Why Can't Unemployment Benefits Be Tied to Job Training?

The US Department of Labor maintains employment data and predicts occupational trends. They can say whether an occupation will grow or decline slowly, moderately or faster relative to others over the next decade or so. If employment in a certain sector is contracting, as predicted by the Department of Labor, why can't unemployment benefits for Americans laid off in those declining industries be tied to job training?

The November 2010 unemployment numbers left the Obama administration with little to brag about in terms of what stimulus funds have done for the sputtering American economy. Having said that, the numbers don't lie and there has been 9 steady months of job creation by the private sector; a stark contrast from the last months of the Bush presidency when Americans were losing an average of well beyond a half a million jobs monthly.

Regardless of how the Democrats, Republicans, Independents or the Indecraticans (what I call myself) say has brought us to this point, we are here with 9.8% unemployment and two million Americans might be losing unemployment benefits in December, if Congress doesn't act.

Isn't it time we rethink how we handle long term unemployment? What if at the time of application for benefits, the impacted employee pledges a specific period of time to collect these funds in concert with participating in job training program? For example, if the downsized employee commits to two years to earn an Associate's Degree, the government commits to two years of unemployment benefits.

I am not saying that this would be necessary for every unemployed American. However, I am saying we should consider this as part of a longer term strategy for those workers laid off in an industry that the Department of Labor says will not recover any time soon. Imagine the long term benefit for a family and by extension, America, where job retraining was concurrent to receiving unemployment benefits.

This is not a foreign concept. It is based on the old adage - Give a man a fish and feed him for a day; teach a man to fish and they feed themselves for life. We need to move away from the finger pointing and think logically about America's long term future. Job re-training will put Americans back to work.