Biden, Nixon announce launch of jobs program

The program will include 300 positions available in Columbia.

By Andrew Denney

Published April 21, 2009

This summer, businesses across the state will work with government agencies to give young Missourians paid summer work that could prepare them for future careers.

Last week, when Vice President Joe Biden was touring the state, Biden and Gov. Jay Nixon announced the launch of the Next-Generation Jobs Team, a summer work program funded by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The program is intended to match up youths aged 16-24 with employers in the state who will provide paid hands-on positions.

Participants in the program could hold positions that are different than the summer jobs that characterize the age group, such as landscaping and restaurant work. Businesses participating in the program include Analytical Bio-Chemistry Laboratories, a Columbia-based research and development firm, where Nixon appeared with Rep. Stephen Webber, D-Columbia, on Monday to discuss the program and tour the facility.

Nixon said the plan would foster short-term economic growth while developing the work skills of the state's youth.

"To move our economy forward, we must do everything we can to get people back to work," Nixon said.

Other businesses that will offer positions through the program include Burns and McDonnell, a Kansas City-based engineering and architect firm; BJC Health System, a St. Louis-based non-profit health care provider; and Watts Radiant, a thermal energy company in Springfield.

ABC Laboratories President Byron Hill, who was present at Nixon's appearance, said jobs offered to the program's participants by ABC will amount to more than getting coffee for supervisors or running errands. He said at the event that the company would provide meaningful employment opportunities.

"This summer, we look forward to providing opportunities for young people in the area to gain real-life job experience," Hill said in a news release issued before Nixon's appearance. "They'll have the opportunity to learn about science and about business, and we'll benefit from their energy and enthusiasm."

The state will receive $25 million from the U.S. Department of Labor to pay the participants for the program, which will begin this summer.

Nixon said he is confident that the program could have 6,000 participants this summer.

"Finding poor college students isn't that challenging," Nixon said.

According to a report released by the Missouri Department of Economic Development last week, 15 percent of the stimulus money is used for programs aimed at high school and college students, and 85 percent of the funds are used to find job placement for youths aged 14-24 that are out of school.

Jim Dickerson, chairman of the Workforce Investment Board for the Central Region of the Division of Workforce Development, said of the 19 counties that make up his district, including Boone County, there will be positions available for 900 young people, including 300 in Columbia and its surrounding counties. He said the participants would get paid at $7.25 an hour, and possibly more according to job experience.

Dickerson said the summer jobs program has, in years past, dealt mostly with high school-aged participants, but that there has been a surge in 18-24 year olds out of work and looking to the program for employment. After the summer program ends Sept. 30, the organization would assist any of the program's participants that still need assistance gaining employment, he said.

"It's not just a short-term experimental thing," Dickerson said. "We need to stay with them and make sure they get the jobs they need."