'Find something new': White House encourages US unemployed to change careers through trade schools

'Vocational school. Great people, great talent, and they do very well,' Donald Trump said last week

"Find something new." That's the message from a new campaign created in part by the White House that targets Americans who have lost their jobs during the coronavirus pandemic.

The campaign, which kicks off with its first add on Tuesday, is part of a years-long push by Donald Trump and White House officials to convince people that a college degree is not always necessary. Instead, the president and some of his top aides have stressed trade and vocational schools as an alternative route to being able to pay the bills.

But with 11.1 per cent unemployment and the country experiencing new shutdowns in some states as Covid-19 cases surge anew, finding a new job in a new field won't be as easy as the ad campaign makes out. Tens of millions of people have filed for jobless benefits since the pandemic took hold, with Democratic lawmakers slamming Mr Trump's handling of the outbreak.

During a White Hose event on 9 July, the president called trade schools "something that's been really badly missing.

"Trade schools. So important. Work-based learning and vocational education, so important. Vocational," he said.

Mr Trump frequently brings up things from his own past experiences, expressing a desire to bring back things from as far back as the 1970s or even the more-distant past that economic forces have weeded out of the US economy.

"When I was young, growing up, I used to see 'vocational school.' Edison Vocational School. That meant people with a great talent, but a talent different than history and math and other things," he said last week. "But they had the same talent or far greater than many of the 'A' students that studied other things. Vocational school. Great people, great talent, and they do very well. They do very well."

At another recent event, the president talked about an alleged former friend who was not a great student but who could tear down and rebuild a car motor with ease.

The non-profit Ad Council was involved in the new campaign as was the White House's American Workforce Policy Advisory Board, which is co-chaired by presidential daughter and West Wing adviser Ivanka Trump and Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross.

It was funded by 20 corporations, including Apple, IBM and the US Chamber of Commerce.

The first 30-second spot features stories from ordinary Americans.

One is a man who lost his job twice within a year. But after taking online course, he switched fields.

"I got laid off twice, but you got to keep going," the man says, adding: "I'm now a consultant in the tech space."