
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: WEDNESDAY, May 24, 1995                   TAG: 9505240115
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C-1   EDITION: NEW RIVER VALLEY 
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

STATE: JOBS PLENTIFUL FOR WELFARE RECIPIENTS

State figures indicate there are many more jobs available than needed for welfare recipients in areas the state chose to begin its welfare reform program, says Secretary of Health and Human Resources Kay Coles James.

In the Culpeper area, where there are 740 welfare recipients who will begin the program July 1, there are 1,791 job vacancies, she told the Advisory Commission on Welfare Reform on Monday.

In the suburbs of Washington, where more than 9,900 welfare families will begin the program next spring, there are 27,275 jobs, she said.

In a later interview, James acknowledged that not all jobs posted by the Virginia Employment Commission would be suitable for welfare recipients. She could not say how many listings are high-skilled jobs that would be beyond the reach of some of the state's most uneducated and ill-trained residents.

Of the welfare caseloads, only a fraction will need to find jobs under the program, which requires able-bodied recipients to work and limits their cash benefits to two years. The plan makes exceptions for the disabled, the elderly, pregnant women and full-time students under age 20, among others.

The problem, James said, is not so much creating more jobs but effectively training welfare recipients to prepare for the job market.

``There's a disconnect between the jobs that exist and job training,'' she told the welfare reform commission, which held its first meeting Monday.

``Our task is to figure out how to get recipients job-ready. I don't want to see us get into the mode of creating make-work for welfare recipients.''

That is the premise behind Gov. George Allen's ambitious plan to move about 45,000 of Virginia's 74,000 welfare families into jobs by 1999.

To assist in that task, the General Assembly created a 24-member advisory commission charged with finding ways to generate employment and encourage businesses to hire welfare recipients

Allen administration officials said Monday they are hoping to make job training more effective by consolidating a vast network of state training programs that now are scattered and operate independently.

by CNB