ATLANTA (AP) — With bipartisan buy-in and no big price tag, a Georgia program pairing job seekers with potential employers for on-the-job training is gaining momentum as President Barack Obama crafts a plan to tackle the nation's bedeviling unemployment problem.

The fans of Georgia Works run the range of the political spectrum, from civil rights activist Jesse Jackson on the left to GOP leaders in Congress on the right. That would leave little to stand in the way of Obama putting the program on the national agenda. Critics have dismissed Georgia Works as means for employers to exploit people's desperation to return to work.

Its architect, former Georgia labor commissioner Michael Thurmond, said the program simply empowers out-of-work Americans with a new tool in their quest for employment.

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