The program spent more per student than Harvard training participants to earn $17,000 per year.
The Department of Labor said Thursday that it will “begin a phased pause” of an almost $2 billion federal job training program that has persisted since 1964 despite a dubious record.
The Job Corps houses a mix of runaway teens and 20-something ex-cons in residential campuses, where 16- to 24-year-olds are paid to receive their GED diplomas and training in several trades.
For decades, there has been evidence that monetary incentives have led to fraud, with contractors — who get paid bonuses for recruiting students and for having positive job-placement statistics — cooking the books to misrepresent post-graduation job outcomes, and tolerating criminal behavior on campus to avoid the loss of federal dollars that would come from expulsions.
Contractors, including large for-profit companies, operate 99 of the Job Corps’ 131 facilities, which collectively house 25,000 students. Those contracts were “terminated for convenience” on Thursday, with the contractors beginning to “mobilize students safely to their home of record” by June 30, the Labor Department said. Campuses operated by government entities, such as the Department of Agriculture, are not affected by the pause.
“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve. We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”
When JFK created the Peace Corps it was a good idea, but it just didn’t work. When LBJ created the Job Corps it was a stupid idea, and it did not work, either.
Nobody ever accused LBJ of being intelligent.