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Nixon touts Missouri Works program during St. Louis visit

ST. LOUIS — Gov. Jay Nixon visited Boeing Industries today to discuss the Missouri Works program, outlined in two pieces of legislation — House Bill 196 and House Bill 184 —that become law today.

The Missouri Works program outlines incentives for business growth, economic development and worker training programs that will help train employees in their current jobs and for future opportunities.

More than 600 experts in four areas including business, labor, education and economic development shared their insight from their respective fields with legislators to develop Missouri Works, Nixon said.

“The result is a clear blueprint for building the 21st century economy and the seven targeted industries that will help get us there — advanced manufacturing, energy solutions, bioscience, health science, information technology, financial and professional services and transportation logistics,” Nixon said.

Missouri Works highlights the Missouri Works Training Program established by the Department of Economic Development. Nixon said the program will “streamline and update” worker training programs, making employees more competitive with the global market, according to Nixon.

Similar programs that predate Missouri Works to help businesses “invest, create jobs and train workers” functioned appropriately, Nixon said, but did not abide by the same set of standards and requirements.

“Missouri Works, which takes effect today, consolidates and modernizes Missouri’s four existing business development incentives into a single business-friendly program with a single set of definitions and a streamlines application process, making these programs easier to use and easier to understand,” Nixon said. “This will allow businesses to focus on creating jobs, making new investments and developing new technologies, not cutting through the red tape.”

Last year, he added, Missouri worker training programs assisted 37,000 workers in 344 companies across the state.