Job Corps Enrollment Returns to Near 20,000 After Closure Threat

Job Corps enrollment has climbed back to roughly 20,000 students nationwide after falling by more than half when the Trump administration moved last spring to close most of the program's campuses. The rebound followed court rulings that blocked the shutdown and an August agreement by the administration to stand down.

The program, which dates to the Johnson administration, provides job training and room and board to students ages 16 to 24 through the Department of Labor and Agriculture. President Trump described Job Corps last spring as a failed experiment for America's youth, citing a $140 million budget deficit and low graduation rates. He announced at the time that most locations would close.

Students, trade groups and nonprofits sued after that announcement, arguing the administration could not shut the program down on its own. Courts blocked the closures shortly afterward. A top labor analytics company now reports a shortage of more than a million skilled trade workers in the United States.

The Wind River Job Corps campus in Riverton, Wyoming, operates the nation's only petroleum technician program. Gilbert Mascarenaz teaches in a workshop classroom there, where eight students work on cutting and connecting pipes. Ivory Harvey, 22, came from Boston after working at a gas station to train for work in oil and gas. Jobs in that industry pay about $140,000 a year, according to the report.

Harvey said the program let him build a future without draining his bank account or his family's. Job Corps is free to attend. Since the 1960s, students have received room and board while working toward high school graduation and job training of their choosing.

Wyoming state lawmaker Pepper Ottman, a Republican, toured the Riverton campus during an open house. She said some Job Corps locations should close but not all, and asked why the country would train only for white-collar work. She said the program is needed now that there are no tradesmen, no electricians and no welders.

Ed Brady of the Home Builders Institute, whose nonprofit trains builders at Job Corps campuses, said the program should not be cut but still needs work. He said dorms are outdated and courses must teach trades that employers are hiring for. Courts blocked closure attempts last spring, and the administration agreed to back down in August.

Job Corps campuses remain open. The Home Builders Institute has called for updating older dormitories and reviewing what trades are taught at each location.