Lamont announces plan for new services
Will include job training and placement programs for workers left behind in reopening
With more than 600,000 applications for unemployment insurance in the state’s coronavirus pandemic, Gov. Ned Lamont on Thursday announced a multi-prong effort to retrain and hire workers who might be left behind when Connecticut’s economy reopens.
The CT Back to Work Initiative will include free online training services and a virtual jobs fair with at least 40 prospective employers next week through the Stamford-based Indeed.com.
“We were hit hard, obviously, by COVID and the COVID-related recession,” Lamont said during his daily news briefing in the State Capitol. “The bottom fell out of the job market. Think of this as a chance to restart. Here’s an opportunity, at no cost to you, to take advantage of the time you’ve got and see where your skills and dreams can take you. A crisis is a terrible thing to waste, and I hope this gives you a bit of an opportunity.”
Lamont announced that another 25 fatalities occurred since Wednesday, bringing the statewide death toll to 4,146 since the first in the coronavirus pandemic on March 17. A net reduction of 24 hospitalizations brought the total to 246.
“In Connecticut, you know somebody that lost their job, and you know somebody that lost their life,” Lamont said, stressing that social distancing and wearing masks is a key to the economy’s rebound. He said that while enhanced unemployment benefits continue for another six weeks, now is the time for those who do not have jobs to plan their strategies.
The new employment program was created by the Governor’s Workforce Council, and includes a hiring portal through the state Department of Labor website that can be accessed by both businesses and those looking for work.
“Now the jobs are beginning to come back,” Lamont said.
Dave O’Neill, chief operating officer of Indeed.com, said his 15-year-old company’s free job fair is an opportunity to help the state.
“We’ve been able to take our technology and create a custom job portal for the state that will allow job seekers to quickly and very easily find open jobs near them,” he said. People can create and upload resumes inside the portal, and also search for employment opportunities, while companies can seek out people with particular skills.
Some of the companies involved in the hiring events include health care facilities, retailers, warehouses, delivery and logistics, restaurants and others. On June 15, there will be a webinar, with tips being offered on how to succeed in the virtual hiring process.
Garrett Moran, chairman of the Governor’s Workforce Council, said that “efficiency and responsiveness” have been the mission of the panel, but the pandemic has made the stakes higher.
“In the wake of the COVID virus and the tragedy surrounding George Floyd, we are all reminded that we need to make this real, that we can’t just create a plan and put it on a shelf. And we can’t just do the happy talk. We have to do the things that are real.”
Moran said the council knew the Indeed.com technical abilities and approached the company for help.
“They created this job portal and the job fair opportunity, it almost seemed overnight,” he said, adding that there are also two free online learning sites announced five weeks ago under the SkillUp CT program, for which 11,000 people registered and 1,500 have completed courses.
Dante Bartolomeo, a former state lawmaker who is deputy commissioner of the state Department of Labor, said that 473,000 people have received emails from the agency informing them of the SkillUp CT program and other efforts to help people get back to work.
“I want to make sure this is a jobs program that works for absolutely everybody,” Lamont added.
Glendowlyn Thames, deputy commissioner of the Connecticut Department of Economic and Community Development, said that the state’s $10 million Technology Talent Fund is also available for helping “upskilling” the state’s workforce. “So if you find yourself unemployed, underemployed, there is this opportunity to take advantage of these new platforms and online resources to retool, discover new skills and connect with new job opportunities that will enable you to come out of this stronger,” she said.