State receives $3.6M for worker training

PROVIDENCE – Rhode Island received $3.64 million today from the U.S. Department of Labor for career training and employment and case management services to workers who lose their jobs to outsourcing and foreign trade.

The money is part of $455.59 million in Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) distributed nationwide by the Labor Department, including $27.27 million to the six New England states.

“Workers around the nation continue to see their jobs disappear as a direct result of increased imports and competitive trade,” said Secretary of Labor Hilda L. Solis. “The funding announced today will help more of these workers upgrade existing skills or retrain for new careers in industries that have the potential to grow in the coming months and years.”

The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 included an expansion and changes to the TAA program designed to ensure that all U.S. residents made jobless by foreign trade and outsourcing have the skills, resources and support to get a new job.

The Recovery Act authorized an increase in the maximum amount of TAA funds that may be used for training nationwide from $220 million to $575 million.

Based on this training increase, plus the funding authorized for case management services and administration, the Labor Department is now making a supplemental distribution for fiscal 2009.

The total FY 2009 supplemental distribution for New England is:

• Rhode Island – $3,641,437

• Connecticut – $6,442,654

• Maine – $3,015,009

• Massachusetts – $12,262,342

• New Hampshire – $1,347,753

• Vermont – $558,082

Additional information on TAA and other Department of Labor employment and training programs is available at www.doleta.gov.