AUGUSTA, Maine — Tens of thousands of Mainers are out of work. Federal cuts to job training programs have resulted in fewer people getting training for new jobs, and it could get worse as Congress considers deeper cuts.
“We have seen significant cuts in all of these training programs,” said Maine Labor Commissioner Robert Winglass. “We are trying to reduce the impact on actual training programs by reducing administrative costs, but we can only do so much.”
The adult training program was cut to $2.6 million this year from $3.2 million last year. That has resulted in a drop from 2,877 Mainers being served to 2,295.
Another program for “dislocated workers,” or those that have lost their jobs due to unfair trade practices of other countries, is budgeted at $3.4 million this year, down from $4.5 million in 2010. That has reduced the number of workers getting training from 1,524 to 1,482.
Most of the training programs are aimed at providing several weeks of training for specific skills, such as a commercial driver’s license or certification to operate a forklift or other specialized piece of equipment needed by a company.
“We know there are jobs out there if people can get the training they need,” Winglass said. “We are working hard to get those without a job the skills they need to go to work.”
But the Maine Department of Labor is being criticized by organized labor for their approach to the federal cuts that seeks to reduce administrative costs.
Maine AFL-CIO spokeswoman Sarah Bigney said the administrative costs the labor department is seeking to cut are staff in local areas that are working with the unemployed to find them jobs.
“These are essential programs to getting workers back on their feet after they lose their job,” she said. “The work force investment boards do crucial work for Maine workers, to help them find jobs. We should be expanding them not reducing them.”
Bigney said reducing the boards will not improve the program, it will make it worse. She said the demand for training already far exceeds the ability of the Department of Labor to provide training, and proposed federal cuts will further reduce training opportunities.
“Congress should be providing more training money, not less,” Bigney said. “We know there are jobs available, but not the workers with the skills needed for those jobs.”
Second District Congressman Mike Michaud agrees. He said there should be more funds for training programs but that will be difficult with budget cuts needed to reduce the federal budget deficit.
“I hope we can at least keep flat funding this year,” he said. “We can’t afford the $2 billion cut the House Republican leadership has proposed.”
Although it is early in the budget writing process, the Senate Appropriations Committee has so far approved level funding. At some point, the differing funding levels will be discussed at a conference committee and a level set.
“I have talked with employers across the district that tell me they have jobs to fill, but they cannot find the works with the skills they need,” Michaud said. “We should invest more in job training to get the economy going again.”
Michaud said the Obama administration has proposed some re-organization of the training programs to reduce administrative costs and the complex eligibility requirements of many of the programs.
Winglass said some specialized programs such as the Trade Adjustment Assistance program provide several services for workers such as child care and allow some to get a two- or four-year college degree. He acknowledged the number of training programs provided by the federal government and administered by the state can be overwhelming to the out-of-work Mainer seeking help.
“Believe me, it is frustrating,” Winglass said. “We want to help people get the training they need and get to work, and there are so many different rules on who can get the help they need.”
Michaud said the goal of the merger of several programs that Obama has proposed would be to simplify eligibility and allow broader access to workers. He said making the programs more efficient and less bureaucratic will not solve the problem.
“We really need to invest more in these programs and put people to work in jobs that are going unfilled today,” he said.
GOP=budget cuts. Like it? Vote GOP and suffer more cuts. When rich people advocate tax cuts, it’s never to the benefit of the little guy.
You can’t keep taking more and more from us to give it to people who should not be getting anything from us.
Well the conservative mantra of privatization should step in to fill the void of emplyee training. They can take the money they have been saving in tax cuts and maybe dedicate it toward training of their employees to fill these much touted 20,000 skill positions that Governor LePage has said are going unfilled.
You’re right—if the “private sector” has those jobs but nobody who is trained to do them, let them do the training—-Cianbro did exactly that 5 years ago at its facility in Brewer. Why can’t other companies do it? Or is it just cheaper to outsource the work to India and China?
It seems that China and India have all the trained personel that the corporations have been crying for. Do you need tech advise on the products you buy? Call for support and see if you can understand the person who replies from Asia. I wonder who trained these people and who financed their education.
Is there anything that you won’t avocate for spending my money on Pa?
do not want a reply of mine to remain to this disturbed individual
People need to be trained true. Not using my money that I need to get my children trained.
I’m sorry if you sat around for 40 years and never once attempted to better yourself with some extra training when you had the chance.
I’m sorry that you chose to make all the wrong decisions in life.
Yes you are taking something from me and you are doing it daily and to the extent where I see my children go without so that their chilfren can have more.
We are not all in this mess together. Some of us chose the mess they are in and some of us chose to better ourselves or chose not to do drugs or chose not to be a drunk or chose not to get knocked up at 16, etc…..
Stop making me pay for the mistakes others have made.
Assuming that everyone who needs retraining is some type of moral degenerate is pathetic. Don’t kid yourself. You’re not sorry for anyone but yourself.
Not assuming that everyone who you want to provide for is a moral degenerate but I am assuming that I can do more with my money than you can. You keep forgetting that the money you wish to take is mine.
….
Only those with their hands out keep wanting more handouts. You kind of give yourself away and I never said I was sorry for anything. I’m not. The money is mine and enough of us are now saying no that your gravy train is about to come to an end. You better learn a decent trade.
….
I can pretty much assure you that you are not old enough to have paid for anything of mine, and I would be willing to bet that I have paid for everything this country has ever given me in full.
What have you ever done to pay back your country besides breathe and judge those who wish to keep what little they have sweated and bleed for?
You sit on your little farm and risk nothing yet you say I am contemptible for wanting to keep the things I have worked, sweated, and bled for?
I think you ought to look in a mirror when you start looking for someone you should show contempt for.
/
Do you really believe others need your approval farmer?
I have yet to claim I am more important than anyone else or to claim as you seem to that I have a right to something other people have earned.
Allowing other to TAKE what is yours has nothing to do with humanity or charity. I GIVE to many different orginizations and that is my choice based on my sense of charity and humanity. Allowing you and yours to TAKE what is mine is just plain stupidity. I wouldn’t count to heavily on your ponzi scheme being there for you if I were you. I’ve hired many who have found out just how weak a foundation that system is and it is only going to get worse as the situation here worsens. I’m pretty sure I have chosen well enough to take care of my family when it all comes apart soon. At least you’ll have something to eat though, that is, as long as you can keep others from taking it. Since you believe in giving everything to the masses it will be interesting to see what choices you make.
….
Maybe not tomorrow but when this country finishes going the way it is heading it will be interesting to see how giving you are when everyone comes to take.
We do not believe the poor are takers. They were not the ones that created this welfare state we are in. That being said you have taught many of them that we now owe them something.
Good job.
….do not reply…
We may be in this mess together but it wasn’t my doing. I did NOT vote for Baldacci, King or Obama and I never vote yes on bonds. I work HARD to support myself and my family. What really stinks is that I STILL have to pay, pay , pay out the behind. I am not saying all the poor or unemployed are “taking something they are coveting” however, I am saying that a heck of a lot of them still are. I was brought up to be proud and to work for what I have and want.
This was funded by Federal dollars, which we don’t have thanks to 8 years of Bush. Baldacci and King had nothing to do with federal income or budgets, and Obama inherited the mess. We are all in it together though, at least you got that part right.
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Geeze, I thought I was advocating for what the conservatives have been pushing for. Privatization. Or is that just selective advocacy of spending money to private enterprise to run government programs?
I’m all for letting the private sector train whomever they need. I’m glad we have something we agree on.
Obama is president and these cuts were federal cuts. He must have signed the legislation so GOP all that you want but these are democrat cuts which is exactly what radical left wing liberal democrats do – cut programs and blame it on the GOP.
—-
While the Governor prances about wearing a tinfoil hat with tea bags hanging from the brim.
This is terrible for out of work people. You work hard all your life and pay your taxes in the event you may need a leg up one day or help someone else who might need help. Where is our government when you need them? Where are the business’ that need skilled workers and why aren’t they training people to fill those positions? Pitiful.
They are not training because it takes too much time and money, instead tax dollars should pay for ones own training for a position an employer wants to fill. Employers should pay for it, they want the workers, they need to be the ones investing not the tax dollars.
And exactly what is going to keep those employees working at the company that trained them?? Once they get a skill, they can then to go work for the Town or Government for more benefits than the public employer can afford to pay. It costs a lot of money to train someone. (just the screw-ups alone often costs more than they make)
Why should tax dollars pay for that risk? That is for the employer to worry about.
DUH… EXACTLY and that would be the reason they don’t want to train them. There is no guarantee employers will get their investment out of the worker after he’s trained so he won’t do it.
DUH the reason my money shouldn’t pay for it, employers can deal with it, its a risk they already take with their current employees
So if an employer gives any training to improve the skills of an employee, they should be like indentured slaves? Have to work a set number of years to pay back the cost of training?
Here’s a thought. If an employer wishes to retain his best employees, maybe they could treat them like they are part of the business. They could treat them like human beings instead of disposable trash bags.
The tax dollars they paid in were consumed by the entitlement programs that have continued to grow under President Obama. Did they really think they would be there for them?
You don’t pay your taxes so that you can get welfare someday. You pay your taxes for essential services.
In my view, one aspect of the essential services I pay taxes for is that there will be a social safety net in America, should I or anyone in my family ever need it.
I had no idea I would ever give birth to a child with a disabling genetic condition, but I did, and I’m very grateful that social programs have existed, because they have given her precious help that is far beyond what any family could provide.
I certainly don’t expect that I myself will suddenly get laid off and unable to find new employment, or have a major medical illness that could make me unemployable, but things like that can happen.
It’s easy to argue to do away with programs that help only “other” people. Then you realize that YOU could become one of “those people” in a heartbeat.
The more free money you put out there the more needy people you create. That’s a time proven fact.
Go ask LePage since he’s the one touting the ‘Maine’s open for business’ chant.
I’ve seen many people go through those job training programs only to decide to do something that they were already capable of doing before their training. Many just take the training courses to received more UNEMPLOYMENT BENEFIT EXTENSTIONS anyway.
Goes right back to people not spending money wisely when they get it from an insurance settlement, inheritance, lottery winning, etc.. When they don’t earn it many times they don’t spend it wisely..
IF they had to pay for their education, then they would value it. Just another government waste of money !!
I got a CETA job in the early seventies. The government(taxpayers) paid half my wage($3.00hr.) for 6 months. I learned how to build boats and have never been lacking for work since. I have paid back the governments investment in me hundreds of times over. Hence, I have to disagree with you. Job training is a vital element in a healthy economy–especially in times like these when so many are unemployed.
Sorry, but you can not compare today’s unemployment benefits with what happened back in the 70’s. Unemployment back then was something like 13 weeks PERIOD !! It was to help you find a job, not sit back and whine about no jobs out there while you drain the system. You had no choice. You had to learn a trade and go to work . Today there are so many hand-outs for health coverage, fuel assistance, food stamps, etc that it COSTS some people to work.
I see how you are connecting the two but I am talking about subsidized training, not unemployment. CETA connected those who wanted work and those who wanted workers. Todays business paradigm favors profit over investment and a CETA type job program encourages employers to take a little more risk with new hires.
If it comes down to a choice–we should cut the unemployment, not the job training funding.
I have a friend
who is going to college on the feds right now and is doing it only to keep
getting her extended unemployment benefits.
( She gets around $ 320 a week).. She has NO INTENTION what-so-ever of
working. She is over 60 years old and
she admits she will go on total disability when the benefits run out. What a waste of taxpayers money .
I also know of locals who are collecting both
unemployment AND social security. If you
told them you had a job they could have, they would tell you that they don’t
have any interest in working. If I know
of these people, I’m sure there are many many more…
Anecdotes, gossip, stories about “somebody I know of…” These tales are not worthy of being used as ammunition against a program to help people get re-employed when unemployment is severe.
If you haven’t seen at least 3 cases of the same sort of abuse he is speaking of here then you are either blind or a liar.
Anecdotes are not statistical data.
Never stops your side from throwing one of the anecdotal people on TV every time we look at cutting the waste from the system though does it?
There is a difference between:
1) an individual who gives testimony about the way certain policies affect his or her own life; and
2) an online commenter who shares gossip, hearsay, and “I know a lot of people who” this or that.
Neither is statistical data or substantiated in anyway. Of course considering the way statistics are used to lie now on a regular basis those aren’t much good for anything either.
…
Doesn’t matter what we report your side won’t fix it. That’s why our side is in power at this time. You can not continue to try to be all things to all people using our money. At some point we just say no.
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No need to maon about anything. All we need to do is refuse to fund your silliness any longer. You have created more poor people over thye last 40 years by making them dependant on you. That stops now.
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Training, awesome, you then have no choice in most cases to train for something you never done, so you do it because you need a job, then you go to an employer and you are asked “Where’s your experience?” Let me shorten the story up, 9 out of 10 times, you are still unemployed and wasted your time training.
Don’t suppose it has anything to do with your attitude do you ?
I never said I had trouble getting a job now did I?
There are many people in our state who have worked 10, 20, 30+ years doing the same thing, only to be faced with the need to learn a different skill due to job elimination, often the result of technology/automation, reducing the need for a living, breathing person to do a job. This has had an impact on many occupations, from shoe workers to people who do office work.
I’ve learned to go with the flow, and have managed to transition into a different job (working for myself) in order to support myself and my family. I worked as a Medical Transcriptionist for many years; electronic records and outsourcing have pretty much wiped out a career in that field, which used to be a quite lucrative and specialized one.
In order to be competitive and productive, displaced workers do need to learn new skills and many will require assistance to do so, especially considering they are in tough financial situations due to losing their jobs.
This country is taking such a nose dive, it’s scary, and it’s all on target for the Koch brothers and their cronies.
Obama cutting the social programs, what are we going to do???
I believe it is the Republican Congress that is cutting the funding. Read the story.
The Major Causes for the Fall of the Roman Empire
Antagonism between the Senate and the Emperor
Decline in Morals
Political Corruption and the Praetorian Guard
Fast expansion of the Empire
Constant Wars and Heavy Military Spending
Barbarian Knowledge of Roman Military Tactics
Failing Economy
Unemployment of the Working Classes (The Plebs)
The ‘Mob’ and the cost of the ‘Games’
Decline in Ethics and Values
Slave Labor
Natural Disasters
Christianity
Barbarian Invasion
The major causes for the Fall of the Roman Empire
Interesting, but I’d add we’re feeling the effects of winning WWII. We enjoyed many years of the spoils from that victory and the good life it brought us. With the exception of the US the world economy was in ruins and as a result the US middle class prospered.
The problem is that the world economy has recovered, we’re not the only show in town anymore and the competition is everywhere. Some segments of the economy can still compete, but others, such as manufacturing are having a very hard time and some segments fail.
This is our new reality. The US won’t fall like the Roman Empire, but things will be different.
The Romans didn’t have NUKES, we do. Enough to destroy any invading horde of Barbarians. Whether we have a Dictatorship, Depression and the Constitution is in the Trash, we still have Nukes that have already been paid for..
We have something much, much more terrible than NUKES! We have Obama, Reid, and Pelosi.
Sit tight they’re on there way…
http://youtu.be/GPiUuGLOSkU
The barbarians are already within the gates, so unless you’re willing to use those nukes internally. . . .
You forgot their welfare system they had
Mainers should ask Boener and Cantor, 2 Republicans in the House leadership why they cut the Jobs Programs and Job Training. Flip the Liar Romney will only make matters worse for Mainers if he gets in.
Spoken like a true Obamaphile.
Romney is unPAWpular:
http://www.dogsagainstromney.com/
They are part of the RepubliCAN’T Party:
CAN’T govern
CAN’T plan a war
CAN’T tell the truth
CAN’T stop spending
CAN’T stop pampering the rich
CAN’T stop corporate welfare
No you seem to not get it, you seem to think it is OK for someone to own and operate a business, complain they don’t have enough workers but wants tax dollars to pay for them workers instead of them doing it themselves. Good Day!
Whoops, I clicked LIKE rather than “reply” there.. I do not “LIKE” your post. WTH do you get the notion that I think it’s okay for tax dollars to pay to train workers ? I think everyone should pay for their own education just like I did. Now “get lost”!
I SAID GOOD DAY!
If an employer NEEDS employees they will hire and train them…The problem is Obuma wants to penalize(tax) them more and demonize them if they make make over a certain amount..Unless you’re a leftist Hollywood elitist or sports star….Therefor they don’t hire , expand to make more money..People don’t work their butts off building a business to provide jobs , they do it to make more money…As soon as that problem is eliminated in Nov. they will hire again..Not till….
As soon as they get tax cuts they will hire more.
As soon as they get their factory moved to Asia they will hire more.
As soon as the new NAFTA aggreements are signed they will hire more.
Etc., etc.
Your first sentence is correct: “If an employer NEEDS employees they will hire and train them…” But the problem is not taxes or regulations, it is lack of demand for goods and services… A manufacturer isn’t going to build more widgets if no one is buying widgets. If unemployed or indebted middle class families can barely pay their mortgages or their medical costs because their incomes have not risen more than a couple of percent over the last few years, they won’t buy what small businesses are offering. If they have too much credit card debt they won’t buy more widgets. If they are afraid of losing their jobs and not having enough savings for retirement they won’t buy more widgets… It ain’t rocket science.
Businesses live with taxes and regs all the time. They are nothing new. What kills growth in the economy is lack of demand for what people are making or offering because people are cash strapped or overleveraged in a recessed or depressed economy. It ain’t rocket science.
Unemployment rates are sky-high. Purely as a matter of mathematics, millions of people will not be able to find work no matter how hard they try.
Certainly not while we allow millions of illegals to invade our country using our resources and displacing legal workers.
I’m even more concerned about the way huge American corporations have been shipping our JOBS overseas.
EMPLOYERS pay unemployment taxes, NOT the employees. AND they only go so high and stop.. Those who don’t have former employees drawing against them aren’t that bad ; ) Therefore, unemployment rates don’t factor in one bit when we need to hire someone. HOWEVER, THEIR KNOWLEDGE AND LEVEL OF SKILL DOES.
And Obama just granted administrative amnesty to more illegals (undocumented democrat voters) so they can take the jobs of legal citizens. Man you can not make this stuff up.
The illegals often take jobs Americans will not perform.
Read the news today from Alabama. Their new law to get rid of illegals has shown that Americans cannot or will not do manual labor and a number of businesses there are suffering having lost a good portion of the only workforce that can do this work.
Nothing is as simple as it seems.
The work is either worth more than the business was paying or the product is not worth what is required to produce it.
Some things are as simple as they seem.
Allowing illegals into the country to depress wages is not a viable long term economic strategy.
Yeah, you can make this stuff up, and folks like you do. ALL THE TIME… You would do well, oldtimer, to turn your tv off and educate yourself on what is really happening…
Surely you’re not claiming that Obama DID NOT grant administrative amnesty to illegals between 16 and 30. Talk about making stuff up.
Of course that’s not what in dispute… it’s your off base interpretation of what it means… old dogs can learn new tricks… try it, its fun…
Spoken like a true one trick pony. What is your interpretation of Obama allowing millions who should not be here to continue to take jobs away from legal citizens? Both parties want more workers than jobs. The Dems for the votes and the Repubs for the cheap labor.
There are MANY growers that can’t get their crops in without these workers… US workers won’t do the work. Ever work in an orange grove in Imocolee, Florida, or in the apple orchards in Washington State, or the tomato fields in Homestead, Florida? I have, when I was much younger. Hard work. Lower income US people in those areas were very rare to see. I could get as much work as I wanted at the time, so there was no shortage of work… there was a shortage of workers…
Most of the young people here that have been lobbying to stay here are like the many, many generations of people, probably even your own forebears, that came here for better access to education and opportunity… Remember, “give me your poor, your destitute…?” That Statue of Liberty thing…?
Our jobs have been sold out much more by companies profiting from cheaper labor elsewhere… predatory capitalism, globalization, NAFTA, automation…
This is a country of immigrants. Businesses going after profits through off-shoring jobs is the greater problem, not Obama giving young people at chance to get a quality education. If you want to holler about something, why don’t you holler about how your grandchildren will be saddled with obscene debt due to the extreme cost of education. That would be a worthy thing to get upset about.
Obama and his lockstep gang of liberals at DHS, including Nepolitano, Aguilar, Bersin, and a dozen more of their ilk are more than willing to send America down the drain for political gain.
Bush did the same thing, but got caught at it and dropped amnesty like it was a hot coal. The Obama bunch has no shame, no patriotism, and is trying to buy the Hispanic vote (which they will get anyway). US citizeship has no nationalistic value to Obama and his followers, but they realize there is political value when it comes to buying votes.
Seems like they’re sabotaging the country in order to win the election in November. Sad.
The Republicans have been sabotaging America since Bush started his Depression. Every chance the Republicans get they stop any kind of jobs program even if it is for infrastructure for the Country. Seems Republicans hate for Obama goes hand in hand with sabotaging America.
Or maybe around the early 80’s under St. Ronnie–
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=447134135297570&set=a.115969958413991.17486.114517875225866&type=1&ref=nf
So much for that “rising tide floats all boats” B.S.
What sort of traing programs does the AFL-CIO provide?
Obama wants to keep his voter blocks stupid.
Because it’s Obama pushing the slash and burn European style austerity cuts?
He did an excellent job during his first campaign. Most of them didn’t even know who their own representative or senator was.
Anti-tax, anti-gummint types are to blame for the ignorance of cutting off benefits to the unemployed… The unemployed don’t spend money in small businesses, further slowing small business growth. The unemployed, if out of work long enough, lose their ability to find work at the same level they left work, especially older folks.
Thanks to the tea partiers, the gop, and those that live in their fantasy world that tax cuts and crippled govt are good for the economy.
When automatic cuts go into effect in Jan 1, regardless of who is the prez, is going to kill the recovery even more.
Thanks, GOP, for nothing.
http://sdemetri.wordpress.com/2012/01/30/st_locgdp/
One of the first programs Gov. Lepage eliminated was the “Governors Training Initiative” which
provided training funds to private business to train workers. A number of them has funds already approved yanked away from them. Maybe Gov. Open for Business should have thought this through a bit before taking an ax to a program that has been around for many years and benefited a great deal of companies and individuals. For anyone in the Lepage administration to complain about the feds cutting programs is a stretch.
While the Governor prances about wearing a tinfoil hat with tea bags hanging from the brim.
The country doesn’t need out of work Mainers anymore. There are many boatloads of illegals who have just been given amnesty who will fill any future void.