State pushes new unemployment service

Iowa’s Workforce Development agency will promote its handy one-stop service, with help from a federal grant. Agency spokeswoman JoAnn Callison says Iowa’s one of seven states to share a one-point-six-million-dollar federal grant that will spread word about how the one-stop system works. The grant will focus on employers, to let them know how laid-off workers can go looking for retraining or a new job.She says it’ll also tout how businesses can find people for their job openings. In addition to print and broadcast ads, Callison says the one-stop Workforce services will be available online, with an Internet-based system.They’re making services available both at the one-stop centers and on-line so people don’t have to travel all over. People can search job openings, fill out applications and even apply for unemployment benefits online, says Callison, and she adds convenience isn’t the only benefit.She says it’s confidential, so your neighbors won’t see you walking into the unemployment office. By next fall, broadcast advertisements will begin, touting the convenience of the one-stop Workforce centers and the on-line access to services.