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Sequester Impacting Workforce Training for Open Jobs
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor released the monthly jobs report for June. The U.S. economy added 195,000 jobs during the past month. However, sequestration is just beginning to take effect for employment and job training programs. Cuts to these programs could have a severe impact on the nearly 12 million people still out of work and their access to employment and job training services they need to find family-sustaining jobs.
The following quote regarding the June jobs report can be attributed to Rachel Unruh, associate director for National Skills Coalition:
“Today’s jobs report is good news for America’s workers and employers. While the job numbers are going in the right direction, too many workers are left out of our economic recovery because they don’t have the skills employers need to fill open positions. The situation may only get worse for workers and employers as many employment and job training programs received their first cuts from sequestration on July 1.
These cuts have caused many workforce organizations to lay off staff and reduce or eliminate job training programs and employment services. This is happening at a time when many are reporting an increase in demand for employment services, causing job seekers looking to upgrade their skills to be placed on waiting lists for training that could lead to a good, stable, life-changing career.
To make it worse, some members of Congress are actually proposing nearly a billion dollars in additional job training cuts. Continuing down this path will only make it harder for workers and employers to compete in the global economy. Congress must do its job by ending the sequester, eliminating additional cuts to discretionary programs like job training, and finding a balanced approach to deficit reduction.”
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