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Bill Koenecke, 35, with his case worker Julie Smith, surfs the Internet for job openings. With the help of the Trade Adjustment Assistance program, Koenecke received his associate degree in electrical line design.U.S. pays unemployed workers to get degree
Federal program helps residents who are laid off due to global trade to enter in growing fields.
Brenda Nummer, 48, center, in Margaret Meade's class at Henry Ford Community College, is working toward a paralegal certificate.Error processing SSI file
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When Dura Automotive Systems closed its facility in Livonia and shifted production to Canada in 2003, Bill Koenecke, 35, suddenly found himself unemployed.
He and his wife, Debra, struggled to pay the utility bills for their two-bedroom home in Monroe. The minivan they purchased to drive their four children to and from school was repossessed because they couldn't make the payments.
Bill Koenecke, who had supervised molding and paint operations at the plant, found work driving a delivery truck. But it barely earned him enough to stay out of debt.
So he made the decision to go back to school to study electrical line design -- on the government's dime.
His re-education was funded through Trade Adjustment Assistance, a federal program created by the 1974 Trade Act that pays up to two years of schooling -- tuition, books, supplies -- for workers who have been laid off because of international trade.
Last year, 147,956 workers nationwide qualified for the program. Among them, 3,270 were in Michigan. The federal government estimates that of those in Michigan leaving the program last year, about 69 percent found jobs within three months of finishing class.
The program is a safety net designed to help catch workers like Bill Koenecke, retrain them with new skills and send them back into the labor market with the hope of entering growing fields.
For Bill Koenecke, it was a lifeline.
"I was going to drown eventually, so we decided to take the risk and drown fast and dig out at the end," he said.
Living on the combined $3,448 a month his wife made as an assisted care health worker and his unemployment checks, Bill Koenecke attended Monroe County Community College for two years, stepping off its campus in August with an associate degree.
With factory closures around the state, more employees are qualifying for the assistance annually.
Last year, workers at 73 Michigan companies were deemed eligible, compared to 31 three years previously.
Those leaving the program take with them new skills, but no guarantees.
Bill Koenecke is now sending out his resume with his new educational qualifications added. He hasn't yet been called for an interview.
"I'm anxious to get back to work," he said. "It's a bit surprising.
"I know what type of employee that I am; it's disappointing when I don't get the chance to show what I can do."
Bill Sleight, director of the assistance program in Livingston County, said the percentages are not necessarily a measure of the program's success.
"Yes, you want people to be working right after training ... but it's not unusual to take up to six months to find the kind of job they're looking for," Sleight said.
In Michigan, most of those in the program have been squeezed out of manufacturing, an industry that has been shrinking throughout the state for several years.
"We're overconcentrated in an economy that's declining," said Lou Glazer, president of Michigan Future Inc., an Ann Arbor think tank that studies the state's work force trends.
The number of manufacturing jobs in the state dropped from 900,000 to 700,000 in the last five years, an accelerated decline that is on pace with the rest of the United States.
In Michigan, where the automotive industry touches much of the economy, the industry's ills also pose a threat to manufacturing, Glazer said.
"It doesn't present a good picture for manufacturing in Michigan," he said.
The assistance program requires the federal Labor Department to certify that the job loss was due to international trade, either by imports and outsourcing of operations.
In Michigan, most of the program's participants had been in manufacturing.
Many take studies to enter growing fields such as health care, truck driving, data management and other service industries. And for some, the program returns them to the classroom for the first time after decades in the working world.
"Some people have a hard time adjusting to the idea that the job they had won't be there anymore," said Jack O'Reilly, executive director of the Southeast Michigan Community Alliance, which administers the program at Michigan Works agencies in Wayne and Monroe counties.
"We help them understand that this is an opportunity."
Brenda Nummer never imagined going back to school. The 48-year-old Detroiter was working as an administrator at the Frito Lay plant in Allen Park when it shut down last year to streamline production of corn and potato chips. Nummer now attends Henry Ford Community College three times a week, working toward a paralegal certificate.
"I expected to excel at Frito Lay. I wanted to be one of the top supervisors there," she said.
At the program's end, while some participants may end up on surer footing, the pay isn't always the same as what they left.
According to the U.S. Department of Labor, those who left the program last year and found work replaced 76 percent of their previous earnings.
In the last year Bill Koenecke worked at Dura Automotive Systems, he earned $89,000 in salary and overtime pay. With his associate degree in electrical line design, he hopes to make at least $45,000 as a planner or electrician.
Meanwhile, the number of people seeking re-education is rising, and state and local agencies are stretching the federal dollars allocated to them.
According to a September 2004 Government Accountability Office report, Michigan and several states have felt the budgeting crunch and managed with limited funds by enrolling participants in shorter-term training.
"The reality is we simply don't have enough money to provide training for all of those eligible," said Janet Howard, deputy director of the state's Bureau of Workforce Programs.
The state has $9.51 million to spend this fiscal year, down from $12 million last year.
With the cut in allocations, Howard said there are several hundred people on the waiting list during any given month.
The state has been forced to make do with what it has.
In recent years, the state implemented a cap of $6,500 a year per person for education.
"Depending where someone goes to school, that may or may not cover all the costs," said Sleight.
You can reach Catherine Jun at (734) 462-2204 or cjun@detnews.com.
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