Durbin presses for closing of 'skills gap'

GRANITE CITY - U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin plans to use a southwestern Illinois trade school as a backdrop to push for legislation that promotes technical job training. The lack of such training has opened a skills gap that means good jobs are going unfilled because of a lack of qualified candidates.

The Illinois Democrat on Tuesday will discuss that workforce dilemma during a Tuesday visit to the Southwestern Illinois College campus in Granite City.

Durbin is to tour the college's industrial technology center. The facility contains precision machines, assembly lines and robotic welding equipment.

A Durbin introduced measure called the Community College Career Fund Act is meant to help community colleges train workers for high-needs technical jobs. Many of those jobs are unfilled due to a lack of qualified employees in the workforce.