State to launch jobs programs

Not long after Rhode Island lawmakers approved a $1.25 million package of new programs to fight joblessness last summer, the state’s unemployment rate began its latest creep upward before settling at 9 percent in November, 2 percentage points higher than the national average and tied for the highest in the country.
Now after months of getting the programs ready, they are slated to launch in the new year, not a moment too soon for residents looking for an opportunity in the still-sluggish job market.
Temporary work experience for college students and those collecting jobless benefits are at the core of the new initiatives, the first funded from the state’s general fund in memory.
“I really do think it is going to be a great opportunity for people to get work experience while getting paid and for employers to get reimbursed for trying them out,” said Heather Singleton, senior vice president for education at the Rhode Island Hospitality Association, which plans to refer people it trains to the Work Immersion Program when it gets off the ground later this winter.
“For our adult students who go through training, we place them in internships and the majority are unpaid,” she said. “Having this new opportunity with work immersion … gives job seekers one more step in the career pathway.”
The state budget passed by lawmakers called for the new programs – Back to Work Rhode Island and the Work Immersion Program – to begin in October, but only the paid college internships in the latter have launched so far.
“You have to ramp up the programs and build them before you can open them to all the people who need jobs,” said R.I. Department of Labor and Training spokeswoman Laura Hart. “In October we went public, and DLT has been talking to businesses, as well as unemployed people. We are trying to build interest among employers first because you can’t say ‘come work here’ without the jobs in place.”
The Work Immersion Program, which is run by the Governor’s Workforce Board, repays employers half of what they spend on either credit-awarding college internships or temporary jobs for unemployed adults. Both the internships and temporary jobs can last a maximum of 200 hours and pay no more than $20 per hour. Depending on how much the jobs pay, participants in some cases can also collect a pro-rated share of their unemployment benefits while working.
Employers who hire someone for at least 12 weeks after the end of their work experience can be reimbursed up to 75 percent of what they paid during the work experience.
Although the college internships launched in mid-September, that was too late for most students to book an internship in the fall semester.
Hart said currently the program is funding nine internships, but should start expanding in the next two months as students arrange and begin internships for the spring and summer semester.
To be eligible for a temporary job subsidized through the Work Immersion Program, unemployed adults must complete an authorized training program and be connected to an employer through that training program.
The Department of Labor and Training recently held a seminar for community organizations who do training to learn about the program so they can start reaching out to companies they think might want to participate.
Prospective workers can sign up now, but there are no employers committed yet, said Hart, who expects actual work experiences to begin in January.
Back to Work Rhode Island, the highest-profile program of the initiatives, is modeled after programs in Georgia and New Hampshire and was approved last summer after years of debate.
Back to Work addresses the same goal of providing work experience in a different way: allowing those residents collecting unemployment benefits to continue receiving them while they work or are trained at a participating company.
The employers benefit by getting extra help and a chance to try out potential new hires without having to pay them. Participants can work at a company up to 24 hours per week for six weeks. After the six weeks are up, the company has to decide whether to hire the worker permanently or let them return to unemployment.
Like the Work Immersion Program, $500,000 of the total state appropriation is dedicated to Back to Work.
While the Immersion money directly subsidizes employers for providing work experiences, the $500,000 in Back to Work pays for DLT to administer and run the program.
DLT expects Work Immersion will provide jobs for 250 people, but because it leverages the resources of the state unemployment-insurance program, Back to Work could impact a greater number.
In Georgia, where the program included a $240-per-week stipend on top of unemployment benefits, by the fall of 2011, 32,000 people were participating.
In General Assembly discussions about Back to Work, debate centered on whether to include a stipend and the less expensive option of not doing so won out.
For Back to Work and Work Immersion, the question now is how enthusiastic employers will be about the programs.
“We have some interest from businesses and we are doing outreach, but I would say there definitely is less concern about having enough unemployed people wanting to take advantage of the program than having enough employers for them to work for,” Hart said.
Joel Crucetts, team leader in the YouthBuild program at Blackstone Community Action Program in Pawtucket that provides job training, doesn’t think there should be any shortage of interest from employers in Work Immersion in particular.
“We have a lot of kids 18-to-24 years old who are trying to get their GED and have minimal work experience. This gives them a chance to work at local companies,” Crucetts said. “I don’t see why businesses would not be interested, because they could hire someone on a tryout for much less than they could otherwise.” •

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