North Carolina’s unemployment rate decreased from 10.9 percent to 10.8 percent in November, according to the N.C. Employment Security Commission.
This is a small increase, but it does reflect some improvement in the job market that I hope will continue into next year.
This bit of bright news comes at the end of a tumultuous financial year and can be attributed in part to the federal recovery effort’s programs to stimulate automobile and home purchases, among many others. In North Carolina, money from the Workforce Investment Act and the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act has helped create or retain about 28,000 jobs to date and those numbers are expected to increase in the months ahead.
The information below from the North Carolina Office of Economic Recovery and Investment highlights some of the ways this money from the federal government is being used. (All numbers have been rounded off.) Thank you as always for your support and your interest in our state.
Overview
The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) can best be divided into three major funding categories: adult, youth and dislocated workers. WIA and American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funds were awarded by the federal Department of Labor.
Approximately $79.8 million was made available to North Carolina in March 2009. Of this amount, $56.8 million was distributed to the state’s 24 workforce development boards. Within each funding stream, the dollars were budgeted as follows:
Programs in Progress
Recovery money that is not required to be distributed to local boards is held by the state to support strategic investments that build North Carolina’s workforce delivery system for youth, adults and dislocated workers. Two projects were approved by the Office of Economic Recovery and Investment and are in progress:
A. To support our community colleges’ mission to train and retrain our state’s workforce, the Department of Workforce Development partnered with the Community College system to plan and implement the Governor’s JobsNOW 12 in 6 Initiative. With an investment of $13.4 million, local community colleges, in partnership with local Workforce Development Boards, are creating short-term training programs for targeted occupations. The 12 in 6 Program is a workforce development initiative designed to benefit North Carolinians who have lost their jobs due to recent layoffs and plant closures or other job seekers. The initiative will create community college programs in 12 careers, each requiring less than six months to complete (Areas of study are: Nursing Assistant, Carpentry, Phlebotomy, Welding, Hospital Billing/Coding, Food Service, Office/Clerical Support, Auto Body Repair, Masonry/Tile Cutting, Manufacturing/Materials, Plumbing, and HVAC/Industrial Maintenance). This short-term training, coupled with work readiness assessment and coaching, will provide more people with the skills for good jobs and a career pathway for continued growth. The initiative started in September 2009.
B. Because of the potential for substantial worker layoffs in the banking/financial services industry in the Charlotte region, Governor Perdue tasked workforce development partners with developing a proactive plan to assist workers impacted by layoffs and to assist the communities and existing businesses in the region to remain viable and competitive. The outcome of the planning was the Charlotte Workforce Recovery Project. $803,592 in ARRA/WIA funds has been disbursed to support the components of this plan. These components include entrepreneurship training, expanded service access in faith based/community based and public settings, conversion of curriculums at UNC-Charlotte to short-term offerings, the implementation of a job retention initiative to help small- and medium-size companies remain competitive, and the hiring of a project coordinator. A class of 32 has already completed the initial entrepreneurship training. The project coordinator has been hired and is actively working to align the work activities. The job retention project, a partnership between the Department of Commerce and Small Business and Technology Development Center is at the beginning implementation stage.
Programs in Development
The Office of Economic Recovery and Investment has allotted $5.2 million to support the implementation of six projects that reflect statewide priorities and federal expectations. Still in the developmental stage, these projects are:
Summary
Of the $79.8 million in federal recovery money awarded to North Carolina, $77.8 million had been encumbered as of July 31. Discussions are taking place about how to use the remaining $2 million. The Department of Workforce Development is pulling partners together to pursue two competitive grants through the U.S. Department of Labor. One program provides assistance for employment and training in the green industry. The other would help provide labor market information about the energy industry.
For the most up to date information on ARRA participation, go to www.ncwia.com and click on ARRA summaries. For more information about the NC Office of Economic Recovery and Investment and how stimulus money is being spent in North Carolina, go to www.ncrecovery.gov.
Notes
The performance of North Carolina’s students on national standardized tests continues to improve. The state’s average SAT score this year is 1,006, 10 points away from the national average. North Carolina has the second largest 10-year gain (18 points) in mathematics among the 22 states with more than half of their students taking the SAT. Also, our fourth and eighth graders again outperformed the nation in mathematics in 2009, according to the National Assessment of Educational Progress results recently released by the U.S. Department of Education.
Zenta Mortgage Services will expand its presence in Charlotte, creating 1,002 jobs over the next five years and investing $2.19 million. The announcement was made possible in part by a state Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG). Job Development Investment Grants are awarded only to new and expanding businesses and industrial projects whose benefits exceed the costs to the state and which would not be undertaken in North Carolina without the grant. Since the first grant was awarded in 2003, the program has been responsible for creating commitments for more than 30,000 jobs and $5 billion in investment in North Carolina.
Annual 7th Senatorial District Public Forum
Job Creation and Economic Growth: Moving Past the Recession
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Senator Doug Berger, Representative Lucy Allen and I would like to invite all citizens, civic leaders and public officials in Franklin, Granville, Vance and Warren counties to attend the annual 7th Senatorial District Public Forum on Thursday, January 28, 2010. This event will be held in the Civic Center at Vance-Granville Community College’s Main Campus in Henderson beginning at 10:00 A.M. We hope to end the forum by 2:00 P.M.
This year’s forum will be entitled “Job Creation and Economic Growth: Moving Past the Recession” and will focus on North Carolina’s current job creation and economic growth status. Lunch will be provided for all participants. You will have an opportunity to let Senator Berger, Representative Allen and me know your concerns for the upcoming short session of the North Carolina General Assembly convening May 12, 2010.
Presenters for this workshop will include the following:
We hope that you will respond to this invitation by calling or emailing any one of the sponsors by January 21, 2010. This event is FREE and open to the public.
Please RSVP to one of the following offices by January 21st:
Senator Berger, (919) 715-8363 or email
Representative Allen, (919) 733-5860 or email
Representative Wray, (919) 733-5662 or email
Kay, Matthew, Phillip and I wish for you and your family a New Year filled with peace, hope and happiness.
Please invite me to attend your county, city, community or civic, etc. meetings or events.
As I’ve said many times before, I hope you will continue to let me know how you feel about the issues that are being debated by the North Carolina Legislature and the challenges you and your family are facing each day.
By working together, we can make Northampton, Vance and Warren Counties and all regions of North Carolina a better place to live, work and raise a family.
Please remember that you can use the General Assembly’s website to look up bills, view lawmaker biographies and access other information. The site also contains detailed information about the state budget and legislative schedules.