President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden have highlighted MCC’s job training partnership with local firms such as Optimax as a bright spot in the push to fill higher-paying manufacturing and tech jobs.
In a guest essay in the Democrat and Chronicle on Saturday, Obama and Biden cited MCC’s partnership with the optics industry, funded through the Advanced Manufacturing Jobs and Innovation Accelerator, (AMJIAC), as an example of a successful job training initiative, one which they would like to see duplicated throughout the country.
“Monroe Community College is leading a group of community colleges that received funding from the U.S. Department of Labor to develop partnerships with local businesses, particularly in the optics industry. At one local company, Optimax, many employees have participated in MCC’s courses.”
~ President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden
Meanwhile, the New York Times on Saturday turned to RRPC member Empire Precision Plastics to comment on current trends and needs in hiring as part of its report on the latest job growth numbers.
Empire Precision Chief Executive Neal P. Elli said he has openings for about a dozen workers for his company, which makes molds for plastic parts used in electronics and medical devices.
Most workers in his industry are older and will be retiring soon, Elli said. A new employee with four years of training could make $50,000 a year. “I can’t think of a better career than mold-making,” he said.
http://www.optimaxsi.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Saturday_8-2_DC.pdf