The Obama administration announced two proposals on Monday that would streamline the re-employment system for Americans while making federally-supported training and services more available, reported
The Chronicle of Higher Education’s Jennifer Gonzalez.
Currently, the system is a maze of complexity for prospective benefit and service-seekers and displaced workers who weren’t employed in a trade-impacted industry have less access to benefits and services than those who did.
Obama wants to consolidate existing systems into a new Universal Displaced Worker Program.
“Anyone who has lost a job, no matter what the circumstances, deserves the same support to get back on their feet,” Obama said in a statement released by the White House.
The new system would see individuals receive up to $4,000 per year (up to two years) in order to pursue training in technical fields. It also addresses older workers moving into lower-paying jobs with a wage insurance benefit.
Further, Obama proposes creating an American Job Center network to consolidate the over 3,000 federal One-Stop Career Centers and electronic resources, many of which currently go by different names from state-to-state and even from town-to-town. These upgrades are expected to cost somewhere in the order of $50 million.
