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GUEST COLUMN |
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Dan Surra |
  
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May 30, 2008
Time for feds to restore job assistance, worker training funds
by state Rep. Dan Surra, D-Elk/Clearfield
Thousands of workers and job-seekers in Pennsylvania could be impacted by continuing cuts in federal funding for employment and worker training programs. This is the wrong part of the federal budget to be cutting, and the wrong time to be cutting it.
Pennsylvania has maintained its commitment to helping people obtain employment and advance their careers by ensuring that full funding is provided in the state budget for job assistance and training programs, and by creating new programs such as Job Ready PA. The state's workforce investment boards and PA CareerLink centers do an outstanding job providing Pennsylvanians with the tools necessary to find employment and linking employers with the skilled employees they need.
But the federal government is seriously jeopardizing those efforts with draconian funding cuts that threaten to force the curtailment or elimination of many programs and services that PA CareerLink centers offer. Federal workforce development funds have been cut in the past five consecutive years, and funding cuts have been threatened again this year. Last year alone, Pennsylvania lost $13.5 million in federal workforce funding. On top of that, the federal government is now forcing Pennsylvania to return $4.9 million that it already had received. Imagine how it would impact your family budget if your employer required you to give back your paycheck a few weeks after you received it!
All this comes at a time of extreme economic uncertainty, when the jobs of many Americans are in jeopardy and unemployed Pennsylvanians face their greatest challenge in finding work. While PA CareerLink centers probably won't be forced to close by the federal cuts -- they will have to remain open to continue providing basic services such as job searches for unemployed people -- many other important services that these centers provide could be reduced or eliminated.
One of the most important of these services is job training, which helps many Pennsylvanians get the skills they need to find work. Currently, because of the federal funding cuts, about half of Pennsylvania's 22 workforce investment boards have no money for job-training programs. In addition, the money that the federal government recalled this year was used to support individual training accounts, money that workers can use to learn new skills. At many PA CareerLink centers, there is no money left in these accounts, either.
Workforce development efforts have been successful in Pennsylvania because nearly everyone – from workers to businesspeople to educators to legislators – understands that investing in our human capital is important to sustaining and growing our economy, and supports the necessary funding to do that. The federal government needs to follow the example we set here in Pennsylvania. I urge anyone who is concerned about possible further cuts in federal workforce development and training funding – and nearly everyone concerned with Pennsylvania's economy should be – to contact their U.S. congressman and senators to urge a return of full federal funding for these important programs.
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