Labor Secretary to Newsmax: Absorbing Education Dept Duties to Boost Jobs

Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer told Newsmax on Thursday how her agency is set to integrate portions of the Education Department in a bid to better serve American workers.

The move is designed to align K-12 and postsecondary education with real-world job demands rather than leaving schools isolated from employer needs.

"I think the best way to explain that is that we have failed, you know, parents and our future workforce, and the students across this country," Chavez-DeRemer said on "Rob Schmitt Tonight."

"We want to make sure that we're passing down a lot of the funding to our respective states closest to the child, closest to the parent.

"So, in its simplest form, we're making sure that we are matching up not only K-through-12 and postsecondary education, but we are aligning that for the future workforce. So, we have been listening to our business owners.

"What do they need? What are the market demands?

"And we want to make sure that those grant dollars go to those states where they are making sure that they have the trained workforce for what is needed now. ... This is a key element for the coalition between education and labor. They are our future workforce."

The new arrangement builds on a partnership announced in September between the Education and Labor departments.

Under that agreement, Education will transfer certain program funds and detail staff to Labor for adult education, family literacy, and career and technical education (CTE) programs.

The idea is to centralize federal workforce-development programs within Labor, while leaving policy authority and oversight at Education.

The agencies expanded their partnership Tuesday, announcing new interagency agreements to "break up the federal education bureaucracy, ensure efficient delivery of funded programs, and move closer to fulfilling the President's promise to return education to the states."

Chavez-DeRemer said that by aligning education programs directly with employer demand, states will receive grant funding configured to produce a "trained workforce for what is needed now."

She said the transition is expected to occur over the "next few months," with states shifting to integrated state-plan portals and streamlined granting processes.

She argued the reform gives states and educators a clearer pathway to match student training with labor-market realities and reduces administrative duplication.

For American workers, the major benefit is better alignment of school curricula and training programs with employer needs, potentially reducing the gap between education and employment and helping graduates move more quickly into good jobs.

"We want to make sure that we have those dollars to have that trained workforce … and that starts as early as K-through-12 and postsecondary," Chavez-DeRemer said.

With the federal workforce system reform underway, the Department of Labor is positioning itself not to only train workers but also to shape how and where education meets work.

Many states and businesses will now look to Labor's policies as the primary pipeline for turning students into skilled employees ready for America's job market.

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