Director's Corner
As we all continue to brave the tough winter weather, our
office sends you warm greetings and a heads up that we will soon have a date
and location for the next Counselor Training! Our guarantee is that when you
sit in that training sometime this Spring, you will find everything warmer and
sunnier than you do right now!
Shortly after we announce the date and location of the
training, we will send out a Request for Proposals for sessions. This is
a great time to start thinking about what YOU want the training to be about,
and what will help YOU do your job better! One of our ideas is to add a
management/administrative track – so those of you reading this who aren’t
counselors can still think about terrific session ideas that may benefit you
and your work.
On March 3 starting at 9:30AM, the Job Skills Partnership
board will meet at DEED’s headquarters at the First National Bank building to
review the progress of the Dislocated Worker program and the Workforce Development
Fund. We will be passing on the news that collections are projected to be
very strong for the remainder of the year, and that the system is at full
funding. Eligible customers that counselors and other staff engage should
be able to benefit from the full range of services in the program – of course,
remaining appropriate within state and federal statute and policy, as well as
abiding by any local policies or procedures.
This is a great place to be, and we’re glad be there with
you! The economy’s improvement has not reached everyone yet, and we need
to work hard together to ensure the Dislocated Worker and associated programs
are doing their best to help all Minnesotans succeed in their careers.
Thank you for all you do, and stay warm!
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Corner On The Market:
Measuring Labor Force Participation
With Rachel Vilsack
Minnesota’s high labor force participation – or the percent
of the population working or looking for a job – is a key factor in future job
growth. It’s also a measure of worker availability, which can fluctuate as
youth enter the labor force for the first time, job seekers stop looking for
work, or workers retire and exit the labor market entirely.
In December 2013, the state’s labor force participation rate
stood at 70.1 percent.
Between 2009 and 2012, the number of retired individuals
drawing social security benefits in Minnesota increased by just over 58,000.
This an exodus from the workforce that would account for a little more than a
two percentage point drop in our labor force participation rate. Over that same period, our labor force
participation rate declined by 1.4 percentage points.
If baby boomers retire at current rates, an estimated
215,540 will leave the labor force by 2017. Because they make up a large share
of the population, Minnesota’s labor force participation rate will decline 1.6
percent. Minnesota’s labor force will expand by only 52,880 as younger people
age out of school and enter the workforce.
If half of baby boomers delay retirement five years, then
124,650 will leave the labor force by 2017, and the labor force participation
rate will increase 0.9 percent.
The take away: the effects of youth and in-migration are
eclipsed by baby boomer behavior.
Check out the State Demographic Center’s new report In
the Shadow of the Boomers: Minnesota’s Labor Force Outlook for more
information.
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Grant Updates
We awarded the following new grants to serve dislocated
workers from mass layoffs this month:
Pioneer Press
Employment Action Center
Grant Amount: $200,000
Number of participants: 50
Archiver’s
MN Teamsters Service Bureau
Grant Amount: $200,000
Number of participants: 50
Long-Term
Participants
Dislocated Worker program staff are encouraging local
providers to go through their caseloads to determine where long-term
participants are actively engaged in the program and where they should be
exited from the program. We are strongly encouraging local providers to exit
participants who have been enrolled for 5 or more years, and to provide
justification in case notes for enrollment longer than 3 years. Providers with
participants enrolled for 5 or more years can expect communication from Jenny
Bendewald asking you to exit those participants or justify their continued
enrollment.
Federal monitors have had official findings in Minnesota on
participants kept enrolled despite gaps in service of 90 days or more. Guidance from US
DOL instructs us to exit participants who have not received services for 90
days. Our focus on long-term participants is meant to reduce or prevent these
findings in the future.
Remember that the Reporting
Services portal contains a long-term participation report, allowing you to
easily see which participants need increased attention. State staff will not
dictate which participants you should exit, but we will ask you about cases
that we feel need some attention!
Opportunity For Your
Entrepreneurial Participants: CLIMB
Last session, the Minnesota Legislature passed CLIMB:
Converting Layoffs Into Minnesota Businesses as an addition to the Dislocated Worker
statute. Inspired by the federal Project GATE II, this law allows providers
to offer entrepreneurial training, business consulting, and technical
assistance to dislocated workers who wish to start their own business. Unlike
Project GATE II, this legislation has no age minimum. Like Project GATE II,
CLIMB participants will be ‘neutral’ in provider performance. Your Local
Unified Planning documents reference the project in place of a past
entrepreneur-focused question.
We will be rolling out more guidance and outreach materials
soon—stay tuned for that!
Eligibility Handbook
DEED staff have updated DEED’s
eligibility handbook for programs administered by the Workforce Development
Division.
Changes made include:
- Senior Community
Service Employment Program (SCSEP) – page 22
- Displaced
Homemaker Program (DHP) – Page 27
- Chapter IV.
Income Table: Poverty Level, column 1 – page 63
Alert on Fraudulent
Federal Grants Scheme
Over the past few months, the Council on Financial
Assistance Reform (COFAR) has received inquiries and complaints from persons
targeted by a fraudulent grants scheme.
The COFAR is not a grant making organization. The COFAR will never
request banking information, social security numbers, or other personally
identifiable information to facilitate the issuance of a “grant.”
According to reports, the scam artist claims to represent the
COFAR when contacting the individual. Victims are told they have been selected
to receive a government grant ranging from $5,000 to $25,000. In order to receive the grant money, the
representative explains a "processing fee" ranging between $150 and
$700 must be paid and asks individuals for bank account information.
Please note the following:
- No government grant-making agency will make
phone calls; send email or letters to solicit money or personal banking
information from a potential grant recipient.
- There are no processing fees for federal grants.
- Federal grants are not issued for personal use,
but are intended for institutions and non-profits to carry out projects with a
public purpose.
- Know who you're dealing with on the web. Scam artists will often post a website with a
name similar to a legitimate site.
- If you have provided personal banking
information to anyone claiming to be associated with a Federal grant agency,
call your bank immediately to prevent unauthorized access to your account.
- To obtain Federal grant information and
applications, visit the following web sites: www.grants.gov, www.usa.gov,
www.govbenefits.gov.
If you have received reports from anyone who may have been a
victim of a government grant scam, please ask them to file a complaint with the
FTC online, or call toll-free, 1-877-FTC-HELP (1-877-382-4357); TTY:
1-866-653-4261. The FTC enters Internet, telemarketing, identity theft, and
other fraud-related complaints into Consumer Sentinel, a secure online database
available to hundreds of civil and criminal law enforcement agencies in the
U.S. and abroad.
To learn more, visit https://cfo.gov/cofar/
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