It's no secret that New Yorkers are hurting for jobs. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand has been touring the state pushing for a bill that would help create more high tech jobs. Barry Wygel met up with Gillibrand in Massena and has the details on her plan.

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MASSENA, N.Y. -- Since 2005, New York has lost more than 123,000 manufacturing jobs.

"But despite these ongoing jobs losses, we've seen growth in advanced and high tech manufactures," said Sen. Gillibrand, D-NY.

It's those high-tech jobs that Senator Gillibrand hopes to bring to New York.

"Today I'm announcing a bill called the Made in America Manufacturing Act," said Gillibrand.

Gillibrand says one major roadblock New York businesses face to expand, is lack of capital. The new bill would provide businesses a chance to compete for federal funds.

"Winners of the competition would be eligible for grants up to $20 million," said Gillibrand.

Those grants include low-cost loans that can be used to help upgrade existing facilities. The program isn't entirely new. It resembles a program that is already in place at Clarkson University.

"It takes funds. We're hitting up our alumni for a revolving loan fund," said Charles Thorpe, Clarkson University provost.

Thorpe said that Gillibrand's bill resembles the Clarkson plan on steroids. He also made the point that the manufacturing jobs of today aren't low-skilled factory jobs.

"The new manufacturing jobs of today are not back-breaking labor. They are safe. They are high-tech. They are high-innovation. They are high-skills. They are high-pay. They are highly connected," said Thorpe.

Gillibrand says she already has state and national support for her bill.

The Made in America Manufacturing Act would also help create job training programs.
Gillibrand says more than 600,000 jobs went unfilled last year due to workers not having the correct training.