Two years ago, the federal government launched a new grant program to retrain and employ “dislocated workers,” people who lost their jobs and are unlikely to find work again in the same field. Think coal plant or steel manufacturing workers.
Though Congress awarded $150 million to states through the so-called Sector Partnership National Emergency Grant program, the labor department says some states have trouble using the money and end up sending it back to the feds.
“Anecdotally, I know that states have trouble determining [dislocated worker] eligibility,” says Martin Simon, who oversees workforce development policy at the National Governors Association Center for Best Practices.
