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Job Retraining Not Panacea for Miners

Laid-off coal miners in our area, and there are hundreds of them, did not need Harvard to tell them how unrealistic are the job retraining programs politicians claim will be the saviors of those displaced by government action. Jobless steelworkers and aluminum mill veterans could have told them that.

President Barack Obama’s war on coal and affordable electricity has led to massive job losses among miners. Similarly, government policies for decades degraded the steel industry, then helped shutter the Ormet aluminum plant at Hannibal.

In every one of those situations, federal officials touted job retraining programs as the solution.

But a study by the Harvard Business Review notes effective retraining — not the nearly worthless showcase projects so often provided under government auspices — could be very costly. Harvard’s estimate for jobless miners alone is $1.8 billion.

Hillary Clinton, Obama’s chosen successor, claims she has a $30 billion plan to help displaced miners and others hurt by federal policies.

But billions have been spent in the past on retraining programs, and to what end? Very few of those provided with vocational programs, when that happens at all, benefit. Many are able to find new jobs only at fractions of the pay they enjoyed formerly.

Again, if you are a miner listening to Clinton’s promises, ask a neighbor who once worked at a steel or aluminum mill. You are likely to be told that, in all honesty, you are on your own.

Most of the time, job retraining programs for those laid off as a result of government policies are no more than putting lipstick on the proverbial pig. For miners already out of work or viewing the very real prospect of being so, the pig still looks — and smells — just like what it is.

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