Struggling Job Seekers May Soon Have More Options
Putting people back to work is a good idea. Regardless of one’s political leanings, it just makes good sense. We are all moved tremendously by news about loved ones, friends, neighbors or former co-workers who have either exhausted their unemployment benefits or are very likely to exhaust them. Maybe they worked hard in businesses that are cutting back in our area, or maybe they are parents who have been out of work so many months they can’t afford child care and/or transportation and still pursue training for new kinds of jobs. We all know people in our community who need flexible options – choices they can control – so they can successfully find their way back into the local workforce.
RochesterWorks!, a public-private partnership for one-stop job placement and training, plays a key role every day in putting people to work in local jobs, and works daily with area businesses to serve their job-related needs. We may soon have more to offer, in terms of flexible options, to those job seekers who are having the hardest time finding employment.
In his economic stimulus plan, the President has proposed giving states $3.6 billion to establish “Personal Reemployment Accounts,” which would provide as much as $3000 each to eligible unemployed workers. A job seeker would choose how to use the funds in his or her personal job search. The dollars could go to training, child care, transportation and/or other services. Under the proposed plan, any recipient who finds work within 13 weeks would keep the balance of the funds as a hiring bonus.
If reemployment accounts are approved by Congress, officials in Washington estimate they would help at least 1.2 million Americans. Locally, officials estimate several hundred Monroe County area job seekers would benefit. Every state would design its own program, but in all states the accounts would be administered through the nation’s one-stop career centers. RochesterWorks!, as part of the Workforce New York network, would be the administrator for our area.
At RochesterWorks! our number one priority is to help job seekers and businesses in ways that contribute to the economic health of Monroe County. We are here to connect people and jobs and help area employers and individuals in a myriad of ways, offering job placement, recruitment, training and counseling services. All our services are free.
Every month, our RochesterWorks! Career Center at 34 St. Paul Street averages 2,600 job seeker visits. In serving employers we often go directly to area workplaces to meet with them. In our most recent fiscal year, we helped more than 3,600 unemployed workers find jobs, and assisted 640 welfare recipients in obtaining employment. We also provided more than $3.5 million to train 1,300 job seekers.
We provided assistance to some 2,800 companies, doing everything from posting their job openings and pre-screening applicants, to offering e-learning opportunities, to working with them to develop on-the-job and customized training programs. As a result of our efforts, more than 7,500 existing employees in local businesses received training services and, with our help, nearly 4,000 jobs listed with us by local companies were filled. RochesterWorks! is clearly making a difference.
The Workforce Investment Board that oversees RochesterWorks! includes representatives from business, government and partner service programs, and on behalf of all of them I can say with confidence that the RochesterWorks! staff is well prepared to serve local job seekers and area companies. There will surely be a debate on Personal Reemployment Accounts in Congress, but whatever the outcome we will do everything in our power to make the program that’s approved be as effective as possible for eligible recipients.
Giving people who really need help some flexible options so they can get back into the local workforce as quickly as possible just makes good sense for our community.
Michael Nuccitelli is Chairman and Co-CEO of Parlec, Inc., and chair of the Monroe County/ Rochester Workforce Investment Board.