Last Updated: April 3, 2008
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Creating Jobs for the 21st Century Economy
- Since March 2003, Utah's unemployment rate has fallen from 5.9
percent to 3.0 percent.
- Since March 2003, 198,500 jobs have been created in Utah.
- Since August 2003, more than 8.2 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, Utah has received nearly $1.916 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.
- 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 Utah, click on the link below:
Utah
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 Utah, click on the link below:
Utah Job Corps
Centers
Protecting Workers on the Job
- The Department's health and safety agencies have helped drive fatality and serious injury rates in the American workplace to record lows. Since 2002, the overall injury and illness rates has declined by 17%; and since 2001, the worker fatality rate has dropped by 9%.
- Since 2001, the Mine Safety and Health Administration has awarded
$986,733 to provide safety training for Utah's miners.
- In 2004, Utah was awarded $52,000 to create digitized mine maps, to
avoid accidents like the Quecreek mine in Pennsylvania.
Protecting Workers' Wages
- Since 2001, the Department of Labor has collected more than $1.25 billion dollars in back wages including overtime for 2 million 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 $10.7 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 $73.2 million to
Utahns 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 500,000 people nationwide. This includes
veterans, reservists and employers. Since 2001, the Department has completed
investigations of 49 USERRA complaints on behalf of protected service members
and veterans in Utah.
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.
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