Project: JOB TRAINING EXPENDITURES IN THE U.S.

Sponsor: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration through the Urban Institute
Status: In process
IPS Staff: Demetra Smith Nightingale

Purpose and Approach
This project seeks to provide general estimates of the total expenditures on job training in the U.S. at the national and state levels, in both the public and private sectors. The public expenditure analysis is being conducted using existing agency budgetary data, supplemented with informed estimates obtained from key, knowledgeable respondents in various federal agencies. The private sector spending is being estimated by analyzing data in selected Census files.

Results

The main findings are as follows:

1) In 2002, between $3.2 billion and $5.3 billion was spent on job training by the federal government (excluding administrative costs). About one-third of this was through Department of Labor programs, one-third was through the Department of Education’s Pell Grants (at public and proprietary two-year institutions), and
the final third was through dozens of programs in five other federal departments.

2) States spend perhaps another $500 million to $700 million a year on training.

3) Businesses spend considerably more on training than do the federal and state governments combined – between $8 and $17 billion a year in direct training expenditures, excluding salaries as well as administrative costs (or about two to three times as much as the government).

Publications
Mikelson, K. and D. S. Nightingale (2006). “Estimating Public and Private Expenditures on Occupational Training in the United States.” Report to the U.S. Department of Labor. Washington DC: The Urban Institute.