Biden said there’s a demand for 1.2 million IT workers in U.S. by 2022 — and 40 percent of the jobs won’t require a college degree.

“There are an awful lot of people out there who have capacities they didn’t think of before,” Biden told the crowd of about 150 people.

In St. Louis, companies such as MasterCard, Boeing, and Express Scripts have been expanding the talent pool they draw on, working with initiatives like LaunchCode to develop talent.

“We think LaunchCode is going to be in every city that has a talent shortage, which is pretty much every city,” McKelvey told the Post-Dispatch.

At the Friday event, several St. Louis area employers offered testimonials about LaunchCode’s value, including Robert Reeg, president of Global Technology and Operations at MasterCard, who said the credit-card company has brought in 21 LaunchCode apprentices in St. Louis and Miami, and wants to expand the program to its New York office.

Neal Sample, chief information officer for Express Scripts, credited LaunchCode with helping the pharmacy benefit manager shift to hiring employees with a desire to learn tech, not just those with degrees.

Later Friday, Biden stopped by the Goody Goody Diner in north St. Louis to campaign for U.S. Senate candidate Jason Kander, Missouri’s Secretary of State. Biden and Kander, a Democrat, stopped at more than a dozen tables to shake hands with customers at the diner at 5900 Natural Bridge Avenue. Kander is running against incumbent Republican Roy Blunt for the Senate seat.

Lisa Brown • 314-340-8127 @lisabrownstl on Twitter lbrown@post-dispatch.com

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