Free Republic

Who would have thought a few years ago that the biggest problem facing the labor market today would be a lack of workers — not a lack of jobs? As recently as 2012, the unemployment rate was above 8 percent, more than twice its current rate. Since President Trump's election, nearly 4 million new net jobs have been created. The unemployment rate has tied lows unseen since the Vietnam War, when men were being drafted to fight. Black and Latino unemployment rates are at record lows. And for the first time in recorded history, there are more jobs available than...

Stressing the importance of having job-training programs that work, President Barack Obama on Thursday ordered a “soup to nuts” review of federal workforce training initiatives and pledged to copy the most successful ones. Emphasizing themes from his State of the Union address, Obama cast improved job training as central to his efforts to make it easier for people to move up into and stay in the middle class. […] Obama said he wants a “soup to nuts” review because not all federal job-training programs do what they’re supposed to. He said he wants to move the government away from a...

Madison — Requiring basic job training from able-bodied participants in the state's food stamp program would cause about half of them to drop out of the program — a total of tens of thousands of people statewide and 14,500 in just Milwaukee. The new projections come from the Legislature's nonpartisan budget office, which last week released its analysis of Gov. Scott Walker's plan to require 62,700 able-bodied adults without children in Wisconsin FoodShare to attend bare-bones job training. The Legislative Fiscal Bureau puts the total cost for that at $35.8 million over two years, including $16.8 million for state payers.The...

The daughter of the Rev. Jeremiah Wright — the controversial former pastor to President Barack Obama — was indicted today in an expanding federal probe of a state grant tied to a former suburban police chief. Jeri Wright of Hazel Crest is accused of helping former Country Club Hills Police Chief Regina Evans convert fake paychecks from Evans’ nonprofit to Evans’ personal use, allegedly hiding money that was supposed to be used to train minority and female workers in the building trades. Federal prosecutors in the Illinois’ central district say Jeri Wright received about $28,000 in grant-tied paychecks in 2009,...

In the battle over immigration reform, some believe we need to grant amnesty to “undocumented workers” because they do the jobs “Americans won’t do,” as George W. Bush once said. But there’s a new class of vacant jobs in U.S. manufacturing — call them “the jobs Americans can’t do.” According to a story in the New York Times, many jobs, even in this recessive economy, go unfilled because employers can’t find applicants with the skills to perform them....

Reporting from Los Angeles and Washington -- The Maxine Waters Employment Preparation Center, a job-training facility in one of Los Angeles' poorest neighborhoods, is threatened with receiving no federal money at a time of high unemployment -- simply because of its name. The center has become a victim of a move on Capitol Hill to block funding for projects that bear the monikers of sitting lawmakers. "It doesn't seem fair that rich private entities can get funded and this poor school cannot," said Rep. Waters (D-Los Angeles), who had a heated confrontation with Appropriations Committee Chairman David R. Obey (D-Wis.)...

WASHINGTON, March 30, 2009 – U.S. forces in Iraq increasingly are focused on educating Iraqis as they move toward returning Iraq to national sovereignty. In recent days, they have overseen job skills training of former “Sons of Iraq” civilian security group members and taken part in the reopening of two schools. Former “Sons of Iraq” civilian security group members learn basic mechanical skills while attending a demobilization, demilitarization and reintegration center in the Adhamiyah neighborhood of Baghdad, March 12, 2009. U.S. Army photo by 1st Lt. Scott Lewis  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. "This is an excellent example...

FORWARD OPERATING BASE LOYALTY, Iraq – District leaders, administrators and hundreds of students attended the reopening of the Civil Support District Training Center in Baghdad’s Al Karadah district Dec. 30. Soldiers from the 1st Battalion, 319th Airborne Field Artillery Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat Team, 82nd Airborne Division, Multi-National Division – Baghdad, were also in attendance to assist in security measures and meet the center’s administrators in a show of partnership. The center teaches students vocational skills, offering courses in road repair, generator repair, plumbing, electrical installation, sanitation and landscaping. Renovations took approximately six months to complete. More than 550 students...

ATLANTA - Republican presidential candidate John McCain, who has said economics isn't his strong suit, said Friday tax cuts and job training are needed to lift an economy that is either in recession or is headed toward one.

The Web page touts the "hot uninhibited" services of a male escort identified as Todd Sharpe, displaying a blurry beefcake photo and listing a Dallas phone number. But the number belongs to a salesman and former actor named Tom Malin, a Dallas Democrat who is seeking election to the Texas House. Mr. Malin acknowledged Thursday that he once worked as a prostitute. -snip-

LANCASTER - Across the fence from Baroness Patricia Scotland, inmates in prison jumpsuits, some without shirts, called out for attention. A cold wind blew through the prison yard and the visitors across the barbed wire-laden fence might have been an odd sight for the inmates, who stood in the courtyard on a recreation break. The men, many with shaved heads and several with tattoos, flashed gang signs at the visiting official, who was accompanied by the prison warden, Charles Harrison. But Scotland, minister of state for criminal justice and offender management in the United Kingdom, walked in the other direction...

A recent news story about a mouse born to two “mommies” [1] suggested that the feminist fantasy of parthenogenesis, in which women would bear children without any “input” from men, might someday be realized. But New York Times columnist Bob Herbert [2] went the pc feminists at the ABC one better: On June 4, he suggested that Illinois politician Barack Obama was birthed by Obama’s father, without a female (what used to be called a “mother”) playing any role in the matter. O.K., Herbert didn’t actually say that, though he’s said things just as outrageous in the past. What he...

U.S. Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao Announces $1.5 Million Grant For English Proficiency and Job Training for Hispanic Workers 5/19/2004 3:41:00 PM -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- To: National Desk Contact: Lorette Post of the U.S. Department of Labor, 202-693-3984 WASHINGTON, May 19 /U.S. Newswire/ -- U.S. Secretary of Labor Elaine L. Chao today announced a grant of $1.5 million to aid unemployed Hispanic youth and adults in the Baltimore area. The grant is the third in the Labor Department's National Hispanic Worker Initiative, announced earlier this year. "The National Hispanic Worker Initiative will help our country's Hispanic workers prepare for and find...

President Bush has a proven track record of supporting America's innovation economy, including: Helping Community Colleges Train 100,000 Additional Workers: The President's Jobs for the 21st Century Initiative includes a $250 million proposal to help America's community colleges train 100,000 additional workers for the industries that are creating the most new jobs. Doubling the Number of Workers Receiving Federal Job Training Assistance: The President has proposed to give governors more flexibility to get Federal training funds into the hands of workers in the form of Innovation Training Accounts (ITAs). These accounts give workers access to a range of training options...

Central Piedmont Community College Charlotte, North Carolina THE PRESIDENT: Thanks a lot for the warm welcome. I tried to visit last February. (Laughter.) That's when your fine Mayor and Police Chief Stevens told me that they didn't think the presidential motorcade would be an ideal way to plow the streets. (Laughter.) The weather is beautiful today. Thanks for the warm welcome. It is great to be here in the great state of North Carolina, and such a vibrant part of your state, the great city of Charlotte. (Applause.) I'm here to talk about an important subject, which is our economy...

President Bush (news - web sites) on Monday defended his record on the economy and the war in Iraq (news - web sites), appearing at a North Carolina college where he praised a partnership between local business leaders and the academic community. "Terrorists can't stand freedom," said Bush, declaring that he will "stay the course" and bring democracy to Iraq. "We're still being challenged in Iraq and the reason why is a free Iraq will be a major defeat in the cause of terror." The president said that in the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, "I had a choice...

<p>President Bush is expected to discuss job training and the economy during a visit to El Dorado, Ark., today.</p> <p>Bush is scheduled to speak at 11 a.m. in the South Arkansas Community College Gym.</p> <p>Mark Smith, an El Dorado businessman and former state representative who is working with the Bush advance team, said the president's visit is the talk of this city of 21,500.</p>

In his State of the Union address, President Bush is expected to propose new job-training grants for community colleges to help prepare American workers for today's economy — a key issue in November's presidential election. In his address to Congress and the nation Tuesday night, Bush plans to announce at least $120 million in grants, administered by the Labor Department, to enhance work force training programs at community colleges, education officials said Sunday. All of the major broadcast networks and the cable television networks planned to broadcast the speech live Tuesday night. The president is expected to expand on the...