President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness to Hold Listening and Action Session in Portland, OR

“Jobs Council members, Administration officials, business and academic leaders to discuss with local businesses and stakeholders the critical importance of curbing America’s engineering shortage

WASHINGTON, DC – On Wednesday, August 31st, the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness will hold the next in a series of Jobs and Competitiveness Listening and Action Sessions with local businesses and stakeholders to discuss how the public and private sectors can partner to create opportunity and support job creation.  The August 31st session will take place at Portland State University in Portland, Oregon and will focus on the steps that we can take as a country to curb our engineering shortage (www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/how-the-private-sector-can-help-curb-our-engineering-shortage/2011/08/03/gIQAvPq5uI_story.html) , which threatens America’s role as the world’s leading innovator and hinders our ability to create jobs.  The panelists will include senior Administration officials as well as leaders in the business community and Deans from engineering schools across the country.

People across the country can also participate in advance and during the live event.  Before the event, people can submit questions and comments for panelists through the White House group on LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com/groups/What-are-Your-Questions-President-2199632.S.67651928) and also on www.whitehouse.gov (www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2011/08/24/call-questions-input-president-s-council-jobs-session-portland-oregon) .  During the session, people can watch live on www.WhiteHouse.gov\live (www.whitehouse.gov/live) and engage on Twitter with the hashtag #jobscouncil (twitter.com/#%21/search/realtime/%23jobscouncil) .

The August 31st event is part of a series of regional Council Listening and Action Sessions that are taking place around the country as a result of the President’s challenge that the Council bring new voices to the table and ensure that everyone can participate and inform the Council’s work and recommendations.    The ideas and information exchanged at these events will help inform the future policy work of the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness, which meets with President Obama each quarter to recommend critical steps that both the private and public sectors can take to create jobs and help strengthen the economy. 

President Obama formed the President’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness (www.whitehouse.gov/administration/advisory-boards/jobs-council) in January of 2011 for the purpose of bolstering the United States economy by fostering job creation, innovation, growth, and competitiveness as the country enters a new phase of economic recovery.  The core mission of the Council is to promote growth by investing in American businesses to encourage hiring, to educate and train American workers to compete in the global economy, and to attract the best jobs and businesses in the world to the United States.”