During any sort of economic downturn, one thing everyone everyone can count on for more success is new skills. Opening your eyes to new areas of expertise, building on your current skills, or simply refreshing your old ones, is a great use of your time.

The US Labor Department reported 667,000 new unemployment claims last week and currently the US claims are at their highest ever, topping 5 million. This is adding more and more job candidates to the job pool. Many politicians and continuing education facilities are acting on this trend.

College work-study programs were recently boosted by $200 million nationally. It’s uncertain at this point how much of that will go towards South Carolina, but it is definitely a good start. Also, the economic stimulus package should help technical schools add to their classroom lab equipment.

Greenvilleonline.com reports that schools like Greenville Tech are looking forward to the stimulus. They already have a very positive placement rate:

90% of Greenville Tech’s dental hygiene graduates found jobs in their fields or continued their education. 70% of their welding grads did the same. 100% of their machine technology graduates also found jobs in their field or continued their education. The medical lab students placement was at 94%, pharmacy tech was 92%, and Greenville Tech’s air conditioning and refrigeration had a 90% success rate.

If you’d like to learn more about specialized continuing education.

If you’d like to learn more about two-year colleges.

If you’d like to learn more about four-year colleges.

If you’d like to learn more about financial aid and scholarships.