Tech Giants Get Bipartisan Support for Workforce Training Revamp

Congress is responding in rare bipartisan fashion to calls from businesses to reform the country’s workforce development system to help address the tight labor market.

Lawmakers from both parties showed eagerness at a hearing Thursday to make changes to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, which authorizes funding for most of the job training initiatives at the state level through the US Labor Department and is up for reauthorization this year.

Technology companies, including IBM Corp., HP Inc., and Boeing Co., have been pushing Congress to update WIOA and boost skills development programs.

“It was not the Ten Commandments,” said ...