The Labor Department’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) released Training and Employment Guidance Letter No. 02-25 announcing the availability of approximately $30 million for an initial round of the Industry-Driven Skills Training Fund grants, with award amounts of up to $8 million each. The grants are intended to address critical workforce needs for in-demand trade careers and in high-growth and emerging industries, in support of Executive Order 14278, Preparing Americans for High-Paying Skilled Trade Jobs of the Future and America’s AI Action Plan.
Grant applicants must propose a model to award funds to employers for training and retaining new or incumbent workers in high-growth and emerging industries. Priority industries include, but are not limited to, in-demand skilled trades including shipbuilding occupations, occupations essential to the buildout of artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure, advanced manufacturing, nuclear energy, domestic mineral production, and information technology including AI. DOL notes that it will award at least $5 million of grant funding to support training in the shipbuilding industry.
Employers eligible to participate and receive training cost reimbursement from State Workforce Agencies must: (1) operate within the grantee’s state and targeted service area; (2) conduct business in one or more of the key industries identified by the grantee; (3) commit to recruit and train new hires and/or upskill current employees; (4) identify employee training needs; (5) collaborate with the grantee to develop a training strategy to meet the employee training needs and identify how the training will be provided; (6) ensure that training provided to employees aligns with the industry skills needed; and (7) agree to report training and employment outcomes to the grantee for the purposes of reimbursement and grant reporting requirements and provide necessary data to the state to calculate employment outcomes.
Eligible training participants must be: (1) a newly hired or incumbent worker who is employed with a participating employer seeking reimbursement; and (2) at least 17 years old and not currently enrolled in secondary school within a local educational agency.
Applicants must submit their application through Grants.gov by 11:59pm on September 5, 2025.