On the recordNovember 20, 2013
Mr. Speaker, last week there was a ribbon cutting at Miami International Airport for 36 new customer service kiosks. While this was greeted as good news, there is still a great unanswered question: What happens to all the customer service workers that machines like this replace? It is the same story at grocery stores, drugstores, toll booths, and so on. Customer service jobs that used to be gateways to the middle class are increasingly being replaced with technology. Mr. Speaker, this is not bad news. Time-saving technologies must be created, constructed, maintained, and repaired--and this takes human labor as well, but we must train our workforce to perform these jobs. This is the essence of the skills gap that is afflicting our communities. By cutting job training programs, reckless budget cuts like the sequester are making it harder to close the skills gap and, in turn, reduce unemployment. The mantra of this Congress should be jobs, jobs, jobs. ____________________
