will pay for it and whether apprenticeships alone can fix the country's massive job skills gap. Trump's budget proposal allocates $90 million for grants to apprenticeships, but...

The Latest on President Donald Trump (all times Eastern Daylight Time): 5:30 p.m. President Donald Trump says he wants every high school in America to offer apprenticeship programs. Trump also says at a round table conversation at Waukesha County Technical College in Wisconsin that he loves the "name Apprentice" — a reference to the reality television show he used to host.....

MADISON, Wis. (AP) — Gov. Scott Walker said Monday that when President Donald Trump comes to Wisconsin, he will see that people outside of Washington "still like his policies." Walker spoke on the Mike Gallagher radio show about a fundraiser Trump is hosting for Walker in Milwaukee on Tuesday night. Trump is also touring a technical college with Walker in the Milwaukee area. The fundraiser comes as Walker prepares for an expected re-election run in 2018. Walker didn't initially endorse Trump, but came around after he secured the Republican nomination. Trump carried Wisconsin by less than a percentage point.....

President Donald Trump and his daughter Ivanka Trump are set to travel to Wisconsin Tuesday to join Gov. Scott Walker to tour a technical college, as the administration puts a renewed focus on its goal of job creation. The trip is just one event in a week full of activities built around promoting technical skills training and apprenticeships. Dubbing it “workforce development week,” first daughter and presidential adviser Ivanka Trump is taking a leading role in the administration’s initiative. “We're very excited about where we are,” she said. “We’ll be launching a series of initiatives, call on Congress to pass...