Shocking Report Reveals $1.7 Billion Job Corps Program Fails to Deliver for Vulnerable Students

Big promises, tiny results: A new transparency report has put the Department of Labor’s Jobs Corps Program under a harsh spotlight, revealing that this $1.7 billion effort is barely helping the young people it’s supposed to serve.

The Department’s Employment and Training Administration dug into the numbers for its flagship residential training program, which is aimed at low-income Americans aged 16-24. Despite its popularity with unions and a budget that most of us can only dream about, the program’s graduation rate clocks in at a lackluster 32% to 38%. That’s a lot of money for not a lot of diplomas.

According to the report, each student costs taxpayers an average of $49,769 to enroll, with the annual cost per student shooting up to nearly $80,000. But the real sticker shock comes when you look at the cost to get one graduate out the door: somewhere between $155,600 and $187,653. One has to wonder if these numbers come with a side of gold-plated textbooks.

And after all that investment, students leaving the program are finding jobs that pay just $16,695 a year on average—basically minimum wage territory. Not exactly a Cinderella story in the world of government job training.

Acting Assistant Secretary Lori Frazier Bearden defended the report, saying, "Taxpayers deserve to know the facts and outcomes of their multi-billion-dollar investment." She added that the Department is serious about transparency and accountability, which sounds great, but the numbers definitely speak for themselves.

The report also calls out the least efficient centers, where the average cost per graduate soars to an eye-watering $512,800 in the bottom 10, and $319,085 for the bottom 50. That’s the kind of math that makes you wish you’d paid more attention in high school accounting.

It gets worse: over recent years, Job Corps centers have been criticized for more than just inefficiency. Reports have surfaced about criminal activity in dorms, including drug dealing and assaults, sparking questions about student safety amid all the squandered cash.

Meanwhile, the Department of Labor has been in overdrive lately, returning over $1 billion in unused COVID-era funds and axing a $4 million contract for DEI consulting in Job Corps. It’s all part of a bigger government push to cut waste and tighten up oversight—clearly, there’s plenty of room for improvement.