Michigan Republican Governor Rick Snyder believes that in order to lower the 10.6 percent unemployment rate in his state, they need to do a better job of matching job seekers to the demand for jobs.
This past Thursday, Snyder traveled to Delta College to discuss his new talent initiative in Michigan that currently has a 10.6 percent unemployment rate but still has “thousands of jobs unfilled in areas such as nursing, engineering, agriculture and welding,” reports M Live. According to Snyder, the state must improve the opportunities of employment for veterans, find better ways to develop computer talent and have more flexible immigration laws in order to bring foreign investment and growth in the job market.
Snyder wants to fully focus on getting Michigan’s returning veterans hired since veterans in the state currently pose a 29.4 percent unemployment rate which is much higher than the national average at 11.9 percent. “We need to do a better job for the veterans in our state,” he said. “That’s unacceptable.”
In addition to helping veterans find work, Snyder emphasized that there needs to be more effort placed on improving young adult’s outlook on the job market. To help, he is encouraging private and public sector mentoring opportunities and internships to keep young talent in Michigan and to help create more jobs. Though he admits that the state already has some of these things in place, he feels it’s not enough and that they need to do a better job.
The last of Snyder’s suggestions announced at Delta College included an unemployment compensation insurance reform. With this, rather than eliminating a worker completely they could stay on as a part-time employee until the company is able to put them back on as full-time when their business improved. While the employee worked part-time, they would be able to collect some kind of unemployment. “Isn’t it better to keep them working than not working at all?” he asked.
SOURCE: M Live
IMAGE: Courtesy of DC Streets Blog
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