The Pathways Advancing Career Training (PACT) ACT

The Pathways Advancing Career Training (PACT) Act, sponsored by Rep. Linda Sanchez (D-CA) is an important step toward meeting the diverse employment needs of a high-skill, high-wage economy.

The PACT Act would provide assistance to States for training programs that prepare women for employment in high-wage, high-skill fields where they are often underrepresented. It would also allow States to develop and support programs that address barriers to employment for single parents and for displaced homemakers, divorced and widowed women re-entering the workforce after extended periods of time at home caring for family members.

In doing so, PACT would advance women's economic equity and target those families most in need - female-headed families - while helping to build the highly-skilled, diverse workforce that is critical to continued US competitiveness.

For an overview of the PACT Act click here.

Why the PACT Act?

PACT is Good for Women
Economic equity remains an elusive goal for millions of women in the United States . The U.S. job training system could play an important role in advancing women's economic opportunities, but so far it has not made a serious commitment to do so. The PACT Act addresses this failure by using proven methods to help low-income women achieve economic success.
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PACT is Good for Families
A whopping 42 percent of all children in female-headed households live in poverty. By providing targeted programs for women raising children on their own, PACT will increase family income and economic security for hundreds of thousands of families across the country.
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PACT is Good for the Economy
Employers in the United States struggle to find qualified workers, with larger skilled labor shortages expected in the coming decades. One pragmatic solution is to engage relatively untapped sources of U.S. labor - displaced homemakers, single parents, and other women currently trapped in marginal, low-wage jobs. The PACT Act would prepare these populations for high-skilled work in fast-growing fields where employers are or will soon be struggling to meet the demand for skilled labor.
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