New SBA Partnership Aims To Boost Workforce Development For Manufacturers
By Andy Medici – Senior Reporter, The Playbook, The Business Journals
The Small Business Administration wants to strengthen its cooperation with the Department of Labor to get more skilled workers into manufacturing.
The two agencies on Wednesday announced a memorandum of understanding that would increase cross-collaboration to help support manufacturing. That means connecting the SBA’s capital and contracting tools with the Labor Department’s workforce-development infrastructure.
Under the agreement, the agencies will expand data-sharing and coordination on programs such as DOL’s Registered Apprenticeship Program and the Veterans’ Employment and Training Service. SBA will likewise offer cross-agency training on loan programs to support manufacturing, including its 7(a) and 504 loan programs.
“I am thrilled to partner with [SBA] Administrator [Kelly] Loeffler to usher in a new Golden Age of American manufacturing,” said Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer in a statement. “Through this agreement, the Department of Labor will collaborate with the Small Business Administration to help ensure America’s workforce is ready to seize these opportunities by expanding Registered Apprenticeships and other hands-on training programs that will benefit both small and large manufacturers.”
The new initiative comes after the SBA this spring launched an online tool intended to connect U.S. manufacturers, suppliers and producers with businesses looking source American products and services. That effort, titled the Make Onshoring Great Again portal, provides entry to three databases — from Thomasnet, IndustryNet and Connex — that offer American-company-specific lists curated in partnership by those three organizations with the SBA.
The SBA has made access to the databases free of charge for businesses as part of the agency’s larger push to boost American manufacturing.
It’s no secret that manufacturers large and small are struggling to attract and retain workers. Recent research by Deloitte as part of its 2025 Manufacturing Industry Outlook found 1.9 million manufacturing jobs could go unfilled over the next 10 years if talent challenges are not addressed. That’s because the manufacturing jobs slated to grow the fastest in the coming years are ones that require a combination of digital, manufacturing and soft skills.
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