A little bit of encouragement

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June 16, 2009

By DUANE NOLLEN The Oskaloosa Herald Tue Jun 16, 2009, 09:24 AM CDT

OSKALOOSA — Iowa Workforce Development officials encourage Iowans who are unemployed to take the time now to update their job skills to be competitive in the job market.

Iowa Workforce Development Director Elisabeth Buck and Deputy Director Joe Walsh spoke to local employers Monday afternoon at the IWD office in Oskaloosa about topics such as unemployment numbers and federal stimulus funds.

Nationally, the May unemployment rate is at 9.1 percent. Iowa will release its May numbers Friday, but the April unemployment figure is 5.1 percent and the Mahaska County number is 7.3 percent, Buck said. Now, there are 870 people in Mahaska County receiving unemployment insurance — up substantially from two years ago, she added.

“We encourage Iowans who receive unemployment insurance to ‘upskill’ now,” Buck said.

IWD officials have sent letters to those people to go to their local community college or four-year college financial aid office to inquire about aid for job training.

Buck said IWD officials see a couple significant problems across the state. Many Iowans still don’t have at least a GED and there is a digital literacy problem where people aren’t computer savvy.

Walsh spoke about unemployment insurance modernization.

Iowa has always been ahead of the curve for worker training, he said. There is $71 million in federal assistance to the state so workers can go back to school to better their job skills. Also, there’s another 26 weeks of unemployment benefits available for workers who go back to school for training programs, he said.

The two IWD officials took questions from the audience.

One audience member asked how “high technology” and “high demand” jobs are defined.

Walsh said that “high demand” jobs are those with a higher growth rate than the state average. Also, “high technology” jobs are those that deal with computer science or advanced manufacturing processes.

Buck said that health care is a job category that takes up 20 percent of the IWD’s job bank.

Another audience member asked if there’s a risk that Iowa is training workers who then leave the state for better jobs.

Buck said that the Illinois unemployment rate is 11 percent, and the unemployment rates in Wisconsin and Minnesota are higher than Iowa’s.

Walsh said that Iowa’s community college presidents report that the state retains about 90 percent of the students who graduate from their programs.

Walsh said that IWD officials want to compile a list of high-demand occupations and distribute it to the IWD’s 15 regions so local officials can tell job seekers what training programs are available for those occupations.

For those who want more information, they can visit the IWD Web site at www.iowaworkforce.org or visit their local office. The Oskaloosa IWD office is located at 408 S. 11th St.

Herald Editor Duane Nollen can be reached at oskynews@oskyherald.com

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