#greenfail: Only 1 in10 find green jobs after extensive training

Russ Steele

The USA Today has the story:

House Republicans are expanding their probe into the Obama administration’s energy programs, investigating $500 million in green job training grants that placed just 10% of trainees in jobs, according to a government report.

The program’s goal was to train 124,893 people and put 79,854 in jobs. But 17 months later, 52,762 were trained and 8,035, or roughly 1 in 10, had jobs. Those numbers come from an audit by the Department of Labor‘s inspector general, which recommended that the administration end the program and return unspent money.

President Obama has made green jobs a cornerstone of his economic agenda. In his first 2012 campaign ad this month, he said clean energy industries created 2.7 million jobs and were “expanding rapidly.” 

If these jobs are expanding rapidly, why are only one in ten finding green jobs?

Mayor Kevin Johnson in his state of Sacramento address outlined ways to bring 1,500 new green jobs to the city by retrofitting schools with clean infrastructure.  Maybe he can put some of these folks to work. But,  what will they do when the green refurbishing of city schools is done?