Job training
For state and local policymakers, the issue of job
training requires a significant amount of rethinking. Over
the years, economic research in job training has consistently
found government training programs to be wasteful, inefficient,
and sometimes even counterproductive. In stark
contrast, the benefits of private and company-sponsored job
training are demonstrably positive and significant.
Key Facts
- In 2007-08, total expenditures for job training and
placement services in North Carolina exceeded $469
million, including federal and local grants.
- Government training and placement programs in
N.C. span 12 state departments and divisions and
include 24 programs.
- The most recently obtainable outcome data for North
Carolina's programs continue to show only modest
benefits. Only about 29 percent of Job Training
Partnership Act clients entered employment as a result
of being in the program, and 26 percent were still employed
after 90 days. The same proportion of Employment
Security Commission (ESC) job office clients
were placed in jobs.
- From 2005-08, only about one-sixth (17 percent) of
Vocational Rehabilitation clients found employment
after completing the program — not even one-third
(30 percent) left the program rated job-ready.
- Government training programs lack the incentives of a
private-sector trainer to place trainees in jobs successfully.
- Private and company-sponsored training is fundamentally
enhanced by ownership in the training process by
both trainee and trainer.
- Private providers are more likely than government to
keep up with the latest occupational trends and needs.
- An estimated 31 percent of workers received formal
professional and technical training from their current
employer, and 28 percent received informal
professional and technical training from their current
employer.
- For the hardest to employ, charitable providers of
training have proven success through developing the
work ethic and addressing "soft skills," those life skills
that makes a person employable at any job: timeliness,
proper attire, good hygiene, respect for others, a good
attitude toward superiors and colleagues, good communication
skills, sobriety, etc.
Recommendations
- Consolidate state training programs
as much as possible
to reduce redundancy and increase oversight.
- Education Savings Accounts
(ESAs) so that
North Carolinians can save money tax-free for future
post-secondary education and training investments,
including retraining after a job loss.
- Promote school choice
, allowing educational innovation
and competition to flourish:
- Lift the state cap on charter schools
- Allow open enrollment in public school districts
- End forced busing, allowing voluntary busing to
district schools of the parents' choice
- Let concerned educators augment their curricula to
meet localized needs
in order to help prevent the next
generation of adults from making poverty-inducing
choices. Schools could address personal responsibility,
the importance of soft skills, and other issues where
there is a particular community need or parental interest.
Analyst: Jon Sanders
Associate Director of Research
919-828-3876 • jsanders@johnlocke.org
