labor lawAdivision of labor law center

If you live in Missouri, then a Missouri unemployment grant would be good news. Certain areas in particular have suffered for high unemployment for the past few years. This goes against the national figures for unemployment as a whole, which are good at present. General unemployment stands at around 4% nationally, and for those with a college education or are highly skilled, it stands at around 1.9%. It is worth bearing in mind when considering these statistics that anything under 5% is often considered a labor shortage by economists.

However, there are still areas throughout the United States, that suffer from high unemployment rates, and it for these regions that WIRED unemployment grants can transform peoples lives. In February 2006, the Dept. of Labor launched the WIRED grants through a process of competitive applications. For the 13 regions that were selected, it meant an opportunity to transform the economy.

Competition for these WIRED grants is tough, and each governor in the regions was sent a letter from the Dept. of Labor that outlined the correct procedures to apply for a grant. A governor is only able to submit two applications, and each application can be for $5 million each. In addition, each region that was submitting an application needs to show that they can identify other sources of funding that will complement the Dept of Labors investment. These sources can be from state, private or regional funding.

When speaking about the WIRED grants, Secretary Chao said that “WIRED brings together universities, businesses, community colleges, foundations and economic development organizations.” She went on to say that these would “help equip regional workforces with the skills needed to succeed in the 21^st century worldwide economy.”

WIRED stands for Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development Initiative. Its purpose is to help to eliminate pockets of high unemployment by stimulating the economies in these areas.

The third generation of WIRED grants was recently announced by the US Secretary of Labor, Elaine L. Chao.

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