JUANA SUMMERS, HOST:
Jobs (ph) Corps is a federal job training program that dates back to the Johnson administration. It's a place for young people to learn skilled trades. Last year, President Trump tried to wipe out most of the program, saying it would save about $1.6 billion a year. Enrollment fell by half. Now a top labor analytics company says the U.S. has a shortage of more than a million skilled trade workers. The Mountain West News Bureau's Hanna Merzbach reports.
HANNA MERZBACH, BYLINE: We're in a workshop/classroom at the Wind River Job Corps in Riverton, Wyoming. Here, a tight-knit crew of eight students are learning how to cut and connect pipes.
GILBERT MASCARENAZ: Ooh. Let's see. Who is going to explain what a 1502 union is?
MERZBACH: Gilbert Mascarenaz is the petroleum technician instructor here.
MASCARENAZ: Anyone? Bueller? Bueller?
MERZBACH: Twenty-two-year-old Ivory Harvey, wearing a green hard hat and safety goggles, takes a stab.
IVORY HARVEY: Connects two sections of pipe. Has this little lip in there.
MERZBACH: Harvey, who's from Boston, says he used to work at a gas station and got interested in the oil and gas biz. So he came here. It's the only petroleum Job Corps program in the country, something supporters say is needed to meet rising energy demands. Jobs in the industry pay about $140,000 a year.
HARVEY: It was a good way for me to be able to build my future without really draining my bank or draining my family's bank accounts.
MERZBACH: That's 'cause Job Corps is completely free. Since the '60s, the Department of Labor and Agriculture have given students, ages 16 to 24 room and board nationwide while working to graduate high school and get the job training of their choice.
HARVEY: It's really good opportunity for any families with, like, lower income or less fortunate people trying to still build their life up.
MERZBACH: But last spring, Trump labeled Job Corps a, quote, "failed experiment" for America's youth, citing a $140 million budget deficit and low graduation rates. He announced he was shutting most of them down. Enrollment fell by more than half.
PEPPER OTTMAN: So do you see your status as pre-apprenticeship (ph) or you go into apprenticeship now?
UNIDENTIFIED STUDENT: This will be pre-apprentice.
MERZBACH: Wyoming state lawmaker Pepper Ottman talks with a student at the Riverton campus during an open house. A Republican, Ottman agreed with Trump, saying some Job Corps locations should close, but not all.
OTTMAN: Because, over the last 25 years, what are we saying - everybody needs to be white-collar?
MERZBACH: Ottman says this program is critical right now.
OTTMAN: Now, we're all saying we have no tradesmen. We don't have any electricians. We don't have any welders.
MERZBACH: Last spring, students, trade groups and nonprofits sued. They said the Trump administration couldn't unilaterally shut Job Corps down. Courts blocked the closure soon after. And this August, the Trump administration agreed to back down. Now, enrollment has nearly rebounded to around 20,000 nationwide, close to previous levels.
ED BRADY: I would say this is an AI-proof industry, or as AI-proof as you can get.
MERZBACH: Ed Brady is with the Home Builders Institute. His nonprofit trains builders nationwide, including at Job Corps campuses. He's happy they haven't been cut but thinks reforms are still needed.
BRADY: We have a lot of people in the system. They're saying we've got to do better. We've got to make this more effective.
MERZBACH: He says that includes updating old dorms and making sure Job Corps is teaching relevant trades so enrollment can keep growing.
For NPR News, I'm Hanna Merzbach in Riverton, Wyoming. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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