Last night was historic by every measure. And the potential for the workforce system finally coming out of a long deadlock is within sight. The big question is whether there is a growing understanding that as people receive additional weeks of unemployment help, that it should be tied to skill enhancements funded with additional money for the workforce system.
In Southeastern Illinois, we are reeling from the slowdown in the auto industry. Many of our remaining local manufacturers are tied to the auto industry supply chain. Currently, we have over 150 workers on lay off and it is growing by the day with announcements of plant closings and companies filing chapter 11.
At the same time with the rescission we sent back to the Department of Labor earlier this year, the system is struggling to meet the increasing demand. Our Crossroads Workforce Centers are very busy and the state partners, the Illinois Department of Employment Services needs to have additional help to receive all the calls they are getting. Many people are irate because they have not been in this position before and are unsure of the process. The ES staff are trying their best to answer the deluge of calls and the frustration that tends to come out from people just laid off. They should get "combat pay" for having to deal with this every day.
So, the opportunity is to move forward with change and improvement. Our system had the Baldrige Quality Principles built into the law. We need to adjust and make the system better. We need to more closely work with economic development and education. But we also need the investment in the people we serve by the federal government and some kind of incentive to bring business dollars to the table too. This system servers all employers. And those that are complaining about the quality of the job applicants need to stop complaining and investing in a solution. The workforce investment system can be an important part of the solution.
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