Holmes 1
Noah Holmes
Professor Smith
ENG 1123
7 July 2017
Government Job Training, Is it the Solution or the Problem?
Unemployed people are just too lazy to get a job! That sounds like a harsh statement and an
unfair stereotype cast upon all people unfortunate enough to be unemployed. Although in some
cases there are people who are “lazy” and comfortable living off the government, but on the
other hand, there are many unemployed people to no fault of their own that would welcome the
opportunity to find gainful employment. In both cases, you have to consider the Government’s
role in not only creating these situations but in what the government’s role should be in helping
to alleviate the unemployment situation. Government provided job training would lower
unemployment rates, relieve the strain on subsidy funding, and provide people with additional
job opportunities.
There are many supporting and opposing arguments to the topic of government provided job
training and whether or not it can help or whether it actually makes the problem worse. People
opposed to government provided job training say that the training is not efficient, has failed in
the past, and gives people false hope. Supporters of the argument for job training feel it would
give additional opportunities for people to get jobs they may not be qualified for with their
current training or skills. The key factor to this equation is how to match up the number of
unemployed people, the jobs available, and the government resources available to support the
unemployed.
Holmes 2
Both sides agree that unemployed people should have every opportunity to find a job whether
they believe that more jobs should be created or made available or whether they believe people
should change their skill sets to fit the jobs that are currently available. There is a difference
among the unemployed population that makes this argument difficult to apply a solution.
James Bovard, a journalist for the Wall Street Journal who writes on job programs, summed it up
in his statement, “The surest way to create jobs would be to reduce unemployment
compensation, food stamps, and other federal benefits for able-bodied non-workers. Other
reforms that would help would be to abolish the minimum wage, lower taxes to stimulate
economic growth, and reduce paralyzing regulation on local business creation” (Bovard 59).
He is on the side that argues that job training should be the responsibility of the private business
