Program to Coordinate Film, TV Job Training

A fledgling Los Angeles program to hoist workers into well-paying jobs in the film and TV industries is getting a jump-start from a new Labor Department grant to help ease the labor shortage for high-skill jobs. “We don’t have a worker shortage in this country today, as much as we hear this from employers. What we have is a skills shortage,” Labor Secretary Alexis M. Herman said in an interview during which she announced a $750,000 grant to a local program tentatively named the Los Angeles Labor Market Planning Consortium. In all, the Labor Department is handing out $15.2 million to programs in 23 U.S. communities to train workers for better-paying, higher-skill jobs. The L.A. program will research what skills are needed and how training can be developed for workers in the entertainment industry, said Goetz Wolff of the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor and director of the project. No agency currently exists to coordinate training programs in Southern California, and the consortium intends to fill that void, Wolff said. Members of the consortium will include the Labor Federation, entertainment unions, government training agencies and the L.A. Community College District.