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Creating Jobs for the 21st Century Economy
- Since July 2003, North Carolina's employment rate has fallen
from 6.6 percent to 4.8 percent.
- Since June 2003, 73,000 jobs have been created in North
Carolina.
- Since August 2003, more than 1.9 million jobs have been created nationwide.
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Preparing Workers for Careers in the 21st Century
Workforce
- Job Training and Dislocated Worker Funds:
Since 2001, North Carolina has received over $1.2 billion in funds
from the Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration
to provide skills training and career development assistance to dislocated
workers and other participants.
- Hurricane Relief: The Department of Labor awarded
a $10 million National Emergency grant to North Carolina to help with
cleanup and recovery efforts in the wake of the recent storms.
- High Growth Job Training Initiative: The
President's High Growth Job Training Initiative is a strategic effort to more
closely tie federal training programs to job opportunities in America's fastest
growing industries such as health care, biotechnology, construction, advanced
manufacturing and others. By fostering collaboration between employers,
educators and the public workforce system, the Initiative will help workers
find and prepare for good jobs while also providing a model for transforming
the nation's entire public workforce system.
- North Carolina is participating in a $5,192,154 grant to help
train workers for jobs in the health care industry. As part of these grants,
the North Carolina Community College System received $1,500,000.
- North Carolina is participating in $5,754,146 worth of grants to
help train workers for jobs in the Biotechnology industry. As part of these
grants, Forsyth Technical Community College received a $5,000,000.
- One Stop Career Centers: One Stop Career
Centers are the focal point of America's workforce investment system,
supporting the employment needs of job seekers and the human resource needs of
business. At One Stop Centers, workers, job seekers, and other participants can
receive training and education, build their skills, and access federal
assistance programs, while employers use One Stop Centers to help recruit
workers they need for their businesses.
For a list of One Stop Career Centers in North Carolina, click on the
link below:
North
Carolina One Stop Centers
- Job Corps: Job Corps is the nation's largest
federally funded job training and education program for economically
disadvantaged youth ages 16 through 24. Established in 1964, Job Corps has
trained and educated more than 2 million young people to date, serving more
than 70,000 young adults each year. Besides vocational training, Job Corps
provides academic and life skills training including the opportunity for
students to earn a High School Diploma or GED. Approximately 90 percent of Job
Corps graduates go on to careers in the private sector, enlist in the military
or move on to higher education or advanced training programs.
For a list of Job Corps Centers in North Carolina, click on the link
below:
North Carolina Job
Corps Centers
Protecting Workers on the Job
- The most recent data shows that since 2001, worker fatalities have
fallen by 6 percent nationwide and by 10.3 percent in North Carolina.
- Last year, injuries among Hispanic workers fell by 6 percent
nationwide.
- Over the past four years, the Mine Safety and Health Administration
has awarded $563,934 to provide safety training for North Carolina's miners.
- In 2003, mining fatalities across the country fell to the lowest
level since 1910.
Protecting Workers' Wages
- Since 2001, the Department of Labor has collected more than a half a
billion dollars in back wages including overtime for workers
across the nation.
- The Department of Labor has reformed 50 year old overtime regulations
and introduced new overtime security rules that will provide more overtime
protection to more workers than under current law. The reforms guarantee
overtime protection for workers making less than $23,660, a nearly threefold
increase over the old rules, and guarantee overtime protection to hourly
workers, blue collar workers and first responders.
Protecting Worker Benefits
- Since 2001, the Department of Labor has secured more than $3 billion
for the retirement, health and benefit plans that cover 150 million
Americans.
- The Department of Labor has reformed the financial reporting
requirements for unions so that rank and file union members will have access to
more accurate and complete information about how their dues money is spent.
These reforms will help union members police their own unions and prevent
problems before they start.
- Fulfilling its role in the Energy Employee Occupational Illness
Compensation program, the Department has awarded more than $4 million to North
Carolinians who developed cancer and other covered diseases while working on
nuclear weapons and related projects for the United States. Payments have gone
to former employees at the Department of Energy, its contractors or
subcontractors, or to their survivors.
Protecting the Jobs of America's Veterans
- Since the attacks of September 11, 2001, the Department of Labor has
protected the jobs of America's veterans by providing briefings, presentations,
and technical assistance on the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment
Rights Act (USERRA) to more than 170,000 people nationwide. This includes
veterans, reservists and employers. Since 2001, the Department has completed
investigations of 172 USERRA complaints on behalf of protected service members
and veterans in North Carolina.
Serving Hispanic Workers
- The Department of Labor's Hispanic Worker Initiative is focused on
helping Hispanic Americans take advantage of job opportunities in high growth
sectors of the economy. The Initiative is focusing on three strategies:
- Helping Hispanic Americans develop language and occupational
skills.
- Helping Hispanic youth stay on an educational path that leads to
rewarding careers.
- Encouraging collaboration between employers, community colleges
and the public workforce system to help Hispanic Americans build the skills
required for jobs in growing industries.
- The Occupational Health and Safety Administration has also mounted a
significant effort to reach out to Spanish-speaking workers and their
employers, including printing health and safety materials in Spanish, setting
up a Spanish-language hotline, and extensive community outreach, particularly
in the construction industry.
- Since 2001, fatalities among Hispanic workers have fallen by 11.6
percent nationwide.
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