Why Hire the Unqualified and Unemployed?

The government grants Maryland $5,137,155 through The Jobs Driven National Emergency Grant (JD NEG). A program that encourages businesses to employee long-term unemployed or dislocated workers. But why would an employer want to hire someone who isn’t qualified? The answer is money(obviously), but not just for the employer.

The Jobs Driven National Emergency Grant

Why Hire Unqualified Candidates?

If a company hires someone who is considered to have been a victim of long-term unemployment, or dislocation, and the potential employee can become qualified through On-the-job (OJT) training, the government will reimburse the hiring company a minimum of 50% for the cost of that training. The company can be reimbursed up to 90% depending on the company’s size.

To be considered a dislocated worker you have to fit at least one of the following definitions according to the business dictionary.

An individual who meets one of the following criteria:

• has been laid off or terminated, or received notice of termination or lay off and is unlikely to return to previous industry of occupation,
• has been terminated or laid off, or has received a notice of termination or lay off, as a result of permanent closure of, or substantial layoff at a plant or facility,
• was self-employed and now unemployed because of a natural disaster,
• was self-employed (including farmer, rancher, or fisherman), but is unemployed as a result of general economic conditions in the community in which he or she resides or because of a natural disaster, or
• is a displaced homemaker.

Long-term unemployment:

3.8 million individuals have been out of work for 27 weeks or more, which is the Labor Department’s definition of long-term unemployment.

This means that if you normally pay three dollars over the state average for OJT, you must still pay the same wages and cover the three dollar difference, which still saves companies a solid chunk of change. A business may pay an employee OJT wages as much as they please, but the government will only reimburse the company the state average for OJT, which is $25.75 in the state of Maryland.

However, if a company short changes an employee to take advantage of this program they will not receive any reimbursement. If you want to take part in this program you must offer the same OJT pay as you would to anyone else.

Who is Eligible?

Any employer in the state of Maryland is eligible for this program and any potential employee is eligible for this program that has been dislocated or has experienced long-term unemployment.

Reimbursement is based on the size of the company as follow;

Reimburse up to 90% for a business with 50 or fewer employees;

Reimburse up to 75% for a business with 51-200 employees; or

Reimburse up to 50% for a business with 200 or more employees

Where do Unqualified Employees get Trained?

The government will pay for the training and the wages (as mentioned earlier). The training will be compensated as long as the OTJ training is conducted by a company or by a training company or educational institution of the company.

For example, if you are hiring and you happen to be looking for a new System Administrator, but they are missing a certification. The cost of the new hires training course will be comped.

How much is comped, again, depends on the size of the hiring company. This is calculated with the following chart.

How to Apply?

Use the form below to get a copy of the training contract or visit http://www.doleta.gov/neg/ for more information.