Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday that bolstering education and training would help solve economic gap between low- and high-income workers.

"Policies that boost our national investment in education and training can help reduce inequality while expanding economic opportunity," said Bernanke in prepared remarks delivered to the Omaha Chamber of Commerce.

He warned the U.S. government not to seek protectionist barriers to trade and investment opportunities, the move he cautioned "would do far more harm than good."

"The challenge for policy is not to eliminate inequality per se but rather to spread economic opportunity as widely as possible," he said. "Policies that focus on education, job training, and skills and that facilitate job search and job mobility seem to me to be a promising means for moving toward that goal."