Archives for Workforce & Government

The need to improve and strengthen effective job-skills training to help U.S. workers be more competitive has been a hot topic for the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) of late. A recent post in the Work in Progress (co-authored by Secretary of Labor Tom Perez and Commerce Secretary Penny Pritzker) discussed a joint office visit to the Anne Arundel Community College (AACC) campus to hear from key employer and training stakeholders about “the importance of skills training as both a workforce development and an economic development imperative.” AACC has helped to coordinate efforts of numerous workforce entities to develop certificate
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) recently announced the award of a two-state grant of almost $2.5 million ($2,335, 270) to be divided between Mississippi and New York for the implementation and enhancement of Self-Employment Assistance (SEA) programs respectively. With the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 expanding funding for the SEA program, Dislocated Workers receive a self-employed allowance, in lieu of normal Unemployment Insurance while creating their own jobs and small businesses. The benefit of the program is that the allowance (which is the same weekly amount as the worker’s regular UI benefits) enables participants
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Labor Secretary Thomas Perez continued his pursuit of advocating for the creation of a strong and unified workforce in his recent address at the AFL-CIO 27th Constitutional Convention in Los Angeles, CA. In his address, Secretary Perez expressed his belief that the labor movement “is one of our greatest forces for middle-class economic security.” He pointed to the tangible and real correlation between the health of middle class and that of a vital and functioning labor movement—something that he warns “has come under withering attack in recent years.” He highlighted the need for a “dynamic and empowered labor movement” as
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According to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics, the number of unemployed youth in July 2013 was 3.8 million, which represents 16.3% unemployment in the 16-24 year-old age group. It is more than double the current general reported unemployment figure—something that has drawn interest from many quarters. Two opinion pieces, from Robert Ketchum, PhD and economist Robert Lerman, on Paul Solman’s The Business Desk webpage, point to the growing need to explore employer-provided skills-training like Apprenticeship and On-the-Job-Training (OJT) opportunities in more depth to address this issue. Opinions between the two contributors differ slightly. Solman quotes Lerman as stating
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The U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) has made some successful strides recently in championing the employment cause of both veterans and those with disabilities…something that KRA Corporation has followed closely in recent postings… and now the DOL has managed to take its reinvigorated efforts one step further by recently announcing that the Department has finalized the updated rules regarding the improved hiring of both veterans and individuals with disabilities. The updated rules apply to requirements under the Vietnam Era Veterans’ Readjustment Assistance Act of 1974 (VEVRAA) and Section 503 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, which accounted for the affirmative
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As an organization committed to improving all sectors of the workforce, KRA Corporation is pleased to learn that the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) is broadening the scope of its Job Corps program and is expanding into New Hampshire. Frederick Douglass wrote that “It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men.” The Job Corps mission to “help young people ages 16 through 24 improve the quality of their lives through vocational and academic training” speaks to that sentiment through providing this low-income, at-risk group the education, skills, and confidence to succeed through application and hard work.
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With a workforce that continues to age though delayed retirements based on financial need and a desire to stay productive longer, increased numbers of workers with disabilities is a reality that U.S. employers will have to account for; yet, it seems that it is an issue not being adequately addressed. In fact, a recent study suggests that employment discrimination charges data from the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission is cause to believe that employers cannot maintain aging employees with most of the cited impairments on the charges being characteristic of disabilities common to advancing age. But if the projected estimate
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Today marked “the 50th anniversary of the largest public demonstration in American history — when a quarter of a million people gathered on the National Mall to listen to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. speak about his dream of a better, more equal America.”, as published by the Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy’s Business Sense subscriber service. The article continued, “The date was August 28, 1963, and the event, of course, was the March on Washington, or as it was officially titled, the “March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom.” Although now commonly referred to without those
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As highlighted in a previous post on the KRA Corporation website, the issue of disabled individuals in the workforce continues to draw increased attention at high levels. Most recently, it was broached at the 105th National Governors Association (NGA) during its Summer Meeting in Milwaukee, WI. During the 3-day meeting, that host Governor Scott Walker described as “an opportunity to share experiences and discuss critical issues facing our states” where “governors are focused on finding solutions to our most pressing challenges”, one of the highlights was the initiative of the meeting’s Chair, Delaware Governor Jack Markell. His initiative, A Better
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The Department of Labor (DOL) has seen its efforts on behalf of the U.S. workforce bear fruit recently, with two different DOL offices reaching agreements with two large corporations, T.G.I. Fridays and Walmart, which were found in breach of separate policy compliances. The DOL Wage and Hour Division (WHD), after an investigation of a Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA) violation involving the restaurant chain T.G.I. Fridays, recently announced that, as a result of their findings, the company will alter its policy regarding leave. The WHD’s principal deputy administrator, Laura Fortman, stated: “Workers should not have to choose between their
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