Skills training for workers who have been displaced by automation or by the nation’s sluggish economy could be the focus of programs in many states next year--at the expense of many young people served by the education system--when the new Job Training Partnership Act takes effect, according to a Congressional aide who spoke at the National Governors Association’s policy conference on employment and training.
With more than 10 million unemployed workers, many of whom are “functional illiterates,” political pressures surrounding program decisions at the state and local levels will be intense, according to Richard Praeger Jr., an analyst for the House Subcommittee on Human Resources Programs.
Retraining projects for unemployed workers funded under the program that replaces the Comprehensive Employment and Training Act, will have “political appeal” and could eclipse other programs that are permitted under the new legislation, Mr. Praeger asserted.
