Virginia Employment Commission Public Meeting

1
Virginia Employment CommissionPublic Meeting

• Information presented at Town Hall meetings

2
VEC

• Virginia Employment Commission (VEC) began in
  1935
• Funded through employer taxes
• Federal Unemployment Tax Act (FUTA)

3
FUTA Funds

• FUTA funds are for the specific purpose of
  administering unemployment insurance programs,
  employment services, veterans services, and
  provision of labor market information

4
FUTA Funds

• Employers pay 56 on the first 7,000 wages of
  every employee
• Collected by the IRS

5
FUTA Funds

• In 2005, Virginia employers paid 199.3 million
• VEC received 60.1 million
• This represents 30.2 return

6
FUTA Funds

• Virginia ranks second-lowest in the nation in
  percentage return of FUTA funds

7

• FUTA Dollars Returned to Virginia
• Relevant Factors
• The U.S. Congress gives an appropriation annually
  to the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) to fund not
  only the VEC, but all workforce agencies
  nationwide. DOL determines how much each state
  will receive. To allocate these funds, DOL uses
  what it calls a Resource Justification Model
  and several factors contribute to Virginias low
  funding rate
• Virginias low Unemployment Rate
• Lack of Trailing Spouse benefits
• Lack of Dependent Benefits
• Virginias requirement that all Unemployment
  Insurance recipients be enrolled in Job Service
  and actively seeking employment
• Virginias relatively low salaries for state
  employees compared with other states
• Nationwide, only 50 of FUTA dollars are
  returned to the states.
• 30 billion in FUTA dollars are held in a
  Federal Reserve fund.

8
FUTA Funds
9
FUTA Funds

• Governor made this his number one issue when he
  met with the congressional delegation in February

10
Service Delivery Changes

• electronic filing of unemployment insurance tax
  reports
• internet filing for unemployment insurance
  benefits
• internet filing of job service application

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Service Delivery Changes

• unemployment insurance application by phone
• fact finding by hearing officers by phone
  statewide
• labor market information on-line

12
New System for Job Service and
Workforce Investment Act

• Geographic Solutions
• Workgroups of WIA and VEC staff
• Completed by November, 2007

13
Unemployment Insurance
Modernization

• Tax system 21 years old (1986)
• Benefits system 22 years old (1985)
• Wage System 37 years old (1970)

14
Request for information (RFI)due on May 2, 2007

• Want to know what vendors can do
• Can we get a combined system
• Will it match our budget

15
What does the VEC accomplish

• used services
• entered employment 70 placement rate
• employer contacts
• veterans served

450,000 215,000 95,000 43,400
Transitional Assistance Program - 254
workshops - 15,666 attendees
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Accomplishments

• Initial claims for unemployment insurance
  279,000
• Claims filed by telephone 115,000 (41)
• Claims filed on the internet 90,000 (32)
• 5 million in savings to claimants in time and
  travel
• 326,949,000 paid in unemployment insurance
  benefits

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Accomplishments

• Work Opportunity Tax Credit 27,800
• Rapid Response 117 employers
• Trade Act 4,400 requests (1,300 in training)
• Rural Services 2,700 job openings
• Foreign Labor Certification
• H-2B (Temporary Non-agricultural) 562
• H-1B (Permanent) 7,114

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Accomplishments

• Coordinated Economic Relief Centers
• Business Resource Units
• Labor Market Information
• Demographic, industry, and occupational data
• Career outlook and trends

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Partners

• Employer Advisory Committees 1,700 employers
• Virginia Workforce Network

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Effects on VEC locations and services

• Reduce the number of staff
• Reduce the number of offices
• More self-service options for clients
• Dedicated service to those requiring assistance

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Alexandria
22
Bristol
23
Buena Vista
24
Cedar Bluff
25
Charlottesville
(Owned)
26
Chesapeake
27
Covington
(Owned)
Data Center
28
Culpeper
29
Danville
30
Eastern Shore
31
Emporia
32
Fairfax
33
Farmville
34
Fishersville
(Owned)
35
Fredericksburg
36
Galax
37
Hampton
38
Metro Richmond North
39
Harrisonburg
(Owned)
40
Lynchburg
(Owned)
41
Marion
42
Martinsville
43
Norfolk
(Owned)
44
Norton
45
Portsmouth
46
Prince William
47
Radford
48
Metro Richmond South
49
Roanoke
50
South Boston
51
South Hill
52
Suffolk
53
Tri-Cities
54
Warsaw
55
Williamsburg
(Owned)
56
Winchester
57
Wytheville
58
Grundy Customer Contact Center
59
South Boston Customer Contact Center
60

• Public Input

61

• Virginia Employment Commission
• 703 East Main Street
• Richmond, VA 23219
• Phone [phone]
• EMAIL vec_at_vaworkforce.com