Michigan's No Worker Left Behind Reaches 100,000 Enrollees

One-hundred thousand and counting. That's the number of people who have enrolled for job training through Michigan's No Worker Left Behind (NWLB), a program, launched in August 2007 as part of Michigan's economic transition. The program provides qualifying workers two years of free tuition up to $10,000 at any Michigan community college or university or other approved training program.

"No Worker Left Behind is shifting thousands of manufacturing workers and other unemployed workers into new good-paying jobs by providing the skills and credentials for new careers in high-demand occupations, emerging industries, or to start a business", said Andy Levin, Deputy Director for Michigan's Department of Energy Labor and Economic Growth (DELEG). The money awarded under the program is in the form of a grant and does not have pay-back requirements. To be eligible for the program a worker must be currently unemployed, received a notice of termination or layoff from employment, or if employed, family income must be $40,000 or less per year. No Worker Left Behind trains workers for in-demand jobs in all industries in Michigan as identified by the Labor Market Information. These include jobs in advanced manufacturing, clean energy, health care and biotechnology.

"We believe No Worker Left Behind can serve as a model for national workforce policy" said Deputy Director Levin. NWLB places a much higher percentage of participants in longer term training, rather than in short-term training or solely job search assistance. It creates universal, statewide eligibility requirements and benefit levels for WIA participants to maximize the availability of income support during training by systematizing the eligibility of participants for UI payments.

NWLB is primarily funded with federal training dollars and received an increase with the passage of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In addition to federal funds, the Michigan Legislature appropriated $15 million to support the program with the intention of assisting workers transitioning between careers as well as to build capacity within the community college system.

Michigan's goal was to enroll 100,000 individuals in three years. They have reached that goal -- 10 months ahead of schedule -- with enrollment now topping 102,000.

How does the state train so many workers? Michigan has partnered with the community colleges to develop the courses for in-demand job skills.

One of these programs - called Fast Start - is a partnership with Delta College in mid-Michigan. This program has proven a great success and is an example of an effective partnership between the public and private sectors. It brought together Dow Chemical, Dow Corning, Evergreen Solar, and Hemlock Semiconductor who then partnered with Delta College, the Great Lakes Bay Michigan Works! Agency and the Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth.

These types of public-private partnerships are key to developing training programs to address the need for chemical process operators by the four companies. Chemical process operators work on cutting-edge technology like creating the photovoltaic material used in solar panels.

37 of the 40 individuals who completed the program are now employed at one of the four companies - an employment rate of 93 percent. This fall, nearly 50 more students are going to be trained to be chemical process operators. Although there is no guarantee for employment after training, most re-trained workers have found employment in their new field.

The Michigan Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth recently released a report titled, No Worker Left Behind Outcomes Report. This report offers a first of its kind analysis looking at the type of worker enrolled in NWLB, duration in the program and the rate of employment for re-trained workers. The NWLB Outcomes Report offers data covering 62,206 individuals who enrolled in training between August 2007 and February 2009. For more information, visit the No Worker Left Behind Web site at www.michigan.gov/nwlb.