White House announces new 'workforce hubs' in four states

April 25 (UPI) -- The White House on Thursday announced four new "workforce hubs" to gear up U.S. workers for new manufacturing jobs.

President Joe Biden will visit Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday to announce the new hubs in upstate New York, Michigan, Milwaukee and Philadelphia and tout a preliminary agreement with Micron to expand its semiconductor manufacturing operations, the White House said.

"The Biden-Harris administration is committed to ensuring that all workers -- including women, people of color, veterans, and those who have been historically left behind -- have equitable access to those job opportunities and the training and skills needed to fill them," the White House said in a statement.

"In each of the four new hubs, the administration will expand the successful models developed in the first round of workforce hubs."

The White House said the new workforce hub in upstate New York will help workers enter the semiconductor manufacturing field.

Micron announced in 2022 that it would build a $500 million semiconductor fabrication facility in the state, using funding from the CHIPS and Science Act.

Biden on Thursday announced a $6.1 billion deal with Micron to invest in semiconductor manufacturing in New York as well as Idaho, where Micron is based.

The hub in Michigan will benefit workers breaking into the electric vehicle industry as the Biden administration looks to retool existing auto plants to shift to the production of EVs.

In Milwaukee and Philadelphia, the workforce hubs will train workers to replace lead pipes to follow through on a goal the Biden administration presented last year to replace lead pipes in water systems throughout the country within 10 years.

The hubs in Milwaukee and Philadelphia will concentrate on clean water infrastructure work such as replacing aging lead pipes that have endangered drinking water.

The administration previously announced five so-called Investing in America workforce hubs in Columbus, Ohio, Baltimore, Pittsburgh, Augusta, Ga., and Phoenix.

The administration had said in the past that locations named workforce hubs will drive advanced job growth by developing technological skills with apprenticeships and education to match future jobs.