Gallagher Leads Bipartisan Roundtable on Future of Wisconsin’s Workforce

APPLETON, WI – Yesterday, Congressman Mike Gallagher led a bipartisan roundtable with Wisconsin State Representative Amanda Stuck and local community leaders on the future of Wisconsin's workforce. The discussion was primarily focused on the important role millennials have to play in solving Wisconsin's present and future economic challenges, including the growing skills gap in the state's economy. Millennial Action Project, of which Rep. Gallagher is a congressional co-chair, and Wispolitics hosted the roundtable.

Emphasizing the importance of millennials in bridging the skills gap, Rep. Gallagher said, "As I travel across Northeast Wisconsin, business owners routinely tell me they are hiring but can't find workers with the knowledge and skills necessary to do the jobs they're hiring for.Our generation—the millennials—have the important task of helping close this skills gap." Gallagher continued, "This is why in Congress I've supported legislation, like the Strengthening Career and Technical Education for the 21st Century Act, to help make sure students are equipped with the tools and knowledge they need to fill the in-demand and high-skilled jobs available in our local economy."

As one of only a small number of millennials in Congress, Rep. Gallagher has made millennial issues a priority and currently serves as a co-chair of the congressional Future Caucus. In an op-ed published earlier this year in the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, Rep. Gallagher stressed the importance of keeping millennials in Wisconsin by saying "… [we must] encourage younger Wisconsinites (who are disproportionately moving to larger cities) to work and raise a family in the smaller cities that desperately need their energy and entrepreneurship."

PRESS ROUND-UP:
FOX 11: Rep. Mike Gallagher and Rep. Amanda Stuck roundtable discussion on workforce
Post Crescent: Inability to fill jobs a key economic challenge in Fox Cities, says Gallagher
Wisbusiness: Lawmakers stress importance of millennials to state workforce
WFRV: Roundtable discussing millennial workforce lacks young millennials at table