WASHINGTON (AP) — Labor Secretary Thomas E. Perez says the government is making a fresh $150 million installment to a federal program to help train workers who have lost their jobs in high-demand industries through no fault of their own.
Perez told reporters on Monday that states can apply for grants ranging from $500,000 to $6 million so they may, in his words, “connect job-seekers with well-paying jobs so they can return to the workplace.”
It brings federal spending on related programs to roughly $1 billion over just the past three months.
Perez said the job picture is steadily improving — if slowly.
In the depths of the 2008-2009 recession, seven or eight job-seekers competed for each opening. Perez said it’s down to 21/2 workers per opening now.