Job training programs falling short: survey

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Government programs to bridge a huge skills gap in the U.S. jobs market are failing as most were not designed to equip unemployed workers with skills needed to land a job in a new field, according to a study.

The findings of the study by the Parthenon Group, an advisory firm based in Boston, are worrying given that job retraining has been promoted as the solution to the country's chronic unemployment problem.

Millions of construction and manufacturing jobs lost during the 2007-09 recession will never come back, meaning that the affected workers will have to learn a new trade.

The study, sponsored by Corinthian Colleges, found that the bulk of job training or workforce training initiatives offered by the government were mostly short-term efforts to place people in jobs based on knowledge or experience they already have.

"The absence of classroom based skills training means you actually don't acquire any new skills," said Chris Ross one of the co-authors of the study. "It's hard to see any income gains more than six months out if you haven't had some sort of actual job training as part of a workforce program," he told Reuters.

The study found only one out of every 25 people served by federal job training programs actually receive classroom-based skills training -- the type of instruction that leads to higher paying and more meaningful jobs in the long run.

"Federal job referral programs can be a lifeline for those who are unemployed and in severe, immediate financial distress," said Ross. "But very few are designed to teach participants the skills they need to change their economic status by entering a new job or career."

About 25 million Americans are unemployed or marginally employed and the jobless rate is currently at 9 percent.

Despite the high unemployment rate, companies -- mostly in the manufacturing sector are failing to fill open jobs because of a shortage of skilled workers.

600,000 OPEN JOBS

A survey last month by auditing firm Deloitte and the Manufacturing Institute found that manufacturing firms cannot fill as many as 600,000 skilled positions.

The Parthenon study found that about 24 million people had been through the federal job training programs, but only 1 million or 4 percent had received classroom-based training skills.

Most of them had received the training at community colleges and career colleges, which work with the government.

The government spent $18 billion on 47 different job training or workforce initiative programs in 2009.

"Federal job training programs have neither the capacity nor the expertise to train a 21st Century workforce," said Ross.

According to the Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce, the United States faces a shortfall of 22 million new college degrees by 2018 as jobs requiring post-secondary degrees rise to 63 percent of the total from 59 percent.

It estimates that of the 47 million new jobs that are likely to be created through 2018, two-thirds will require some post-secondary education.

The Parthenon study argues a greater role for community colleges and private sector career colleges in solving the skills shortage.

"Ultimately severe fiscal constraints on the federal government, state governments, and community colleges dictate that private sector institutions must play an increasing role in the years ahead," said Ross.

(Reporting by Lucia Mutikani, editing by Andrew Hay)