Department of Labor begins ‘phased pause’ of failing Job Corps program
The Department of Labor is shutting down all contractor-operator Job Corps facilities after thousands of instances of violence and high costs with poor results.
The program was started in 1964 but has resulted in a graduation rate under 33 percent with an average cost higher than Harvard, all while providing 'diversity training.'
The Department of Labor (DOL) announced on May 29 that it will begin a “phased pause” of the Job Corps as the Trump administration works to cut spending and manage the many internal issues within the program.
Initiated in 1964 by then-President Lyndon B. Johnson as part of the “War on Poverty,” the “Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” as stated by Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”
The program has been plagued by high levels of ineffectiveness, corruption, sexual assault, and drug use, causing the new administration to take actions necessary to “deliver meaningful results for both students and taxpayers.”
In an April Transparency Report, the Department of Justice found that only one-third of students–32% of enrollees–successfully completed the full program. The average cost per student per year was $80,284.65–higher than a year at Harvard University–while Job Corps participants went on to earn an average annual salary of only $16,695.
The program has also come under scrutiny for reports of fraud and misrepresented outcomes motivated by monetary incentives. Former Jobs Corps career adviser Dean Tinnell told CBS News that the program manipulates results in order to create positive growth and in turn receive financial rewards.
A CBS video relating to the same report also exposes instances of violence, stating that there were “constant fights” at a North Texas Jobs Corps facility. The DOL’s announcement revealed that in 2023 there were a total of 14,913 “serious incident reports,” 1,716 of which were acts of violence, many of which resulted in the 1,808 total hospital visits.
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Along with constant fighting, the Job Corps experienced 2,702 cases of drug use in the same year, with evidence of students cutting and sharing drugs during class. The former chief of security at the North Texas center told CBS that he was pressured to not report incidents of “marijuana, cocaine, [and] heroin.”
One disturbing incident occurred last year when a 16-year-old female student who identified as a “transgender male” was housed with the 23-year-old male Demetrius Fair at the Glenmont Job Corps Academy in New York. Fair intimidated his young roommate into performing oral sex, resulting in forcible rape.
The Spotlight News reported that Job Corps posted a statement that “most campuses offer separate male and female dorms, and place students based on their gender identity,” not sex.
Diversity training is also included in a Job Corps education. The Job Corps Policy and Requirements Handbook claims that “Centers shall develop strategies to involve staff and students in center-wide diversity related activities,” in order to “understand, accept, and value diversity” and “introduce students to diversity-related issues.”
The DOL stated that the pause of operations at contractor-operated Job Corps centers will occur by June 30.
Campus Reform has contacted the Department of Labor for comment. This article will be updated accordingly.