Two unique job training centers in Hawaii are slated for closure in a Trump administration move to terminate the federal government’s 61-year-old Job Corps program.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday that Job Corps operations nationwide, which provide low-income youth and young adults with vocational training and schooling, will cease by June 30.
Labor Department officials said the federally funded program operated by contractors has high costs and failed to achieve satisfactory results.
“Job Corps was created to help young adults build a pathway to a better life through education, training, and community,” Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said in a statement announcing the decision. “However, a startling number of serious incident reports and our in-depth fiscal analysis reveal the program is no longer achieving the intended outcomes that students deserve. We remain committed to ensuring all participants are supported through this transition and connected with the resources they need to succeed as we evaluate the program’s possibilities.”
There are two Job Corps centers in Hawaii among about 125 nationwide: one in Waimanalo on Oahu and one in Makawao on Maui. Both provide students with on-campus housing, meals, health care, activities and a basic living allowance during their academic and vocational training.
The program is free to students, who must be ages 16 to 24, and is wholly funded by the federal government.
Between the Oahu and Maui campuses, there are 209 enrolled students and 161 staff. There were also 50 students awaiting acceptance into Hawaii’s program, which provides vocational training in about a dozen industries, including culinary arts, hospitality, landscaping, construction, auto repair, health care, office administration, painting and security.
Chris Lum Lee, chair of the Oahu Workforce Development Board, a city entity that helps provide education and job training to youth and adults, said losing Job Corps will leave a hole in the state’s workforce development ecosystem.
“It’s pretty bad,” he said. “I don’t think there’s anything like it out there or anything that could really do what they did.”
The Labor Department said it is collaborating with state and local workforce partners to assist current students in advancing their training and connecting them with other education and employment opportunities, and that there will be an orderly transition for students, staff and communities.
Lum Lee said the Oahu Workforce Development Board and its service provider attended a resource fair at the Waimanalo Job Corps campus Wednesday to enroll some students into board programs. But he said the specialized industry training that Job Corps provided in a live-and-learn setting cannot easily be replaced.
“For them to go out, it really is a loss,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Jill Tokuda, D-Hawaii, said she plans to fight the shutdown, which she called shortsighted and reckless.
“This isn’t budget management; it’s a betrayal,” Tokuda said in a statement. “Job Corps works. It gives vulnerable youth the tools to build stable futures and creates economic opportunities in our communities.”
As part of the basis for shutting down Job Corps nationally, the Labor Department cited results from an analysis of program operations nationwide during 2023 that it released April 25.
Study results included a finding that participants after leaving the program earned $16,695 annually on average, and that 39% of students graduated from the program.
Program expenses averaged $155,601 for every graduate and $80,285 per year per student, according to the report.
The study also said there were 14,913 safety incidents in 2023, including 2,702 reports of drug use, 1,808 hospital visits, 1,764 reported acts of violence, 1,167 safety or security breaches and 372 reports of sexual harassment or assault.
For Hawaii in 2023, the study found that 63.5% of students graduated and that it cost $34,088 per graduate and $14,795 a year per student, while the average annual income after leaving the program was $15,164.
The report said there were 79 incidents at Hawaii Job Corps, though incidents were not categorized.
Hawaii Job Corps cost $4.3 million in 2023, according to the report. The Labor Department said Job Corps overall cost about $1.8 billion in 2023 and is projected to incur a $213 million deficit this year.
Management &Training Corp., a Utah-based company that operates 16 Job Corps centers, including the two in Hawaii, called the Labor Department’s decision deeply troubling.
Hawaii Job Corps, according to MTC, has consistently been among top-performing centers nationally, with academic and career technical training programs currently ranked No. 1 and placement services currently ranking in the top five.
“Their staff capture the true essence of the aloha spirit, bringing hope and career pathways for countless young adults for the state of Hawaii and greater Polynesia,” company spokesperson Emily Lawhead said in a statement.
MTC claims that the Labor Department study presents a distorted picture of the program by focusing on high costs, alleged inefficiencies and almost entirely minor incidents while failing to recognize what MTC called undeniable successes that include students gaining higher-paying jobs, joining the military or enrolling in further schooling.
“We are devastated by this decision, as it marks a tragic step backward for young people across the country,” the company said. “The closure of Job Corps represents not just a loss of educational opportunity, but also a loss of hope for many who rely on this program to break the cycle of poverty and achieve career success.”
According to MTC, the report ignores the total average cost per student of $49,769 that is comparable to community college costs when adjusted for housing, meals, medical care and other things provided by Job Corps.
MTC also said the program’s 38% graduation rate in 2023 was better than a 31% national average for two-year colleges, and that pre-COVID-19, the Job Corps graduation rate was over 60%.
Additionally, MTC said the median annual income for Job Corps graduates in 2024 was $31,000 and that this exceeded federal goals.
For the Hawaii Job Corps program, MTC said graduates in 2024 earned $17.87 per hour on average, or almost $4 more than minimum wage, and that participants provided more than 17,000 hours of community service work.
The federal program was established as part of the 1964 Economic Opportunity Act under a “war on poverty” initiative of then-President Lyndon Johnson.
The first Job Corps Center in Hawaii opened in 1966 as a regional center serving Hawaii residents as well as people from Pacific islands with ties to the federal government, including Guam, Micronesia, American Samoa and the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands.
For a long time the main Hawaii Job Corps Center campus was on the slopes of Koko Crater; it later moved to a new $13 million facility in Waimanalo due to plans by the city to expand Koko Head District Park. There also had been satellite campuses on Kauai and Hawaii island previously.
“It’s unfortunate that it’s shutting down,” Lum Lee said. “There was a lot of value to the program.”
