San Antonio Express-News (Sunday)
Effort on jobs lagging, but change takes patience, time
When COVID-19 brought San Antonio’s economy to a standstill, the city stepped up in a big way. Instead of just funding emergency rent and utility relief, leaders committed to do more for the long term, recognizing an opportunity to address longstanding poverty and revamp our workforce.
Starting its Train for Jobs program in September 2020 was a risk. But it’s one we supported because it recognized the deeper need in San Antonio and was an opportunity to invest in people.
Critics, including some City Council members, have said progress has been too slow and inadequate for the $65 million program. They have said San Antonio Mayor Ron Nirenberg was too optimistic and his goal of placing 10,000 trainees in new jobs was too big.
It’s true the city isn’t close to its goal, reporting only 888 trainees with jobs as of mid-December. The city also was slow to set up it internal structure and only hired a permanent director, Michael Ramsey, in August.
But this was a new program, built from the ground up. And choosing not to address workforce development is unacceptable.
Consider the cost of the status quo — unemployment, low-wage jobs, an over-reliance on tourism and service industry employment, the loss of earning potential and the cost of supporting those in poverty.
Ramsey and other city officials have said while they expected participants to choose short-term training, participants have opted for longer-term programming. This is good. Let’s keep sight of the long-term benefits of new careers.
San Antonio officials are learning and adapting, and expectations should shift, too. As we have learned, variants arise and complicate the recovery. Employers have raised wages to entice people to return to work. The Great Resignation has given power to workers.
We can’t forget that the job training was launched in the middle of the pandemic, in spring 2020, when 140,000 city residents found themselves out of work. It’s a different job market today.
That said, a Dec. 15 city report offers optimism. More than 16,000 people have expressed interest in the program, more than 9,500 people have completed the intake process, and more than 4,400 people have enrolled.
Almost 70 percent of the participants in Train for Jobs are women, and the majority are either Black or Hispanic. About 62 percent were living below the poverty line when they entered the program. May they complete the program and rise out of poverty. That’s the long-term goal, right?
The city made the right choice when it pushed back its August launch of its new $200 million, four-year Ready to Work job-training initiative, approved by voters with an 1⁄8-cent sales tax, to start in early 2022.
This is the longer-term program that could spur generational change.
To do that, the city must continue to prioritize job placement, shorten the enrollment period and get people into the training pipeline. Leaders should continue to be transparent with data, and work to increase employers and participants.
City Manager Erik Walsh said employers will drive the Ready to Work program in terms of their needs.
Be critical of the city’s workforce efforts, but also be patient. The need for this type of program runs much deeper than the immediate crisis of the pandemic. Generational change takes time.