Judge grants Job Corps’ 99 sites brief reprieve from closure amid lawsuit

U.S. Job Corps centers around the country, including a site in Pittsburgh, will remain open — at least for now.

A federal judge in New York City on Wednesday issued a temporary restraining order that bars the U.S. Department of Labor from eliminating the Job Corps without congressional authorization.

The order comes as the National Job Corps Association — a trade group representing Job Corps campuses, providers who manage the sites, businesses and volunteer organizations — sued the Labor Department over the pending closures of sites around the country.

Job Corps, a free residential career training program for low-income teenagers and adults, currently serves about 25,000 students at 99 locations nationwide, according to federal data. A Job Corps Center in Pittsburgh’s Lincoln-Lemington-Belmar neighborhood serves 465 students.

Federal officials last week announced all contractor-operated Job Corps sites would be paused by June 30, a move local officials have denounced.

But the order by U.S. District Judge Andrew L. Carter Jr. will temporarily prohibit the federal government from removing students, terminating jobs or taking any other actions to eliminate the program without the approval of Congress.

A hearing is scheduled for June 17 in Manhattan.

Waylon Propst, 23, of Lawrenceville, said students were told about the temporary restraining order at a resource fair in the center’s auditorium Thursday.

“Everyone was cheering and very happy,” said Propst, who has been living at Pittsburgh’s Job Corps center for almost a year after being homeless. “I personally was more shaky. It feels like a lot of decisions are made back and forth, and it’s not stable at the moment. I don’t want to put all my hope on this TRO (temporary restraining order) only to have to leave anyway.”

Propst said she got information about financial aid, housing and job opportunities during Thursday’s resource fair. While she doesn’t want to see Job Corps shuttered, she’s still trying to make preparations in case the program ends.

U.S. Reps. Chris Deluzio, D-Fox Chapel and Summer Lee, D-Swissvale, signed a letter dated Thursday from 200 members of Congress urging Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer to preserve Job Corps.

“Job Corps is one of the few national programs that specifically targets the 16-24-year-old population that is neither working, nor in school, and provides them with a direct pathway into employment openings in industries such as manufacturing and shipbuilding,” the letter reads. “The program also connects these young Americans with apprenticeships, higher education opportunities, or the military.”

The politicians said Job Corps ensures participants can become productive members of the country’s workforce.

Mayor Ed Gainey’s office praised the reprieve but noted the threat of cuts still exists.

“The only acceptable and lasting resolution is to ensure the continued operation and support of the U.S. Job Corps,” the mayor’s office said Friday.

Without the temporary restraining order, the National Job Corps Association said in a court filing, more than 20,000 students would be displaced and thousands of jobs would be eliminated.

“The Department of Labor is working closely with the Department of Justice to evaluate and comply with the temporary restraining order,” according to a statement from the Labor Department. “We remain confident that our actions are consistent with the law.”

‘Irreparable consequences’

In its lawsuit, the National Job Corps Association argued the Labor Department could not cut the program without congressional approval, questioned its rationale for pausing operations and insisted ending Job Corps would have negative impacts on students and the broader community.

“Shuttering Job Corps will have disastrous, irreparable consequences, including displacing tens of thousands of vulnerable young people, destroying companies that have long operated Job Corps centers in reliance on the government’s support for the program, and forcing mass layoffs of workers who support the program,” the lawsuit said.

Established by Congress in 1964, Job Corps is the nation’s largest residential employment and workforce development program for youth, the lawsuit continued. Its participants “face significant barriers to education and employment,” and many have been homeless or in the foster care system.

Federal officials argued the program was inefficient and not providing the desired results. The program operated at a $140 million deficit last year, according to the Labor Department, a number that is projected to grow to $213 million this year.

The Labor Department in an April report indicated the average graduation rate from Job Corps was under 39% as of 2023. It cost, on average, more than $80,000 per year for each student, the report said.

“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community” Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes students deserve.”

But the National Job Corps Association in its lawsuit argued the data released by federal officials “applies a flawed methodology and reflects selective and inaccurate performance measures, costs, and statistics, intended to significantly understate Job Corps’ performance and overstate its costs.”

The trade organization argued that the federal report incorrectly allocated overhead costs and failed to consider the covid-19 pandemic’s impacts on costs and outcomes.

The lawsuit further argues that Congress did not authorize the Labor Department to end the program.

“DOL’s abrupt, illegal elimination of the Job Corps program will have disastrous consequences on students, operators, employees and communities,” the lawsuit said. “Job Corps students come from disadvantaged backgrounds. Many have faced extreme hardship and instability and came to Job Corps for a chance to change their lives.”