Labor budget heavy on unemployment aid

WASHINGTON, May 7 (UPI) -- U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis said most of the department's $104.5 billion budget request would go toward unemployment benefits and workers' compensation.

A discretionary request of $13.3 billion would allocate $1.7 billion for worker protection programs, reflecting a 10 percent increase over the fiscal year 2009 budget, Solis said Thursday in a news release.

"The (fiscal year 2010) budget launches new and innovative ways to promote economic recovery and the competitiveness of our nation's workers," Solis said. "At the same time, the budget reflects our effort to invest in what works and cut or reduce programs that do not."

Solis said the budget proposal would save $17 million by ending the Work Incentive Grants program and incorporating lessons learned from it into other programs.

The proposal would permit the Labor Department to hire nearly 1,000 employees, including about 670 investigators, restoring worker protection staffing to fiscal year 2001 levels, she said.

Employment and training programs would receive $9 billion under the proposal, Solis said, including $50 million for green jobs training initiatives.

The budget would provide $12 million for evaluation of job training programs and would provide $5 million for a new department-wide evaluation initiative, the secretary said.