After 30 years of Federal Government involvement and two major legislative overhauls, there are now over 160 Federal programs dedicated to job training. The Federal Government has spent approximately $4.5 billion just on the Job Training and Partnership Act of 1997. However, the U.S. Congress cannot measure whether or not they are getting a good return on their investment since both Federal agencies do not even know if their programs are helping people find jobs.

The very idea that a government board can somehow determine what occupations will be in demand at any point in the future is an example of what Nobel Laureate Friedrich Hayek calls “The Fatal Conceit.” No central board, even one dominated by local officials and businessmen, can predict which jobs will be in demand in 5, 10, or 15 years. It is doubtful that a local work force board in Silicon Valley in 1978 would have tried to link job training services to personal computer markets. In fact, it is highly unlikely that Steve Jobs will be appointed to the work force development board. The very fact that the boards are compiled of already established leaders for business practically ensures that the entrepreneurs creating the jobs of the future will not be represented on the board.

In this high-technology information age where financial and, more importantly, intellectual capital can travel around the world in a matter of seconds, the jobs in demand in any area can change faster than any geographical local work force board could conceivably update the skills with which to link job training.

The private actions of individual citizens working together in a free market can best build a job training system that meets the needs of its citizens. Private individuals, local communities, and State governments are also more capable than the Federal Government of providing adequate help to those unable to provide training for themselves.

If the Federal Government returns to constitutional size and reduces the tax and regulatory burden on the American citizen, Federal job training programs of any sort furthers the destructive idea that the proper role of the Federal Government is to provide for all the needs of the citizens. The belief that Congress has a moral duty to administer to the health and welfare of the populace, both of America and the world, is directly responsible for the growth of the welfare state, which threatens to destroy America’s economic prosperity and liberty itself.

I am strongly opposed to this legislation, and believe freedom and free choices and the marketplace and the Constitution is a much better approach.

This entry was posted on Friday, May 16th, 1997 at 3:14 am and is filed under Speeches and Statements. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.