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Review finds NWLB helping people find, keep jobs

By Rick Pluta, Michigan Public Radio Network

http://stream.publicbroadcasting.net/production/mp3/wkar/local-wkar-867182.mp3

LANSING, MI – An internal study of Michigan's No Worker Left Behind program says the training is helping participants find and keep jobs. The report is to be released Monday.

The report says almost three quarters of the No Worker Left Behind trainees succeeded in finding or keeping jobs in the first 18 months of the program.

Andy Levin directs worker retraining efforts in the state Department of Energy, Labor and Economic Growth. Levin says the findings suggest retraining should remain a key part of helping unemployed workers. He says the days of just giving jobless workers a check while they look for other employment are over.

"Think about it. What job is there out there where you don't have to be able to run a computer, often understand some fairly sophisticated software and then when things go wrong, you have to be able to problem-solve," Levin says.

Levin says workers with more training fared better than those with less. He says people with disabilities and people trying to get off welfare are struggling the most with finding work.

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