Gov. Bill Ritter and Democratic lawmakers on Thursday unveiled a package of job-training proposals they said would help get more Coloradans back to work.
But Republicans called the ideas window dressing and said previous Democratic efforts haven’t made the state’s unemployment rate any lower.
“We still have a long way to go, and government alone cannot fix the economy,” Ritter said during an event at the Jefferson County Workforce Center in Golden. “But we can do our part. We can strengthen partnerships between government, schools and businesses. And we can ensure that job-training efforts match job-creation efforts.”
The initiatives include:
• Creating employer-matched savings accounts similar to nontaxed 529 college savings plans to allow workers to get more training and education.
• Creating a “Career Ready” certificate program that allows workers to take a nationally recognized standardized test to certify they meet minimum levels of education in reading, math and the ability to understand charts, tables, maps and graphs.
• Consolidating student loan programs for health care workers who serve rural and underserved areas.
• Expanding a student loan forgiveness program for nurses by easing eligibility requirements.
The most recent labor statistics showed Colorado’s unemployment rate at 6.9 percent in October, well below the national average of 10.2 percent and down from a high of 7.8 percent in July.
Ritter and Democrats have touted tax incentives for businesses that create high-income or renewable-energy jobs as well as a cut in the business personal property tax for some small companies.
Still, the state will have seen a net loss of an estimated 100,000 jobs this year and may see an average unemployment rate of 8.3 percent next year, according to a University of Colorado analysis released Monday.
“First, it was ‘Jobs by June.’ Now, it is jobs by January,” said Senate Minority Leader Josh Penry, R-Grand Junction, invoking a slogan Democratic lawmakers used early in the year to tout their economic development initiatives.
“We don’t need any more slogans or ribbon-cutting ceremonies. We need positive leadership on the economy, and Democrats’ pro-tax, pro-union, anti-drilling agenda has been anything but that,” Penry said.
House Minority Leader Mike May, R-Parker, said the best way to get more Coloradans working is to scale back Ritter-backed regulations that impose tougher environmental rules on the oil and gas industry and eliminate fee increases that the governor supported. The fees included hiking car registrations to generate some $250 million for road improvements, which Democrats said boosted construction jobs.
House Speaker Terrance Carroll, D-Denver, said the proposals bolster programs “that retrain workers for good jobs in growing fields.”
“This whole package is just one more example of the governor’s innovative leadership that is keeping us focused on the things that matter, that will steer us toward recovery and that will help people find jobs.”
