SHRM President and CEO Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., Testifies in Front of Congress

On Feb. 5, SHRM President and Chief Executive Officer Johnny C. Taylor, Jr., SHRM-SCP, testified before the House Committee on Education and Workforce with a simple message: “The education-to-employment pipeline is leaky, broken, and busted.” However, Taylor emphasized that “our system is still the best in the world,” and he challenged the committee with a thought-provoking question: “Imagine what we could be if we unleashed the power of talent?” Taylor called on Congress, in partnership with SHRM, to create a national strategy to align education with workforce demands. 

The testimony was well received across the aisle, with Taylor fielding extensive questions from members on both sides, reflecting broad, nonpartisan interest in the issues at hand. Many committee members raised questions about the expected executive order from President Donald Trump to eliminate the U.S. Department of Education. In response, Taylor said, “The work of the U.S. Department of Education is important and needs to continue,” but he noted that eliminating it would “need a vote of Congress.” 

Additionally, Taylor and others noted that increased student spending has not necessarily improved education quality or equipped students with essential workplace “power skills.” As a former chairman of the White House Initiative on HBCUs (historically Black colleges and universities), Taylor emphasized that HBCUs are not race-based institutions and that their funding is not a political issue. He called them “historic jewels” that must be supported, stressing that the focus should be on students, who are critical to workforce diversity. Taylor also urged Congress to finalize the reauthorization and reform of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to fund upskilling and reskilling amid AI-driven job displacement. He emphasized skills-based hiring to address nearly 8 million job openings, along with advocating for expanding paid apprenticeships and rebranding them to highlight diverse career opportunities to tackle the skilled worker shortage.

Read SHRM’s written testimony.

Following the testimony, SHRM sent a letter to the Committee and the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pension.