Last week, the severity of the nation’s job crisis hit me dead between the eyes. The Chicago Urban League hosted a job fair at our Bronzeville offices in partnership with the Chicago Transit Authority to fill 300 possible part-time bus driver positi
Last week, the severity of the nation’s job crisis hit me dead between the eyes. The Chicago Urban League hosted a job fair at our Bronzeville offices in partnership with the Chicago Transit Authority to fill 300 possible part-time bus driver positions – anywhere from 25 to 50 hires per month – through next spring. The CTA promoted the event through its usual channels. But no one could have imagined the outcome.
More than 1,000 people showed up – 1,052 to be exact!
The deluge of jobseekers drew national attention. That they came from all walks of life – from the college educated to ex-offenders – was a clear sign of these tough economic times. The overwhelming response also demonstrated that the nation’s skills deficit continues to be more pervasive in urban communities. More than half of the people who showed up for the job fair did not have a commercial driver’s license qualifying them for the positions.
With 533,000 jobs lost in November – the largest monthly job loss total in 34 years – and more payroll cuts predicted, job training providers are sure to be stretched trying to meet the demands of an increasingly out-of-work public. What often happens is that agencies that depend on federal funding for training programs turn away the most skills-deficient jobseekers because their funding is directly tied to success in job placements. That means that those perceived as hard to place will be less likely to access training.
Now, with President-elect Barack Obama pushing the largest public infrastructure campaign since the Roosevelt years, cities, states and job training providers may find themselves between a rock and a hard place trying to deliver a skilled workforce with limited funding and space to deliver training programs.
For instance, 177 of the people who attended our CTA job fair signed up for the Urban League’s commercial driver’s license training program. There are only 20 slots available every five weeks. Yet, for those who successfully obtain a license, remain drug free and abide the processes to obtain employment, there are potential jobs out there.
“Transportation and logistics will be some of the hottest jobs through 2015,” said Cheryl Freeman-Smith, director of workforce development for the Urban League. “Chicago is a hub that basically all rail goes through, so there are a lot of jobs in railroad and trucking. The lower-end jobs are going to be gone. But the more technical training you get in manufacturing or logistics the better. There is a need.”
But for nearly 10 years now under the federal government’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA), federal job training dollars have steadily declined under guidelines that tie funding to strict performance benchmarks. I spoke with Dave Hanson, commissioner of the Mayor’s Office of Workforce Development (MOWD) in Chicago, and he told me that the WIA dollars the city receives falls every year.
“The economic stimulus should include funding for job training initiatives that would be directed through the existing workforce development system,” Hanson said. “We focus on the sectors we believe have the most growth such as healthcare, service, transportation, distribution and logistics, and manufacturing. And we’re doing all we can to get people trained in those jobs, but there are fewer jobs.”
I agree that funding should be demand driven. Why train people for jobs that don’t exist? But WIA has to be restructured if Obama’s job stimulus plan is to reach large swaths of Americans. The president-elect has warned that states that do not take advantage of monies made available will lose those dollars. We have to have a skilled workforce in place when the gravy train rolls into town.
In the meantime, Robert Wordlaw, executive director of the Chicago Jobs Council, a partner of the Urban League, said he believes more partnership between local job training providers will be necessary to deliver services to those most in need.
“The funds are not there to fund standalone groups,” Wordlaw said. “Community-based organizations are going to have to form more partnerships and begin to share those limited resources if they’re going to survive this down period.” The federal funding system is broken; let’s fix it.
Cheryle R. Jackson is the president of the Chicago Urban League. She can be reached at [email protected].
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