Job training programs rapped

By FRANK LOMBARDI

August 10, 2000 Web posted at: 11:13 AM EDT (1513 GMT)

NEW YORK (The New York Daily News) -- While many employers are begging for skilled workers, New York is squandering $1 billion a year on "a jumble of inefficient" job-training programs, the Center for an Urban Future reported yesterday.

The think tank, funded largely by philanthropic foundations, lashed into city and state officials for focusing primarily on moving welfare recipients into entry-level or dead-end jobs.

New York State spends more than $1 billion a year on job-training programs, most of them operated by New York City.Virtually all the money comes from the federal government. But the center says little is being done with the money to help train welfare recipients or underskilled workers to move up the jobs ladder.

"Employers everywhere are looking for high-skilled talents, whether it's software companies in Silicon Alley or small manufacturers based in Queens or Brooklyn," said Neil Kleiman, the center's director.

There are jobs in health care, aviation, automotive companies, bakeries, banking and business management, the center said, noting some employers are recruiting trained workers overseas.

In releasing the report, "The Skills Crisis: Building a Jobs System That Works," Kleiman said the crisis in New York City has "reached a flash point."

The report was critical of the city's sprawling welfare agency, the Human Resources Administration, and the city's Employment Department, which runs job-training programs.The HRA has been dragging its feet in complying with the new federal Workforce Investment Act and jeopardizing "hundreds of millions of dollars in federal funding," according to the center.

As for the Employment Department, Kleiman said it's "probably the saddest city agency that we have ever looked at."

Kleiman commented that his criticisms were not "an indictment" of Mayor Giuliani. He said job training had also "been put on a shelf" by the administrations of Mayors David Dinkins and Ed Koch.

A spokeswoman for the Employment Department referred a call to the mayor's press office, which said it had no comment on the report.

The report urged the state and city to streamline job-training efforts and create new city and state agencies to run them. It also urged greater business participation in deciding how the money is spent.

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