1Center for American Progress | Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation
Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation
Conservatives in Congress Fail to Invest in America’s Workforce
Stephen Steigleder and Louis Soares April 2011
Introduction
Te U.S. labor marke’s ongoing emergence ou o heGrea Recessionraises a classicchicken-and-egg quesion or policymakers: Wha comes rs, jobs or skilled workers?Te dicul policy realiy is ha jobs and skilled workers emerge in a parallel ashion.Undersanding his dynamic is criical or policymakers. Tey mus reverse he mis-guided cus o job raining and possecondary educaion programs in his scal year’srecenly passed ederal budge and seek o develop a more eecive “job growh” sra-egy in he scal year 2012 budge ha begins in Ocober. Around our naion, regions wih he mos educaed and skilled workers—places suchas Ausin, Minneapolis, and Raleigh—are proving he mos resilien and adapable,pulling ou o he Grea Recession wih beter job creaion numbers. Following a well-esablished rajecory, he good jobs ha are being creaed in hese regions requirepossecondary educaion—he bare minimum being one year wih anoccupaionalcredenial. Moreover, rms in manuacuring, healh care, and clean energy are increas-ingly using workorce educaion merics as par o heirlocaion decisions , seekingo creae new jobs in clusers where hey can bene rom workers wih solid generaleducaion and indusry specic skills.Recognizing his inersecion beween job creaion and worker skills, Presiden Barack Obama wo years ago oulined an ambiious agenda o reurn he Unied Saes o being he bes educaed and mos economically compeiive counry in he world. Tepresiden’s American Graduaion Iniiaive included a goal o increasing he number o Americans wih college degrees and cericaes by an addiional 5 million graduaes by 2020, which would reurn he Unied Saes o is ormer posiion o having he highesproporion o college graduaes in he world. We are currenly ranked a an embarrass-ing 12h in he world or degree atainmen among 25-o-34 year olds.o reach ha goal, Presiden Obama proposed o spend an addiional $12 billion overhe ensuing 10 years o reorm and srenghen our communiy college sysem. I wasa very promising sar. Unorunaely, he presiden’s ambiious agenda o improve
2Center for American Progress | Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation
America’s compeiiveness soon ell vicim o deci-cuting pressures and he adminis-raion was orced o drasically scale back is iniiaive o $2 billion over our years.In conras, in he recenly passed FY 2011 budge, Republicans in he House o Represenaives pushed o cu job raining and communiy college programs in heirshorsighed eor o reduce our naion’s invesmen in working Americans.Tis issue brie will explain precisely why hese cus in FY 2011 are misguided assaulson needed invesmens in our workorce compeiiveness in an increasingly cu-hroaglobal economic arena. We will hen presen he reasons why specic programs need o be unded a higher levels in he FY 2012 budge now being craed by Congress. TeObama adminisraion and Congress mus no lose sigh o he ac ha job creaion and worker raining have a symbioic relaionship as hey seek o use axpayer unds wisely.
Cuts to job training and postsecondary education programs
Te recenly announced compromise or he scal year 2011 budge slashes ederalinvesmen in job raining by approximaely $850 million. Te agreemen reduces—and,in many insances, compleely eliminaes—unding or programs ha enable low-skilladuls, unemployed workers, and a-risk youh o enroll in possecondary educaionor job raining programs ha lead o associae›s degrees, vocaional cericaes, andindusry-recognized credenials. (see able 1)
Table 1
Harming our nation’s human capital
Percentage change in unding or select ederal workorce development programs, 2010 and 2011
Programs ($ in millions)FY 2010FY 2011*$ Change% Change
Department o LaborWIA state grants 2,969.42,662.4-307.0-10.3%WIA national emergency grants229.2224.2-5.0-2.2%Career Pathways125.0-125.0-250.0-200.0%Green jobs40.00-40.0-100.0%Transitional jobs45.00-45.0-100.0%Reintegration o ex-ofenders93.585.6-7.9-8.5%YouthBuild102.580.0-22.5-22.0%Department o EducationCareer and Technical Education1,217.71,133.7-138.0-10.9%Adult Education639.6608.6-31.0-4.8%
Total5,515.74,669.2-846.4-15.3%
*
Note: FY 2011 fgures are calculated prior to the across-the-board rescission o 0.2 percent.Source: Authors’ calculations based on the FY 2010 Consolidated Appropriations Act (P.L. 111 – 117) and the House and Senate-passed FY 2011 Full-Year Continuing Appropriations Act (H.R. 1473).
3Center for American Progress | Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation
Tese job-raining programs a he Deparmen o Labor, which are unded hroughhe Workorce Invesmen Ac, he Green Jobs Innovaion Fund, and CareerPahways Innovaion Fund, among ohers, provide housands o American workers wihhe skills hey need o nd good careers and succeed in he knowledge-based globaleconomy. So, oo, do he Deparmen o Educaion’s Career, echnical, and AdulEducaion programs. So le’s examine each o hese programs in urn o undersand jushow criical hey are o building he highly skilled workorce ha is inegral o naionalcompeiiveness and economic opporuniy.
Workforce Investment Act state grants
Te larges single cu o job raining programs in he jus passed FY 2011 budge was direced a he Deparmen o Labor’s WIA sae grans, which were reduced by $307 million. Conservaively speaking, he unding cus could deny more han50,000 working aduls he opporuniy o go back o school and earn a degree, ceri-cae, or credenial. Over a decade ha unding cu—i reversed and allocaed o eeciveraining and educaion programs—could lead o an addiional 500,000 workers com-pleing a possecondary educaion, which represens 10 percen o Presiden Obama’sambiious goal or increasing college compleion by 2020.Forunaely, Congress slighly ose is ill-conceived cus by argeing he reducionso saewide workorce aciviies unded hrough a WIA se-aside—a sauory provi-sion allowing governors o reserve up o 15 percen o WIA sae gran unding ordiscreionary aciviies—raher han cuting unds rom local workorce invesmen boards. Tis is imporan because he majoriy o WIA-unded programs o boos pos-secondary atainmen are unded hrough workorce invesmen boards, as opposedo unds conrolled by governors. While i is imporan o se aside unding or rapidresponse aciviies and discreionary saewide projecs, CAP has consisenly advo-caedor changing WIA perormance measures o ocus on increasing he number o working learners achieving possecondary degrees and indusry-recognized credenials.Increasing he percenage o WIA sae grans unding ha fows o workorce inves-men boards is consisen wih his approach.Te FY 2011 budge shorsighedly reduces WIA sae grans unding by 10 percen. Local workorce invesmen boards are inended o be held harmless in he new budge, bu sae- wide workorce aciviies unded hrough he WIA se-aside are cu by a massive 70 percen.Overall, he mainenance o local workorce invesmen board unding is somewhalaudable. Bu any annual reducion in WIA unding or saewide aciviies should beredireced o hese local boards oenroll addiional working learners in educaionalprogramsha yield degrees, cericaes, and credenials in demand in he labor marke.In FY 2012 hese programs should be given
additional
resources o refec our naionalchallenge o develop a beter educaed and more economically compeiive workorce.
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Harming Our Workforce, Harming Our Nation
Policymakers must reverse the misguided cuts to job training and postsecondary education programs and develop a more effective “job growth” strategy.
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