Acting Labor Secretary Keith Sonderling’s first trip in the new role saw him head to North Carolina, meeting with small business owners and veterans across the Tar Heel State.
Sonderling’s trip built on President Donald Trump’s executive orders that are designed to maximize investment in America’s reindustrialization and economic growth, and it coincided with both National Apprenticeship Week and Military Appreciation Month.
The trip kicked off at Lexington BBQ in Lexington, a small business that the Small Business Administration (SBA) recommended they visit. While there, the DOL representatives met with three generations of owners, along with North Carolina’s Labor Commissioner Luke Farley, who awarded Sonderling with the “Order of the Tar Heel.”
Sonderling and Jeremiah Workman, the Assistant Secretary of Veterans’ Employment and Training Service then met with North Carolina veterans at the Richard Childress Racing Shop and Museum in Welcome, North Carolina; representatives from Helping a Hero and Patriot Mobile joined them for the visit with veterans, and they were also joined by policymakers from around the country.
The Department of Labor (DOL) estimates that America currently has a skills gap of 700,000 jobs, and Sonderling and his colleagues believe that veterans are a key group that can bridge that talent gap.
Following the trip, Workman told the Washington Reporter that “it was an honor and a privilege to spend the afternoon with the wounded veterans that made the trip out. It doesn’t matter how long ago I took off the uniform, when I get a chance to meet with America’s finest, my fellow warriors, it is truly special.”
Workman, himself a a decorated Marine Corps combat veteran, tied the visit directly to Military Appreciation Month, adding that “the camaraderie and feeling of being a part of something bigger than yourself is hard to put into words, and it is just as strong now as it was the day I was retired. For those that chose to serve, it is a feeling that can never be taken away.”
This year’s apprentice focus is about “Making America Skilled Again through Registered Apprenticeships,” and it included events across America. The DOL’s message to servicemembers in North Carolina and beyond was that they can leverage Registered Apprenticeships to enhance the skills they obtained during their military service, or they can pursue a new occupation completely different from their military work.
The DOL is working across the Trump administration to advance the apprenticeship goals. The SBA, under Administrator Kelly Loeffler, has been a partner via data-sharing and coordination on programs such as DOL’s Registered Apprenticeship Program. The two agencies have also worked together to make it easier to recruit veterans, servicemembers, and military spouses in the manufacturing industry.
For years, President Donald Trump has backed policies that promote employers for hiring American veterans. During his first term, he signed the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing American Military Veterans (HIRE Vets) Act, which established the HIRE Vets Medallion Program. That unique program celebrates employers for recruiting, employing, and retaining our nation’s veterans.
