Job Training

WASHINGTON -- The Clinton administration is drafting legislation that would make radical changes in the nation's labor policy, junking the current unemployment insurance system and an array of job training programs in favor of new "One-Stop Career Centers" designed to match skills and training with the needs of competitive U.S. industries.The Workforce Security Act of 1994 is in the final drafting stages and scheduled to be introduced in Congress later this month. A Jan. 19 outline of the plan, obtained by the Globe, contains the details of an ambitious initiative that seeks to transform the lives of out-of-work Americans, and may gore some powerful bureaucracies and interest groups.

Maryland's manufacturing industry continued to shrink over the past year, shedding 3,856 jobs and 114 manufacturers during the 12 months ended in May 2006, according to a company that tracks its comings and goings. Many of the job losses can be attributed to new technology and outsourcing, said Tom Dubin, president of Evanston, Ill.-based Manufacturers' News Inc., which has conducted an annual survey of the industry since 1912. "Manufacturing output is as high as ever," Dubin said. "Companies are leaner and meaner these days."

WASHINGTON -- More than 1,000 federal workers in Maryland who lose their jobs in the downsizing of government will have access to job training and counseling under a federal grant announced yesterday.The $4.6 million Labor Department grant to Maryland, Virginia and the District of Columbia is expected to serve about 4,000 federal workers in the Baltimore-Washington area who are expected to lose their jobs. About 1,400 federal workers in the Washington area have been laid off since October.

More than 200 Anne Arundel County residents have used services at the county's newest career center since it began operating less than two months ago, county officials said Wednesday. Kirkland J. Murray, president and CEO of the Anne Arundel Workforce Development Corp., said about two-thirds of those job seekers have found employment or been referred to job training programs. The center, Murray said at an open house Wednesday morning, is needed as the county, like communities everywhere, grapples with the recession.

Every day this week, Sen. John Kerry has tried to talk to voters about creating jobs and bolstering the economy as he campaigns for president. And every day, Kerry has found himself drawn inexorably into questions of foreign policy and critiques of President Bush's handling of the war in Iraq. Yesterday was no exception as Kerry, the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee, sought to emphasize job creation during a visit to the Greater West Town Community Development Project with Democratic Sen. Richard J. Durbin of Illinois and state Sen. Barak Obama, the Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate.

The nine candidates vying to be Annapolis' next mayor discussed public housing issues ranging from funding to revitalization and social services at a recent forum hosted by the Housing Authority of Annapolis. The seven Democrats, one Republican and one independent spoke mostly in broad terms of improving communication and collaboration between public housing residents and city government and creating opportunity for residents. Housing Commissioner Michael Jackson posed perhaps the most controversial question of the forum, asking candidates if there should be a time limit on families living in the city's public housing, which is often home to generations of families.

Gov. William Donald Schaefer asked business owners yesterday to help fight crime in a novel way -- by hiring former criminals. It was a tough pitch at a time when jobs are scarce and crime a common fear, but that didn't slow down Mr. Schaefer."

Eight years ago after her youngest child started school, Robin Collins, 41, decided she wanted to help her husband with the family expenses. But the Catonsville mother of five had not worked in years -- and had no high school diploma.She got a hand from Catonsville Community College in the form of Project Second Start, a program that since 1981 has helped about 300 people a year with job training, schooling and counseling."I knew I needed help in getting my diploma and then getting into school, but I wasn't divorced or alone, I just wanted to help my family and receive an education," said Collins, who has since graduated from the University of Maryland, Baltimore County and now is a registered diagnostic medical sonographer.

COLORADO Springs, Colo. -- At first glance, it might appear welfare reform in El Paso County has fallen short. While the state's total welfare roll has dropped by 46 percent during the past two years, El Paso County's caseload is down 26 percent. But that number doesn't tell the whole story. In fact, welfare experts across the country have singled out the county as having one of the most compassionate and successful programs around. "El Paso County is very much out in front on welfare reform," said Ed LaPedis of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

Regional study to tally green jobs, how to increase number The federal government is underwriting a $4 million study of how many "green" jobs there are in Maryland, Virginia and Washington and how to increase them, labor officials announced Wednesday. The Mid-Atlantic regional study is the largest among nearly $55 million in grants awarded nationwide by the U.S. Department of Labor. The funds will pay for job training and information to help workers find jobs in so-called "green" industries or related occupations.