Job Corps

Department of Labor

Proposed Cut

$1.6B

% Reduction

100.0%

Action Type

elimination

Who Is Served

~50,000 at-risk youth ages 16-24 at ~120 residential centers; America's largest residential job training program

Summary

Job Corps is the nation's largest residential job training program, giving about 50,000 at-risk youth ages 16 to 24 free housing, meals, education, and vocational training at roughly 120 centers nationwide. The FY2027 budget proposes eliminating the program entirely, cutting the full $1,600 million (a 100% cut), while setting aside limited funds only to shut down operations and construction, arguing the cost per participant is too high and that private-sector apprenticeship incentives should replace it.

Who Is Affected

The cut would affect roughly 50,000 low-income and at-risk teens and young adults who enroll in Job Corps each year, many of whom are homeless, aging out of foster care, or otherwise lack stable housing and rely on the program's residential centers for a place to live while they train. Contractors and staff who run the nearly 100 to 120 Job Corps centers across the country would lose their jobs, and the local communities where those centers operate would lose that economic activity.

What this cut would actually mean

If Job Corps is eliminated, thousands of young people would lose the free housing, meals, health services, and hands-on job training that many depend on because they have no other stable place to live or way to pay for training. In 2025, a Department of Labor attempt to close all Job Corps centers was halted by a federal court after students and advocacy groups sued, showing how abrupt closures leave enrolled youth without housing options; a permanent elimination would end this safety net nationwide with no guaranteed federal program serving the same low-income youth population in its place.

Sources

FY 2027 Department of Labor Budget in Brief — The Department of Labor's own FY2027 budget document confirming the proposal to eliminate Job Corps and fund only closeout costs for operations and construction.
US Department of Labor pauses Job Corps center operations — DOL press release announcing the 2025 pause of contractor-operated Job Corps centers, citing budget deficits and program review findings.
Lawsuit aims to stop closure of almost 100 Job Corps sites - NPR — NPR reporting on the federal lawsuit and court order temporarily halting the closure of Job Corps centers serving disadvantaged youth.
Court Orders 99 Job Corps Centers Must Remain Open - SPLC — Southern Poverty Law Center press release describing the July 2025 court ruling keeping Job Corps centers open pending litigation.
Labor Dept to suspend Job Corps centers it says put students in danger, cost taxpayers $1.7B - Fox News — News coverage citing DOL data on Job Corps graduation rates and per-student costs used to justify the program's suspension and proposed elimination.