When manufacturers of cardboard boxes, wire bagel baskets and other products said they needed workers with technological expertise and strong social skills, Maryland officials agreed to set up manufacturing boot camps for recruits.
The eight-week sessions will train and test potential workers in financial literacy and anger management as well as in computer-assisted design and robotics. In the past, Maryland’s job training programs prepared participants for broad categories of jobs, with limited success. Now the state is bringing together business and industry, colleges and local and state agencies in partnerships to create training programs for skills that employers actually need.
Image: Unemployed electrician Stan Osnowitz, 67, sits in his Baltimore living room. Faced with shrinking labor force participation rates, Maryland and at least 16 other states are implementing new job training measures this year. (AP)
