Obama proposes investing $12 billion in community colleges, warns of higher unemployment

Obama says unemployment will keep ticking up

WARREN, Mich. — Watching the unemployment rate continue to climb despite his efforts to stop it, President Barack Obama on Tuesday proposed a $12 billion investment in the nation’s two-year colleges to help train millions of unemployed people for jobs he says will be created once the economy turns around.

Obama flew to Michigan, a state with the worst unemployment rate in the country, at 14.1 percent, to make the announcement at Macomb Community College.

He called the $12 billion in spending over the next decade “the most significant downpayment” yet toward achieving his goal of having the highest college graduation rate of any nation.

Speaking outdoors in his shirt sleeves, Obama said jobs requiring at least an associate’s degree are expected to grow twice as fast as those where college education is not required.

“We will not fill those jobs, or keep those jobs on our shores, without the training offered by community colleges,” Obama said.

“Community colleges are an undervalued asset in our country,” he said.