Understanding Government

Georgia Pabst of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel has a positive look at Job Corps, a long-time program run by the U.S. Dept. of Labor to provide educational and vocational training for disadvantaged people between ages 16-24. Pabst interviews several participants positively impacted by Job Corps, but the program’s overall effect is limited to only 60,000 participants nationally. In Wisconsin, at least, there are far more disadvantaged teens and young adults applying for the program than there are positions available.

Michigan Republican Gov. Rick Snyder caused a stir in March by signing a bill that decreased the number of weeks the state pays unemployment benefits from 26 to 20. Michigan GOP Rep. Dave Camp has brought the plan to Washington. William Selway of Bloomberg reports that a bill by Camp to cut federally paid for jobless benefits and use the money to business taxes passed the House Ways and Means Committee Wednesday. Camp claims that taxes on employers are “making it harder for millions of unemployed workers to get back to work.”

The unemployed might not agree with Camp, and the Obama administration and U.S. Senate probably won’t either — meaning it is unlikely the bill will become law. But other states with conservative governors and state legislatures might. Missouri recently joined Michigan in curbing the duration of unemployment benefits.

Writing at the Chicago News Cooperative, Kari Lyderson looks at how money from the federal Workforce Investment Act has trained Chicago residents for the few jobs available in the current economy. Run out of the U.S. Labor Dept., the law provides $5,000 grants to match individuals with organizations that provide job training. Spending cuts in the job training program were mostly avoided in the last-minute 2011 budget, but Republican lawmakers might successfully make cuts in 2012. As Lyderson notes, any reductions come at a time when the pool of people who need job training is greater than ever, thanks to a weak national economy that is also rapidly transitioning away from industrial jobs.

The U.S. Dept. of Labor has fined two northwestern Illinois grain elevators $1.35 million for a number of health and safety violations. The Labor Dept.’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration fined Haasbach LLC of Mount Carroll for 22 safety violations, many that stem from the deaths of two teen workers last summer. (more…)

Sean F. Driscoll of the Rockford Register-Star has a good piece on another looming fiscal problem for Illinois: the state needs to pay interest on the money it has borrowed from the U.S. Labor Dept. to pay unemployment benefits.

Between July 2009 and April 2010 Illinois borrowed $2.2 billion to pay for these benefits and, starting Jan. 1, must pay about $90 million in interest. (more…)