US Dept. of Labor gives $1.1M to P.R. to improve services
At podium, U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Pérez, flanked by President Barack Obama.
The U.S. Department of Labor announced Thursday a total of $43.2 million in Reemployment & Systems Integration National Dislocated Worker Grants to 43 states and territories to support and improve connectivity among existing workforce programs.
Puerto Rico will receive $1.1 million of that amount, the agency confirmed.
These investments will help dislocated workers and other job seekers by providing seed funding for at least one of the following approaches: common registration and case management systems connecting workers to all available services; online portals that exchange information and serve as hubs for online resources; or data integration efforts, which help workforce agencies improve labor market information for customers as well as identify and address layoff trends.
“We have come a long way in breaking down silos to create a modern, job-driven federal workforce system, but too many of the tools and data systems designed to help serve job seekers and employers continue to operate independently,” said U.S. Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez. “By integrating these systems and providing more seamless services, these investments will help dislocated workers access the tools they need to help get them back to work.”
These grants will improve the capacity of the workforce system to seamlessly connect dislocated workers, unemployment insurance claimants, the long-term unemployed and other job seekers to all available services. Projects will focus on integrated case management, increased accessibility to services through customized online tools, and providing workforce agencies with real-time data to identify and address layoff trends within industries and develop responses or layoff aversion strategies.
The Reemployment & Systems Integration National Dislocated Worker Grants build on the principles outlined in Vice President Joseph R. Biden’s Job-Driven Training Report and advance the more integrated and comprehensive dislocated worker services being implemented under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act.
