April Jobs That Pay Update: Preparing PA’s Workforce, Creating Jobs That Pay, Connecting Growing Communities

By: The Office of Governor Tom Wolf

April 16, 2018

Economy, Equality, Infrastructure, Innovation, Jobs That Pay, Round-Up, The Blog, Women's Rights, Workforce Development

This month, Governor Wolf continued to make major investments in infrastructure, community projects, and workforce development initiatives to equip all Pennsylvanians for jobs that pay. Governor Wolf also continued the fight to level the playing field for all workers, proclaiming April 10, 2018 to be Equal Pay Day in Pennsylvania.

Preparing Pennsylvania’s Workforce

Governor Wolf announced more than $7 million in grants to support workforce development outreach and apprenticeship programs across four counties, including partnerships with the German American Chamber of Commerce and CVS Health.

Building on the governor’s efforts to expand opportunities in STEM fields, First Lady Frances Wolf also hosted a roundtable discussion on how to increase participation of girls and young women in STEM education.

Expanding Business in the Keystone State

This month, Governor Wolf announced that several companies chose to relocate to or expand operations in the commonwealth, eventually amounting to more than 1,700 jobs for Pennsylvanians. In addition, the governor announced low-interest loans to support business projects in seven counties that will create and retain nearly 400 jobs.

Connecting Growing Communities

Investing in Pennsylvania’s communities and the infrastructure that support them continues to be one of the governor’s top priorities. As part of these investments, Governor Wolf welcomed the first two 32-story high, post-Panamax cranes to the Port of Philadelphia, approved projects to continue improving the state’s roughly 5,600 miles of freight rail lines, and expanded access to natural gas.

In addition, the governor announced more than 160 community development initiatives, including 39 affordable housing projects that will create about 1,900 rental housing units throughout the Keystone State.

To better connect communities across the commonwealth and the world, Governor Wolf announced more than 723 road and bridge improvement projects for this construction season and launched an initiative to expand access to broadband high-speed internet.

Promoting Solar Energy in PA

Continuing efforts to promote the use of solar energy in Pennsylvania, the governor announced more than 78 projects across 22 counties to expand solar energy implementation to a wide range of facilities, including facilities that plan to draw 100 percent of their electricity from solar generators.

Highlights from March – April 2018

Highlights from Instagram

Any Pennsylvanian who works hard deserves to be fairly compensated for their work. But Pennsylvania women still are only making 80 cents for every dollar a man makes doing the same work. This #EqualPayDay, I’m renewing my commitment to fighting wage inequality in Pennsylvania.

A post shared by Governor Tom Wolf (@governortomwolf) on Apr 10, 2018 at 6:09am PDT

In the next 10 years, 71 percent of new jobs will require computer skills, but only half as many girls are taking computer science classes as boys. Earlier today, Frances hosted women leaders in science, technology, engineering, and math at the @pagovernorsresidence to discuss how we can increase the participation of girls and young women in #STEM education and careers. My administration is focused on ensuring Pennsylvania students learn the things they need to succeed – we’ve adopted #CSforAll standards, connected classroom learning to career training opportunities, and reduced standardized tests to give students more time to learn. But if we are to bring more girls and young women into STEM fields, we must identify barriers in these programs to help reverse this trend. Thank you to Frances for hosting these dedicated leaders for this important conversation.

A post shared by Governor Tom Wolf (@governortomwolf) on Apr 9, 2018 at 1:26pm PDT