Obama Wishes $4000 Each Displaced Worker

The President’s latest wishes in job creation are mostly ending up in the void as the Congress continues to grapple with the White House over the best solutions for creating jobs. The stalemate, however, does not dissuade the President from announcing one measure after another. The latest proposal from the White House includes comprehensive measures for displaced workers.

The new plan for job seekers unveiled on Monday by the White House include provisions to provide displaced workers with $4000 a year for pursuing training in technical fields that would help them to get new jobs. The President’s plan also includes counseling and job search assistance for those who lost their jobs due to employers reorganizing their business like closure of a plant or division, translocation, or plain having insufficient work.

According to the plan, almost a million displaced workers a year would be eligible for help from the Universal Displaced Worker Program.

The White House also said that in addition to the grants, there would be re-employment counseling and weekly stipends for childcare, transportation and other expenses. The weekly stipends would be to the tune of $300 per week. Workers who need translocation for gainful employment would be eligible for $1250 on account of relocation expenses.

There is also good news for older workers who would be eligible for “wage insurance” to offset earnings loss if they get new jobs paying less than $50,000.

The Universal Displaced Worker Program would also create the American Job Center Network, a federally supported One-Stop Career Center.

If the President’s plan makes it past the Congress, it can help out many Americans who are still without employment or in extremely low-paying jobs.

Many of the elements of the President’s plan is already in effect under several states, but has no uniform application across the country due to lack of federal status.