Sign up for our daily briefing
Make your busy days simpler with Axios AM/PM. Catch up on what's new and why it matters in just 5 minutes.
Stay on top of the latest market trends
Subscribe to Axios Markets for the latest market trends and economic insights. Sign up for free.
Sports news worthy of your time
Binge on the stats and stories that drive the sports world with Axios Sports. Sign up for free.
Tech news worthy of your time
Get our smart take on technology from the Valley and D.C. with Axios Login. Sign up for free.
Get the inside stories
Get an insider's guide to the new White House with Axios Sneak Peek. Sign up for free.
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Catch up on coronavirus stories and special reports, curated by Mike Allen everyday
Want a daily digest of the top Denver news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Denver
Want a daily digest of the top Des Moines news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Des Moines
Want a daily digest of the top Twin Cities news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Twin Cities
Want a daily digest of the top Tampa Bay news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Tampa Bay
Want a daily digest of the top Charlotte news?
Get a daily digest of the most important stories affecting your hometown with Axios Charlotte
Pablo Martinez Monsivais / AP
A group of 24 manufacturing CEOs is visiting the White House this morning, to work with VP Pence and various cabinet secretaries on policy ideas that will then be presented to President Trump. Per Sean Spicer during yesterday's press briefing, the working groups will cover: "Deregulation, tax and trade, training and the workforce of the future and infrastructure."
It seems like two big things are missing:
- Education Secretary Betsy DeVos, who is not among the participants. Instead, Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross will serve as cabinet rep on the "workforce of the future" group. Retraining of current working-age adults is clearly an important issue, but shouldn't there be equal (if not greater) concern about the next generation? And, if so, shouldn't the Ed Sec be present?
- Any explicit mention of automation. Perhaps this is in the "workforce of the future" session, but there are no technologists or futurists invited (let alone labor reps). Trump talks a lot about America's loss of manufacturing jobs, but never about how American manufacturing output is actually at an all-time high. Or, put another way, the invited CEOs are making more with fewer workers. Consider U.S. manufacturing to be like a tricycle: Taxes/trade policy and regulation are the two small wheels in the back. Integral, but not nearly so much as the big wheel (automation) in the front.