Today, the State Workforce Investment Board Executive Committee is announcing the selection of Ryan Miller as Mississippi’s first Executive Director of the Office of Workforce Development. The Office will lead workforce development strategy and implementation for the state. Please click here to read the full announcement.
The new workforce training program ‘ReSkill Mississippi’ was recently launched to help Mississippians obtain skills training through community colleges to shift jobs and work in high-demand careers following economic hardship due to the COVID-19 pandemic. This program was designed through a collaborative effort from the State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB), the Mississippi Department of Employment Security (MDES), and the state’s four local workforce areas. Click here to read more.
The Department of Labor has approved Mississippi’s latest WIOA Plan. The plan will take effect July 1, 2020, and cover program years 2020 through 2023. Please click or tap here to review and download the plan in PDF format.
Governor Tate Reeves recently appointed Patrick Sullivan to lead the State Workforce Investment Board (SWIB), the agency responsible for expanding workforce training in Mississippi. Click here to read more.
If you need information regarding Mississippi state agency responses and resources for COVID-19, please use the links below.
Mississippi State Department of Health
Mississippi Department of Employment Security (Unemployment)
Mississippi Department of Human Services
Mississippi Department of Rehabilitation Services
Mississippi Community College Board
Mississippi’s 2020 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) state plan DRAFT has been posted for public review and comment. This is an opportunity for the public to provide feedback on Mississippi’s proposed vision for a connected and efficient workforce system.
Mississippi’s Combined Plan includes the six required state programs—the Adult Program, the Dislocated Worker Program, the Youth Program, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act Program, the Wagner-Peyser Act Program, and the Vocational Rehabilitation Program—along with Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), Unemployment Insurance (UI), Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA), Jobs for Veterans State Grants Program (JVSG), and Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP).
Please click or tap here to visit the plan page, download the draft in PDF format, and provide any comments to the WIOA planning team via email at wioa@swib.ms.gov.
Commissioned by the Mississippi Association of Community and Junior Colleges (MACJC), this economic impact study analyzes the contributions of Mississippi’s community colleges to the state’s economy. The results illustrate that community colleges serve Mississippians, prepare students for success at four-year colleges and universities, support communities across the state’s 82 counties, and are strong economic drivers that make significant contributions to the state’s economy. The results of this study show that community colleges and the students they serve have a multi-billion dollar impact on Mississippi’s economy, generating an annual estimated $2.1 billion in wages and salaries in the state. Each year, this results in more than a quarter billion dollars in state and local tax revenue and nearly $4 billion in state GDP.
This essay is a part of the Scientific American & Macmillan Learning STEM Summit. The STEM Summit is an annual event that attracts diverse stakeholders, ranging from teachers, policy makers, journalists, entrepreneurs, and students. The theme of the 2019 Summit is “The Future of Work,”and will explore critical questions such as: What are we doing to prepare students for careers in our automated future? What skills—both “hard” and “soft”—will students need to thrive in the “4th Industrial Revolution”? And what strategies, tools and technologies will best help students achieve that success? You can learn more about the annual event here, and view the livestream of this year’s Summit here on Thursday, September 26th.
Visit the Scientific American website to read the full article.
WASHINGTON, DC – The U.S. Department of Labor is hosting an online dialogue to help employers and nursing mothers understand their rights and responsibilities under the law. The Supporting Nursing Mothers in the Workplace Online Dialogue will also solicit best practices to educate nursing mothers about key protections of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers, nursing mothers, state and local policymakers, and other interested people can participate through Friday, August 23, 2019.
“This dialogue seeks feedback from key stakeholders who help nursing mothers – from employers and employer groups, to nursing mother groups, to state and local policymakers,” said Cheryl Stanton, Administrator of the Wage and Hour Division. “It’s an important discussion that will allow the Wage and Hour Division to receive valuable feedback on the needs of nursing mothers in the workplace.”
This online dialogue is hosted by the Department’s Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI) in partnership with the Wage and Hour Division, Women’s Bureau, and the Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). The dialogue is facilitated through ODEP’s ePolicyWorks initiative. Please register to participate.
OCI is part of the Department’s Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy. It aims to foster a compliance assistance culture within the Department, complement its enforcement efforts, and improve compliance assistance outreach. Through Worker.gov and Employer.gov, OCI provides information about worker rights and employer responsibilities.
The mission of the Department of Labor is to foster, promote, and develop the welfare of the wage earners, job seekers, and retirees of the United States; improve working conditions; advance opportunities for profitable employment; and assure work-related benefits and rights.
To see the full news release click here.
Mississippi Works is an integrated system of government agencies, businesses, and industry leaders working together to keep Mississippi on a path to growth and progress. This framework is built upon three pillars: (1) to prepare a high-performance workforce, (2) to connect people with jobs, and employers with a skilled workforce, and (3) to sustain Mississippi’s growth by creating a pipeline that fulfills dynamic industry needs. Read more about it here.