JULY 2010By Kimberly Lou
Government - Project aims to document Social Security importance The Social Security Stories Project is asking the public to submit stories of their experiences with Social Security and its impact on their lives, as well as its impact on friends and family. The Project plans to include selected submissions in a book commemorating the 75th anniversary of Social Security and its positive effects for U.S. citizens. The Project is asking people to share stories specifically about how Social Security has benefitted working, retiring and struggling families, as well as veterans and students. Submissions can be made via the Social Security Stories Project's website form, through the mail, or with a Youtube video. The Project hopes to receive 1,000 entries by the end of July 2010. SOURCES: Press Release. "New Project Gathers Stories about Social Security for Book, Awareness Effort." June 1, 2010. www.socialsecuritystories.org Social Security: http://www.ssa.gov/ Stories Project website form: http://www.francesperkinscenter.org/stories_form.php Education - Texas student earns Public Interest Award with "positive deviance" A University of Texas at El Paso doctoral candidate has been awarded the 2010 Public Interest Award from the University of Texas at Arlington Academy of Distinguished Scholars. Lucia Dura has traveled across the world documenting the cases of "positive deviants," or individuals or communities that are approaching societal problems with non-traditional, but effective, solutions. Dura has contributed to several case studies of "positive deviance," including ones examining impoverished families in Vietnam and parents protecting children from human trafficking in Indonesia. Dura proposed that positive deviance be used to help bolster student graduation and retention rates in Texas, and this proposal won the award. Dura will have a chance to present her findings and ideas to the state legislature and will be given a $5,000 cash prize, a portion of which will go to UTEP's own societal justice award program. SOURCES: Press Release. "UTEP Student Wins Public Interest Award." June 2, 2010. www.universitycommunications.utep.edu/newsatutep University of Texas at El Paso: http://www.utep.edu/ 2010 Public Interest Award from the University of Texas at Arlington Academy of Distinguished Scholars: http://www.uta.edu/ads/ Texas (state) legislature: http://www.uta.edu/ads/ Unemployment - Congressional committee calls for unemployment benefit extension A report released by the U.S. Congress Joint Economic Committee reveals that more than $23 billion could be retained by the federal government by extending unemployment benefits. The report indicates that without a benefits program extension, disabled workers might leave the labor force and instead opt for Social Security Disability Insurance, costing the federal government more than $24 billion. Extending benefits and retaining these same workers would cost less than $725 million. The Committee believes that a lack of extension will result in close to 290,000 disabled workers becoming unemployed and exhausting their benefits within the remainder of the year. SOURCE: Press Release. "Extending Benefits to Disabled Workers Could Save Billions." June 9, 2010. www.hr.blr.com Congress Joint Economic Committee: http://jec.senate.gov/public/ Social Security Disability Benefits: http://www.socialsecurity.gov/disability/ Gender Equality - DOL hands $1.8 million to women's organizations The U.S. Department of Labor has awarded $1.8 million to six organizations centered on giving women training and career support for non-traditional jobs. The grant, which is funded by the Women in Apprenticeship and Non-Traditional Occupations (WANTO) Grants program, was given to community-based organizations with at least one registered program sponsor. A non-traditional occupation for women is defined as having women make up 25 percent or less of its total employment numbers. Occupations may include carpenter, construction worker, plumber, mechanic or other skilled trades. Training, mentoring, networking programs, and job-finding advice are some examples of the career support given. SOURCES: Press Release. "$1.8 million for Women in Non-Traditional Occupations." June 15, 2010. U.S. Women's Bureau via www.dol.gov Department of Labor: http://www.dol.gov/index.htm Women's Bureau: http://www.dol.gov/wb/ WANTO Grants Program: http://www.grants.gov/search/search.do?mode=VIEW&oppId=53319 Immigration - Mexico calls AZ immigration law unconstitutional Mexico has asked the federal court in Arizona to reject the recently passed Arizona immigration law, proposing that it is unconstitutional. The law states that a police officer will be able to question someone about their immigration status, but only after having been stopped for a different crime and if there is "reasonable suspicion" that the person in question is an illegal immigrant. The law not only prohibits immigrants from seeking day-work in the state, but also threatens to charge someone with a misdemeanor if they are found to be illegally residing in the United States. Mexico officials believe this law to be not only unconstitutional, but detrimental to the interests of the United States. They allege the law does not only imply racial profiling towards its citizens, but also impedes on trade and tourism with Mexico. After the law is in effect, Mexican officials believe that their citizens will no longer have any incentive for visiting Arizona, in fear of being profiled and removed from the state. In efforts to limit illegal immigration, Arizona Governor Jan Brewer signed the law in April. She denies the allegations being made, arguing that the law is "both reasonable and constitutional." She hopes that the new law will pressure illegal immigrants in leaving the United States. The law will go into effect on July 29, unless implementation is blocked in court. Officials state that the Obama Administration does not support the immigration law and are trying to challenge it in court. SOURCES: Davenport, Paul. Mexico asks court to reject Ariz. Immigration law. June 22, 2010. http://www.seattletimes.com Bill text: http://www.azleg.gov/legtext/49leg/2r/bills/sb1070s.pdf Arizona Federal Court: http://www.azd.uscourts.gov/ Governor Jan Brewer: http://www.azgovernor.gov/ Obama Admin.: http://www.whitehouse.gov/ Workforce - Aging workforce threatens US manufacturing, study finds A new report from the Sloan Center on Aging & Work reveals that mass retirement in the manufacturing sector could result in a shortage of skills and increase in costs for American companies hiring replacement employees. The report indicated that the top concerns of manufacturing employers were finding and hiring competent applicants, the shortage of skills of new employees, and the transfer of skills and knowledge from seasoned to newer workers. The Bureau of Labor has indicated that the U.S. has lost millions of manufacturing jobs in the last decade while the percentage of retiring workers has greatly increased. Combined with the high cost of replacing workers (about $5,000 per employee), the loss of talent in the manufacturing sector could be economically dangerous. Despite these findings, the report revealed that most manufacturers remain unprepared to handle the upcoming retirement wave. SOURCES: Press Release. "Talent Pressures and the Aging Workforce: Responsive Action Steps for the Manufacturing Sector." June 23, 2010. www.bc.edu/research/agingandwork/ The report: http://www.bc.edu/research/agingandwork/all_feeds/TM_pressureWorkforce.html Bureau of Labor: http://www.bls.gov/ - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Feedback: Give us your feedback! What other news would you like to hear about? Want to get News and Trends and our web site updates e-mailed to you monthly for free? Sign up on our new e-mail updates page!
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