Emily Scott is a Job Corps student in Los Angeles who is also a caretaker for her disabled mother. She is four months away from graduating from the Job Corps program as a licensed nurse.

Andrea Watts of Las Vegas was homeless before finding her way to a Job Corps center in L.A. for an opportunity to obtain her high school diploma and eventually become a pharmacy technician.

Both are students who are undergoing training at Job Corps, but whose careers are in limbo as the centers were abruptly shut down last week.

On May 29, the Labor Department announced a "phased pause" in operations at 99 contractor-operated Job Corps centers nationwide .

These are federally-funded centers that offer career training, housing and career assistance to more than 25,000 young people ages 16 to 24.

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