Local Dept. of Labor office may close
BONNERS FERRY — Rumors that Bonners Ferry’s Department of Labor office is one of a number of rural offices that may face closure or restructure have reached northern district legislators on the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee.
Those legislators have moved to stay the Department of Labor’s plans to restructure any labor offices for at least the next year.
“I have made it very clear to the director and staff that it is not acceptable to me that the Bonners Ferry office is targeted for closure,” District 1 Sen. Shawn Keough told Boundary Economic Development Council director David Sims.
Keough is a member of JFAC and helps set budgets for all state agencies.
“We put language in the Dept. of Labor’s budget bill that instructs them not to close any offices this year and to come to the budget committee in the fall with details and numbers, and a plan to keep the rural offices like ours open to the people,” Keough said.
“I, and other legislators from rural areas, believe that our rural citizens should not be burdened to drive to other communities to have the services that the unemployment insurance taxes and other business taxes pay for.”
Language in the Dept. of Labor’s budget bill states that for the upcoming year, “The Department of Labor shall maintain the same number of local offices and provide the same or similar level of service as provided on July 1, 2014.
“Further, the Department of Labor shall report to the Joint Finance Appropriations Committee, at the committee’s 2015 fall interim meeting and detail the gap between necessary resources and the current level of service to maintain the same number of local offices.”
The bill still needs to pass the Senate and House, and Gov. Butch Otter will need to sign off on it to finalize plans to delay any restructure or closures. Keough and others are scheduled to meet with Otter today to discuss the issue.
“We’ve seen with the loss of the Health and Welfare office in Boundary County, which I also tried to stop, the burden
on citizens who have to go to Sandpoint to access services,” Keough said. “I’m working to stop the same thing from happening with the Dept. of Labor office.”
District 5 Senator Dan Schmidt, also a member of JFAC told the St. Maries Gazette Record:
“We are really just saying hold on a minute, let’s talk about this before you take any action. We don’t want them to lose money. They have to run their shop like any other state agency. The proposed changes were new to us legislators as well and we just want to know more about the situation before we approve such drastic changes.”
The St. Maries Dept. of Labor office is another rural office that was looking at restructure or closure.
Department of Labor offices are in charge of connecting job seekers with job listings, helping workers build resumes and file for unemployment benefits. They also help employers post job listings and comply with Idaho labor laws. Many Department of Labor services are now available online at labor.idaho.gov.
Idaho’s January unemployment rate dropped to 4.1 percent, the lowest since March of 2008 but Boundary County still lags behind much of the rest of the state with a 5.6 percent unemployment rate. January’s national average was 5.7 percent unemployment.
Government employment represents a solid third of the job opportunities in Boundary County, and many of the highest wage jobs. Trade, utilities and transportation make up close to 20 percent of Boundary County jobs and educational and health services round out the top three employment sectors at 11 percent.
The full text of the Dept. of Labor’s budget bill can be found at: www.legislature.idaho.gov/legislation/2015/S1173.htm