Why is the federal government blocking skilled workers from federal jobs?

The federal government is locking people without college degrees from skilled jobs with federal contractors.

The issue here is, a lot of folks are looking at the cost of college, and the pay associated with most jobs on the market, and saying, no dice.

Can’t blame folks for going the more affordable route with community college and related training programs, and apprenticeships.

A lot of Fortune 500 companies have dropped bachelor’s degree requirements for an increasing percentage of their middle-skill and high-skill jobs in recent years in an effort to recruit additional workers.

And yet, here we are, with the federal government imposing bachelor’s degree requirements on workers supporting federal contracts.

Abigail Spanberger, who has a few months left in her third term representing Virginia’s Seventh District in Congress, before embarking on her run for governor next year, is pushing the feds to make the common-sense change.

In a letter sent this week to Office of Personnel Management Deputy Administrator for Federal Procurement Policy Lesley Field, Spanberger urged the agency to apply recent findings focused on creating skills-based hiring assessments for federal jobs to an evaluation of hiring requirements for federal contract services.

“The majority of workers today have developed their skills through alternative routes outside of the traditional four-year college degree, such as community college, apprenticeships, and on-the-job experience,” Spanberger wrote in the letter. “­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­­I represent many of these highly skilled individuals in Virginia who wish to enter the acquisitions workforce – as well as many small businesses who wish to hire these individuals to support their contract work with the federal government. However, unnecessarily strict minimum education requirements imposed by federal agencies in these contracts keep qualified workers from being matched with employers who need them.”

Spanberger has her backers in this push.

“The federal government has an opportunity to strengthen and deepen its talent pool for contractors by joining the national trend of emphasizing skills-based hiring,” said Dr. Anne M. Kress, the president of Northern Virginia Community College. “NOVA is the largest public higher education institution in Virginia and the largest provider of talent in our region. Yet, the four-year degree requirement attached to many government contracts means Northern Virginia contractors are losing out on highly skilled NOVA grads. NOVA joins in encouraging the government to think ‘outside the degree’ to widen the talent pathway and close the workforce gap in areas critical to national security and essential services.”

“Federal contracting is crucial to the workforce pipeline in Northern Virginia, and it’s integral to our region’s economy. Our region is home to many highly skilled workers, and local businesses are eager to hire them,” said Julie Coons, president and CEO of the Northern Virginia Chamber of Commerce. “However, outdated federal requirements mandating a traditional four-year college degree for contract employees disqualify many individuals with extensive on-the-job experience or skills training from contributing to federal government work. We support Congresswoman Spanberger’s efforts to promote skills-based hiring, strengthen our local workforce, and help our businesses succeed.”