Workforce Training Monies Won't Lower Unemployment Rate Without Strong Public Job Programs

On Thursday, Gov. Deval Patrick announced a $1.2 million federal stimulus award to eight workforce training partnership programs across the Commonwealth. He made the announcement at St. Mary's Women and Children's Center in Dorchester - one of the programs receiving funding. A worthy group if ever there was one. Kudos are certainly due to the Patrick administration, the Obama administration's American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, and the programs in question. After all, it's hard to argue with money for education for people for most any purpose - unless it's for a Mad Scientist Training Center or some such. Yet, given my years-long experience as a labor-community organizer trying to help communities grapple with the rise of bad contingent jobs (e.g., temp, independent contractor, and part-time jobs), I'm worried that many of the training programs receiving funding will ultimately be training people to work low-wage jobs. The same kind of jobs that cause people to get locked into poverty to begin with.

The fact that jobs like nursing assistant, truck driver, factory worker and hospitality worker no longer pay very well in the private sector, are often not full-time and generally lack benefits is cause for great concern. Unfortunately, these are the very kinds of jobs that many well-meaning programs are training people to do. The associated problem is that far more public money will need to be spent on public job programs if job training programs are going to have much meaning - and that unless the jobs created are unionized public jobs with good wages and benefits, they are unlikely to be long-lasting or keep job recipients out of poverty.

Most of the jobs that the eight stimulus grant recipients will be training people to fill will not fit that kind of bill.

Take a look for yourself and think over each one

· Jewish Healthcare Center in Worcester was awarded over $166,000 to train incumbent and unemployed Licensed Practical Nurses and Certified Nursing Assistants for 16 long-term care facilities.

· South Shore Community Action Council Inc. in Plymouth was awarded over $163,000 to provide permit preparation and CDL driver training courses to place individuals in Class B CDL licensed jobs in a cross section of industries.

· Employment Options in Marlborough was awarded over $161,000 to train individuals with previous psychological disabilities to be Certified Peer Specialists.

· Minuteman Career and Technical High School in Lexington was awarded over $141,000 to expand the Minuteman Adult Biomanufacturing Certificate Program to a daytime program that will train participants for entry level technician positions.

· Community Workshops Inc./d.b.a. Community Work Services in Boston was awarded over $162,000 to train and place homeless individuals and those at risk for homelessness in hospitality occupations.

· Boston Carpenters Apprenticeship &Training Fund in Dorchester was awarded over $166,000 to train long-term unemployed carpenters in need of updated training leading to new Drywall certification to enhance their competitiveness for available jobs.

· Baystate Medical Center in Springfield was awarded over $167,000 to train and place incumbent workers and unemployed community residents in Patient Care Technician positions using the new employer-developed Acute Care Certified Nurse Assistant curriculum.

· St. Mary's Women and Children's Center in Dorchester was awarded over $135,000 in funding and partners with UMass-Boston, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and the Corcoran Management Company to provide career training to disadvantaged women in the region.

The exception to the rule in this particular batch of programs is the Carpenters Union backed program to train long-term unemployed carpenters. Union carpenters like these have historically made good money. The problem for this group of workers is that the construction industry has not yet recovered from the recession - as evidenced by the language above stating the Carpenters' training program will "enhance their competitiveness for available jobs." Many unionized construction workers are still struggling to find work. Which I find even more worrisome. When people that have held good paying union jobs are no longer able to find much work, they are the equivalent of canaries in a coal mine. If skilled workers can't find work, than workers with fewer skills are even more at-risk. And I don't see this problem being taken seriously enough by state or federal government. The private sector, for their part, doesn't believe the problem is their responsibility - although they are happy to take public training and job creation money when they can get it.

It would behoove the Patrick administration to step up efforts to create more good public jobs, and help stimulate our local economy by putting money in workers pockets. Some of the work done under the ARRA is laudable - including programs that have helped create some decent private sector jobs. But with unemployment still at 9 percent - about 4 points higher than "normal" levels of unemployment - there's still a long way to go to improve job creation and make sure that the jobs created are good jobs by any metric.

This issue should loom large in the gubernatorial race, and I would strongly recommend that people look to throwing their support behind the candidate that addresses lowering unemployment in a serious way. Beyond that it's important for everyone to push for public job creation and more better publicly-funded job training programs. Most Democratic and Republican politicians still can't bring themselves to raise taxes on the rich and corporations that can afford to pay for such programs. But if the drumbeat for such reforms gets louder, we could see a sea change. Rather than adopting a wait and see attitude, I believe its incumbent upon Open Media viewers and their friends to take action. Because if you all don't, who will?

Jason Pramas is Editor/Publisher of Open Media Boston