A report from the Government Accountability Office finds that the federal government administers 47 different employment and job training programs at a cost to taxpayers of about $18 billion. The GAO excluded another 51 programs that could be considered as providing job training assistance, such as student loan subsidies.

The takeaway from the report is that there is a lot of duplication, and thus excess bureaucracy and inefficiencies. Moreover, the GAO says that “little is known about the effectiveness of most programs.” Nonetheless, Congress unflinchingly funds these programs even though the GAO has been issuing reports with similar findings since the 1990s.

Coinciding with the GAO report, Sen. Tom Coburn (R-OK) released a paper that singles out 25 particularly egregious examples of federal job training programs abusing taxpayer dollars. It’s the sort of thing that government apologists will dismiss as “anecdotal,” but when it comes to government programs, where there is smoke, there is usually fire. And if the anecdotes help undermine support for such unwarranted federal interventions, all the better.

One problem I have with Coburn’s paper is that it concludes with recommendations that amount to rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic (e.g., consolidate programs, narrow program objectives, and better target funds). Coburn says that these programs need better “program metrics.” However, I was once responsible for program metrics as a budget official in the state of Indiana, and I can attest that politics render such endeavors a fool’s errand.

Coburn’s paper is at its best when he cites James Bovard’s observation that the government doesn’t need to be involved in job training:

As aptly considered by scholar James Bovard, the government has taken on a role more appropriately filled by the private sector. Bovard writes, “The fallacy underlying all job training programs is that the private sector lacks the incentive to train people for jobs. This is like assuming that farmers don‘t have an incentive to buy seed, or that auto manufacturers lack incentive to seek out parts suppliers. Businessmen naturally prefer that all the factors of production – including labor – be readily available. But where there is a shortage of skills and demands for services, there will be an incentive to train.”

The American Society for Training and Develop estimates that “U.S. organizations spent $125.9 billion on employee learning and development in 2009.” In addition, there are untold private options for job seekers: headhunters, counselors, recruiters, temporary work agencies, career fairs, internet resources, charities, and various civic organizations.

As Coburn correctly puts it:

The federal government could best help displaced workers by opening foreign markets to U.S. goods and services and creating an atmosphere that attracts and retains investment and productivity in the U.S. This can be accomplished in part by reducing unnecessary regulatory burdens on small businesses and employers, and ensuring stable and predictable government policies so employers can make short- and long-term investment and management decisions.