Three North Carolina community colleges will be part of a national effort to help laid off workers retrain for bioscience and health care jobs.
As some American jobs have disappeared because of international trade, the U.S. Labor Department has been trying to figure out how to get the people affected back to work.
This effort at community colleges is one of its solutions. The Labor Department gave 12 community colleges across the country a $15 million grant to retrain those workers for jobs in the bioscience industry.
Forsyth Technical Community College in Winston-Salem is leading the national effort.
U.S. Labor Deputy Secretary Seth Harris went there Wednesday to highlight the initiative. He said the community colleges are partnering with major bioscience employers.
“These employers will know that if you come out of these schools with these credentials, you’re ready to go on day one,” Harris said.
Harris said the job training programs will also be available to all students at the 12 schools. The two others in North Carolina are Rowan-Cabarrus Community College and Alamance Community College.