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Cape & Islands Workforce Investment Board
Weekly Update 

Volume: 6 Issue: #24

January 30th 2009

Greetings,

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report Update

 

In the week ending Jan. 24, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 588,000, an increase of 3,000 from the previous week's revised figure of 585,000. The 4-week moving average was 542,500, an increase of 24,250 from the previous week's revised average of 518,250.

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NEWS CLIPS
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Companies are ill-prepared
for the next generation of work­ers, according to a new report
from Basex, the leading provider
of research on the productivity
of knowledge workers and how
technology impacts them. The
report, Technologies to Teach the
Thumb Generation, offers an in-depth look at an issue that is al­ready impacting companies of all
sizes in terms of attracting and
retaining new employees, as well
as educational institutions that
prepare   tomorrow's   workforce.
The  report,   available at http://
www.basex . com/thumb, also   in­cludes a survey of the latest high-tech  collaborative   educational
offerings from ten companies
including 3M, Echo360, Hitachi,
Mimio,   Numonics,   Panasonic,
Polyvision,   Promethean,   Smart Technologies, and Tegrity. 
  ________________

According to Reach Higher, Amer­ica: Overcoming Crisis in the U.S. Workforce, 30 million Americans over age 16 have difficulty with daily tasks such as reading direc­tions on a medicine bottle or un­derstanding the main facts in a short newspaper article. The report is the result of two years of study by the National Commission on Adult Literacy, an independent panel of leaders from labor, busi­ness, government, education, lit­eracy, and philanthropy. The re­port recommends new legislation to provide reading, writing, math, and English language instruction to people who are unemployed, low-skilled workers, immigrants, and high school dropouts. For more information, please go to www.proliteracy.org.

Workshare  Preserve Your Skilled Workforce
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When you develop a worksharing plan you:

  • Keep your skilled workers
  • Reduce future hiring and retraining costs 
  • Avoid disruption in your business operations
  • Remain prepared for future business growth
  • Maintain worker productivity

Workshare is the smart alternative to layoffs. If your company needs to reduce payroll costs because of a temporary decline in business, the Massachusetts Workshare Plan is your alternative.

With Worksharing you avoid layoffs, avoid losing skilled and highly trained workers by reducing the hours of work for employees in the entire company or a small group or department. Your workers receive unemployment insurance benefits to supplement their reduced wages.
 
For additional information on this program contact:
 
The Worksharing Dept. Massachusetts Office of Workforce Development (617)-626-5510
 
or online: Click Here

Out-of-the-Ordinary Team Building Activities

Companies are constantly seeking ways to encourage their workers to bond and build esprit de corps. Typically, picnics, Softball games, and holiday parties are used to do the trick, but some cutting-edge companies are using more creative ways to build rapport among workers.

The Creative Group, a staffing service, recently asked 250 US advertising and marketing executives to detail some of the more interesting and offbeat team-building activities they had partic­ipated in. Some seem like strokes of genius, while others are a bit dubious. Here are just a few of the activities:
 
·      "Team skydiving"
·      "Line dancing on the beach in matching outfits"
·      "A group Segway tour"
·      "We made jewelry."
·      "We took an improvisational comedy class together."
·      "Team drumming"
·      "We created a haunted house and invited clients to visit."
·      "We went camping 9,000 feet up and it rained for two days."
·      "Our department built a race car."
·      "We held our own dog show."
·      "We had to navigate a maze through a cornfield."
·      "We made sculptures in the sand."

(The Creative Group)
 

Upcoming Meetings
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  • WIB Leadership Committee Meeting: Tuesday February 3rd 12:00pm WIB Office
  • CAMP Steering Committee Meeting: Monday February 9th 3:30pm WIB Office
  • YC Mentoring Committee Meeting: Tuesday February 10th 1:00pm WIB Office
  • WIB Planning Evaluation Committee Meeting: Wednesday February 11th 1:30pm WIB Office
  • WIB Executive Committee Meeting: Thursday February 12th 8:00am WIB Office


   

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