|
Appropriations/Job Creation Legislation
Democratic leaders in the House are planning to wrap up the seven remaining FY 10 appropriations measures in a two-part omnibus plan before the continuing resolution deadline of December 18. The legislation could reach the floor as early as next week.
The first part would include all remaining appropriations bills except the FY10 Defense bill and could include jobs-related measures, in addition to extension of the PATRIOT Act and prevention of reimbursement cuts for Medicare physicians. The six appropriations bills would be attached to the final version of the FY10 Military Construction-VA bill, the Transportation-HUD or the Commerce-Justice-Science bills, which are all waiting final approval by joint conference committees. House Democratic leaders are considering using $60-70 billion of the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to offset the jobs creation legislation.
The second part of the omnibus plan would attach several measures to the FY10 Defense spending bill including a debt limit increase and estate tax rates.
Currently, only five of the 12 appropriations bills have been signed into law. If the House passes the omnibus packages, the Senate would be required to postpone debate on healthcare legislation to take up the legislation.
White House Jobs Summit
On December 3, the White House hosted its Jobs Summit with approximately 130 participants including five mayors invited by the White House to attend the meeting and discuss their priorities in break-out panels. The five mayors attending were: Des Moines Mayor Frank Cownie, Detroit Mayor David Bing, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin, Allentown Mayor Ed Pawlowski and San Antonio Mayor Julián Castro.
During the Summit, President Obama stressed that the federal budget deficit must be addressed and that a large second stimulus bill should not be expected. However, there was substantial discussion during the general session and breakout panels on the need for more investment directly to cities and metro areas through key investment programs, as well as the possible need for targeted fiscal relief for both states and local governments. The White House discussion covered topics such as increasing investment through the creation of an infrastructure bank, increasing job readiness training (including the Summer Youth program), creating green jobs and reducing energy usage, and increasing small business access to credit.
During the breakout sessions, Fresno Mayor Ashley Swearengin pushed hard for the Summer Youth program, emphasizing that if the program is not funded directly in the next jobs bill it could be eliminated permanently. Secretary Solis asked summit participants, "How can employers get people who are out of work trained for the jobs that exist today?" Chairman of AT&T Randall Stephenson suggested partnerships between the private sector and community colleges.
Click here to read the White House News Release.
Click here to read the Secretary's Remarks.
Click here to read the President's and Vice President's Remarks.
Unemployment Rate
On Friday, December 4, the Department of Labor’s Bureau of Labor Statistics reported the unemployment rate at 10 percent, down from the 10.2 percent rate reported for October. Economists had expected the rate to remain at 10.2 percent throughout the month of November. The economy shed 11,000 jobs last month, the fewest since the start of the recession, down from the 111,000 drop in October and fewer than the 125,000 expected by economists.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has predicted the unemployment rate will decline slowly over the next year due to a moderate recovery. Fed officials expect the jobless rate will be between 9.3 and 9.7 percent around this time next year, and will finally settle around eight percent in 2011.
Department of Labor Announces Job Seekers Challenge
DOL is inviting career development sites, job boards and job search-engine providers in addition to all other career-focused resource websites to submit their career exploration and job search resource websites to the "Tools for America’s Job Seekers Challenge." Websites must be submitted by December 18. The Department of Labor will invite the public to review the sites and provide feedback in January.
Click here to view the full press release.
Click here to view the Secretary's Video Introduction.
Click here to join the challenge.
ETA Conference Call on Virtual Service Delivery
The Employment and Training Administration is hosting four telephone consultation meetings to hear feedback about unmet opportunities of virtual service delivery in the health care sector. The first calls are scheduled for next week on Tuesday December 8 at 11:00 a.m. and Thursday December 10 at 4:00 p.m. Topics to be discussed include: 1) attracting workers to careers to the health care field; 2) identifying apt candidates for health care careers; 3) providing online training in technical courses, prerequisites or fundamentals; and/or 4) connecting individuals with health care job opportunities.
Please RSVP to Jennifer Pirtle at Pirtle.Jennifer@dol.gov or Stuart Werner at Werner.Stuart@dol.gov indicating your preferred plan and time on a 45 minute call. The call in number is 1-877-710-0658 and the pass code is 4807419. If you are unable to join any of the scheduled calls, the ETA will host a Webinar on Thursday, December 17 at 2:00 p.m. Eastern for the general workforce investment community to conclude the consultations. Additional information on the Webinar will be provided on a later date.
Department of Education WIA Community Conversations
The Department of Education Office of Vocation and Adult Education is holding a series of WIA Community Conversations throughout the country to facilitate a constructive and candid discussion regarding WIA Reauthorization among the entire range of stakeholders working directly with the Workforce Investment Act. To date, Community Conversations have been held in Sacramento, CA, New York, NY, and Trenton, NJ. The Department created an online blog where the public can post comments and access comments from the Community Conversations. In addition, feedback can be sent to WIAConversations@ed.gov.
Click here to access the Department of Education’s WIA Reauthorization Blog Website.
|
