U.S. Department of Labor Announces Phased Reopening Of Job Corps Campuses

WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced plans for the national reopening of Job Corps campuses with select centers welcoming students starting Oct. 20, 2020.

Each Job Corps Center, subject to national office oversight, will determine the best approach to resume on-site operations ensuring the health and welfare of the students and staff. Not all Job Corps campuses will resume physical operations at the same time.

The Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration, in partnership with the Job Corps Center operators, is closely monitoring national, state, and local health and safety guidelines to determine which campuses are ready to reopen.

“The U.S. Department of Labor seeks to ensure Job Corps can provide hands-on career training in a safe environment for our students and staff,” said Assistant Secretary of Labor for the Employment and Training Administration John Pallasch. “The U.S. workforce needs them, and we look forward to seeing them on campus once again.”

Students will return to Job Corps centers in a phased approach based on guidance from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and the Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), supplemented by recommendations from state and local health officials, and the recommendations of the health consultants who work with Job Corps.

The phased approach will consider students’ needs, the logistics of safely transporting students back to a center, and Job Corps centers’ implementation of required plans for resuming on-campus operations. These plans include pre-admission health screens and coronavirus testing for students and staff, new guidelines for social distancing and protective face coverings, and additional physical safety precautions in the classrooms, dorms, recreational facilities, cafeteria, and other campus spaces. Job Corps will continue to require centers to report and track confirmed cases on campus, provide care for infected students, and implement quarantine protocols and other actions in the event of a coronavirus outbreak on campus. In addition, Job Corps centers will also take steps to begin to enroll new students.

On March 16, 2020, out of an abundance of caution and after consulting guidelines from the CDC, Job Corps established a Spring Break for Job Corps centers. Centers physical operations have ceased and the program has provided distance learning programs to its approximately 23,900 students since April 2020.

Job Corps is the nation’s largest education and job training program for young adults ages 16-24 from lower-income households, and is free for students who meet the eligibility requirements. It is a mostly residential program, located in both urban and rural areas, with dormitories and a campus environment similar to small colleges. There are 121 Job Corps centers, located in each of the 50 states, the District of Columbia and Puerto Rico.

The Department of Labor's mission is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and ensure work-related benefits and rights.