CareerLink Luzerne County Administrator Christine Jensen recently spoke to members of the Humboldt Park Association about a variety of state and federally-funded employee training grants available to businesses in Northeastern Pennsylvania.
During her presentation, Jensen highlighted several funding options the CareerLink staff can assist businesses in obtaining that will help them defray the costs associated with training new employees.
The On-the-Job Training program offers employers reimbursement when they agree to train new employees on the job. The program reimburses companies 50 percent of a new trainee’s wages for up to six months or $5,000. PA CareerLink staff assists companies by screening potential hires for program eligibility, working with companies on developing a mutually acceptable training contract, handling most of the paperwork and initiating a reimbursement schedule for monthly payments that are made directly to the company.
The National Emergency/Jobs Driven grant provides funding to states to implement new or expanded local and regional job-driven partnerships that serve dislocated workers including veterans and the long-term unemployed. Companies in the manufacturing, energy and health care industries can receive wage reimbursement from 50 to 90 percent of a new employee’s salary for the first six months of employment during which they participate in on-the-job training.
Make it in America is an initiative to accelerate job creation and encourage businesses to invest in maintaining their operations in the United States. Manufacturing companies can receive up to $1,000 per individual when they provide advanced skills training.
The Jobs for the Future grant is available through the Walmart Foundation. It gives funding to those in the logistics and transportation sectors that provide short-term training which results in a skill upgrade such as a commercial driving license, or training for forklift operators, certified logistics associates or technicians and diesel truck technicians.
“The PA CareerLink is funded through the Luzerne/Schuylkill Workforce Investment Board, which links our agency to government resources on the local, state and national level. We are happy to be able to provide local companies with these grants and encourage employers to contact us with all of their business’s needs,” Jensen said.
CAN DO President Kevin O’Donnell stressed the importance of ensuring that local companies in Humboldt and other industrial parks are informed about these grants since they help improve the profitability of their company and help create new jobs for the residents of Greater Hazleton.
For more information on PA CareerLink’s services and these grants and programs, call 570-822-1101.
