With federal cut, Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps to close after 44 years
Eager to give a young person a shot at his profession and bring in some badly-needed talent, Dave Abbott reached out last year to the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center in St. Paul in hopes of launching a 'work-based learning' internship program. As a lead carpenter for a group of remodeling contractors, Abbott figured his company could help train three or four young corps members per year, and hopefully hire some on. A year of planning followed.
The first recruit recently 'did two weeks with us, helped frame a garage up, and she absolutely crushed it,' said Abbott, a vice president with Terra Firma, a St. Paul-based contracting cooperative. 'She was great.'
Then came word last week that the U.S. Department of Labor, citing ballooning costs and mixed outcomes, had pulled funding for more than Job Corps centers across the country. As a result, the Hubert H. Humphrey Job Corps Center — which has operated from the former Bethel College campus across from the State Fairgrounds on Snelling Avenue since 1981 — will close on Tuesday, letting go all staff and releasing more than 170 young people, some of whom literally called the center home.
'I'm so upset about this, I can't even tell you,' said Kaila Broad, business engagement specialist with the St. Paul site, on Monday. 'Haven't slept, haven't eaten.'
St. Paul's Job Corps Center, which offered up to 250 young people ages 16 to 24 workforce training in any one of eight career paths as they worked toward their GED and vocational certificates, also provided free housing for many low-income recruits who had landed there through diversion programs or were enrolled by their families.
Some members had previously been homeless. As that housing dries up, it's unclear where they'll land.
The sudden decision to pull funding has drawn bi-partisan pushback in Congress, given the program's long history in putting young people to work.
The Job Corps centers were launched as part of President Lyndon Johnson's 'great society' and 'war on poverty' efforts in 1964, and many a young person has obtained a medical assistant certificate or entered the construction trades while receiving free room and board.
'We had just added a Certified Nursing Assistant certification through St. Paul College,' Broad said.
In announcing cuts to workforce training programs last Thursday, U.S. Department of Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-Deremer said the Job Corps centers had proven too costly to operate and fallen short of intended outcomes.
In 2024, the program operated at a $140 million deficit nationally, requiring the Biden administration to implement a pause in center operations to complete the year. The deficit this year is projected to reach $213 million, according to a statement from the U.S. Department of Labor.
Nationally, about 39% of enrollees graduate, according to what the department described as the first-ever 'Job Corps Transparency Report,' released April 25, which analyzed metrics from 2023.
Some critics of the report have said pre-pandemic graduation rates were notably higher.
The National Job Corps Association maintains that historically, graduation rates were closer to 60%. A previous study of graduation rates, earnings and other metrics was published in sections from 1998 through 2001, though it was unavailable Monday morning from the U.S. Department of Labor website.
Citing the most recent report, the Labor Department said earnings for recent Job Corps graduates average about $16,000. The National Job Corps Association has also disputed those numbers, claiming earnings are closer to $31,000.
Also troubling, according to the secretary, were nearly 15,000 'serious incident reports,' chronicling everything from sex assaults and other acts of violence to drug use and hospitalizations. The National Job Corps Association has said those reports include power outages, athletic injuries and adults leaving campus without authorization.
The secretary said a 'phased pause in operations' is to take place by June 30, but the closures are rolling out in St. Paul and other locations virtually overnight.
In response, U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin, a Wisconsin Democrat and ranking member of the Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor, Health, and Human Services, issued a statement last week saying the loss of Job Corps will exacerbate her state's workforce shortage, hurting the economy while locking students out of good-paying jobs.
'Congress appropriated funding for Job Corps, and the Trump Administration can't just decide to not spend it because they want to make room for tax cuts for billionaires,' Baldwin wrote. 'At a time when Wisconsin businesses are demanding more skilled workers, the Trump Administration is cutting vital resources that put Wisconsinites on a fast-track to good-paying jobs in nursing, manufacturing, and the trades. Gutting Job Corps is a step in the wrong direction.'
The U.S. Department of Agriculture's Forest Service operates more than 20% of the centers on federal land, steering recruits toward forestry work.
Abbott said he sees the loss of federal funding as short-sighted decision-making from on high.
Construction trades are notoriously understaffed and desperate for labor, which raises prices for clients. Creating a pipeline of young talent would be a boon to workers, contractors and property owners alike, he said. Many of the young people he interviewed sounded like ideal recruits for internships.
'I was hoping to have it be a long-term tradition, that we could just (work with) three or four every year,' said Abbott on Sunday. 'Usually, it's pretty busy in the summer, and there's good work for pre-apprentice level carpenters.'
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