Michael S. Bernick
Michael S. Bernick (born October 1, 1952) is an American lawyer. He served as Director of California's labor department, the Employment Development Department (EDD), from 1999 to 2004. He is a practitioner and theorist of job training and employment strategies. For over 40 years, he has developed job training projects on the state and local level in California and written about strategies for expanding the middle class and achieving fuller employment.
Michael S. Bernick | |
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Michael Bernick in 2017 | |
| Born | October 1, 1952 |
| Nationality | American |
| Alma mater | Harvard University (B.A., 1974); Oxford University (Balliol College, B. Phil. 1976); University of California, Berkeley (J.D. 1979) |
| Known for | Director of California's Employment Development Department Author of a series of books and articles on employment and job training written from the practitioner experience Director of the BART transit system, early transit village proponent |
| Website | www |
In a series of articles and books written during the 1980s and 1990s, drawing on his experience in community job training, he argues against the then-expanding social welfare system. He sets out alternative strategies of inner city entrepreneurship and market-based training and job ladders.
In the 2000s, his projects, first at the EDD and then through the California Workforce Association (CWA), include ones of worker retraining and reemployment, improving the income of low-wage workers, and employment for workers who have been unable to find steady work. He has written regularly on these topics, including a volume on the lessons of training programs over the past fifty years and two volumes on expanding jobs for workers with developmental and neurological differences.