Job Training

* Re “Welfare Recipients Call for Job Training,” Aug. 21: Welfare reform is supposed to help the poor get jobs and become financially stable. Nevertheless, CalWORKS, which pushes welfare recipients to get jobs, no matter what the job, has proven to be flawed because people who get off of welfare receive only part-time, low-paying jobs, plunging them into another form of poverty. Obviously then, we need to improve the training that these people receive.

In addition to better equipping the poor, we also need to increase the minimum wage so that welfare recipients who return to low-paying jobs have enough beyond basic necessities. We have taken some good first steps in welfare reform, but we cannot stop there: We must continue to improve the system, even at a higher initial cost and at a longer starting time. We cannot allow our need for quick success to further harm those who are most in need of help.

WILLIAM LIT

San Marino