Louisiana, southeastern states lead job-training efforts in U.S.

Since its launch four years ago, LED’s FastStart job-training program has trained more than 13,500 workers and contracted with more than 60 companies, Governing magazine reports. That places it among the best state workforce training programs in the nation, the magazine says, along with programs in Alabama, Georgia and South Carolina. Aside from Texas, Louisiana is the only Southern state that has posted net job gains from January 2008 to March 2012, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. While FastStart can’t take credit for all the gains, LED Secretary Stephen Moret tells the magazine, it was “absolutely critical—one of the key contributors.” LED offers Louisiana FastStart free of charge to companies expanding in, relocating to or launching in Louisiana. Business Facilities magazine has named FastStart the nation’s best training program two years running. “Indeed, over the past several years, the Southeast has quietly positioned itself as a leader in the job-training effort,” reads the story by Governing magazine, which you can read in its entirety here.