Federal Cuts In Job Training Programs Hit Local Governments
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Across the country, workforce centers that help the unemployed are being asked to do more with less as federal funds decrease for job training and related services.
As WBBM Newsradio's Lisa Fielding reports, Pat Fera with the Workforce Investment Board of Will County says their budget was cut by 6 percent this year.
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"There's that push and pull between those who want to cut social programs, with those who want to cut taxes and job training seems to be stuck in the middle of that," said Fera.
Although, she says, Will County is fairing better than other cities and counties because it's population has growth and their unemployment rate is high.
Fera says they depend on federal dollars to help with training for more entry-level positions.
Employers who want to hire often complain that the jobless do not have the necessary skills. In such an environment, advocates for workers say that cutting funds for training and other services makes little sense.
"Manufacturing is the only one that we really see a skill gap in. We find that our logistics employers are able to recruit truck drivers and fork lift drivers. But in the manufacturing sector, that's one of the areas where skilled, specialized manufacturing employers, machinists, tool and die makers, that's where we hear there is a significant need."
At one point last year, Fera says they had 1,600 people on a waiting list.
The Labor Department announced on Friday that employers had added only 120,000 new jobs in March. But with 12.7 million people still searching for jobs, the country is actually spending less on work force training than it did in good times.
