Louisiana Lands $2.95M for Return to Work Program

The Louisiana Workforce Commission will receive $2.95 million in federal funds to provide additional services to Louisiana’s unemployed, the U.S. Department of Labor announced.

The money will come from a Re-employment and Eligibility Assessment grant, part of $65.5 million to be distributed nationwide.

The $2.95 million REA grant will fund services through most of the state’s Business and Career Solutions Centers.

The grant will help fund the response to general levels of unemployment, and also several specific events that have or are expected to increase unemployment, including:

• The British Petroleum Deepwater Horizon oil spill of 2010;
• The scheduled closure in August of General Motors’ plant in Northwest Louisiana, along with some of its suppliers and support service providers, which combined are expected to affect about 1,400 people.
• The phased closure of Huntington Ingall’s Avondale shipyard will continue to affect several thousand workers through 2013.

“Louisiana’s re-employment efforts jumped seven places last year in a ranking of the states, and this grant will help continue that improvement,” Eysink said.

In Louisiana, the maximum unemployment benefit is $247 a week. REA grants have been shown to reduce the number of weeks claimants draw unemployment insurance benefits by hastening their return to work.

Topics Louisiana