Trying Times

The past week has been a week filled with dashed hopes and dreams, as well as the stark reality of a congressional act to destroy the workforce system in the United States. With the passing of the omnibus bill and three rescission's in the bill for the workforce system, the number of US citizens in job transition that can be served is going down substantially. The staff that serve these folks in our One-Stop system are being laid off and reduced. The cost for the place in which we serve is no longer being supported by the US Department of Labor, and we have leading Republican Candidates saying the system is broken, when those who are members of congress, are the ones that are destroying the system.
The Southeastern Illinois area is serving 30,000 walk in customers each year in the 14 county region. That is a huge number for such a rural area with a population of 325,000 and just over 118,000 employed workers. It means about 25% are looking for a better job or their first job, or a new career.
John McCain is wrong when he says "the workforce system is broken." The workforce system responds appropriately in 98% of the country to the public policy the congress and the administration puts into place. It is the public policy and its effects as it traverses through the US Department of Labor down to the states and then to the locals that the message gets garbled and the heaps of restrictions on the money are put into place. The workforce system many in congress have in their minds existed some 30-40 years ago. It was not efficient. it was ripe with fraud and problems. But in each succeeding iteration, with the support of professionals in the workforce system, there have been improvements.
Nothing beats the fact that a local workforce investment board, given the right mix of business leaders and an excellent executive director can change the face of the region they serve and insure the federal dollars go where they are most needed to job seeker in retraining and in career information and counseling.
It is time for those who are in a job transition to tell the congress of the help they receive at the One Stop system in this country, and the lives we, as a system, save from poverty and homelessness. We also help job holders realize their potential and life career goals. This is what the system does for all people. It is open and universal access. We place Vice-Presidents, nurses, engineers, and any type of job you can imagine.
The local boards believe in accountability. The congress and USDOL dish out meaningless measures (from the business persons perspective) and then hold the local boards and chief elected officials accountable to meet those measures with improvements every year. It is illogical then to continue to decrease the funding each year and expect improvements each year. That can last as long as there is "fat" in the system. But those days are gone. There is no fat to speak of save a few exceptions. We are now facing reducing services to the employers and job seekers substantially.
This is bad public policy. This sets the stage for an America ten years down the road that will be a 3rd world county in its living standard.
America needs to wake up. Ignore the constant pandering to the voters with the promise of reducing taxes. That will only work if all of us reduce our incomes year after year. It is unrealistic and out of touch with reality.
The time for change is now. But how is it that we will not get the same divisive leadership with just a new face and/or party name on it?

I am a fan of Deepak Chopra and through the Integral Institute, this link was offered to add to my blog.
http://in.integralinstitute.org/flash/deepak_chopra/il_audio_sampler.swf
http://in.integralinstitute.org/flash/deepak_chopra/il_audio_sampler.swf
http://in.integralinstitute.org
www.integralnaked.org

Try it out. Deepak is a close friend of a close friend of mine and was generous in attending and speaking to the Convergence I was part of in South Bend, Indiana in 2003.