The Department of Workforce Services improved services to employers and job seekers in 2006.
The Arkansas Workforce Centers at Hot Springs and Mountain Home relocated to larger facilities. The additional space allows staff to better meet their clients’s needs, whether it is providing job search assistance, filing for unemployment insurance benefits, or obtaining training in a high demand, high wage occupation.
DWS completed several automation projects, including an update to our main Web site. We also created a new Web site for the Hope Migrant Farm Labor Center, launched the Real-Life Arkansas Web site, and introduced two sites to assist employers with registration, uploading wage information and paying unemployment taxes.
We implemented the Work Pays Program to help Transitional Employment Assistance clients improve their employment outcomes.
DWS participated in demonstration projects with federal and national organizations. A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor provided funding for four New Arkansan Resource Network centers to assist legal immigrants with employment needs. We also participated in the National Governors Association Sector Strategy Initiative. The initiative’s goal is to strengthen planning and collaboration in order to build regional economies and support industry.
The Leadership Development Program’s first class graduated in July 2006. The program is a key element in the department’s succession planning strategy. The program is preparing DWS staff to assume future leadership positions in the department as key senior management vacancies occur.
To be Arkansas’ preferred provider of workforce services and solutions
To enable the Arkansas workforce to compete in the global economy by linking a comprehensive array of services for employers and job seekers.
The Arkansas Workforce Centers at Hot Springs and Mountain Home relocated in 2006. DWS staff collaborated with their Workforce Center partners to move to a larger facility in order to better serve their clients.
The centers provide the following services to clients: skills assessments, job search and placement assistance, labor market information, information regarding eligible providers of training services, supportive services, financial aid assistance, the development of individual employment plans, individual and group counseling, career planning, case management, short-term pre-vocational training, occupational training, skill upgrading and adult education.
Calendar Year 2006 marked the first full year that DWS administered the Transitional Employment Assistance Program. TEA provides cash payments, child care assistance, transportation and other work-related expenses, and diversion assistance to adults and minor parents to assist them with job preparation for demand occupations.
DWS implemented the Work Pays Program on July 1, 2006, to further assist former TEA clients who meet income, citizenship, residency, work activity and program eligibility requirements.
Work Pays participants are eligible for the same support services and assistance as families enrolled in the TEA Program. In addition, participants can receive bonuses for staying employed for three consecutive months, staying employed for an additional six consecutive months, meeting work requirements for 21 out of the 24 months on the program, and if their earnings exceed 100 percent of the Federal Poverty Level and they leave the program.
DWS launched Real-Life Arkansas, an interactive Web site for students and job seekers.
The site includes a lifestyle budget calculator that helps students discover how education impacts earnings. By inputting data, students can determine the costs associated with desired lifestyles and the careers needed to support those lifestyles.
The site’s objective is to inspire students, through a “real world” exercise, to take education seriously and pursue higher education/training after high school.
The Arkansas Workforce Centers at Little Rock, Malvern, Rogers and Russellville were designated as New Arkansan Resource Network centers during 2006.
A grant from the U.S. Department of Labor established the network to prepare legal immigrants for employment in high-growth industries. The goal is to speed the transition of new Arkansans into communities, promote stability and rapid employment with good wages, and enhance economic development.
The four centers provide a variety of services to new Arkansans including job placement, translation assistance, language and occupational training, resettlement assistance and community service referrals.
DWS Unemployment Insurance Trust FundDecember 31, 2006 |
|
| Balance, Beginning of Year | $124,844,586 |
|---|---|
Revenues | |
| Unemployment Insurance Contributions | $271,970,624 |
| Reimbursement From Other States | $13,054,114 |
| Reed Act Distributions | $0 |
| Interest Income | $7,910,373 |
| Total Revenues | $292,935,111 |
Expenditures | |
| Unemployment Benefit Payments | $256,398,915 |
| Reed Act Withdrawals | $479,208 |
| Total Expenditures | $256,878,123 |
| Excess (Deficiency) of Revenues Collected Over Expenditures | $36,056,988 |
| Balance, End of Year | $160,901,574 |
DWS’ appropriation for 2006-2007 is $958,765,514.
Funds ReceivedFY 2006-2007 | |
| Grants | 2006-2007 |
|---|---|
| Personnel Services | $36,454,915 |
| Maintenance & General Operations | $32,635,928 |
| Unemployment Insurance Benefits | $620,000,001 |
| Special Fund | $11,060,338 |
| Workforce Investment Act | $58,000,000 |
| UI Trust Fund Loan Interest | $3,000,001 |
| New Hire Registry | $614,331 |
| Community Investment Initiative | $3,000,000 |
| Disaster Relief Payments | $2,000,000 |
| Training Allowances & Payments | $15,000,000 |
| Reed Act | $77,000,000 |
| Transitional Employment Program | $100,000,000 |
| Total Funding: | $958,765,514 |
|
*Maintained by DWS
**Maintained by the Arkansas Department
of Finance and Administration
Department of Workforce Services
P.O. Box 2981
Little Rock, AR 72203
(501) 682-2121
http://www.dws.arkansas.gov
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