“With an economy more vibrant than any we’ve seen in 30 years, America is looking forward to a new century filled with endless possibilities for growth and opportunity. Just this year, millions of new jobs have been created. Unemployment is at an all-time low, and wages are on the rise.”
Hard to believe that these words begin the most recent Federal Act that deals with the workforce. Twelve years is a long time (there wasn’t hardly any online casino usa in 1998), though one can probably assume a bit of exaggeration, and even self-congratulatory rhetoric on the part of the Secretary of labor.
The Workforce Investment Act replaced the Job Training Partnership Act, covering much of the same territory but increasing the trend of moving much of the administration and organizational duties to the individual states.
The fundamental entities created by the WIA are known as Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), in which 50% or more of the membership comes from private business. The WIBs manage funding from local, state, and federal sources for the benefit of development programs for the workforce. Career centers operated by the WIB offer employment information, including training and other programs (depending on state implementation).
For North Alabama, the main WIB would be the Jefferson County Workforce Investment Board (wib.jccal.org), which offers programs for unemployed adults, low-income youth, online slots, dislocated workers, and others. Especially significant is the Rapid Response program, meant to address mass layoffs due to plant closings, and the Incumbent Worker program, which assists in continuing training and development for full-time workers.
Alabama has its own statewide Office of Workforce Development, which covers all of the counties except for Jefferson and Mobile. Under this office, there are individual Workforce Development Councils; for North Alabama, the most appropriate regions would be Regions 1 and 2.
