If the Trump administration truly wants to bring manufacturing back to its “glory days,” it’s going to have to invest in workforce development and allow the decisions on how to train people to occur at the local level.

That’s the message Northwest Indiana workforce development leaders gave to U.S. Representatives Frank J. Mrvan, D-District 1, and Illinois U.S. Representative Nikki Budzinski, D-Springfield, Wednesday afternoon when the two held a roundtable at United Steelworkers Local 1066 in Gary. The two legislators were on a fact-finding mission to see what’s needed to shore up apprentice programs and make education in the trades affordable to people who’re interested in going that route.

By 2050, the need for people working in the trades because of an aging population is “astonishing

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