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Utah Unemployment Grant Update

March 11th, 2007 Posted by Amelia

US Secretary of Labor Elaine Chao recently announced plans to improve the outlook and employment prospects for poorly trained and unemployed workers in The Wasatch Range area of Utah by getting WIRED.

This Utah unemployment grant goes by the acronym WIRED. The Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) initiative provides federal grant money to help struggling regional economies train workers and stabilize poor economies. The initiative is funded by the Employment and Training Administration within the jurisdiction of the US Department of Labor.

Since our last report, officials in the region have been hard at work preparing a detailed plan to reduce Utah unemployment through worker training. Once the plan is finished, the Utah WIRED program will be awarded the balance of the $5 million.

“Investing in area workforces through this collaborative approach will boost entire regions’ economic vitality,” said Chao recently when announcing The Wasatch Range area of Utah’s unemployment grant of $5 million. “This regional economic development strategy transcends political boundaries to better leverage a region’s assets to help workers succeed in the 21st century worldwide economy.”

The Wasatch Range area of Utah has long been plagued with high unemployment rates and poor economic performance. The WIRED unemployment grant announced by Secretary Chao will provide a total of $5 million to train workers in this region. The WIRED grant to The Wasatch Range area of Utah provides an initial gift of $500,000 for immediate worker training and the remaining $4.5 million is to be funded once a regional implementation plan is finalized.

Workers in The Wasatch Range area of Utah are expected to benefit from the WIRED initiative by means of improved training more compatible with today’s technologically advanced workplace, lowered unemployment rates, and a better stabilized local economy more in keeping with today’s global economy.

The $5 million WIRED grant that The Wasatch Range area of Utah was awarded is part of a $65 million program to improve the economies of troubled areas throughout the US by training workers to be more competitive in today’s technologically advanced work force. The first group of WIRED grants totaled $195 million and was distributed to struggling economic locales in 13 different regions. These WIRED initiative grants are awarded based upon competition by state governors overseeing these regions of economic struggle.