Telecommunications workforce shortages addressed in bipartisan bill
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News from the office of Senator Tester
MONTANA — U.S. Senator Jon Tester led a bipartisan group of Senators in reintroducing his Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, which will work to address the shortage of trained workers that are necessary to fill next-generation jobs in the telecommunications industry in communities throughout the country — particularly those in rural and frontier communities.
“This bipartisan legislation helps get folks in rural and frontier communities the skills they need to get good-paying jobs close to home while helping rural states like Montana keep up in today’s economy,” said Tester. “By addressing our workforce shortage in the wireless and broadband industry, we’re improving connectivity at the same time we get folks trained for 21st century jobs.”
The Telecommunications Skilled Workforce Act, which is also sponsored by U.S. Sens. John Thune (R-S.D.), Jerry Moran (R-Kan.), Gary Peters (D-Mich.), and Roger Wicker (R-Miss.), would address the shortage of trained workers necessary to fill telecommunications.
The FCC estimates that it will need to fill another 20,000 tower climber job openings to complete its 5G building project, nearly doubling the size of its current workforce. In fact, the first few years of 5G broadband deployment projects will create a projected 50,000 new construction jobs each year.
