Findings; purposes

(a) Findings Congress finds the following: (1) Entering 2026, long-term unemployment in the United States was at its highest level in 4 years. (2) In July 2026, 1,800,000 workers had been unemployed for 6 months or more. (3) The long-term unemployed accounted for 25.5 percent of all unemployed people in July 2026. (4) Confidence in the job market has fallen 42 percentage points since the start of 2022 and was especially low among young workers at the beginning of 2026. (5) The people of the United States are pessimistic about the impact of artificial intelligence on jobs. As of March 2026, 70 percent of people in the United States thought artificial intelligence is likely to lead to a decrease in the number of job opportunities for workers, up from 56 percent in April 2025. (b) Purposes The purposes of this Act are to— (1) help people overcome the barriers keeping them out of the workforce (such as transportation, child care, job readiness training, substance abuse treatment, or assistance finding a permanent job) and training programs that build skills to sustain permanent employment; (2) provide targeted funding to local areas to generate work opportunities and get people in the United States back into the workforce; and (3) provide grants to local areas to support innovation and investment in areas hit hardest by high poverty and chronic joblessness.