Monthly Archives: April 2014

Mitchell County Manufacturer to Expand

Buck Stove Corporation of Spruce Pine, NC announces that it will expand its operations at the current location with 30-50 new jobs over the next 3 years and invest upwards of one million dollars in the current facility.  Ms. Claudia … more

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McCrory administration launches workforce development plan

The News & Observer posted this article on April 14th:

Gov. Pat McCrory and Commerce Secretary Sharon Decker announced the launch of a new workforce development initiative at a Caterpillar facility in Sanford Monday.

The initiative, NCWorks, is a portal designed to connect businesses in the state with the employees they are seeking. Will Collins will be executive director of NCWorks, a position that is designed to better coordinate the needs of employers with community colleges in the state.

The NCWorks plan is expected to be developed over the next 12 months. In a press release, the McCrory administration said the aim is to get a flow of timely data from industry to learn what workforce training programs are most effective.

A spokesman for the governor wasn’t able to immediately say how much is being spent on the initiative.

Also in attendance at Monday’s event in Sanford were Scott Ralls, president of the North Carolina Community College more

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Senate passes UI extension, with a viewpoint from Forbes on NC’s political moves

On April 7, the Senate voted 59-38 to approve the Emergency Unemployment Compensation Extension Act of 2014 (S. 2148), bipartisan legislation extending emergency unemployment insurance benefits.

The bill extends emergency unemployment compensation (EUC) insurance benefits, which benefit unemployed workers who are unable to find new employment prior to the exhaustion of the regular benefit (26 weeks in most states). The legislation would extend EUC benefits for five months, and allows for retroactive payments to eligible beneficiaries going back to December 28, when EUC initially expired. The legislation also includes a provision making individuals receiving EUC benefits eligible for enhanced personal assessments and referrals to reemployment services when they reach their 27th and 55th week of unemployment insurance (UI).

Now that the Senate has acted on UI, attention will turn to the House, which has shown little interest in taking up the Senate Bill.

Noting th more

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