If you are looking for that special program designed to help train workers at your company or organization, the federal Department of Labor’s Employment Training Administration may be a good place to start.
Individuals looking to make that next step in their career will also find an array of resources, including information on federally funded training programs, job banks and assistance in developing and circulating your resume.
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The Employment and Training Administration’s mission is to build up the labor market “through the training of the workforce and the placement of workers in jobs through employment services. The agency’s long-term goals include:
- Increased individual and business demand for top quality information, employment services, and training to produce the skilled workforce and high-performance businesses required for vigorous job growth and a rising standard of living in an intensely competitive international economy.
- Widely available learning systems for high school students and young adults that enable them to master the academic competencies and occupational preparation necessary to meet employers’ expectations and to find a good first job without a four-year college education.
- Customer-driven, high-quality local labor markets that provide individuals with the information, employment services, career planning, training opportunities, and insurance systems to take effective control of their job lives and that provide businesses with the information and services they require to recruit an educated and competitive workforce.
- Learning and labor market systems that are accessible and affordable to all American businesses and individuals, including individuals at risk economically, the working poor, and those outside the job market. ETA has a special historic commitment to the disadvantaged that must be enhanced, not diminished, by a broader mission to serve all Americans.
The ETA’s Web site at www.doleta.gov is designed to direct adults, youth, dislocated workers, and workforce development professionals to information on these programs and services.
Employers will find information on several areas, including tax credits and other hiring incentives , how to find and train employees, assistance with plant closures and downsizing, legislation text, and ETA grants and contracts.
It also provides the most current ETA solicitation for grant applications (SGA), requests for proposals (RFPs), and the latest information from several national programs.
Workforce training, federally funded training programs, job banks and assistance in developing and circulating resumes are all programs that would be braced here in Rhode Island, where the unemployment rate has been inching up in recent months.
A humbling economy
The latest news out of the Rhode Island labor market is not good.
According to University of Rhode Island Economics Professor Leonard Lardaro’s “Jobless Improvement Index,” Rhode Island’s streak of ten consecutive months at full employment has ended.
The state’s unemployment rate in April, 4.4 percent, exceeded the 4.2 percent rate consistent with full employment. Lardaro said in his report that the latest figures should come as no surprise; “The upward trend in Rhode Island’s rate of unemployment, which has certainly spread its recent jobless improvement scores, should come as no surprise in light of economic weakness at the national level and the clear upward trend in layoffs here.”
The good news, he said, is that in April, Rhode Island’s jobless rate remained below the national rate. But, he cautioned; “Whether this will continue is another question. The recurring bad news was that Rhode Island’s unemployment rate was again the highest in New England, a full 1.2 percentage points above the next highest rate (Massachusetts).
Rhode Island’s April “Job Improvement Index,” -0.4, resulted from an unemployment rate that was 0.1 percentage points below the national rate for March (-0.1) plus a rate change that was 0.3 percentage points better (less of an increase) than the national change relative to a year ago (-0.3).
National numbers
In the week ending June 2, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial
claims was 432,000, an increase of 13,000 from the previous week’s unrevised figure
of 419,000. The four-week moving average was 413,500, an increase of 11,000 from
the previous week’s unrevised average of 402,5000.
The advance seasonally adjusted insured unemployment rate was 2.3 percent for the week ending May 26, an increase of 0.1 percentage point from the prior week’s unrevised rate of 2.2 percent.
The advance number for seasonally adjusted insured unemployment during the week ending May 26 was 2,993,000, an increase of 209,000 from the preceding week’s revised level of 2,784,000. The four-week moving average was 2,804,500, an increase of 72,500 from the preceding week’s revised average of 2,732,000.
