Monthly Archives: October 2016

Respuestas a las preguntas más frecuentes acerca del Portal del Reclamante

Note: English translation is below the article.

El departamento de Labor de Idaho lanzará el Portal del Reclamante en español el 9 de Noviembre en nuestra página web labor.idaho.gov/claimantportal

El Portal del Reclamante es un sistema seguro en línea que los reclamantes usan para aplicar para recibir beneficios del Seguro de Desempleo, archivar reportes semanales y para ver información del reclamante. El portal del Reclamante fue establecido en ingles en el 2015. 

¿Porque estamos cambiando?

Los reclamantes de beneficios que solo hablan español han tenido que llamar a nuestro centro de reclamos para someter una aplicación para recibir beneficios de desempleo. De ahora en adelante estos reclamantes pueden aplicar para recibir beneficios de desempleo y archivar sus reportes semanales cuando sea más conveniente para ellos. Ya no estarán restringidos por nuestras horas de trabajo y pueden evitar largos periodos de espera en el teléfono.

¿Si tengo un reclamo actualmente, tengo que registrarme en el Portal del Reclamante en Español?

Si. Al utilizar nuestro sistema por primera vez usted deberá registrarse con su correo electrónico y una nueva contraseña. Para instrucciones más detalladas por favor siga esta Guía.

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Hard Hats, Hammers and Hot Dogs Goes Social

Idaho Forest Group log processor

This Idaho Forest Group log processor grabs, strips and cuts logs as a student is shown the equipment controls.

A total of 400 students, more than 50 businesses and many volunteers participated in the 9th Annual Hard Hats, Hammers & Hot Dogs event in Kootenai County in early October. The career day is designed to give students exposure to manufacturing, construction, logging, truck driving, and a variety of other skilled trades.

Students toured the new North Idaho College Career and Technical Education (CTE) facility, located next to the Kootenai Technical Education Campus (KTEC) where the event was held. CTE has CAD technology, Welding, Automotive, Machine and CNC classes along with other technical programs.

After the tour, students were able to get hands-on experience operating dozers, skid steers, log processors and much more. The students also engaged in activities indoors with the idea of exposing them to the many occupational opportunities in North Idaho.

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Planning A Strategy Helps Job Seekers with Success at Hiring Fairs

Laurie Nowland, human resource representative for Kootenai Health discussed the company's hiring process with job seeker Rachael Veddar.

Laurie Nowland, human resource representative for Kootenai Health discussed the company’s hiring process with job seeker Rachael Veddar.

Rachel Vedder spent the morning of a recent job fair choosing conservative business attire, collecting multiple copies of her resume and preparing for the hiring event at the Idaho Department of Labor office in Kootenai County.

By checking the local events calendar on the Department of Labor website, Vedder was able to preview the list of employers who were attending the event. This gave her the opportunity to do some research in advance. Information about a company and the job listings also can be found at the company website. Checking business publications, chamber websites and news articles gave her a firm knowledge of the employer and the industry.

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Around Idaho: September 2016 Economic Activity

Information provided in this article is from professional sources, news releases, weekly and daily newspapers, television and other media.

Northern Idaho
North Central Idaho
Southwestern Idaho
South Central Idaho
Southeastern
Eastern Idaho

NORTHERN IDAHO – Benewah, Bonner, Boundary, Kootenai & Shoshone counties

Region

  • Wilderness recreation areas across Northern Idaho are still obstructed due to both wildfires and prescribed burns. Several wildfires – some of which began as long ago as July – are still burning in Bonner and Kootenai counties. Crews have also begun prescribed burns to clear away fuel in all five northern counties. Source: Bonner County Daily Bee, Coeur d’Alene Press, Spokesman Review

Benewah County

  • After officer resignations left the city police department shorthanded, St. Maries signed an agreement with the Benewah County Sheriff’s Office to provide policing for the city. The agreement formalizes the role of the sheriff’s deputies in policing the city and places the city police under sheriff’s supervision. Source: St. Maries Gazette Record

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What Powers CIS Reality Check?

reality-check-1

How much will the lifestyle you desire cost you every month?  How big a bite will routine bills take out of your paycheck?  Which occupations provide the kind of salary that will let you buy what you want?  Reality Check, an Idaho Career Information System tool, can help you, your students or your children understand the relationship between earnings, purchases and paying the bills.

Reality Check is helpful for students trying to understand the connection between income and expenses. A 12-item survey includes options for large monthly expenses like housing, utilities, transportation and health care. It also includes budget choices for entertainment, personal care, savings, student loan repayment and a “miscellaneous” category.  The budget figures in Reality Check are updated throughout the year and accurately indicate the current cost of living in Idaho’s six metropolitan areas: Boise, Coeur d’Alene, Idaho Falls, Lewiston, Pocatello and Twin Falls.

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Economic Changes in Southwestern Idaho

Many factors have affected the economic picture on international, national, state and local levels over the past five to 10 years.

In Southwestern Idaho one example is a strong population growth. Over the decade from 2005 to 2015, this region’s population increased from nearly 617,000 to 750,000, a 22 percent increase. The two urban counties, Canyon and Ada, grew faster than this rate, while the other eight counties grew slower, highlighting the continually deepening divide in urban-rural population growth that is occurring across Idaho.

EM-fig-1 Source: U.S. Census Bureau

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Jerome’s Hilex Poly Co. Receives $157,500 to Train 45 Employees

Hilex Poly Co. will use $157,500 in Idaho Workforce Development Training funds from the Department of Labor to hire and train 45 new employees in equipment operations, mechanics, quality assurance, safety, training and materials handling.

Wages for the 45 new positions will range from $22.50 to no less than $12 per hour and will average $15.48 per hour with employer-assisted medical benefits.

Hilex Poly expects all the new employees will be hired by Sept. 30, 2017.

Read the full news release for more details.

Alliance Data to Use $87K to Create 364 Jobs

Alliance Data will create 364 permanent full-time positions at its Coeur d’Alene customer support facility and provide training using $87,310.60 from the Idaho Department of Labor’s Workforce Development Training Fund.

The new workers will bring the total of employees at the Coeur d’Alene location to 810 by Feb. 28, 2018. Wages will range from $20.74 per hour to no less than $12 per hour. Structured on-the-job training will include negotiation skills, fraud detection, customer interaction/motivation and debt collection regulatory and legal requirements.

Read the full news release for more details.

 

Home Health Care Services Growing; High Turnover is a Challenge

Home health care services is a small, yet rapidly growing industry group within the heath care sector. However these positions – home health aides, personal aides and nursing assistants – typically experience a high turnover rate, independent of wages, as employees gain experience and move up to more advanced careers.

Wages in this industry group – considered low compared to jobs in other healthcare subsectors – are largely determined by externally set Medicaid and Medicare reimbursement rates, making it difficult for home health care employers to remain competitive in the face of declining unemployment rates.

The average pay for home health care service positions is $18,500 a year, 68 percent less than the average hospital employee. This industry group also experiences a higher turnover rate than any other health care industry sub-sector. A strong wage-turnover relationship can be implied in this case, but factors outside of natural forces of supply and demand drive this relationship.

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Idaho Receives $2.5 Million to Help Youth with Disabilities Find Jobs

Improving employment opportunities for people with disabilities ages 14-24 will be the focus of a $2.5 million grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to the state of Idaho.

The grant funds will be used to provide more training opportunities, build community partnerships and help youth transition from school to employment.

Idaho was one of six states to receive part of nearly $15 million.

Read the full news release from the U.S. Department of Labor.