skip navigational linksDOL Seal - Link to DOL Home Page
Photos representing the workforce - Digital Imagery© copyright 2001 PhotoDisc, Inc.
www.dol.gov
November 4, 2008    DOL Home > State Activities > New York   

New York

Last Updated: April 3, 2008

image of new york

Creating Jobs for the 21st Century Economy

  • Since September 2003, New York's unemployment rate has fallen from 6.5 percent to 4.5 percent.
  • Since July 2003, 392,300 jobs have been created in New York.
  • Since August 2003, more than 8.2 million jobs have been created nationwide.

Preparing Workers for Careers in the 21st Century Workforce

  • Job Training and Dislocated Worker Funds: Since 2001, New York has received nearly $4.506 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 New York, click on the link below:

New York 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 New York, click on the link below:

New York 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 $1,496,807 to provide safety training for New York's miners.
  • In 2004, New York was awarded $25,000 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 $79.1 million to New Yorkers 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 100 USERRA complaints on behalf of protected service members and veterans in New York.

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.




Phone Numbers