The good news is, we know how to do it. Two years ago, as the auto industry came roaring back, Andra Rush opened up a manufacturing firm in Detroit. She knew that Ford needed parts for the best-selling truck in America, and she knew how to make them. She just needed the workforce. So she dialed up what we call an American Job Center - places where folks can walk in to get the help or training they need to find a new job, or better job. She was flooded with new workers. And today, Detroit Manufacturing Systems has more than 700 employees.
好消息是,我们现在知道该怎么做了。两年前当汽车行业回暖时,安德拉•拉什在底特律创办了一家业公司。她知道,福特要造出美国销量最好的卡车需要哪些部件以及怎样加工这些部件。她缺的是劳动力,于是她拨通了美国就业中心(提供就业信息和职业培训的地方)的电话。求职者随即蜂拥而至。现在底特律制造系统公司已有超过700名员工。
What Andra and her employees experienced is how it should be for every employer - and every job seeker. So tonight, I've asked Vice President Biden to lead an across-the-board reform of America's training programs to make sure they have one mission: train Americans with the skills employers need, and match them to good jobs that need to be filled right now. That means more on-the-job training, and more apprenticeships that set a young worker on an upward trajectory for life. It means connecting companies to community colleges that can help design training to fill their specific needs. And if Congress wants to help, you can concentrate funding on proven programs that connect more ready-to-work Americans with ready-to-be-filled jobs.
安德拉和其员工的经历正是每个招聘者和每个求职者的真实写照。因此今晚,我邀请副总统拜登发起一项美国职业培训系统的全盘改革,让人们能够掌握雇主所期望他们拥有的技能,迅速填补就业市场的空缺。这意味着企业要举办更多的在职培训,提供更多学徒见习的机会,让年轻的工人能够在职业道路上不断前进。这意味着加强公司和社区学院间的校企沟通,让培训与实际需求接轨。如果国会原意出一份力,请为已获批的项目提供资金,请让我们的人民都能找到工作。
I'm also convinced we can help Americans return to the workforce faster by reforming unemployment insurance so that it's more effective in today's economy. But first, this Congress needs to restore the unemployment insurance you just let expire for 1.6 million people.
我也相信,通过改革失业保险,加强其在当下经济中的实效性,人们能更快地回到工作岗位上。但首先,国会要重新启动失业保险,现在已经有160万美国人失去了这项保障。
Let me tell you why.
请让我来告诉你们为什么必须这么做。
Misty DeMars is a mother of two young boys. She'd been steadily employed since she was a teenager. She put herself through college. She'd never collected unemployment benefits. In May, she and her husband used their life savings to buy their first home. A week later, budget cuts claimed the job she loved. Last month, when their unemployment insurance was cut off, she sat down and wrote me a letter - the kind I get every day. "We are the face of the unemployment crisis," she wrote. "I am not dependent on the government.Our country depends on people like us who build careers, contribute to society . care about our neighbors . I am confident that in time I will find a job . I will pay my taxes, and we will raise our children in their own home in the community we love. Please give us this chance."
米斯蒂•迪马尔斯是一位有着两个年幼儿子的母亲。年轻时,她的工作一直很稳定。她自己支付了大学的学费,从未领过失业保险。去年5月,她和丈夫用存款购置了他们的第一套房子。一周后,由于预算削减,她丢了饭碗。上个月,这对夫妻的失业保险被中断,米斯蒂给我写了一封信——我每天都会收到这类信件。 “我们正面临失业危机。” 在信中她这样说道,“我并不依赖政府。我们自食其力,为社会贡献自己的力量,关爱邻居。美国需要我们这样的人。我有信心自己一定能很快找到工作的。我会纳税,我们会在自己热爱的社区里将孩子抚养长大。请给我们这个机会。”
Congress, give these hardworking, responsible Americans that chance. They need our help, but more important, this country needs them in the game. That's why I've been asking CEOs to give more long-term unemployed workers a fair shot at that new job and new chance to support their families; this week, many will come to the White House to make that commitment real. Tonight, I ask every business leader in America to join us and to do the same - because we are stronger when America fields a full team.
国会同胞们,请给这些辛勤工作、以身作则的美国公民们这个机会吧。他们需要我们的帮助,更重要的是,美国也需要他们。因此,我一直希望企业的首席执行官们能为更多长期失业的工人们提供公平竞争的就业机会,让他们能够扶持家庭。本周,许多首席执行官会来到白宫,兑现这个承诺。今晚,我邀请每一位美国的商业领袖加入这个行列,因为只有团结一致,我们的国家才会更加强大。
Of course, it's not enough to train today's workforce. We also have to prepare tomorrow's workforce, by guaranteeing every child access to a world-class education.
当然,仅培训现有劳动力是不够的。我们还要为未来的生力军提供条件,让每个孩子享有世界一流的教育。