Washington Update

As Congress continues its “juggling act” this week on a variety of matters—the five-year budget reconciliation package, proposed tax cuts and tax breaks, the FY '06 appropriations bills, hurricane relief, and more—it appears unlikely that legislators will be able to adjourn for the year by the November 18th target date.

A budget amendment in support of cuts to both entitlement and discretionary spending, which had been rescheduled for a House floor vote this week, may be pulled again.

This week the House Education and the Workforce Committee voted 22-19 to report a measure that would cut about $15 billion in mandatory spending on student loan programs over five years. The cuts would come primarily from reducing subsidies to the lenders. Some Committee members expressed concerns that these additional costs would be passed along to students. The package also includes $250 million to assist college students in ending pre-existing loan obligations if they were attending colleges that remain closed due to the hurricanes.

Consideration of the Labor/Health & Human Services/Education appropriations bill began on the Senate floor this week. Senators Cornyn (R-TX) and Dole (R-NC) are expected to offer an amendment to the bill that would cut $45 million from dislocated worker formula grants and $80 million from the International Labor Bureau's child labor enforcement efforts. The resulting $125 million in cuts would be reallocated to the Community-Based Job Training Initiative. Additionally, $125 million that was already funded for community college grants from National Emergency Grants would transfer to the discretionary account.

The Senate is attempting to finish its work on the Labor/HHS/Education appropriations bill this week.

USDOL Awards Community-Based Job Training Grants

The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $125 million in Competitive Community-Based Job Training grants to 70 community colleges. In response to Hurricane Katrina, the Department gave preference to competitive applications from Gulf Coast and Southeast colleges whose programs will be critical to rebuilding those regional economies.

The Community-Based Job Training Initiative is intended to support workforce training for high-growth industries through the nation's community and technical colleges. Projects receiving funding cover high-growth industries including health care, construction, advanced manufacturing, and energy.

For more information and a list of those receiving grants, see http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/eta/eta20051932.htm.

Recent Studies Paint Different Pictures of America's Younger Workers

Two recently-released reports come to somewhat different conclusions about the skill levels of America's younger workers. The Society for Human Resource Management's 2005 Future of the U.S. Labor Pool Survey Report suggests that young workers lack core competencies, such as overall professionalism, communications skills, and business knowledge. Conversely, sociologist Michael Handel, in a book just released by the Economic Policy Institute titled Worker Skills and Job Requirements: Is There a Mismatch?, argues that these claims of large-scale and widening skills gap are overstated, and states that younger workers appear to have higher cognitive skills than older workers.

For more information, see http://www.epi.org/content.cfm/book_worker_skills and www.shrm.org

Manufacturers address Workforce Challenges

Several employer associations affiliated with the National Association of Manufacturers' (NAM’s) Center for Workforce Success (CWS) are demonstrating how these associations can be leaders in addressing workforce challenges. CWS helped six manufacturing associations design and implement initiatives serving a dual goal—meeting the needs of their members for skilled employees, and improving the economic prospects of “hard-to-serve” populations. For example, the South Florida Manufacturing Association helped its members receive $860,000 in public training funds to train more than 2,600 employees. The San Diego Employers Association, Inc., serving as an intermediary between its members and the San Diego Workforce Investment Board and the San Diego Workforce Partnership, is helping manufacturers provide direction for training provided by the One-Stop system and helping graduates of the system secure employment. For more information, see http://www.nam.org/s_nam/sec.asp?CID=183&DID=181

From the States

State News, New York

CareerLink will deliver an innovative, needs-based training and placement project to serve young people in the three counties. Through the project's Business Advisory Council, which has the support of the region's chambers of commerce, youth will be supported through work experience, work skills training, job referral, and job retention. For more information, see www.working-solutions.org/news101105.htm

Vol V Issue 5
October 27, 2005

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