Perez is Sworn in as 26th Secretary of Labor

Vice President Joe Biden administered the oath of office to Secretary of Labor Thomas E. Perez during a ceremony on September 4th.  Mr. Perez, who was confirmed by the U.S. Senate on July 18, is the 26th secretary of labor. Vice President Biden remarked he is "the embodiment" of the American Dream, who has devoted his life to providing others with an opportunity to succeed. Mr. Perez spoke of mentors and encounters that shaped his life, including the belief that "you can make it if you try." He called for closing "the skills gap" by investing in the nation's workforce, ensuring a safe and level playing field for workers, reforming the immigration system, and increasing the minimum wage

Happy Labor Day

Labor Day, the first Monday in September, is a creation of the labor movement and is dedicated to the social and economic achievements of American workers. It constitutes a yearly national tribute to the contributions workers have made to the strength, prosperity, and well-being of our country.

Celebrate 50 Years

"I have a dream this afternoon that my four little children will not come up in the same young days that I came up within, but they will be judged on the basis of the content of their character, not the color of their skin."  Martin Luther King, Jr - 1963

FMLA Turns Twenty

Monday, August 5, marked the 20-year anniversary of the Family and Medical Leave Act. As a result, many people have the liberty, security and legal right to take time off the job to care for a family member without risking their job.

Grants to Improve State UI Programs

The U.S. Department of Labor announce that grants are available to improve state Unemployment Insurance programs.  The funding will help states implement strategies to prevent, reduce and recover improper payments and to modernize the UI tax and benefit systems. In order to qualify for funding, states must implement a set of core integrity strategies, such as the implementation or expansion of the State Information Data Exchange System to reduce improper payments. This round of funding also provides an opportunity for states to go beyond improper payments to focus on additional UI technology system improvements, data exchange enhancements for UI for Ex-military Service members, and integration of state UI, Employment Service, and Workforce Investment Act IT systems.

Eric Seleznow Named as Acting Assistant Secretary

Eric Seleznow was named U.S. Department of Labor Employment and Training Administration Deputy Assistant Secretary this week. Mr. Seleznow brings more than 30 years of experience in the workforce development system and served as state policy director for the National Skills Coalition for the past three years. Before joining the coalition, he served as executive director of the Governor's Workforce Investment Board in Maryland. Mr. Seleznow also served as local WIB director for the Montgomery County (MD) Department of Economic Development. At ETA, Seleznow also will assume the role of acting assistant secretary.

Senate Approves Perez as 26th Secretary of Labor

On July 18th, the U.S. Senate approved the nomination of Thomas E. Perez to be the nation's 26th Secretary of Labor.   Mr. Perez has spent his entire career in public service, and will join the department on July 23 after an impressive tenure as the assistant attorney general for the Civil Rights Division at the U.S. Department of Justice.   He previously served as the secretary of Maryland's Department of Labor, Licensing and Regulation.

Immediate Past President

The International Educational Conference celebrating the 100th anniversary of IAWP has come and gone and I am now officially Immediate Past President.  The conference was terrific and I had the time of my life and will cherish each and every memory made with my IAWP family.  Special thanks to the conference planning committee - George Barthalow, Terri Pasternik, Grant Axtell and Mary Riddell for all their hard work making the conference the "celebration of a century."

I enjoyed serving as International president and seeing my theme, Celebrating a Century, Charting Our Future become a reality.  It's now time to turn the helm over to incoming president Raymond Cabrera to create "Your Pathway to Communication and Education."

Chicago Here I Come

This is likely my last post as IAWP president since I will be leaving for Chicago tomorrow and the IAWP International Educational Conference and probably won't find the time while I am there to post.  It's been a wild ride as president and I have enjoyed most of it.  I didn't get everything done that I had hoped to do and some of the committee chairs didn't accomplish what I hoped they would, but as my mom used to say "That's the way the pickle squirts."  Thanks to everyone who supported me and a special thanks to those that accomplished so many of the things we did get done.  Celebrating a Century, Charting Our Future.  Nancy

Immigration Bill to Provide Jobs for Youth

 The U.S. Senate passed an immigration reform bill that includes $1.5 billion over two years for youth jobs. The provision, proposed by Senator Bernie Sanders (I-VT), would help states and local communities find jobs for more than 400,000 unemployed 16- to 24-year-olds. Currently, the official unemployment for that age group is 16.2 percent.

States will be able to use this funding to provide summer and year round job opportunities to young Americans until September 30, 2015. It is anticipated most of this funding will be used to provide summer job opportunities for young Americans during the summers of 2014 and 2015. Each state would get at least $7.5 million.

Job Corps Now Enrolling

 Job Corps is seeking new applicants ages 16 to 24 for its national career training and education program at 125 campuses across the country. Residential and nonresidential slots are available for the self-paced federal program. The program is an ideal opportunity to gain education, career training, and employability skills for eligible low-income individuals who may be looking for a steppingstone to a community college or for those who need additional support to pursue a community college degree.

NASWA Asks for Flexibility for EUC

On Friday, June 14, 2013, NASWA’s Unemployment Insurance (UI) Committee Chair Bruce Madson (OH) sent a letter to U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Office of Unemployment Insurance (OUI) Administrator Gay Gilbert communicating the need for flexibility of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program when Fiscal Year 2014 begins on October 1st.

The letter stemmed from the most recent NASWA UI Committee meeting at the end of April 2013, where states discussed the need for flexibility if states have to implement another sequestration cut for the EUC program for the fiscal 2014 budget cycle.

The UI Committee is concerned states will not have the time, or the resources, to implement another prescribed federal cut to the weekly and maximum benefit amounts to the EUC08 program before the program expires on December 31, 2013, to achieve the required sequestration savings. The UI Committee also is concerned another round of sequestration changes in the next fiscal year would cause further claimant confusion, unnecessary system changes and costs, increase the risk of benefit overpayments and underpayments, and hurt the overall integrity of the UI system.

The UI Committee proposed allowing states to implement the following options should fiscal year 2014 sequestration be required:

 1. Permit states to continue with the same state specific solution and percentage reduction approved by USDOL for fiscal 2013 sequestration reductions;*

2. Allow states to propose plans to achieve the targeted EUC reductions;
3. Permit states to change percentage reduction amounts to new EUC claimants and/or existing EUC claimants to achieve targeted EUC reductions; or
4. Permit states to end the EUC program early as a viable option for achieving targeted EUC reductions.

Senate Committee Announces Hearing on WIA Reauthorization

On Thursday, June 13, 2013, Senator Tom Harkin (D-IA), Chairman of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions, announced a full committee hearing for Thursday, June 20, 2013 at 2:30 PM on reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act. The hearing is called: Developing a Skilled Workforce for a Competitive Economy. 

The intent of the hearing is to discuss general workforce issues; it will not review specific legislation.  The legislation will be bipartisan and authored by Senator Patty Murray (D-WA) and Senator Johnny Isakson (R-GA).  Senator Harkin would like to mark-up the legislation by the end of July and perhaps take it to the Senate floor in early fall.

NASWA President Retires

NASWA President and Oregon Employment Department (OED) Director Laurie Warner announced her retirement effective July 1, 2013, from the OED after nearly eight years heading the agency and 30 years of service at the state and local levels of government. Ms. Warner also served as NASWA Treasurer and on NASWA’s Administration and Finance Committee as Vice-Chair (2008-2009) and Chair (2009-2010) prior to becoming NASWA President-Elect in 2011.

As of July 1, 2013, NASWA President-Elect Mark Henry (MS) will become NASWA President, completing Ms. Warner’s term and then starting his own term after the 77th NASWA Annual Conference in September.
 

80th Anniversary of Wagner-Peyser Act

Thursday, June 6th, marked the 80th anniversary of President Franklin Roosevelt’s signing the Wagner-Peyser Act into law. The Wagner-Peyser Act established the U.S. Employment Service (ES) in response to the Great Depression.
WIA) programs and the UI system, playing an important complementary role in the state one-stop career center system.

Wagner-Peyser Act services reduce the duration of unemployment and also increase the earnings of job seekers upon reemployment. Nearly 20 million Americans every year receive services under the Wagner-Peyser Act.

New Acting Assistant Secretary for ETA Named

On Thursday, June 6, 2013, U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL) Acting Secretary Seth Harris announced the appointment of Gerri Fiala as Acting Assistant Secretary for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) after the retirement of former ETA Assistant Secretary Jane Oates on May 31, 2013. Prior to being named ETA Acting Assistant Secretary, Ms. Fiala served as the Deputy Assistant Secretary for USDOL.

ETA Acting Assistant Secretary Fiala first joined USDOL in 1986 as the Chief of the Policy and Planning Unit in ETA’s Office of Strategic Planning. Acting Assistant Secretary Fiala became the Administrator of the same office in 1995, where she served for eight years, playing a key role in developing policies and working with Congressional staff on the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. 

FY 2014 Comments

From the USDOL DOL News Brief:

At the start of acting Secretary [of Labor] Harris' June 6 hearing before the Senate Labor-Health and Human Services Appropriations Subcommittee, Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin noted that, in its 100th year, the department's mission "has never been more important." Harris agreed and in prepared testimony highlighted the ways the department's Fiscal Year 2014 budget request helps ensure ladders of opportunity for Americans striving to enter and stay in the middle class. In fiscal year 2014, the department will work to restore America as a magnet for jobs, by investing in high-tech manufacturing and innovation, clean energy and infrastructure, while cutting red tape to help businesses grow. The budget request supports education and job training to give workers the skills they need to compete in the global economy. "Our budget request invests in the future by working to make good jobs available for all American workers in a fiscally responsible manner," said Harris.

WIA Reauthorization Update

According to press reports, Senator Tom Harkin, (D-IA) is currently working to bring a reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act up for consideration. Senator Harkin chairs the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions which has jurisdiction over the issue. The Senator said he expects to have a bill ready by late summer or early fall and suggests there will be bipartisan support for the plan.

As part of that process, Senator Harkin said this week he would like to see vocational rehabilitation agencies take a bigger role in facilitating internships and other real-world experiences for students with disabilities who are in transition. Currently, access to vocational rehabilitation varies widely from state to state, with employment services available to youth with special needs in some locations, but not others.

Volcker Predicts Slow Drop in Unemployment Rate

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Paul Volcker spoke before the National Association for Business Economics in Washington after receiving the organization's first lifetime achievement award for economic policy.

The economy “is growing, but not fast enough to reduce the unemployment rate in the way we would like to see,” Volcker said. “It’s declining because the labor force is not rising, and we’re getting a little more employment, but it’s a long way from being satisfactory.”

The U.S. unemployment rate dropped to 7.5 percent in April from 7.6 percent in March and 8.1 percent a year earlier. The rate was last below 6 percent in July 2008.

Bills to Repeal Sequestration

On Tuesday, April 23, 2013, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) introduced S. 788, legislation to repeal sequestration for the remainder of fiscal year 2013 and replace the $85 billion in across-the-board cuts with savings from the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) also introduced legislation, S.799, that would require alternative spending cuts equal to the amount called for under sequestration by May 15, 2013. The measure also would allow the alternative spending plan submitted by the Administration to be blocked if Congress adopted a resolution of disapproval to override.

Both proposals put forward by the Senate Majority and Minority seek to address sequestration in a more comprehensive manner as the effects of sequestration are being felt around the country. Congress easily approved legislation ending furloughs of air-traffic controllers that have delayed hundreds of flights. The U.S. House approved the measure in a 361-41 vote, one day after the Senate agreed to the bill.