U.S. Sen. Doug Jones (D-Alabama) recently introduced legislation to increase federal investments in training and workforce development to help prepare workers for the jobs of the future. The Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act will help workers navigate the transition that will result from an increase in automation.

“This week, I introduced a bill with my colleague from Illinois Dick Durbin to help American workers who may be impacted by automation,” Jones said. “This is a huge deal for Alabama, because our state has been named one of the top ten states where workers are vulnerable to it.”

In an announcement of the bill, Jones cited an estimation that nearly 50 percent of jobs in the U.S. could be at risk due to automation. In Alabama, 40 percent of the workforce falls in industry groups most at risk.

Those groups include food service, manufacturing, transportation, agriculture, retail and mining.

The bill was introduced just weeks after Jones led a roundtable forum in Gadsden concerning the future of Goodyear, the largest manufacturing plant in Etowah County. The plant has been a point of concern recently, as the company has begun laying off employees and offering buyouts. During the forum Oct. 9, Local 12 union international policy member John Garmon said that the plant nearly was 300 employees shy of its full capacity of more than 1,400 employees.

While Goodyear isn't in immediate threat of automation, the rise of robotics and artificial intelligence is increasing the threat for many manufacturing jobs.

“Folks there are worried about losing their jobs or even having the plant close because of automation,” Jones said in a media call Thursday. “Many of them asked how they would be able to learn the skills needed for them to take on new jobs in case that worst case scenario does happen. Luckily, in Etowah County, Gadsden State Community College is already doing great work with job training and workforce development.”

The Investing in Tomorrow’s Workforce Act would build on the successes of places like Gadsden State while creating a new grant program to help workers prepare for that threat in a number of ways.

The bill would create a grant program through the Department of Labor to support industry or sector partnerships in developing training programs for workers who are or are likely to become dislocated because of technological advances.

It would also expand current programs by increasing funding for National Dislocated Worker Grants and amend the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act to include automation dislocations in those programs.

Thirdly, the bill would also direct the U.S. Government Accountability Office to conduct a study of the barriers facing and opportunities for improving training for workers in industries likely to be affected.

Jones said that the bill was geared towards addressing the issues that are emerging in a changing work environment and an economy that is “so different than it was 50 or 60 years ago.”

A press release from the Jones’s office said the new bill is his latest effort to increase workforce development across the state and stand up for workers in Alabama. Other efforts include the forum held in Gadsden to discuss the future of Goodyear and speaking out against tariffs imposed by the Trump Administration that threaten jobs in the state.