The lack of workers in our region well known. As I tour the 93rd Assembly District and speak with local manufacturers, farmers, restaurant workers, and business owners, one thing becomes abundantly clear: The worker shortage is real despite rising wages and benefits. Unfortunately, certain policies during COVID only made the shortage worse, and as a result, there are now fewer resumes on the state’s job website than there were before the pandemic despite more jobs being listed.

Due to strong public backing, our state remains committed to aiding employment efforts. That is why I collaborated with my legislative colleagues to pass the Stronger Workforce package. These bills incorporated common-sense ideas to make sure that our state assistance programs include provisions that will enable people to obtain the resources they need to pursue new employment. This included refocusing unemployment insurance to Reemployment Assistance and mandating that all state programs be held accountable using widely accepted job metrics. The state would also have had to develop a personalized workforce strategy to assist individuals in matching their skill sets to other job opportunities while also giving them additional training resources before any benefits would have run out.

Unsurprisingly, Gov. Evers now is claiming to care about the labor crisis in our state only a few days after he vetoed these bills. The Wisconsin legislature has passed reasonable legislation over the past four years to advance our state's response to this problem, only to be stonewalled by a governor that is focused on expanding government and weakening Wisconsin’s commitment to helping people find a career. In spite of this mindset, the Legislature was able to provide funding for a number of workforce-related initiatives in the most recent state budget.

The state budget, as a whole, allocates over $1.4 billion in state money each year for workforce development. Supporting our technical college institutions in western Wisconsin and setting aside money for workforce programs in the University system was part of this. Additionally, the budget includes allocating $7 million in additional money to expand our outstanding Youth Apprenticeship program, which allows high school kids to work while taking related classes at school. And in order to ensure that our Wisconsin-made products can reach the market, we also provided grants to help people obtain their Commercial Driver’s License. Last but not least, we wanted to make sure we kept recruiting the best and brightest workers from other states, so we placed money in the budget for talent attraction.

This fall, the Legislature will continue to prioritize passing legislation that will support hard-working families in our state and ensure that state benefit programs are tailored to empower people with the tools they need to enter the workforce and pursue family-sustaining careers.