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With the Federal Stimulus, Employers Find That Job Training Pays

As Energy Innovations Inc. expands its staff since its launch in July, the Poway manufacturer of solar modules is getting some help in the form of federal government subsidies for the new jobs it’s creating.

The business that qualified to receive partial wage subsidies to train new employees through the job training program said it already received some reimbursements on wages paid to five new workers who completed their job training, and have another seven workers whose wages will be partially paid after they are trained.

“We’ve had five employees complete their training, and we’ve got back some of the money already,” said Kerry Baird, office manager at Energy Innovations. “The training for the employees covered about two months, or 210 hours.”

Through the On the Jobs Training program, businesses that hire a new employee can be reimbursed for half of the worker’s wages while the worker is being trained for the position.

Funding for the program is derived from the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which allocated $23.8 million to the San Diego Workforce Partnership Inc., a local government agency that oversees job training, including about $2 million for the OJT program, said Rebecca Smith, vice president of the Workforce Partnership.

The partnership, in turn, contracted with several private entities, including Manpower Inc., one of the area’s largest staffing firms, to administer and distribute the job training subsidies.

Use It or Lose It

Trevor Blair, a program manager for Manpower, said since the OJT program was launched in November 2009, the program has subsidized the wages of 301 workers at 84 local companies through the end of October.

But there is still plenty of money left to divvy out. “Countywide, there’s about $500,000 still left in this program,” Blair said. “We’re trying to get the word out because if there are any unused funds left, they’ll be returned to the federal government.”

To qualify a worker for the OJT program, an employer has to hire an unemployed worker who is receiving unemployment insurance benefits. The hired worker must be working on a job providing at least 32 hours a week, and lasting at least six months.

The starting wage during the training period must be at least $10 hourly with benefits, or $11.58 without benefits, although the starting salary may be lower if there are clear stepped pay increases following training. The subsidies are available to businesses outside San Diego County, just as long as the worker resides here, Blair said.

For small companies, the OJT reimbursement can have a big impact. Most of the companies using the subsidies have collected from $1,000 to $4,000 for each new employee, Blair said.

Manpower is also handling the paperwork involved with the OJT program, which is another incentive to getting businesses to hire new workers, he said.

Paperwork Hassle Avoided

“We’re not only finding the best candidates for the businesses, we’re handling all the paperwork. It saves the business time, headache and the expense of recruiting and hiring, with the added bonus of the training reimbursement,” Blair said.

While Energy Innovations has hired mainly production line workers through the OJT program, it’s also been reimbursed for a higher skilled position, Baird said.

“We’ve had one test engineer who we hired that qualified to receive half his training through the program,” she said. “His salary during training was about $34 per hour, and the training was about 172 hours, so we received nearly $3,000 back on his pay.”

Since its opening in July, Energy Innovations has hired some 46 workers, including 22 production line workers who must be trained for six different work stations, and 24 professionals, mainly engineers, Baird said.

On a Hiring Spree

“We’ve been hiring about three to four production workers a week, and two to three engineers a month,” she said. “By the end of this year our total staff should be about 100.”

Ken Lau, the founder and owner of PowerLux Corp. in Vista, a manufacturer of energy efficient lighting fixtures, said he used the OJT program to hire one administrative assistant who is paid $15 an hour. Lau declined to provide the size of his staff, but said the business, founded in 1994, is in expansion mode. The company’s main customers are in the hospitality, retail and government sectors.

While the OJT program is primarily aimed at employers, unemployed workers have directly benefited from it by telling possible employers about it, Blair said.

“A number of candidates have used the OJT info as a tool in their job search. That way, they’re not just knocking on doors looking for work, they’re also bringing valuable information to the employers they’re targeting. It can really help get them in conversation with the right person in the organization.”

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