Ivanka Trump, an adviser to President Donald Trump and his oldest daughter, toured a UPS driver training facility in Duluth with Gov. Brian Kemp on Wednesday and detailed the Trump administration's focus on workforce development.
She said the administration is “deeply passionate about ensuring that all Americans have the opportunity to benefit from the booming economy” and making sure “all Americans, regardless of background or age, have the opportunity to learn a new trade.”
UPS CEO David Abney led Trump, Kemp and first lady Marty Kemp on a tour of the Integrad driver training facility the company opened in metro Atlanta in 2015.
It’s one of 11 locations across the country and beyond that the company uses to train people as professional drivers using 3D simulations, classroom instruction and hands-on exercises, including practicing driving and making deliveries in a replica city called Clarkville.
Trump's visit to the Gwinnett County facility highlights the area as a political battleground, following a visit last weekend by Massachusetts U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic presidential hopeful, for a stump speech at a Lawrenceville high school.
It was the first visit by a Trump administration official to a UPS facility. The shipping giant, one of the world’s largest employers with 454,000 employees, says it has invested $967 million in employee training programs.
The company last year signed a pledge in support of President Trump’s workforce development initiative, committing to offer opportunities for career advancement to more than 50,000 employees.
Early Wednesday morning, Ivanka Trump and Kemp toured a classroom and a learning lab where models of UPS trucks are staged for practice loading and unloading packages, and where workers practice techniques for walking on icy sidewalks without falling.
“We for the first time have the largest number of people in the history of this country who are employed. But there are still people who are on the sidelines,” Trump said in remarks after the tour. “We’ll take these learnings back to Washington and make sure they’re integrated into our best practices as we move forward.”
She said there are efforts to create a nationwide schema of available jobs and the skills needed to do them that would be searchable online.
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