On today’s episode of Hear Me Out: get back to work.

When your job becomes obsolete, is it the government’s job to teach you to do something else? 

That’s the theory behind federal workforce training programs – which have existed, in various forms, for a long time. The problem is that studies are starting to show that these programs don’t provide much of an edge to workers… and that the jobs they place for might not be good jobs.

Kevin Carey of New America joins us to argue for a retooling of federal work training.

If you have thoughts you want to share, or an idea for a topic we should tackle, you can email the show: hearmeout@slate.com

Podcast production by Maura Currie.

Want more Hear Me Out? Subscribe to Slate Plus to access ad-free listening across all your favorite Slate podcasts. Subscribe today on Apple Podcasts by clicking “Try Free” at the top of our show page. Or, visit slate.com/hearmeoutplus to get access wherever you listen.Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices