Published: May 8, 2009
Morning Star

US President Obama Vows To Retrain Unemployed
In New Program

WASHINGTON (AFP)--U.S. President Barack Obama on Friday announced a new program to use unemployment insurance as a springboard to get laid-off workers back to work, by offering expanded access to retraining education.

"Our unemployment insurance system should no longer be a safety net, but a stepping stone to a new future," Obama said in excerpts of a speech he was due to give later Friday after the release of monthly jobless figures.

"It should offer folks educational opportunities they wouldn't otherwise have, and give them the measurable and differentiated skills they need to not just get through these hard times, but to get ahead when the economy comes back," Obama said.

The plan, coordinated with the Department of Labor and the Department of Education, would help unemployed workers get better access to Pell Grant scholarships worth up to $5,350 and attend local community colleges, a U.S. official said.

States will also be encouraged to change rules that prevent the unemployed from enrolling in education or training courses because they are supposed to actively look for a job while taking government benefits.

According to latest weekly government figures issued Thursday, the total number of unemployed people drawing benefits hit a record high at 6.35 million, an increase of 56,000 from the preceding week's revised level of 6.29 million.

The data came two days after Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke said that the U.S. economy, which plunged into recession in December 2007, could rebound later this year, but with a warning of more "sizable" job losses.