Blumenthal Announces Next Measure in Series of Jobs Proposals

(Hartford, CT) –Senator Richard Blumenthal (D-CT) today discussed skill training programs he will introduce in the U.S. Senate as a part of a larger job creation initiative to cut the unemployment rate and boost economic recovery. At the CT Works facility in Hartford, Blumenthal laid out the next step – a job centered, work based training initiative – in a series of measures. Others will support community colleges and provide assistance to vocational and technical schools.

Blumenthal said, “These proposals will help put people in Connecticut and across the country back to work. Congress must put aside posturing and partisan politics and focus on real steps to help businesses grow and hire, and to give job seekers the skills they need to find employment.  The Pathways Back to Work Proposal is an important step in that process, and I will be laying out additional proposals in the near future that will ensure Congress is focused on job creation.”

“As the region’s workforce investment board,” said Thomas Phillips, President and CEO of Capital Workforce Partners, “one of our roles is to convene and engage key stakeholders from higher education, secondary education and the business community to address today’s critical unemployment situation, as well as longer-term talent challenges related to demographic trends.  We welcome and support Senator Blumenthal’s legislation that will help us address these challenges.”

The measures announced today include components of the American Jobs Act. The American Jobs Act, President Obama’s jobs plan, was blocked earlier this week by a Republican-led filibuster.

Blumenthal’s proposal – Pathways Back to Work – would subsidize employment for unemployed adults, promote summer and year-round jobs for youth, and create a competitive grant program to support work-based training, and tax credits for hiring long-term unemployed.

As part of his comprehensive agenda to support job creation, Blumenthal previously introduced the Fair Employment Opportunity Act, which prohibits employers from discriminating against individuals in the hiring process based on their employment status. It would also prohibit employers or staffing agencies from advertising jobs with the stipulation that only currently-employed individuals will be considered.

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