Federal judge temporarily blocks Job Corps shutdown

Photo by Tom Rivers: A sign directs people to the Iroquois Job Corps Center in Shelby on Tibbits Road. The center is one of 99 that was ordered to go on “pause” last week by the federal Department of Labor, with students to be sent home by this Friday.

A federal judge has temporarily halted the closure of 99 Job Corps Centers, including the Iroquois Job Corps in Shelby.

The Trump administration last Thursday announced the 99 centers would have to go on pause, with students to be sent home by June 6 and the contractors running the sites to be done by June 30.

The National Job Corps Association filed an injunction on Tuesday in federal court in Manhattan, saying the federal Department of Labor can’t dismantle Job Corps, a program established and funded by Congress. A court hearing is scheduled for June 17 to determine whether a preliminary injunction will be issued, Reuters reported.

“Shuttering Job Corps will have disastrous, irreparable consequences, including displacing tens of thousands of vulnerable young people [and] destroying companies that have long operated Job Corps centers in reliance on the Government’s support for the program,” the plaintiffs stated in the lawsuit as reported by Reuters.

The lawsuit also states that the DOL can only close individual Job Corps centers  individual after seeking public comment and notifying local members of Congress.

DOL Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer a week ago announced 99 Job Corps would be paused with programs suspended by the end of June. She said the centers haven’t been fulfilling their mission.

The DOL said the graduation rate nationwide at the centers is at 38.6 percent, with the average cost per student a year at $80,284. The average cost per graduate is $155,600, according to the DOL.

On average, participants earn $16,695 annually on average when they leave the program, the DOL said.

But the National Job Corps countered that the DOL skewed the data, using information from 2023 when centers were still impacted by Covid restrictions.

Job Corps is currently operating at about half of its capacity because the DOL hasn’t allowed centers to do their own background checks on students. Since the DOL took over that duty in March, students haven’t been admitted.

The Job Corps graduation is historically closer to 60 percent, not the 38.6 percent from July 1, 2023 – June 30, 2024, the association said. Job Corps said that prior to Covid restrictions in 2020, the average cost per Job Corps graduate was $57,312.

Allowing more students would drive down the per-student costs, Job Corps noted on its website in response to the DOL statements.

Job Corps is the nation’s largest residential career training and education program, serving people ages 16 to 24. The centers have a capacity for about 50,000 students but currently have about 25,000.

Job Corps students placed in positions earned an average wage of $17.13 in 2023, more than twice the minimum wage of $7.25. Graduates earned annualized wages of more than $31,000, Job Corps said.

The DOL also cited incidents of violence at the centers, noting there 14,913 serious incident reports filed in 2023 at centers across the country.

“Per DOL’s reporting requirements, these ‘serious’ incidents include power outages and inclement weather, athletic injuries that require treatment, and adult students leaving campus without prior approval,” Job Corps said.