Iowa has a workforce shortage. I’ve heard it from employers in Ankeny and Legislators hear it from across the state. Right now, the top job opening is registered nurses. The second job opening is heavy and tractor-trailer truck drivers at 1,055. Employers in Iowa are taking action to make their openings more appealing by offering bonuses, higher pay, benefits, etc. With more jobs available than folks looking and the impact it is making on our economy, the time has come to make a change with Iowa’s unemployment system to make it a re-employment system.
Beginning in January, Iowa Workforce Development launched a Reemployment Case Management (RCM) system. The new program offers extensive job search assistance to newly unemployed Iowans with the goal of getting them back to work more quickly. The RCM program has been specifically tailored to Iowa’s unemployment process based on proven national models. Its intention is to provide enhanced services so claimants can more quickly discover the best possible pathway toward a new job and minimize the amount of time spent receiving unemployment benefits.
The Career Planners will work to directly connect unemployment claimants with training and educational opportunities in high-demand careers. They will be assisted by new technology that’s being added to Iowa’s existing IowaWORKS system, thereby making it easier to match an unemployment claimant’s work history with the skills in demand by Iowa companies with open jobs.
Click here to see the top 25 job postings on the Iowa Workforce Development website.
