The California Workforce Association is a non-profit membership organization that develops public policy strategies and builds local capacity to address critical workforce issues. CWA represents the 49 Workforce Investment Boards, over 200 One-Stop Career Centers and other workforce development partners in California. Our members include local non-profits, government, educational institutions and community based organizations involved in training, education, economic development, welfare, and employment. California Workforce Investment Boards are private sector-led boards focused on strategic solutions to workforce issues in their regions.
CWA promotes, enhances, and serves the interests of local workforce development partnerships in California. We are a founding member of the EDGE Campaign, focused on policy reform for workforce and skills training in California.
This page was last updated: August 27, 2010
IN THE NEWS:
Manufacturing grows but private jobs cut NEW YORK (Reuters) - The U.S. manufacturing sector grew faster than expected in August but private employers unexpectedly cut jobs, showing the economic recovery still faces headwinds. more here
New Job Means Lower Wages for Many Ms. Ings had worked in a variety of office and administrative roles in the wholesale tuxedo industry. more here
This Is Not a Recovery
What will Ben Bernanke, the Fed chairman, say in his big speech Friday in Jackson Hole, Wyo.? Will he hint at new steps to boost the economy? Stay tuned. More here
Strucs vs. Cycs Here is a proposition: If the Obama administration felt that it had the power to lower the nation's unacceptably high unemployment to a level below where it stands today—11 weeks from a crucial midterm election—then, for moral and political reasons, it would have done so. more here
Outsourced Call Centers Return to US Homes Maureen Quigley-Hogan is the next generation of call-center worker.
Wearing pink slippers and sitting at her desk in her home office in Virginia, she takes a call from a woman in New Jersey who has a question about her credit card bill. more here
Home Sale Woes May Rewrite Playbook Economists used to believe that an improvement in the housing market helps lead the way out of recession. But two sets of dismal numbers for the sector this week have twisted conventional wisdom. more here
10 states with ridiculously low unemployment Every U.S. state experienced job losses during the recent downturn, but thanks to the right mix of industries, natural resources, and skilled workers, some states have a far lower unemployment rate than the 9.5 percent national average. more here
U.S. Schools chief to push disclosure of education data U.S. Education Secretary Arne Duncan will call for all states and school districts to make public whether their instructors are doing enough to raise students' test scores and to share other school-level information with parents, according to a text of a speech he is scheduled to make Wednesday.
Good try but no Race to the Top award Sixteenth place California came up six spots and 17.3 points short of getting a big piece of the $3.4 billion
second round of Race to the Top. more here
Corporate America, its time to spread the wealth Businesses are sitting on a record hoard of cash, but they're not using it to hire workers or pay existing ones better wages. Broadly distributing the fruits of economic growth is the only way to sustain that growth. more here
State fiscal leaders defer payments to schools, governments In the absence of a state budget, the state's three fiscal leaders announced today they plan to defer payments to schools and counties one month earlier than planned to bolster the state's cash situation.
From Hidden Costs to High Returns: Unlocking the Potential of the Lower-Wage Workforce to download click here
Young and old apply as McDonald's serves up jobs Michael Smith and Juluius Giles couldn't be less alike. Smith is 63 with three children in college and a veteran of 25 years in the local television business; Giles is a 23-year-old Sacramento City College student and a single father of a 2-year-old daughter. more here
Given Money, Schools wait on Rehiring Teachers Joelle Beck, a 25-year-old high school English teacher in O’Fallon, Ill., received notice in March that she would be laid off at the end of the school year. more here
Locals launch effort to create library-based entrepreneur centers Local entrepreneurs David Britton, Jim B. Abendschan and Cabrillo College librarian Topsy Smalley are promoting a library revolution, "a grassroots business model to create millions of sustainable jobs" by transforming libraries into hubs of civic change and environmentally-minded entrepreneurship. more here
Disappointing data darken economic outlook The outlook for the U.S. economy just went from half-full to half-empty. more here
Officials hope to extent temp jobs program Just a year ago, Elsy Flores was faced with a daunting task: supporting her five children while trying to land a decent job. And with an increasingly competitive work force and a tanking economy, her prospects weren't looking good. more here
INSIGHT: Center for Community Development www.insightcced.org
For teens bleak job picture not looking brighter It’s been a long, frustrating summer for employment-starved teens. And most unemployed adolescents will struggle to find work at least until the holiday season, the latest data suggests. more here
Jobless and Staying That Way Americans have almost always taken growth for granted. Recessions kick in, financial crises erupt, yet these events have generally been thought of as the exception, a temporary departure from an otherwise steady upward progression. more here
Californians' income falls for first time since WWII Government statisticians have put a number on Californians' paycheck pain last year: about $40 billion. more here
Community colleges fighting to cope Community colleges are becoming lifesavers to students seeking a degree but unable to pay the skyrocketing costs of four-year colleges. Yet community colleges are struggling to cope with increased enrollment as their budgets are slashed by debt-laden states. more here
House passes bill for teachers, public workers WASHINGTON — The House has passed a $26 billion jobs bill to protect 300,000 teachers and other nonfederal government workers from election-year layoffs. more here
Interactive: See unemployment trends for every place in California Unemployment has jumped to record levels throughout California. This database lets you see how much the unemployment rate has grown in every place in the state. more here
More than one-third of California youths 16 to 19 were jobless in June The nation's ongoing unemployment crisis is proving particularly harsh on California teenagers. more here
Fannie seeks less money, bailout price may shrink WASHINGTON — Fannie Mae is asking for less money from the government, a sign that the cost to taxpayers for bailing out the mortgage giant could be billions lower than once thought. more here
Are Fed-Up American Workers Getting Their Gumption Back?As companies cut a higher-than-expected 131,000 jobs in July, you can't blame the American worker for seething. Wages remain stagnant and unemployment is at 9.5 percent, even as employee productivity is at levels not seen since 2002. more here
Where the jobs are — and aren’t Looking for a job in at an auto plant? You might be in luck. more here
Weak job market puts recovery at riskThe U.S. economy will have to do better than this. After a surge of new jobs that coincided with a massive flow of federal spending, the pace of job creation has fallen back to levels that aren't even keeping up with population growth. more here
How Wasteful Is the Stimulus Spending, Really? Republican Sens. Tom Coburn and John McCain have apparently discovered the art of the “listicle”—that all-too-popular journalistic device that organizes information into ranked lists, such as “The Top Five Ways to Flatten Your Abs” or “The 10 Best Margaritas in Town.” In this case, the media-savvy senators have released a report titled “Summertime Blues," outlining what they perceive to be the 100 most wasteful stimulus projects. more here
Index points to fourth-quarter job growth in state This economic recovery has been, at best, sporadic. As stimulus spending slows and census jobs end, many fear that the employment picture will get worse rather than better. more here
Report: White male grads least likely to be public college bound California's white male high school graduates are the least likely societal subgroup to immediately continue their educations in public colleges and universities, the California Postsecondary Education Commission has found in a compilation of 2008-vintage data. more here
Senate Dems beats filibuster of state budget measure WASHINGTON — President Barack Obama and his Democratic allies in the Senate earned a long-sought win Wednesday as a $26 billion measure to help states and local school boards with their severe budget problems cleared a GOP filibuster. more here
States slash pre-K programs as budgets bleed ATLANTA -- States are cutting hundreds of millions from their prekindergarten budgets, undermining years of working to help young children - particularly poor kids - get ready for school. more here
99 Weeks Later, Jobless Have Only Desperation BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Facing eviction from her Tennessee apartment after several months of unpaid rent, Alexandra Jarrin packed up whatever she could fit into her two-door coupe recently and drove out of town.
more hereCalifornia approves national education standards California joined 29 states today in approving national K-12 academic standards. more here
Wounded soldier is new poster boy for Operation Welcome Home
WASHINGTON — Lance Iunker needed plenty of help after fighting in the Iraq war.
On Sept. 10, 2007, the 22-year-old Californian was riding in a truck that went through a guardrail and fell off a 50-foot overpass, killing seven of his buddies and injuring 11.more hereWIA a Winner in Senate Labor-HHS Appropriations Subcommittee Markup more here
JUST THE FACTS - High Tech Employment in California more here
California among 19 state finalists for education reform grants ATLANTA — Eighteen states and the District of Columbia were named finalists Tuesday in the second round of the federal "Race to the Top" school reform grant competition, giving them a chance to receive a share of $3.4 billion. more here
Training crucial to labor market
This recession has caused a generational restructuring of America’s labor market.
The Road to Tomorrows Jobs is Not Yesterdays Training A persistent unemployment rate of about 10% does wonderful things to focus national attention. more here
Unemployment in California California's unemployment rate improved a bit in June, to an adjusted 12.2 percent. The seasonally adjusted adjusted figure is 12.3 percent. more here
Job Training Helps, Just Not With Unemployment One tactic some unemployed Americans are turning to in this tough job market is to enhance their skill sets. Indeed, even some government money is dedicated to help train the jobless so that they can be more attractive to perspective employers. more here
After Training, Still Scrambling for Employment In what was beginning to feel like a previous life, Israel Valle had earned $18 an hour as an executive assistant to a designer at a prominent fashion label. more here
Senate Likely to break deadlock on jobless benefits WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected Tuesday to break its deadlock over extending jobless benefits to millions of people when it votes on whether to end a lengthy standoff over how to pay for the program. more here
Unemployment in California California's unemployment rate improved a bit in June, to an adjusted 12.2 percent. The seasonally adjusted adjusted figure is 12.3 percent. more here
Job Training Helps, Just Not With Unemployment One tactic some unemployed Americans are turning to in this tough job market is to enhance their skill sets. Indeed, even some government money is dedicated to help train the jobless so that they can be more attractive to perspective employers. more here
After Training, Still Scrambling for Employment In what was beginning to feel like a previous life, Israel Valle had earned $18 an hour as an executive assistant to a designer at a prominent fashion label. more here
Senate Likely to break deadlock on jobless benefits WASHINGTON — The Senate is expected Tuesday to break its deadlock over extending jobless benefits to millions of people when it votes on whether to end a lengthy standoff over how to pay for the program. more here
Firms want to rehire, but finding skilled workers scarce NEW YORK — Fifty-four percent of large U.S. businesses that laid off employees in the past year want to rebuild their workforces but some will have trouble finding sufficiently skilled people to hire, a study said on Monday. more here
Jobless benefits: It's the economy, stupid While the political debate over providing jobless benefits for out-of-work Americans has been divisive, the economics are pretty clear-cut. more here
Defeat of jobs bill in Senate costly to California WASHINGTON — The demise of a sweeping jobs and tax bill in the U.S. Senate this week dealt a stiff blow to California as it struggles to recover from the recession. more here
Budget project issues 'Making Ends Meet' report A single adult must earn nearly $32,000 to live in San Francisco, while two working parents with two young children must take in a little more than $84,000 to get by, according to an analysis released Thursday by a public policy group in Sacramento. more here
Jobless benefits: It's the economy, stupid While the political debate over providing jobless benefits for out-of-work Americans has been divisive, the economics are pretty clear-cut. more here
Defeat of jobs bill in Senate costly to California WASHINGTON — The demise of a sweeping jobs and tax bill in the U.S. Senate this week dealt a stiff blow to California as it struggles to recover from the recession. more here
Budget project issues 'Making Ends Meet' report A single adult must earn nearly $32,000 to live in San Francisco, while two working parents with two young children must take in a little more than $84,000 to get by, according to an analysis released Thursday by a public policy group in Sacramento. more here
Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/06/25/BUTV1E4FRU.DTL#ixzz0sAWEk71d
Senator Boxer speaks on the floor of the U.S. Senate in support of an amendment offered by Senator Murray that would create over 500,000 jobs for youth
Happy 1st Birthday Recovery Act!
Today the Obama Administration marks the anniversary of the Recovery Act by pointing to two things – the legislation spurred economic growth and stemmed rising unemployment.
Today the Obama Administration marks the anniversary of the Recovery Act by pointing to two things – the legislation spurred economic growth and stemmed rising unemployment.
Joe Biden’s Annual Report To The President On Progress Implementing The American Recovery And Reinvestment Act of 2009
More news about the One Year Recovery Act Anniversary:
New York Times
Obama Starts Push to Cast Stimulus Bill as a Success
Wallstreet Journal
First Anniversary of Stimulus Highlights Partisan Divide
Market Watch
White House touts job creation on stimulus anniversary
Twitter News:
http://twitter.com/PressSec (White House Press Secretary Gibbs)
http://twitter.com/markknoller (CBS White House Correspondent)
http://twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL (Hilda Solis)
More news about the One Year Recovery Act Anniversary:
New York Times
Obama Starts Push to Cast Stimulus Bill as a Success
Wallstreet Journal
First Anniversary of Stimulus Highlights Partisan Divide
Market Watch
White House touts job creation on stimulus anniversary
Twitter News:
http://twitter.com/PressSec (White House Press Secretary Gibbs)
http://twitter.com/markknoller (CBS White House Correspondent)
http://twitter.com/HildaSolisDOL (Hilda Solis)
New $100 billion safety net for jobless in works
As unemployment spikes, the cost of compassion is going up too.
Jobless rate tops 10 pct. for first time since '83 WASHINGTON – The unemployment rate has hit double digits
More here
White House: 65,000 jobs saved, created by stimulus Reports to be released Friday on the government Web site Recovery.govare expected to show that the $150 billion in grants and loans made so far under the economic stimulus package have created or saved about 650,000 jobs, White House officials said Friday morning. More here
40,500 jobs lost in Sacramento area in the past year The Sacramento area shed 40,500 jobs - 4.6 percent of its labor force - in the past 12 months as sectors from housing to retail to government were hit with layoffs. More here
Better training could help fill technical jobs California must improve adult education and community college programs to help laid-off workers retrain for technical positions that will open up in the next several years due mainly to retirements, according to a report issued Monday. More here
Study: California should focus training on 'middle-skill' jobs About 12.2% of Californians are out of work, according to the state’s latest calculations, and some economists are predicting that the state won’t start creating jobs until late 2010. More here
More here
White House: 65,000 jobs saved, created by stimulus Reports to be released Friday on the government Web site Recovery.govare expected to show that the $150 billion in grants and loans made so far under the economic stimulus package have created or saved about 650,000 jobs, White House officials said Friday morning. More here
40,500 jobs lost in Sacramento area in the past year The Sacramento area shed 40,500 jobs - 4.6 percent of its labor force - in the past 12 months as sectors from housing to retail to government were hit with layoffs. More here
Better training could help fill technical jobs California must improve adult education and community college programs to help laid-off workers retrain for technical positions that will open up in the next several years due mainly to retirements, according to a report issued Monday. More here
Study: California should focus training on 'middle-skill' jobs About 12.2% of Californians are out of work, according to the state’s latest calculations, and some economists are predicting that the state won’t start creating jobs until late 2010. More here
1530 J Street, Loft 470
Sacramento, CA 95814
Sacramento, CA 95814
(916) 325-1610 Office
(916) 325-1618 Fax
(916) 325-1618 Fax
CWA launches wiki for those interested in ARRA American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
See all the latest information about ARRA - the law, questions and answers, state recovery info, and related resources.
go to: arra.pbwiki.com.
go to: arra.pbwiki.com.Unemployed and need help?
See Eric Morago, CWA's poet in residence, recite his poem Doug:
To go to his website: www.ericmorago.com
Want to learn about the Employment Training Panel? click here!
Meeting of the Minds Conference September 7-9, 2010
Monterey Marriott
Monterey, CA
Registration opening soon!
Poverty Rate Rises; Uninsured
Rate Stays Flat
Rate Stays Flat
Last month the Census Bureau released its annual report on income, poverty and health insurance.
The data were collected in March of this year, and refer to 2008. Highlights (and charts pulled from a Census Bureau slide show):
For those of you doing power points on the current economy, this is a great resource
for you.
WIA Documents
2009 Youth@Work Book here
Virginia Hamilton & Congressman John Kline (MN)
CWA ANNUAL SPRING CONFERENCE 2010
