"The system isn't registering employers at a rate equal to the rest of the state. You need the engagement of the employer to make the best situation for the job seeker and for the company also," he said.
In the fiscal year ending in June, according to Pew's calculations, nearly 4,000 employers, or about 12 percent, used Philadelphia's CareerLink system for hiring or some other business service. The average statewide rate was 25 percent.
Even employers on the workforce system's board didn't use the system. "We should be using it," board member Donna Allie, president of Team Clean Inc., told Pew, "but it doesn't work."
The Pew report details a system that is either unknown to employers or confusing to them, leaving the impression, often warranted, that the centers specialize in low-skill, low-wage workers who may not have the qualifications needed for available jobs.
"That's fair," said Mark Edwards, chief executive of the Philadelphia Workforce Development Corp., which runs the CareerLink and EARN centers. "That's why we need to change."
But any kind of change will face immediate challenges, particularly financial ones. Major state and federal budget cuts will drop the total pot of funding for Philadelphia's programs from $133.7 million last year to about $66.6 million for this fiscal year, according to the Pew report.
On Dec. 31, the state shut three of the city's nine EARN centers, which specialize in helping people on public assistance find jobs.
"These were busy centers helping people move off welfare - helping them find jobs, skills training, resume writing, literacy," said Michael Froehlich, a staff attorney at Community Legal Services, a nonprofit law firm that advocates for the poor.
