According toThe Wall Street Journal, there are approximately 6.8 million people in the U.S. who have been out of a job for six months or longer. The paper is reporting that President Barack Obama will unveil a jobs package in the coming weeks that will address this issue.

It is expected that President Obama’s plan will not only offer tax incentives to encourage employers to hire, but also a paid training program. The training program is modeled after a successful program in Georgia, where the government provides workers with unemployment insurance while training at a participating company. There is no cost to the employer for training these individuals. The goal is that after the training, the company will take the employee on full time.

How many HVAC and sheet metal contractors would be interested in such a program? Would you be willing to train an individual to work at your company if there were no out of pocket expenses? For an industry that is always looking for qualified and dedicated individuals, this may be a great plan. Tell us what you think.