Expanding vocational and technical education opportunities, particularly for adults seeking career changes, will help Massachusetts rebuild its economy after the pandemic s devastation, Baker administration officials said Thursday.
Gov. Charlie Baker and his top deputies pitched the Career Technical Initiative program, which launched in January 2020 with a goal of training 20,000 skilled trades workers in four years, as a way to help close unemployment gaps that have widened in the COVID-19 era.
The statewide unemployment rate dropped to 6.8 percent in March, but it is far higher for people of color at an average 17.5 percent for Latino residents and 14.5 percent for Black residents, Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Rosalin Acosta said.
More than $2 million awarded to 10 Mass. vocational schools for additional training programs
By Felicia Gans Globe Staff,Updated April 29, 2021, 1:56 p.m.
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Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Cabinet members toured the Essex North Shore Agricultural and Technical School on Thursday. The governor was with students Natrhan Medina, left, and Lily Dukette, right.Jonathan Wiggs/Globe Staff
Ten Massachusetts vocational schools were awarded $2.1 million in grant funding Thursday as part of the stateâs Career Technical Initiative, a program that aims to strengthen and add workforce training programs for students and adults.
The initiative, first launched in January 2020, has a goal of training an additional 20,000 skilled trades workers over the next four years to both close skill gaps and meet business needs statewide. The funding announced Thursday will support programs in 23 different construction, trades, and manufacturing career paths.
Updated on April 29, 2021 at 2:49 pm
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Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts could fully reopen sooner than his proposed date of Aug. 1 if residents continue to get vaccinated against coronavirus at the current rate. We are the first state in the country in which two-thirds of all of our adults have actually gotten a first dose, so we are clearly rocking and rolling on that one, he said during a Thursday press conference.
Download our mobile app for iOS to get alerts for local breaking news and weather. We felt we were sure we would be in a good place by Aug. 1, Baker said Thursday, But if the people of Massachusetts continue to be as aggressive and as enthusiastic about getting vaccinated as they ve been, we may have the ability to do that sooner.
Updated 6 hours ago
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Gov. Charlie Baker said Massachusetts could fully reopen sooner than his proposed date of Aug. 1 if residents continue to get vaccinated against coronavirus at the current rate. We are the first state in the country in which two-thirds of all of our adults have actually gotten a first dose, so we are clearly rocking and rolling on that one, he said during a Thursday press conference. Download our mobile app for iOS or Android to get alerts for local breaking news and weather. We felt we were sure we would be in a good place by Aug. 1, Baker said Thursday, But if the people of Massachusetts continue to be as aggressive and as enthusiastic about getting vaccinated as they ve been, we may have the ability to do that sooner.
By State House News Service
The Baker administration is hopeful that a new identification process for unemployment claimants will help the state clear out a backlog of hundreds of thousands of workers seeking jobless aid.
Thanks to a contract with security vendor id.ME that will implement digital verification steps in the unemployment system, the state Department of Unemployment Assistance will be able to shift about 300 people from physically confirming identities to adjudication and other steps. That s really going to help us get through this backlog quicker, Labor Secretary Rosalin Acosta told lawmakers at a budget hearing on Tuesday, describing identification as one of the biggest factors that can delay unemployment benefits from reaching qualified claimants.