One of the biggest challenges facing small business is hiring and retaining skilled trade workers. The expanding economy has greatly tightened the labor market, and firms are finding they can't fill their shops with enough people to get the job done.

No region or sector has been spared this shortage. For example, the automobile industry alone is searching for 60,000 technicians and mechanics nationwide. In a recent survey conducted by the National Association of Counties, 75 percent of the largest counties reported a shortage of skilled workers, 85 percent said the shortage has gotten worse in the past five years, and 97 percent call the shortage serious or very serious.

Clearly, this is a problem requiring a solution.

Congress has responded to this problem with some innovative legislation. I joined Rep. Mark Foley, R-Fla., to introduce the Skilled Workforce Enhancement Act (SWEA), which is designed to help companies meet the labor shortfall while offering workers the chance to improve their skills and marketability.

Lacking skilled labor, employers are hit with double costs. First is the price of recruitment. Advertising and paying recruiters to find scarce qualified labor is expensive and time-consuming. Then, if companies can't find qualified labor, they often must make them so by paying for training.

SWEA seeks to ease that burden. Here is how the legislation would work: Businesses with fewer than 250 employees will get a tax credit of $15,000 per year, per apprentice, for four years. In exchange for the credit, employers will train their new apprentice for 1,500 hours per year.

I believe SWEA would be a win for everyone. Employers get a hand in return for providing skills to workers, who then gain valuable new tools they can apply to their business or for themselves farther down the line.

It is practically a mantra that skilled labor leads to stable employment. The unspoken part is that companies need skilled labor to be productive. I hope my colleagues in Congress will take SWEA seriously when they try to help small business meet their manpower requirements.

The legislation has broad, bipartisan support on Capitol Hill. Last Congress the bill had 89 cosponsors. Several major organizations also back SWEA, including the Automotive Service Association and Associated General Contractors.

As small companies continue to look for good workers and as prospective employees look for new skills, we can accommodate both. We must accommodate them to maintain the economic prosperity our country has worked so hard to achieve. And to do this, we need to make sure that new workers have training and updated skills to keep up in a rapidly evolving economy.

The Skilled Workforce Enhancement Act helps us do that. Preparing today, we can help workers and companies adapt and thrive tomorrow.

Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, D-N.Y., is the first Puerto Rican woman elected to the United States House of Representatives. She was first elected to Congress in 1992 to represent the 12th district of New York. Currently, Velázquez is ranking Democratic member of the House Small Business Committee.

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