During a stop in North Carolina on Wednesday, January 15, President Barack Obama announced a new Raleigh, NC-based manufacturing institute. Calling it “a new public-private effort to boost advanced manufacturing that attracts the kind of well-paying jobs that sustain a growing middle class” in a speech at North Carolina State University, the president goes on to explain that America’s “newest high-tech manufacturing hub” will be “focused on the next generation of power electronics.”
This institute is part of Obama’s initiative to get Congress to promote 21st-century manufacturing jobs by establishing a partnership between universities and companies. The project would create or sustain 1,000 jobs in its first five years, according to U.S. Senator Kay Hagan.
The initiative will receive $70 million over five years from the U.S. Energy Department and at least $70 million more from the universities, businesses, and the state, the White House said. This is undoubtedly a step in the right direction to reduce unemployment rates as some improvement has already been made with the total number of working-age residents either working or looking for jobs falling by 95,000 in the past year.
[Image: AP/Carolyn Kaster & Ted Richardson]