Federal stimulus money for Oregon jobs hired foreign workers?
~ The Rebel ~
2011/10/23 20:30:18
WASHINGTON -- At least $7 million in federal stimulus money intended to provide jobs to unemployed Oregonians instead paid wages to 254 foreign workers, federal investigators have concluded.
The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher.
Even so, the contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs.
That came as a surprise to local officials, who said they often got hundreds of responses to every job opening.
The money was for forest clean-up jobs in central Oregon where thousands of experienced workers were idle. When the contracts were announced in 2009, Oregon had the third-highest unemployment rate in the nation at 11.1 percent, with rates in the state's rural forest counties nearly 15 percent and higher.
Even so, the contractors told federal regulators they could not find enough local workers for the jobs.
That came as a surprise to local officials, who said they often got hundreds of responses to every job opening.
Read More: http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2011/...
In a report on the investigation this week, the Department of Labor's Inspector General found that contractors who brought in foreign workers violated no laws or regulations, but used legal loopholes to hire foreign workers.
While legal, the hiring practices appear to violate the spirit and purpose of the $840 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, better known as the stimulus, which was designed to create jobs that would jumpstart the country out of recession.
"The goal of the stimulus bill was to put Americans back to work, not foreign nationals," said Rep. Peter DeFazio, D-Ore., who asked for the investigation in September 2010.
http://www.oregonlive.com/pol...