The Department of Labor has proposed adding 670 investigators under the budget request for the fiscal year 2010.
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Download NowThe department's budget request includes $1.7 billion for worker-protection programs, a 10 percent increase over the prior year's budget.
The department says it plans to restore worker protection staffing to the levels of fiscal year 2001. For example, the budget proposal asks for $564 million for the department's Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA), which is $51 million (10 percent) more than that agency received in 2009. With this funding, the Labor Department plans to hire 160 new enforcement staff, many of whom will be bilingual to communicate with staff in the changing workplace.
Also, the department's Wage and Hour Division would receive $228 million, an increase of $35 million from the prior year, including funding to hire 200 new investigators.
The Labor Department is receiving $38.3 billion under the Recovery Act to assist unemployed workers and provide more training and employment opportunities to seniors, the unemployed and underserved populations.
For employment and training programs, the budget would provide $9 billion, including $50 million for green-jobs-training initiatives. The Department of Labor would use $500 million from the Recovery Act for competitive grants to train workers for green jobs.
For veterans, the budget would provide $255 million (a 6 percent increase) to reach an additional 7,200 homeless veterans, particularly women veterans; provide green jobs training; and expand access to employment workshops for service members and their families who are transitioning to the civilian workforce.
The budget would provide $12 million for evaluation of job training programs, a 68 percent increase, and provide $5 million for a new department-wide evaluation initiative. The department says the additional funding would support rigorous evaluations to determine which programs and interventions work and inform the department's policy, management and resource allocation decisions