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Job Corps

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Job Corps is a program administered by the United States Department of Labor that offers free education and vocational training to young people ages 16 to 24.

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48-423: Job Corps' mission is to help young people ages 16 through 24 improve the quality of their lives through vocational and academic training aimed at gainful employment and career pathways. The Job Corps was originally designed by a task force established by Labor Secretary Willard Wirtz reporting to Manpower Administrator Sam Merrick . In 1962, the youth unemployment rate was twice the non-youth unemployment rate and

96-590: A 2003 Mathematica study (withheld from the public by the government until 2006) as indicating negative impacts on childless female participants' incomes from 1998 through 2001. Complaining that Job Corps fails to "substantially raise the wages of participants" -- at a cost of "$ 25,000 per participant" for an eight-month "average participation period" -- the Heritage Foundation described the agency as "a waste of taxpayers' dollars," and "an ideal candidate" to be on "the budget chopping block." A report from

144-634: A former Albuquerque center teacher who alleged that welding students who failed to attend training were given welding-competence certificates, anyway, to take into the workforce. A former career counselor in Texas reported that management pressure to get "job placements" resulted in "85 percent" of reported placements being "fake." CBS noted that 3 years earlier, the Labor Department's inspector general determined that Job Corps had "overstated 42 percent" of job placements at five sites -- and that many of

192-423: A high school diploma"; not any more likely to complete, or even attend, college; and earnings of Job Corps participants were essentially the same as a "control group" of similar non-participants. In their 2009 critique, additionally citing a 2001 Mathematica study, the Heritage Foundation noted that income gains for participants (vs. comparable non-participants) was "never more than $ 25.20" per week, while they cited

240-567: A large variety of shapes, and whose use in the workflow depends on the part to be machined. CNC machines are becoming the standard due to their speed, precision, flexibility, repeatability, and reduced downtime while changing jobs. Production runs consisting of large numbers of parts are more cost effective and commonly referred to as production work in the trade. Conversely, small production runs are sometimes referred to as prototype or jobbing work. Production engineers use blueprints and engineering drawings to produce detailed specifications of

288-780: A private memorandum to the President expressing concerns about the United States' involvement in the Vietnam War . Following his public service, he practiced law in Washington, D.C. as a partner in Wirtz & Gentry (1970–78), Wirtz & Lapointe (1979–[?]), and Friedman & Wirtz (1984–1989). Named in 2000, the Wirtz Labor Library is the main library of the U.S. Department of Labor in

336-1168: A role in suspicions and reporting of perceived problems. In 2017, Labor Department deputy inspector general Larry D. Turner, testifying before a Congressional committee, reported that Job Corps officials and contractors often failed to report "potentially serious criminal misconduct" to local, state or federal law enforcement -- noting that, of the 12 centers inspectors visited (out of 129), all but one failed to report to law enforcement various "potentially serious criminal misconduct incidents," leaving 40 percent of 348 such incidents unreported at those 11 sites. He also noted that Job Corps sites typically had "Physical security weaknesses" (such as "inadequate [or] unmonitored closed circuit television systems," inadequate security staff, and "compromised perimeters," and failed to properly screen center employees." Job Corps defenders argued that critics were overreacting to these shortcomings, which were not atypical of conditions in innercity and rural settings that Job Corps participants were fleeing. In 2017, with per-student costs ranging from $ 15,000 to $ 45,000, President Trump 's Labor Secretary, Alexander Acosta , stated that

384-426: A saw cut length of stock or a casting . Producing a part will often require several steps and more than one machine tool. Each machine tool plays a specific role in cutting away excess material. When large numbers of parts are needed, production planning is required to plan the most logical workflow through a series of machines. Computer numerical controlled (CNC) machines are computer-driven tools that can machine

432-508: A series of evaluations and reports on the Job Corps for the agency's parent, the U.S. Department of Labor, and for independent academic journals. Their long-term study involved repeated nationwide surveys of over 6,800 Job Corps participants, and a "control group" of over 4,400 comparable non-participants, over a four-year period -- and, in some reports, used the government-held, employer-reported tax records of individual workers for analysis of

480-538: A shortage of farmworkers after the end Bracero program in 1964 and a shortage of summer jobs for teenagers, was meant to replace the migrant workers with 17-year-old high school students. More than 18,000 were recruited for the A-TEAM, or Athletes in Temporary Employment as Agricultural Manpower , but only 3,300 ever worked in the fields, and many of them quickly quit or staged strikes because of

528-491: A thousandth of an inch – or 0.0025 mm) for specialty operations. A machinist deals with all facets of shaping, cutting and some aspects of forming metal, although forming is typically a separate trade. The operations most commonly performed by machinists are milling , drilling , turning , and grinding . There are other more specialized operations that a machinist will less frequently be called upon to perform such as honing , keyseating , lapping , and polishing , to name

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576-562: A wide variety of workplaces, job duties, and types of work. Most machinists work in machine shops and factories where they operate machinery that produce precision component parts. In general, the occupation is exacting, and requires extensive knowledge of the tools and processes in order to achieve the tight tolerances and surface finishes that these parts specify. Many machinists make mass-produced parts using highly automated computer numerical control machines which are common today, but still require such professionals to set up and calibrate

624-401: Is a highly skilled position. Programmers are usually machinist as well. A CNC programmer creates programs using software called CAM (computer aided manufacturing). The programmer must be proficient in math, speeds and feeds, machine tooling, work holding, and the different ways various materials react to stress and heat in the machining process. The machine trade is an extremely broad field with

672-530: Is one who is called on to fix a problem with a part or to create a new one using metals, plastics, or rarely, wood. Depending on the company, a machinist can be any or all of the titles listed above. Other related fields include Millwrights , quality assurance , and mechanical engineers . In Australia, a related profession is a fitter and turner . A fitter and turner is the tradesperson who fits, assembles, grinds and shapes metal parts and subassemblies to fabricate production machines and other equipment. Under

720-581: The COVID-19 pandemic triggered the closure of Job Corps physical sites, and the organization attempted to shift to online education . Enrollment dropped by about 75 percent. Since its inception in 1964 under the Economic Opportunity Act , Job Corps has served more than 2 million young people. As of 2019, Job Corps serves over 60,000 youths annually at Job Corps centers throughout the country. People are eligible for Job Corps by meeting

768-771: The Frances Perkins Building in Washington, D.C. The library contains 181,000 items, including the James Taylor collection (labor history), the Folio collection (trade union serials) and a 30,000 volume labor law collection. Wirtz wrote a memoir entitled "In the Rear View Mirror" which was published in 2008 by The Beloit College Press. Wirtz was married to Mary Jane Quisenberry (1913-2002) with whom he had 2 children. He died in an assisted living facility in Washington, D.C. , on April 24, 2010. At

816-557: The Post reported, some centers have reportedly understated these offenses, in their official record, to keep student offenders enrolled. However, progressive philanthropy advocate and watchdog Rick Cohen, writing in Nonprofit Quarterly , expressed skepticism of complaints, suggesting that many of these problems were not abnormal for that demographic, whether in Job Corps or not -- and suggested that racial bias may have played

864-408: The Vietnam War , suggested that the Job Corps could be useful in preparing young men to meet the mental and physical requirements for military enlistment. When President Johnson and his planning staff decided on the war on poverty , most of the proposed programs would take more than a year to even start. However the Job Corps idea was well along in the planning stage and could be deployed rapidly, so

912-508: The $ 1.7 billion annually budgeted program "requires fundamental reform" -- not just "changes at the margins," but "large-scale changes." Willard Wirtz William Willard Wirtz (March 14, 1912 – April 24, 2010) was a U.S. administrator , cabinet officer , attorney, and law professor. He served as the Secretary of Labor between 1962 and 1969 under the administrations of Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon B. Johnson . Wirtz

960-628: The Government Accountability Office cited over 13,500 safety incidents at Job Corps centers from 2016 to 2017 -- most of them drug-related or assaults. In April 2017, the Trump administration 's Labor Department inspector general concluded that the agency could not show "beneficial training outcomes." While the Job Corps has remained popular with politicians in both parties (and with private contractors who operate and service Job Corps centers), there have been many critics of

1008-802: The Labor Department Job Corps Task Force was appointed to the Task force for the War on Poverty, and the Job Corps was slated to be the initial operational program. Job Corps was therefore initiated as the central program of the Johnson Administration's War on Poverty, part of his domestic agenda known as the Great Society . Sargent Shriver , the first Director of the Office of Economic Opportunity , modeled

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1056-429: The ability to correctly use precision measuring instruments and to interpret blueprints, and a working knowledge of the proper parameters required for successfully utilizing the various tools commonly used in machining operations. CNC (computer numerical control) is the modern manufacturing method in which machinist use a form of programming called G-code to make components for a wide variety of industries. CNC programming

1104-444: The attacker was allowed to continue in the program). They quoted a fired security guard, a former police sergeant, as witnessing drug use ("marijuana, cocaine, heroin") but being pressured by management to keep quiet about it, despite the official Job Corps "zero tolerance" for drug use. (CBS obtained video of a student cutting a white powder on his desk). Student expulsions reportedly hurt contractor and agency standing. CBS interviewed

1152-571: The first 60 days of enrollment. Career Development : This period is where the student receives all vocational training, academic instruction, employability and social skills development, and driver's education. Career Transition : The period is preceded by a focus on transition readiness, and is the phase of services that immediately follows a student after they leave Job Corps. Career Transition Specialists assist with job placement or searches, and provide support and referrals for housing, transportation, and other essential components of living needed by

1200-488: The following criteria: °Unless waived due to disability. Applicants to the Job Corps program are identified and screened for eligibility by organizations contracted by the U.S. Department of Labor. Each student in the Job Corps goes through three stages of the program: Career Preparation : This period focuses on the assimilation of the student to Job Corps academic assessment, health screening, career exploration, and instruction on career planning. This phase lasts for up to

1248-713: The former student to obtain and retain employment. Career Technical Training programs (often called vocational programs) offered by Job Corps vary by campus location. Example careers include machinist , auto mechanic , electrician , 911 dispatcher , dental assistant , corrections officer , cook , computer technician , landscaper , and truck driver . There are a total of 121 Job Corps centers, including one in Washington, D.C. , and two in Puerto Rico . There are six Regional Offices of Job Corps: In Program Year 2012, approximately 75 percent of Job Corps’ graduates were reportedly placed. Slightly more than 60 percent joined

1296-443: The late 1990s, and extending through to the early 2020s, cast doubt on the safety and cost-effectiveness of the program, and have brought calls for the program's end. But bipartisan Congressional support has kept the program alive. With a $ 1.7 billion annual budget (in 2014 and 2018), it is the U.S. Department of Labor's largest-budget training program, providing about 37,000 training slots for young people annually. Starting in 2020,

1344-677: The machines. Other more specialised machinists produce custom-made parts for prototyping, repair, or research. A machinist may work on manufacturing something relatively simple like a bracket, or a shaft, or something extraordinarily complex, such as aerospace components accurate to 5 micrometres. Good machinists are highly sought after and respected skilled trades persons and are generally well-paid. In utility, medical, and military use companies, experienced machinists can earn over $ 100 000 per year. Some titles reflect further development of machinist skills such as tool and die maker , patternmaker , mold maker , programmer , and operator . A machinist

1392-596: The machinist title are other specialty titles that refer to specific skills that may be more highly developed to meet the needs of a particular job position, such as fitter (assembles parts), turning hand , mill hand , and grinder . A machinist is usually called upon when a part needs to be produced from a stock material by cutting. Such a part may be unique or may be needed in the thousands. The part could be anything made from metal or plastic, though machined parts are usually ones that require high precision and cannot be produced by other means. Machinists generally start with

1440-701: The meaning of the term suggests the need for specialized handling and/or tooling to machine them effectively. While the foregoing were primarily the materials that a machinist would be cutting, the cutters that the machinist uses must be harder and tougher than the materials to be cut. The materials in the cutters a machinist uses are most commonly high-speed steel , tungsten carbide , ceramics , Borazon , and diamond . Machinists usually work to very small tolerances , usually within 0.010" or 0.25 mm (more commonly expressed as ±0.005" (Plus or minus five thousandths of an inch) or ±0.13 mm), and sometimes at tolerances as low as +/-0.0001" (plus or minus one tenth of

1488-575: The most common materials. Materials that machinists work with occasionally are plastics , rubber , glass , and wood products. Rarely, machinists also work with exotic and refractory metals . The term exotic metals is a general term describing out of the ordinary, rare or special purpose metals. A synonym might be space-age. A list of exotic metals might include, but is not limited to, titanium , beryllium , vanadium, chromium , molybdenum and tungsten , as well as special high-temperature metal alloys like Inconel or Hastelloy ( superalloys ). Very often

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1536-471: The part, especially its geometry (shape), then decide on a strategy to make it. Machine tools are then configured by the machinist and production commences. The machinist works with the quality department to ensure the specifications are maintained in the finished product. Large commercial organizations often staff machinists on site in a maintenance mode to ensure continuing operations of the production machinery. Such machinists can often make replacement parts

1584-476: The poor working conditions, including oppressive heat and decrepit housing. The program was cancelled after the first summer. While serving in the Labor Department, Wirtz developed programs for the Johnson administration's War on Poverty . He advocated for remedial education for school dropouts and for retraining programs for unemployed workers. Wirtz's relationship with Johnson was compromised by Wirtz sending

1632-545: The program is "a good deal for... enrollees themselves," but acknowledged that -- "from society's perspective" -- "the [Job Corps] program... does not pay for itself." In 2009, during the Obama administration , the conservative Heritage Foundation political think-tank described the program's 40-year history as a "record of failure" -- citing specific findings from that Mathematica journal article, including that Job Corps participants were less likely than non-participants to "earn

1680-516: The program on the Depression -era Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC). Established in the 1930s as an emergency relief program, the CCC provided room, board, and employment to thousands of unemployed young people. Though the CCC was discontinued after World War II , Job Corps built on many of its methods and strategies. The first National Director of the Job Corps program was Dr. S. Stephen Uslan, who

1728-466: The program, from liberal and conservative sources, alike, and questions raised about the program's safety and effectiveness. Anecdotal evidence against the program, at specific sites, multiplied in the 2010s. In October 2014, CBS News reported on its investigation of a Job Corps training center in North Texas, quoting a student as experiencing "constant fights" (though one attacker strangled him,

1776-465: The program. That said, Mathematica concluded that the Job Corps is "the only federal training program... shown to increase earnings for this [disadvantaged youth] population." However, the cost of the program, they concluded, exceeds the overall positive economic impact on society (from slightly improved social outcomes, like reduced crime and reduced welfare expenditures). One of the study's leaders, Mathematica senior fellow Peter Schochet, asserted that

1824-453: The purpose of the initiative was to create a program whereby Youth members of the program could spend half of their time improving national parks and forests and the other half of their time improving their basic education skills which were severely limiting their occupational accomplishments. The Job Corps Task Force initially recommended that Job Corps programs be limited to Federal National Parks, National Forests, and other Federal Lands. By

1872-725: The reported jobs were simply in fast food work. A CBS affiliate in Milwaukee checked records on their local Job Corps center, and found 11 police reports between 2012-2014, including a knife attack and a student shot. In 2015, the Washington Post noted "violence and even murders" had occurred "at some Job Corps sites," and -- "despite [an official] zero-tolerance policy [forbidding] violence and illegal drugs" -- [various] "local job corps centers... failed to report and investigate [incidents of] serious misconduct, [such as] drug abuse and assaults," including "sexual assault." Further,

1920-872: The same day. Because of this, the labor cost for this role are significantly lower than costs involved with production shutdowns. Additive machining means 3D printing to create industrial components, prototypes, tooling, and end-use production parts. Additive machining comes into its own in the manufacturing of very small intricate parts, which could not be produced through any other manufacturing process. There are several processes in additive manufacturing which include direct metal deposition: electron beam melting, fused filament fabrication, select laser sintering, and variations of them. The most common materials that machinists make parts from are steel , aluminium , brass , copper , and various alloys of these materials. Other less common materials such as vanadium , zinc , lead , or manganese are often used as alloying elements for

1968-539: The survey subjects' economic outcomes. Their researchers ultimately concluded that "the Job Corps model" shows "promise" -- adding that the program's effect on participating youth "increases [their] educational attainment, reduces [their] criminal activity, and increases [their] earnings for several postprogram years." However, they noted that "tax data" indicated that -- except for "the oldest participants" (young adults in their early 20s) -- most participants' "earnings gains were not sustained" beyond four years after leaving

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2016-480: The time of his death he was the oldest living former cabinet member and the last surviving cabinet member of the Kennedy administration . Machinist A machinist is a tradesperson or trained professional who operates machine tools , and has the ability to set up tools such as milling machines, grinders, lathes, and drilling machines. A competent machinist should have a well-developed mechanical aptitude,

2064-687: The time of the Kennedy assassination in 1963, the Job Corps' operational plans, costs, and budgets had been well developed, including coordination with the U. S. Forest Service and the National Park Service, and Memoranda of Understanding (MOUs) executed among the agencies. Initiating legislation and budgetary authorizations were drafted by the Kennedy Administration and introduced in both houses of Congress. In 1964, President Johnson , facing military manpower shortages for

2112-447: The workforce or enlisted in the military, while 13.5 percent of Job Corps’ graduates enrolled in education programs. However, analysts have suggested that the data fails to reflect that many of the job placements were in low-skill, low-wage jobs that they could have gotten without Job Corps participation, such as fast-food work or the military. From 1993 to 2008, Princeton University affiliate research organization Mathematica produced

2160-548: Was active in Democratic politics and wrote speeches for Adlai Stevenson during his 1952 Presidential campaign. Wirtz was appointed by the Under-Secretary of Labor in 1961. He held the post of Labor Secretary throughout the Kennedy and Johnson administrations, during which time he is credited for having dealt effectively with the various trade union strikes of the 1960s. One of his programs, meant to deal with

2208-659: Was appointed by President Lyndon Johnson and reported directly to Sargent Shriver. The current national director of the Office of Job Corps is Rachel Torres. The Job Corps program is currently authorized under Title I of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act . President Richard Nixon sought to shrink the program, and President Ronald Reagan sought to eliminate it, but the program continued with bipartisan Congressional support. A series of audits, studies and investigations -- public and private -- starting in

2256-817: Was immediately appointed to the faculty of the University of Iowa College of Law by the dean of the law school (and future U.S. Supreme Court justice) Wiley B. Rutledge . Wirtz was a professor of law at Northwestern University from 1939 to 1942. He served with the War Labor Board from 1943 to 1945, and was chairman of the National Wage Stabilization Board in 1946. Wirtz returned to teach law at Northwestern until 1954. His students included future U.S. Supreme Court justice John Paul Stevens , whom Wirtz recommended for what became his 1947–48 clerkship with Justice Rutledge. He

2304-518: Was the last living member of Kennedy's cabinet. Wirtz was born on March 14, 1912, in DeKalb, Illinois , the son of Alpha Belle ( née White) and William Wilbur Wirtz . He attended Northern Illinois University , where he became a brother of Alpha Phi Omega . While a student at Beloit College , he met the former Mary Jane Quisenberry. They married in 1936. They had two sons, Richard and Philip Wirtz. He graduated from Harvard Law School in 1937 and

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