Working to create jobs: State Rep. Martina White (left) discusses an education partnership during a recent hearing of the House Republican Policy Committee. The event was chaired by Rep. Kerry Benninghoff (right), to learn how state regulations, taxation and education policy were impacting job creation.
At a hearing to learn more about the challenges facing businesses and workers in the Northeast, state Rep. Martina White concluded that the state needs to refocus education, in part, to prepare students for jobs in the building trades.
“While four years of college is critical to the future success of many students, our focus on a university degree has overlooked the great need for skilled labor,” White said. “We must do a better job helping students find apprenticeships that could lead to jobs paying $40 and $50 an hour.”
White (R-170th dist.) made her comments during a hearing of the House Republican Policy Committee at American Heritage Federal Credit Union, 2060 Red Lion Road. It was part of a nine-city tour, chaired by Rep. Kerry Benninghoff, to learn how state regulations, taxation and education policy were impacting job creation.
George Parsons, a union steamfitter and manager at Nooter Construction, testified that skilled labor was experiencing a labor shortage as greater numbers of high school students choose college over apprenticeships, which leads to many students missing the chance at well-paying long-term employment.
“What is lacking is a partnership with government, the unions and management,” Parsons said. “We must fund blue-collar education.”
“As legislators, we must emphasize the importance of working in these fields and the satisfaction inherent in making things,” Benninghoff said.
“That’s why we need a partnership with schools,” White said. “We need to give students a chance to work with their hands before they make decisions about their future after graduation. As a state, we spend billions on education, yet how much of that is spent on training students in trade skills?”
White announced that she would work with Rep. Kate Klunk, whose district is home to a thriving manufacturing base that works with schools and unions to train students in the fields of carpentry, welding and plumbing.
The committee also heard testimony from Nadia Trowbridge, owner of Holt’s Cigars, and John Giordano and Christina Mihalik of American Heritage Federal Credit Union.
Trowbridge warned members that the 40-percent tax on premium cigars proposed by Gov. Tom Wolf would chase consumers to out-of-state online cigar retailers and will lower sales at Pennsylvania’s smaller family-owned retailers, which will have a difficult time staying in business.
“Taxing like that has dramatic consequences,” White said. “We lose businesses like Holt’s, and they take all the peripheral jobs that depend on Holt’s success.” ••
