CRANSTON – Rhode Island private-sector employers had about three vacancies for every 100 jobs filled late this spring, with 86 percent of vacancies in permanent positions, and 60 percent for full-time jobs, a new R.I. Department of Labor and Training survey shows.
The survey, which covered May and June, found an estimated 12,114 job vacancies during that period. Vacancy rates were highest in health care and social assistance, at 4.7 percent, or 3,334 vacancies, more than one-quarter of the total job openings in the state.
The hospitality industry and arts, entertainment and recreation also had above-average job vacancy rates – 4.2 percent and 3.6 percent, respectively – due in part to seasonal needs.
The single-most, in-demand workers were registered nurses, with 962 vacancies, the survey found. The next-highest job count was for nursing aides, orderlies and attendants (630 jobs), followed by personal and home care aides (539). Also in demand were wait staff (374), maids and housekeeping staff (339) and restaurant cooks (275).
A complete 29-page report is available at www.dlt.ri.gov/lmi/jvs.htm.
Bank of America opens $60M call center in R.I.
EAST PROVIDENCE – Bank of America officially opened its new call center Wednesday in a converted jewelry manufacturing plant here, a 166,000-square-foot facility that officials said represents a $60-million investment in the local economy and will create up to 900 new jobs.
The center is part of Bank of America’s customer service and support division, and features state-of-the-art technology. It will primarily serve consumer customers, working in tandem with contact centers in more than 30 other locations.
To staff the facility, the bank has worked closely since last year with federal, state and local officials. The bank held a job fair Aug. 17 at the Providence netWORKri Career Center, attracting about 400 job seekers, and since then, bank representatives have been working on-site at the state’s two comprehensive netWORKri One-Stop Career Centers and, as needed, at the four netWORKri affiliate sites.
Bank of America also has facilities in Providence, Johnston and Lincoln, as well as 48 “banking centers” (branches) across the state.
CCRI offers solar power training for electricians
WARWICK – The Community College of Rhode Island and the State Energy Office are collaborating to offer a new 40-hour training program for electricians in the field of solar power, starting Oct. 27 at 6:30 p.m. at CCRI’s Quonset Point facility.
Financed by a Renewable Energy Fund grant, the Solar Electric Technology Electrician Training Program will teach electricians, journeymen and apprentices how to install solar panels for residential use. In preparation for the training, the college has built simulated residential rooftops at its Quonset Training and Technology Center. Entech Engineering on Block Island is providing technical support.
Pat Condon, special projects coordinator for the State Energy Office, said the program is meant to ease a shortage of qualified contractors who can do residential solar energy projects.
For more information, call CCRI at (401) 294-5427.
EPA fencing off polluted downtown Taunton site
BOSTON – The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is fencing off a roughly 6.8-acre site in downtown Taunton to keep people from accessing the property and potentially being exposed to arsenic, lead and other contaminants recently found in the surface soil.
The site, known as Parcel 6A, is a former rail maintenance facility and foundry. It’s a vacant lot on Mason Street between Porter and Wales streets, owned by the city of Taunton and the Taunton Redevelopment Authority.
Recent investigations by the EPA found metals contamination, including arsenic and lead and PAHs (polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons) in the surface soil. The EPA is working with state and city officials to secure the site and to determine if abutting land is also contaminated.
The fence is expected to be installed by early November, weather permitting.
R.I. gets federal grants to improve DNA testing
PROVIDENCE – The U.S. Department of Justice has awarded nearly $824,000 in grants to the R.I. Department of Health and Brown University to upgrade local DNA lab equipment, help clear a backlog of cases and develop better testing technologies.
U.S. Sen. Lincoln D. Chafee announced the grants, which he said would help to “make our criminal justice system more effective” and prevent future delays.
Brown is getting $542,654 to support research, design and testing of new DNA sequencing methods. The state is getting $150,539 for a program to enhance crime laboratories, and another $130,732 for a program to reduce the state lab’s backlog by having samples tested at outside laboratories.
Online cigarette vendor settles Mass. tax case
BOSTON – eSmokes, an online cigarette vendor based in Reston, Va., has reached a settlement with Massachusetts Attorney General Thomas F. Reilly and turned over the names and addresses of Bay State residents whom it sold more than 131,000 cartons of cigarettes between November 2003 and February of this year.
As a result, the Massachusetts Department of Revenue could collect almost $2 million in excise taxes, plus another $1 million in interest and penalties. The department has been pursuing cigarette-tax evaders for three years, and has already recovered about $331,000 in taxes from Internet cigarette buyers identified by other means.
