HOLIDAY HOURS ANNOUNCED
Our WorkOne Centers will be closed Monday January 16, 2012 in observance of Martin Luther King Day. Eligible unemployment vouchers will be paid starting Tuesday January 17, 2012.
NOTICE: SEVERAL CENTER'S DAYS OF OPERATIONS HAVE CHANGED
Check out the WorkOne Locations link for specific days of operation
Understanding Indiana’s New Unemployment Insurance Law
The Indiana General Assembly passed a new law making several changes to unemployment insurance. Whether you are an employer or an unemployment insurance recipient, click here for more information on how this law may affect your business or you.
STATE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OFFICE PRESENTS WORKONE ACHIEVEMENT AWARDS
I
ndividual Hoosiers who have labored to surmount employment barriers and improve their lives, as well as the businesses that have supported them, will be honored with 2011 WorkOne Achievement Awards on April 6 at the Indiana Statehouse Rotunda in Indianapolis, the state Department of Workforce Development said.
Recipients of the WorkOne Achievement Awards include:
| HOOSIERS | HOOSIER BUSINESS PARTNERS |
| Robert Barnes, Elkhart | ACell, Lafayette |
| Virden Bryan, Indianapolis | CMW, Indianapolis |
| Rodney King, Anderson | Coleman Cable, Bremen |
| Janice Hunsberger, New Castle | Flagship Enterprise Center, Anderson |
| Andrew Krachinski, Michigan City | Frontier Communications, Fort Wayne |
| Deborah Mathews, Fairmount | GKN Sinter Metals, Salem |
| Jason Muller, Mount Vernon | Kimball Electronics, Jasper |
| Sara Muniz, Bloomington | Lehigh Cement, Mitchell |
| Chad Purlee, Salem | Multi-Wall Packaging, Gary |
| Craig Snyder, Sullivan | Poet Biorefining, Cloverdale |
| Sherry Woodfill, Madison | Progress Rail, Muncie |
| Drucilla Ying, Kokomo | Sintering Technologies, Greensburg |
STATE WORKFORCE DEPT. ISSUES HOOSIER HOT 50 JOBS FOR N.E. INDIANA THROUGH 2018
An
alysts for network systems and data communica- tions ranked first in Northeast Indiana's regional Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs, a gauge to measure the job outlook through 2018, the state Department of Workforce Development (DWD) said Jan. 10, 2011.
In addition, Northeast Indiana's top-five positions featured: 
2nd rank, heating, air conditioning & refrig- eration mechanics and installers; 3rd, construction laborers; 4th, plumbers, pipefitters & steamfitters; and 5th, registered nurses.
DWD USES EIGHT OCCUPATIONAL
MEASURES TO MAKE PROJECTIONS
The Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs were ranked by DWD on projected wages and demand in 2018 for regions throughout Indiana. To compile the ranking, DWD used an index of eight weighted occupational measures of growth by 2018 and opportunities for Hoosier workers. The 2010 Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs were selected based on Indiana’s Occupational Projections and wage data from the Occupational Employment Statistics survey, both produced by DWD. For more information on employ- ment and wage statistics check out Hoosier Data.
HOOSIER HOT 50 SEGMENTED
INTO 16 CAREER CLUSTERS
Hoosier Hot 50 Jobs were broken down into 16 Career Clusters. These clusters illustrate the specific skills needed for success in the workforce. For more information on Career Clusters please visit www.careerclusters.org.
As Hiring Slowly Increases, Jobless Hoosiers Should Focus Like a Laser on Boosting their Job Skills; WorkOne Offers Roadmap to Success
As
Northeast Indiana employers slowly boost their hiring, out-of-work Hoosiers should focus on strengthening their abilities because employers will bring aboard only individuals with up-to-date workplace skills such as using computers, working with others and communicating.
Economic recovery plodded along during January 2011 as Region 3 Northeast Indiana's unemployment rate rose to 10.4 percent from 9.6 percent in the previous month. Neighboring regions in Indiana's northern tier, moreover, experienced flat or sharp rises in January unemployment rates only a month after their jobless rates fell.
For instance, Northern Indiana (Region 2) recorded a 10.7 percent jobless rate in January 2011, nearly flat from 10.8 percent during December 2010. Meanwhile, Northwest Indiana (Region 1) weathered an unemployment increase to 10.1 percent in January from 9.6 percent in the prior month. Indiana's three northern tier regions collectively have 1.025 million workers, thereby accounting for a third of the state's entire labor force of 3.09 million adults.
The results highlight how the economic recovery has been plodding along throughout Indiana's northern regions. For jobless Hoosiers in Northeast Indiana's 11 counties, a key goal should be to interact with WorkOne in an effort to boost their abilities in not only hunting for employment but also in sharpening on-the-job skills.
Northeast Indiana's labor force continues to experience the stresses and pains of recovering from the 2008-09 global recession and economic restructuring, and many more months of growth and recovery are needed for employers to create substantial numbers of new jobs.
BENCHMARK JOBLESS RATES
FROM JANUARY 2010 SHOW
PROGRESS IN RECOVERY,
YET JOBS NEEDED IN N.E.
Moreover, Northeast Indiana's current 10.4-percent jobless rate was down significantly from the region's benchmark rate of 12.9 percent in January 2010. The benchmark unemployment rates in other geographic areas included: in Region 2 Northern Indiana, 10.7-percent rate in January '11 versus 14.0 percent in January '10 ; in Region 1 Northwest Indiana, 10.1 percent during the current cylce compared to 12.4 percent in January '10; Indiana's 9.5 percent unemployment rate in January '11 was lower than the state's 11.5-percent rate 12 months earlier; and the national jobless rate in January '11 of 9.8 percent was down sharply from 10.6 percent during January '10..
As the regional economy recovers, Northeast Indiana companies and organizations will require that new employees have up-to-date skills in areas including: using computers; using the Internet; using email for work activities; using word processing, presentation, calculation and other software programs; showing organizational skills; communicating with others in a workplace; working as part of a team; and other skill sets. WorkOneencourages Hoosiers to attend free seminars covering these topics as well as other important job skills.
During January 2011, Northeast Indiana's labor force stood at 357,907 individuals, with 320,518 of them employed throughout the region's 11 counties. Thus, 37,389 Hoosier adults were jobless in the region during January. Jobless rates for individual Region 3 counties were as follows:
Adams County 9.2 percent in JAN. 2011 compared with 8.7 percent in DEC. '10; Allen County 10.3 percent in JAN.; 9.4 percent in DEC.; DeKalb County 10.7 percent in JAN.; 10.0 percent in DEC.; Grant County 10.2 percent in JAN.; 10.1 percent in DEC.; Huntington County 11.4 percent in JAN.; 9.6 percent in DEC.; LaGrange County 11.0 percent in JAN.; 10.3 percent in DEC.; Noble County 12.3 percent in JAN.; 11.4 percent in DEC.; Steuben County 11.0 percent in JAN.; 10.5 percent in DEC.; Wabash County 9.8 percent in JAN.; 9.2- percent in DEC.; Wells County 9.5 percentin JAN.; 8.3 percent in DEC.; and Whitley County 10.4 percent in JAN. compared to 8.7 percent in DEC.
PLEASE NOTE: All jobless rates in this story are not seasonally adjusted.
So is employment and economic recovery near for Northeast Indiana? While numbers are better, many problems nonetheless remain in global markets, including the annual U.S. budget deficit and a $13-trillion U.S. debt in May 2010 as well as troubling amounts of debt some European nations have accumulated in proportion to their output of goods and services (gross domestic product or GDP). For instance, governments in Greece, Spain, Ireland and Portugal, in particular, are facing severely bloated public payrolls and substantial tax evasion by citizens.
In today's Internet Age that allows instantaneous global e-commerce, what happens in Europe and elsewhere matters to Northeast Indiana's economy, which is intertwined with global markets.
Many Northeast Indiana employers seek to export goods and services to overseas markets, including Europe, so conditions in the European Union andEuro Zone do matter to the local economy. But global factors beyond e-commerce and exports also are in the mix of conditons that impact Northeast Indiana.
Psychology is important in the workings of stock and bond markets in the United States and across the global economy. Thus, if the perception and psychology of Europe's economic and debt conditions continues to sour, including circumstances in Britain, those factors will affect Northeast Indiana via the ripple effects of the global economy.
The regional economy in Northeast Indiana operates within the U.S. and global marketplaces, although substantial gains in regional employment will lag behind overall improvements in the national and global economic landscapes. For instance, banks across the United States gradually increased their lending to small and medium-sized businesses during 2009, so credit markets moved onto a road to functioning in a predictable manner.
Yet when the economy rapidly fell into turmoil and credit maketsfroze during late 2008, some Northeast Indiana firms were forced to close permanently in part because they were unable to secure short-term loans to fund their payrolls. And other employers took a route of significantly reducing their workforces.
So as national and global economic conditions brighten, lost jobs in Northeast Indiana won't be revived right away. New hiring across the region will occur as companies secure higher demand for their goods and services. Moreover, a process featuring increased hiring spurred by growth in demand — both individually for employers and collectively for the region — will happen on an incremental basis over months.
In another factor encouraging recovery, some employers in Northeast Indiana have maximized, for the most part, their cost-cutting efforts, meaning that if they seek growth during the near term they will have to add workers.
The deep recession that has plagued Northeast Indiana, and elsewhere, struck with such force in part because numerous negative factors occurred at the same time in lots of places in the United States and around the globe.
Article written by CHUCK KNEBL, webmaster & writer.
INDIANA WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT LAUNCHES NEW TRAINING PROVIDER APPLICATION SYSTEM
Indiana's Department of Workforce Development (DWD) has built a new website to receive applications from training providers for eligibility under the Workforce Investment Act. Training providers may begin using the new system, called INTraining, 
on Dec. 1, 2010, and DWD will shut down the existing Education & Training Choices system on Jan. 15, 2011.
Organizations seeking to use the enhanced system may establish a new user account and begin entering information about their occupationally based training programs. The WIA criteria for establishing institutional and programmatic eligibility has changed, and DWD encouraged organizations seeking eligibility to review the policy.
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DWD has written an "INTraining User Guide" to assist organizations in navigating through the new system. In addition, a webinar is available covering the new system's functions for establishing an account and registering occupationally based training programs.
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To reserve a spot at a webinar or online training module, or for more information, please contact Brenda Johnson of DWD's Education & Training Programs, 317-233-5514; or BJohnson@dwd.in.gov.
Nearly 500,000 'Middle-Skill' Jobs Expected in Indiana by 2016, but Just HS Diploma Won't Land One of These Jobs
An enormous number of "middle-s
kill" job openings — more than 487,000 positions — are expected throughout Indiana by 2016, but employers will hire only individuals whose skills are higher than signified by a high school diploma yet lower than a four-year college degree.
Yet Indiana faces a big problem in relation to these openings because more than 500,000 working-age Hoosiers do not have a high school diploma, found "Indiana's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs," a study by the National Skills Coalition in partnership with the Indiana Institute for Working Families, a unit of the Indiana Community Action Association. Moreover, only about 8 percent of Indiana adults with less than a high school diploma are enrolled in adult basic education, and less than 12 percent of residents with limited English proficiency are enrolled in English as a Second Language classes.
And even before the national recession began in early 2008, companies already had weathered shortages of middle-skill workers in key Indiana industries. More than half of all jobs in Indiana (55 percent) have been classified as middle-skill positions, yet less than half of Hoosier workers (49 percent) likely have acquired the skills and credentials to fill the jobs, the report explained.
"If Indiana seeks timely economic recovery and long-term prosperity, the state must ensure that its workforce has the necessary education and training to meet the labor demands of the future," said Andrea Ray of the National Skills Coalition, which is running a Skills2Compete campaign across the United States. "The national recession provides a time frame for businesses and the state to be strategic, evaluate labor and skill needs, and train and prepare for the jobs that are expected to grow," she added Oct. 7, 2010.
Indiana employers in the healthcare andenergy sectors are expected to maintain high demand for middle-skill workers. For instance, energy sector occupations expected to grow in numbers between 2009 and 2014 include: nuclear power reactor operators; electricians; industrial machinery mechanics; pipelayers; plumbers; and welders. And worker shortages have emerged in some healthcare segments in the Hoosier state, with nurses topping a list where shortages exist, said the report, "The healthcare sector is growing rapidly," said Steven Jones, 
director of Recruitment and Staffing for Clarian Health Partners, "and demand will remain high for ready and qualified employees." During the past year, Clarian hired about 2,900 employees, he noted, "many for positions that do not require four-year degrees." These jobs include medical assistant, surgical technologist and certified patient-care assistant.
Middle-skill jobs forecast to grow by 2018 in Indiana include the following: dental hygienists with median annual earnings of $65,844; police officers with median annual earnings of $45,521; and drivers of heavy trucks with median annual earnings of $37,588.
Nearly 66 percent of the people who will be included within the Hoosier workforce in the year 2020 already were working adults in 2005 — "long past the traditional high school-to-college pipeline," the National Skills Coalition explained. "This finding underscores the need for Indiana to continue to target training and education to people who are working or who could be working today."
As Indiana "looks to remain a strong competitor in the global economy," noted Sarah Allen Downing of the Indiana Institute for Working Families, "it's critical that we help prepare workers for the jobs of the future through regional sector partnerships, cross agency coordination to establish industry skill standards, employer-sponsored training programs and state-funded financial aid programs for adult students."
Article written by CHUCK KNEBL, webmaster & writer.
STATE WORKFORCE OFFICE LAUNCHES UPDATED CAREER TOOL FOR HOOSIER STUDENTS
The Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD) on Sept. 30, 2010, unveiled an updated tool for Hoosier students and educators seeking guidance about the top high-wage/high-demand careers of the future.
The "Hoosier Hot 50" lists the top 50 high-wage jobs in the state by 2018. First introduced in 2006, the list has been published every two years by the department.
HOOSIER HOT 50.COM
HELPS YOUTH & OTHERS
MAKE CAREER CHOICES
"This material will help young Hoosiers and others identify the skills needed in the future," said Mark W. Everson, commissioner of the Department of Workforce Development. "I encourage all middle ..., high school and college students to check out Hoosier Hot 50.com as they consider what they want to do when they enter the workforce."
The 2010 Hoosier Hot 50 features a new website with video profiles of Hoosiers currently working in each position. The profiles give people an inside look at a typical day on the job and how each person broke into that field. The p
rofiles also include data on the number of projected job openings by 2018, average salary as well as the education and training required for that career.
"The Hoosier Hot 50 includes jobs representing a wide variety of interests and educational backgrounds," said Superintendent of Public Instruction Dr. Tony Bennett. "The common prerequisite for each of these positions is post-secondary training of some type beyond high school. That is why it is critical we create strong pathways for every student to achieve college or career success."
HIGHLIGHTS OF THE 2010 HOOSIER HOT 50 # 1 Stays the Same — Computer Software Engineer remains the top job of the future in Indiana. New Upstarts on List — Seventeen new jobs broke into the Hoosier Hot 50. The highest debut was Counselor at #9. Don't Get Too Excited, Purdue Fans — Boilermaker (as in the job) cracks the Top 50 at #49. Due to the Economy — Due to the economy, DWD created a special "Hot Now" symbol that highlights jobs on the list that are in-demand currently.
The Hoosier Hot 50 was produced by a team from DWD's Research and Analysis Office. The list was based on eight weighted measurements including long-term growth forecasts (through 2018), job openings due to turnover in the current workforce, and salary. The DWD team that created this forecasting model was honored in 2006 with a Public Service Award from Gov. Mitch Daniels and has trained other states in this program at the request of the U.S. Department of Labor.
Go to the full list of
jobs and profiles at
www.HoosierHot50.com
