Arkansas Gov. Says State is Losing $4.3M in Workforce Funding

Arkansas is losing $4.3 million in federal money already allocated for workforce training programs, Gov. Mike Beebe said.

Beebe provided details of the cut in his pre-recorded radio address, released April 18. The move by the Department of Labor rescinds funding nationwide by $250 million for the Workforce Investment Act.

Beebe said the loss of the money comes at a hard time for Arkansas and the rest of the country.

“Who was thinking about the plight of the laid-off worker in Searcy or the 18-year-old high school graduate in Stuttgart when bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., decided to pull back support for workforce development?” Beebe said in his address.

The $4.3 million was already obligated for training contracts with colleges and other institutions to help Arkansans get jobs, Beebe said.

The Department of Workforce Services and the Arkansas Workforce Investment Board have begun informing the Local Workforce Investment areas of the cut. The 10 centers throughout the state provide services to adults, youth and dislocated workers.

Beebe said local workforce offices could be temporarily closed, or their employees could be laid off. He estimated that more than 1,900 people will either receive fewer benefits or none at all.

“It will certainly impose a long-term, negative impact on the confidence of workers, employers, and potential employers in workforce-development programs all across Arkansas,” he said.

Sen. Blanche Lincoln, D-Ark., said she opposed the recissions of the workforce funding in February 2007, when it was part of Bush’s fiscal year 2008 budget. The recission was later passed in the $550 billion omnibus bill, which funded a variety of programs.

“The members of the congressional delegation have always joined with the governor in the shared goal of making Arkansas as prosperous as it can be,” Lincoln said. “In these economic times, there’s no doubt that our state – and the entire country – is in need of a comprehensive recovery stimulus package that does just that.”

Information from: Pine Bluff Commercial, www.pbcommercial.com