Politics & Government

Bill Clinton Speech Echoes Mayor's Take on Gwinnett Tech and Jobs

Former President Bill Clinton's DNC comments are similar to what Sandy Springs Mayor Eva Galambos and local business leaders say about local jobs and education.

 

Perhaps Democrats and Republicans do agree on some things.

Former President Bill Clinton’s comments on new jobs, during his speech Wednesday night at the Democratic National Convention, echoed what Mayor Eva Galambos and some local business leaders have been saying over the past year about unskilled job candidates and the importance of community college.

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In his speech, Clinton said, “Of course we need a lot more new jobs. But there are already more than three million jobs open and unfilled in America; mostly because the people who apply for them don’t yet have the required skills to do them."

He went on, "So even as we get Americans more jobs, we have to prepare more Americans for the new jobs that are actually going to be created. The old economy is not coming back. We’ve got to build a new one and educate people to do those jobs.”

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A similar message has been spoken in Sandy Springs.

Last January, Mayor Galambos told a Leadership Sandy Springs group that business leaders have . In pushing for a Gwinnett Tech campus in Sandy Springs (over many residents' objections), Galambos has repeatedly said that not every high school graduate goes on to obtain a college degree and it’s important that those graduates have job skills.

She told the Leadership group, “I think we have to recognize that we have a very diverse population in terms of goals and outcomes…I think if [high school students] are not going to go to college, where are they going to prepare themselves to make a living? We’ve got to become more aware of technical education.”

On Wednesday night, Clinton said, “The President and his Education Secretary have supported community colleges and employers in working together to train people for jobs that are actually open in their communities.”

College costs have increased dropout rates at four-year colleges, he added.

This summer, . In June, Rusty Paul, chairman of Sandy Springs Perimeter Chamber of Commerce, who worked with the Mayor on possible sites for the school, explained that with major hospitals here, the allied health industry particularly research and development, is fast growing and Gwinnett Tech wants to tap into it.

City Hall spokesperson Sharon Kraun told Patch that Gwinnett Tech could make a decision on the bids soon. “Our understanding is that they were planning to decide something this month but they could change their mind,” she said. “The Mayor is waiting diligently for feedback from them.”

What's your take? Do better trained job candidates help lift the economy?  Would that shift your take on a Gwinnett Tech Campus?


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