Senate urged to reject workforce cuts.

National Skills Coalition has joined with more than forty other national organizations urging the Senate to reject the drastic cuts in funding for job training and education under HR 1, the Fiscal Year (FY) 2011 continuing resolution passed by the House on February 19. HR 1 would cut $3.8 billion from key workforce development programs under the Department of Labor, including eliminating all Program Year (PY) 2011 funding for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs under the Workforce Investment Act.

In letters to Senate leadership and key appropriators we note that, if enacted, these cuts would force the nation’s 3000 One-Stop centers to begin the process of closing their doors, likely causing thousands of new job losses, and denying access to the more than 8 million workers who received Title I WIA-funded services in the last year alone. In addition, more than 7,000 young people will lose access to services under YouthBuild, as many as 10,000 more will lose access to services as a result of cuts to the Job Corps program, and 276,000 youth will lose access to education, training, and work experiences resulting from cuts to WIA youth funds. Over 14 million students enrolled in school-based career and technical education programs will see services and opportunities cut or even eliminated, and program quality diminished.

We ask the Senate to reject these proposed funding cuts to ensure that U.S. workers and businesses can continue to access the skills training and employment services they need to sustain our nation’s economic recovery efforts, and compete in the 21st century global economy.