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Workers Need Skills Training for Jobs Going Unfilled
Today, the U.S. Department of Labor released the monthly jobs report for February. While encouraging that employers added 236,000 jobs during the month, this news comes as $85 billion in across-the-board spending cuts that could result in millions losing their jobs took effect last week.
The following quote regarding the February jobs report can be attributed to Rachel Unruh, associate director for National Skills Coalition:
“Today’s job report is bittersweet; while it is encouraging employers in February created more jobs, the sequester that went into effect last week will set us back. These across-the-board cuts could cause up to two million workers to lose their jobs. To make matters worse, the sequester will cause cutbacks in programs and services that help unemployed workers to get the training and support they need to find a good-paying job. Over $450 million will be cut from workforce programs this year, resulting in nearly two million fewer workers getting the training and support they need – the same number of workers that could be out of a job because of the sequester. With the unemployment rate hovering near eight percent, now is not the time to make drastic cuts to programs that get people back to work. Congress must make America’s workers its top priority and invest in programs that get workers back to work.”
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