As the culmination of a year-long look at the state of Utah’s operations, the Utah Advisory Commission to Optimize State Government found that many of the state’s existing management and fiscal processes were effectively run. In recommending further ways to improve, the Commission pointed to five areas of “critical” opportunity, including the creation of a [...]
Illinois has passed a new law which prohibits employers from discriminating against job seekers or employee’s based on credit history. The new law will remove a significant barrier to employment for the growing segment of the population whose credit history has been affected by the historic national recession. The new law will take effect Jan. [...]
Los Angeles County has replaced a thirty-year-old human resource management system as part of a multi-phase project to bring its financial and resource planning into the 21st century. The new Web-based HR Payroll System will institute several key changes to the County’s processes, making it easier to adjust timekeeping, payroll and benefits as needed.
Florida has announced a new website – Florida Gulf Recovery Jobs, a site which will allow job seekers to locate and apply for positions created to manage the response to the Deepwater Horizon oil spill. The site will act as a dedicated portal through the state’s official online job bank Employ Florida Marketplace. The Marketplace [...]
Yesterday, Governor Schwarzenegger announced that California has reached agreements with four state employee unions which will move the state closer to comprehensive pension reform for state employees. The new agreements include significant measures such as requiring employees to contribute at least 10% to their pensions one of the highest contributions in the nation and rolling [...]
Last week, Maryland, Illinois and Connecticut all announced new job creation as well as jobs saved in their states through a combination of funding, training and incentive programs. Maryland was able to create and save a total of 13,821 jobs through the use of its American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) funding. As of March [...]
In this year’s annual Building the Broadband Economy Summit, the Intelligent Community Forum looks at how cities across the globe are tying educational requirements to workforce needs, as jobs ebb and flow to disparate parts of the world according to the availability of low-cost, high-speed communications technology.
In response to the National Broadband Plan, released in March by the Federal Communications Commission, a nonprofit association dedicated to entrepreneur education announced the formation of a public/private partnership to encourage broadband adoption by US small businesses. Known as the “Counselors to America’s Small Business,” SCORE has teamed with a group of tech industry heavyweights, [...]
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services announced Tuesday that another $267 million has been awarded to twenty-eight non-profit organizations to help establish support programs for state and local health information technology adopters. The health IT Regional Extension Centers (RECs) are expected to provide nationwide outreach and technical support services to at least 100,000 [...]
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts and the State of New York recently announced plans to offer free technology training through Microsoft’s Elevate America program. Nearly 100,000 Microsoft online training and certification vouchers will be offered to unemployed residents of the two states, at no cost to the recipients. New York and Massachusetts join thirteen other states’ [...]