The job market of the 21st Century is increasingly global and focused on innovation. That was one of the takeaways at the Governor’s Jobs 1st Summit in Pittsburgh Monday.
Pennsylvania spent about $450 million in 2014 on workforce development. Yet, in Pittsburgh, speakers from around the state intoned the same mantra: today’s workforce is being sought out and cultivated not just statewide, but worldwide. Frank Friedman, CEO and CFO of Deloitte, LLP said a key barrier to successful workforce recruitment, especially for jobs in technical fields, is U.S. immigration law.
“I think there needs to be a modernization of those immigration laws, particularly around the expansion of visas. 47-percent of those students who graduate in this field have to return, have to leave this country. But yet we know that people with those degrees create jobs,” Friedman said.
Read a full version of this report at the website of Keystone Crossroads, a new statewide public media initiative reporting on the challenges facing Pennsylvania's cities.
