Draw on the State Funds

1st September 2024

Dear Governor Newsom,

In light of the current draw on the state funds from unemployment benefits it comes to me that more should be done to get the worker to the job. I can tell you that over the years I have gotten more and more certified and yet suffered more job instability.

In high school I was trained as a printing tech, and I got my guard card. After college I got two more certifications in security and this year I got my license to carry a firearm. None of these have provided me with either lucrative or stable employment.

At my last job I met a man who had been through an emergency training as an auto mechanic, and yet he was working as a security guard. Unable to pay his rent with one job he worked as a delivery driver on the side but couldn’t find employment swinging a wrench.

Employment counseling has never helped me. I once asked the Employment Development Department for help and was just laughed at. I was offered no advice or direction on the subject. One job counselor advised me to chase my dreams but could offer me no real world advice. The next job counselor I spoke to just kept saying “take it” over and over again no matter how bad or suspicious the job I was interviewing for.

Every now and then I look into more vocational training, but education has always failed me. When I was a young man they said “get a degree” and by the time I got one they were near useless. My last job was degree or military experience preferred, and it paid less than working at a fast food restaurant.

Optimally, the unemployed should become more employable by gaining some kind of training. Maybe we should have a program where the unemployed can start vocational training and spend time on the job. If that fellow had is emergency auto tech program and spent a day every week changing oil at a mechanic he could have found a job working on cars.

It is in the best interest of the state and the worker for better days to be ahead with more stable work and higher pay. When I worked with the homeless our goal was to get them off the street for life and the state should want me never to be unemployed again.

If I wanted to look into vocational training I‘d have to do research to find out what training would be useful, find a program that would train me, then look for a job after the training with no experience. The state could do all that for the unemployed and as soon as they file a claim offer them vocational training as an option.

The state could offer an incentive of additional weeks of benefits to complete vocational training. Job placement and referral services would strengthen this program and having new skills would make it easier to find a job.

Just a thought,


Richard Leland Neal