Creating a National Skills Corporation. Policy Report.

To address the skills shortages stemming from the transition to a more technological and skills-intensive economy, Congress established a program whereby funds from H-1B visa fees would provide seed funds for private companies, labor, and government to join together in creating training alliances focused on skills in short supply. Unfortunately, the program has failed to live up to expectations. It has therefore been recommended that Congress create a National Skills Corporation (NSC) and fund it in part by transferring the Department of Labor's (DOL's) H-1B training funds to the corporation. Modeled after the Universal Service Administrative Company, which administers universal telephone service funds, the NSC would serve as a nonprofit corporation governed by a board consisting of leaders from business, organized labor, higher education, and government. The NSC's mission and operation could be modeled by the United Kingdom's new Sectoral Skills Development Agency, which is a non-departmental public body designed to fund the new United Kingdom-wide network of employer-led sectoral skills councils. The NSC would make grants to support industry- and/or union-led skills alliances. Alliances would need to provide at least one-to-one matching funds. The corporation would be funded with the funds currently allocated for DOL's H-1B program and additional Congressional allocations. (MN)