SACRAMENTO, Calif.--A small state program that helps train workers is having a big impact raising wages and increasing job security for tens of thousands of California workers. A recent study by the California Workforce Investment Board provides data showing that average earnings of workers who completed the program went up by over $4,000 after they finished the program. ETP trainees who were previously low wage earners experienced the biggest earnings increase of all the programs studied. The average wage increases for these workers was over $17 thousand, out performing even Community College participants in this study category.
The state program is the Employment Training Panel, or the ETP program as it is referred to in the study. The program works in partnership with companies and labor organizations, sharing the cost of up-grading workers skills on a matching basis with employers. The companies gain from state financial assistance to improve worker skills and increases company productivity. Workers gain, because as part of the program employers must provide good paying secure jobs in order to earn the financial assistance.
ETP is one of several state programs assessed in the Year Four Report of the Performance Based Accountability System for California Workforce Preparation Programs (2003), published by the California Workforce Investment Board. As part of its mission to assess state workforce efforts each year the state Workforce Investment Board prepares a performance comparison of current and prior state job training programs, including the state Community Colleges, the Job Training Partnership Act program, and CalWORKS, the Department of Social Services' employment service program for welfare recipients.
One of the study's major findings is that ETP's trainees experience fewer periods of unemployment, with 87.3 percent of retrainees working the entire year after the end of training. By comparison, only 20.4 percent of CalWORKS program trainees were employed for four consecutive quarters following training.
"For the third year in a row, this study confirms that the Employment Training Panel program provides trainees and their employers with a huge return on investment compared to other job training programs," said Peter McNamee, executive director of ETP. "This and other ETP evaluations show that employers win, trainees win, and California wins."
Other major findings indicate that ETP funded retrainees in 1998-99 (the most recent period for participants reported in the study) earned $45,293 after training, which is substantially above the average wages for employees in the high paying manufacturing industry. Also, about 96 percent of the previously unemployed workers who completed ETP funded training were found working a year afterwards. These participants, who are referred to as "New-Hire" trainees, and had "Lower Prior Earnings", had a median increase of $11,300 in earnings following their ETP training. The study reported on outcomes for over 40,000 workers who participated in ETP training.
The Performance Based Accountability (PBA) system is California's approach to assessing the performance of publicly funded workforce preparation programs. On an annual basis, the PBA system examines the employment, earnings, unemployment insurance and reliance on public assistance of individuals who have completed or participated in workforce preparation programs. PBA is managed by the California Workforce Investment Board. For more information about the PBA report, please contact CalWIB at (916) 324-3425, or visit their website at www.calwia.org.
ETP is a business and labor supported state program which reimburses California companies that provide high-skilled, high-wage training to their employees. Under ETP requirements eligible businesses apply to ETP for reimbursement of the cost of up-grading their workforce. The program is funded by the employment training tax paid by California employers and targets firms threatened by out-of-state and international competition.
For more information about ETP training funds, contact Charles Lundberg at 916-327-5261, clundberg@etp.ca.gov, or visit ETP's website at www.etp.ca.gov.
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