PHOENIX — Maricopa County recently got a boost to its manufacturing workforce, as the U.S. Department of Labor granted $1.5 million to support the sector’s training.
The Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund grant will specifically help the county’s manufacturing workforce strengthen its relationship with Boeing, the largest aerospace company in the world, according to Maricopa County Board of Supervisors Chairman Thomas Galvin.
“This grant enables us to double down on our partnership with Boeing, an employer to more than 4,800 people and 570 suppliers across the state, and build a more robust pipeline of highly skilled manufacturing talent,” Galvin said in a press release. “Thank you to the U.S. Department of Labor for funding this partnership and investing in our region’s economy.”
Details on manufacturing workforce training grant
Funds from the grant will be distributed by the Arizona Department of Economic Security. The money will help train up to 469 current and future employees to become leaders in their field.
Manufacturing partners will be reimbursed for up to 80% of the employee’s training, which is estimated to be $3,200 per trainee.
The reimbursements will be issued in two payments, which are performance based. The first is given after the employee completes training and the second is issued once they have been employed for six months post training.
The grant that Maricopa County received was part of an $86 million investment by the U.S. Department of Labor into Industry-Driven Skill Training across 14 states.
In total, the Arizona Department of Economic Security was given $5 million to support manufacturing workforce training as grants were also given to the city of Phoenix and Pinal County.
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