State labor department misspent $59.5 million in Going Pro Talent Fund

A September audit of the Going Pro Talent Fund in the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity revealed that the fund isn’t doing its job, according to one lawmaker.

The audit found a material condition – the most severe shortcoming finding in the audit – that LEO disbursed $59.5 million for employer reimbursement of new employee worksite training that “was inconsistent with LEO’s requirement that GPTF-awarded training must lead to a credential.”

The department was responsible for monitoring Michigan Works! Agencies. The Going Pro Talent Fund awarded $63.2 million to employers in fiscal year 2023. It disbursed $62.8 million in 2024 and $56.5 million in 2025.

The audit found that LEO didn’t complete any file reviews for Michigan Works! for almost three years. The department also didn’t maintain sufficient documents to review the program.

The labor agency sometimes did not give Michigan Works! guidance to ensure that employers complied with the Going Pro fund. Auditors reviewed awards filed for 33 Going Pro Talent Funds and found that none of the files documented that Michigan Works! verified trainee eligibility. Auditors found that the agencies relied on employer’s self-reported information about hourly median wages and did not obtain course descriptions for training.

House Appropriations Chair State Rep. Ann Bollin, R-Brighton, said that the program hasn’t been doing its job.

“The purpose of the Going Pro Talent Fund is to help Michigan workers gain valuable skills and credentials that will serve them throughout their careers,” Bollin said in a news release. “Instead, auditors found that nearly $60 million was spent reimbursing employers for basic on-the-job training that did not lead to a credential. That’s not what taxpayers were promised, and it’s not what this program was designed to do.”

The Going Pro Talent Fund is supposed to help train workers to get better jobs through earning credentials that would benefit employers and employees.

“Unfortunately, we continue to see the same troubling pattern across state government: Millions of taxpayer dollars are being spent, but basic oversight and accountability are missing,” Bollin said. “Programs only work when someone is ensuring dollars are being spent appropriately and according to the rules. This audit shows that wasn’t happening.”

LEO disagrees. An agency spokesperson told CapCon that on-the-job training is an upskilling tool.

“On-the-job training is a nationally recognized, highly valued and cost-effective upskilling tool used by many employers and serves as an eligible expense for Going PRO Talent Fund under Public Act 260 of 2018,’ LEO told CapCon in an email. 

[editor’s note: this story has been updated with a comment from LEO]