By: Michael Achterling (North Dakota Monitor)
Less than a week after receiving word that Job Corps centers across the country will pause operations by the end of June, students, faculty and administrative staff in Minot have already begun packing up for the inevitable move off campus.
On May 29, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the Quentin Burdick Job Corps Center in Minot, along with nearly 100 other contractor-operated Job Corps centers nationwide, will pause operations by June 30 because of operational deficits, low graduation rates and a high number of incident reports involving students.
“I was just saying goodbye to a gentleman today who was offered a job as a welder and before he came to Job Corps, probably 15-16 months ago, he had no idea what welding was,” Tom Ross, workforce development officer for the Burdick Job Corps Center, said Wednesday.
The Job Corps program has about 25,000 enrolled students nationwide between ages 16-24, many from low-income families. Ross said the Burdick Job Corps Center graduates 25 to 40 students every year and employs outreach staff who serve Fargo, Bismarck and Grand Forks.
Students take courses to get their GEDs and learn skills and certifications in the electrical, plumbing and construction trades, among others.
Ross said two other students recently went through the welding program and are living in Mississippi, welding ships for the U.S. Navy.
“For all of the bad news that’s out there, I can match it with a good news story of students who are just rocking it,” he said. “What I have seen every day since I’ve been here is a group of professionals that are focused on the success of students.”
It does not make sense to beat the “we need workforce” drum over and over again, and then close one of the leading workforce development sites in North Dakota, Ross said.
“To me, those two pieces of the puzzle will never fit together,” he said.
In a statement from Sen. John Hoeven’s office, the Republican said he has always supported the mission of the Job Corps program and the Burdick Job Corps Center, but recent statistics have shown performance levels are not where Americans expect them to be. He added more data is needed to determine what reforms and changes are necessary.
North Dakota Republican Sen. Kevin Cramer also raised concerns about the program costs.
“While I’m a big fan of Job Corps centers, the average cost per student each year is over $80,000 while only graduating 38%,” Cramer said in a text message. “We can’t ignore the broader fiscal reality and the need to set priorities. We have a $37 trillion debt and it’s headed for $50 trillion.”
The Job Corps program operated at a $140 million deficit in 2024 and the deficit was expected to increase to $213 million in 2025, according to Labor Department data.
“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” said U.S. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer, in a statement. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve.”
Examples of incidents are drug use, violence, or an accident requiring a trip to the hospital.
Chavez-DeRemer said the department will be evaluating the long-term possibilities of the program and is committed to assisting students as they transition back into their communities.
The National Job Corps Association, a professional trade association comprised of business, labor, volunteer, advocacy, academic and community organizations, filed a lawsuit Tuesday seeking a temporary restraining order against the Department of Labor in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York to prevent the nationwide closures.
“Closing Job Corps campuses would not only jeopardize the lives and futures of tens of thousands of students currently in training, but it would also eliminate a workforce pipeline that many industries depend on, needlessly weakening our labor market and economy,” said Marty Walsh, former labor secretary under President Joe Biden, in a statement from the association.
Addie Nelson worked as an administrative assistant at the Burdick Job Corps Center for nearly 30 years. She said the program has always helped students find their futures and she worries there won’t be another place like the Job Corps program to help them along their career paths.
“It’s so rewarding to see them succeed when they didn’t think they were anybody,” Nelson said. “When they come and they think they are not worth anything and they start achieving these small little goals that they’ve set themselves. … They see results and I think that’s what hurts me the most is that I’ve seen so many kids come and see what a world of difference Burdick (Job Corps Center) did for them. It just gave them hope.”
She added that she had planned to retire in August to enjoy some early-morning cups of coffee on her front porch, but the pausing of the program sped up her timetable.
Ross said there are about 20 Job Corps centers across the country run by the Department of Labor that are not closing.
He said he’s hopeful the pause announced by the department will only be a pause and the skills-training program will restart in some form in the future.
“The Job Corps program is not a perfect program, but … show me a federal program that is perfect,” he said.
