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Trained Workers Needed for Green Economy, State Underfunds Adult Education

"Work First" is Great, If There Are Jobs; Otherwise, Prison is More Costly

May 12, 2010       Leave a Comment
By: Dave Rogers

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Trained Workers Needed For Growing Green Economy
 

The "Work First" strategy of the John Engler administration has come home to roost.

Remember the idea: don't spend time educating or training the unemployed, put them to "work first."

So Engler cut much of the adult education funding from the public school and the marginal workers were told to "work first."

That idea carried over into the Jennifer Granholm administration, which has further reduced adult education funding in the face of a financial crisis of major proportions.

That was a great idea, and seemed to be a reasonable one, as long as there were jobs.

The organization that arose out of that philosophy, Michigan Works, is a paragon of competence, an island of efficiency in a morass of state bureaucracy. It does a great job.

But now the state unemployment rate has led the nation for 35 out of the past 36 months.

So now there are very few jobs for those folks who were told to "work first."

And one of the foundation educational programs of the state has been almost totally dismantled, its students sent to McDonald's, WalMart, Meijer's or wherever they can get a job. Which is usually none of the above.

The state funds students in regular education programs at $7,000 to $9,000 a year; but adult education gets only $2,000 per student, so it is almost impossible for schools to provide what is needed by these most needy students.

Here's how this strategy has significantly undermined our state economy and the workforce and put our future at risk. Without jobs, and without education, many of the marginal people in society gravitate toward crime, or become involved in disputes rooted in financial difficulties.

Often, these folks find themselves in front of a judge and behind bars, sometimes for fairly minor offenses.

Then, they perhaps don't follow up with probation, or commit other offenses, and are sent to prison. At a cost to us -- the taxpayer -- of about $33,000 to $40,000 per year!

Circuit Judge Fred Borchard of Saginaw recently made a presentation to the Saginaw Valley Torch Club in which he pointed out that per capita Michigan has more people behind bars than almost any other state -- more than 45,000.

The total cost of corrections in Michigan is about $2 billion, and it is breaking the state budget.

So, is part of the answer to spend $7,000 a year educating the marginally employable population? Or is our choice to think we are saving the $7,000 a year for education and end up in many cases spending more than $30,000 for a year in prison?

And, paring down the prison population has proven to be faced with the same problems as the marginal workers. Without jobs, the former offender is lost. Most live with families, but being unable to support themselves, tensions arise that often create more social costs.

Despite heroic efforts by Michigan Works, the system is stacked against them. They cannot find jobs for many uneducated adults because those jobs don't exist. And the job picture is especially tough for uneducated former prison inmates.

A hard day's work often does not yield a good day's pay for many of today's workers and their families, as many workers cannot make ends meet even with a full-time job. The result is that a significant number of full-time workers and their families are considered poor according to official federal measurements.

Many other workers, while earning enough that they are not considered poor, earn far below what is needed to attain economic self-sufficiency. This is defined as the ability of a family to meet all of its expenses on an ongoing basis without relying on government or private assistance.

According to the Michigan League for Human Services economic self-sufficiency benchmark, a single parent with two children under age 6 must earn $19.35 an hour, or $40,252 per year, in order to be economically self-sufficient.

However, the median hourly wages of the 20 lowest-paying occupations in Michigan range from only 39 percent to 46 percent of this amount. Many of these jobs do not provide health insurance or other benefits, adding to the financial strain on such families.

In addition to the fact that many full-time Michigan workers cannot support their families with the wages they earn, a significant number of families in Michigan are experiencing difficulty in finding work. In March 2010, Michigan had an unemployment rate of 14.1 percent. Many Michigan workers have exhausted or will soon exhaust their unemployment benefits due to having been unemployed for longer than the maximum number of weeks.

No Worker Left Behind (NWLB) is the Granholm administration's initiative to double the number of Michigan workers trained for new careers within the state. It provides up to $10,000 for two years worth of education plus other supports for any unemployed or underemployed worker willing to study towards a degree or certificate leading to an in-demand job in Michigan. In the first 26 months, it has helped more than 102,000 workers enter into vocational training.

But many unemployed workers don't have the basic educational skills to qualify for NWLB. Those are the skills that could be provided by a more vigorous, and better funded, adult education program through the public schools or the community college system.

Michigan is undertaking strategies at this time to diversify its economy and to replace the jobs lost in automobile manufacturing.

The Michigan League for Human Services points out that some of the new jobs will be in manufacturing (such as the production of alternative energy products), while others will be in the service sector and other sectors.

Importantly, the success of Michigan's "green initiative" and other efforts to rebuild the economy will depend on whether there are a sufficient number of workers in the state who have the required skills or who can learn them easily.

A recent MLHS report says: "Unfortunately, far too many Michigan workers lack the vocational skills needed by employers now and in the future, and a large number lack the basic skills required to learn these vocational skills.

"These workers remain unemployed or in low-wage jobs that do not pay enough to meet their expenses, and the shortage of skilled workers discourages businesses from starting up or relocating in Michigan.

"While Michigan has made great strides in educating dislocated workers and other ready-to-learn workers with its No Worker Left Behind program, adults with very low basic skills in math, reading, or language proficiency are often unable to enter these vocational programs.

"Nearly 400,000 working age adults in Michigan lack a high school diploma or equivalent, for example, and one in every 12 Michigan adults lack basic literacy skills. Such workers need to receive remedial education in one or more areas, either as a prerequisite to more advanced vocational training or concurrently with it.

"Enrolling in adult education coursework is widely seen as the first step toward overcoming illiteracy and other barriers to employment. Besides providing individuals with the basic skills needed in the workforce, it gives them the foundation from which they can access more advanced vocational training to meet the increasing demands of the job market for higher skills.

"Investing in adult learning is necessary if Michigan is serious about upgrading the skills of its workforce, yet total funding for adult education plummeted from $96 million in 2001 to just $36 million in 2010, and the number of adults enrolled in the programs decreased by more than 50 percent during that time."

According to MLHS, there is clearly a connection between the decline number of workers enrolling in and completing adult education and the drop in the amount-funding it receives.

The stated mission of Michigan's adult education program is "to ensure that all adult learners obtain the highest quality education, leading to the attainment of a secondary education, literacy, and numeracy skills necessary to succeed in employment and post-secondary education."

Michigan's adult education system can more readily accomplish this mission if steps are taken to ensure adequate funding. In the end, it will save us all a lot of money, it will prepare our workforce for the future, and is the right thing to do. ###

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Dave Rogers

Dave Rogers is a former editorial writer for the Bay City Times and a widely read,
respected journalist/writer in and around Bay City.
(Contact Dave Via Email at carraroe@aol.com)

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