That's work, not Georgia Works, that's needed.

Basically, the company gets free labor while the person is receiving unemployment insurance. If the company does hire the person, there is no ongoing wage subsidy or training subsidy. According to data from the Georgia Department of Labor provided to the Huffington Post, just 16.4 percent of workers who participated in this program between 2003 when the program started and 2010 got hired by the company where they were placed, and only 24 percent got jobs at all. Currently, exactly 19 people are enrolled.

It is heavily rumored that President Obama's jobs speech next week will include a program modeled on Georgia Works, a program that gives jobless workers a small stipend to "train with" (otherwise known as "work for") private employers who do not pay them. According to Robert Kuttner

Now, AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka is expressing his concern about a Georgia Works-like program being proposed on a national scale:

"I am writing to convey the AFL-CIO's continuing and serious concerns about the existing Georgia Works program and any expansion of the Georgia Works model," AFL-CIO president Richard Trumka wrote in a Thursday letter to U.S. Labor Secretary Hilda Solis. "I am also requesting that the Department investigate the Georgia Works program to determine whether it is in compliance with federal law and conduct a full audit and evaluation of the program's operations to determine its impact on workers and their communities," Trumka continued.

We need real job creation programs, not to provide businesses with free labor and call it training. Hopefully the rumors that Obama will tout this program as an answer to anything are inaccurate.