Outlook Positive For Laid-Off INL Workers, Dept. Of Labor Says
The main contractor at the Idaho National Laboratory announced Thursday it would be laying off up to 185 workers. Today’s focus is on the fallout.
The Department of Labor is closed now for the weekend, but come Monday, displaced workers can come and meet some brand new staffers who could help lessen the blow of the layoffs.
Shannon Wilson worked for the INL, contracted through CWI, until Jan. 26.
“I was a heavy equipment operator and removed legacy waste,” Wilson said.
Now she works as a peer support specialist for the Department of Labor. Wilson expects she’ll be quite busy in the coming weeks, since INL announced Thursday that they’ll need to lay off up to 185 employees.
“There’s a lot of information out there for (unemployed workers), but it’s so complicated,” Wilson said. “There’s so much of it and it’s overwhelming. My job is to help displaced workers navigate that.”
The peer support program is just one of many resources that the Department of Labor has in its arsenal, ready to help people get back to work.
“They’re people that were also laid off,” regional economist Will Jenson said of the peer support specialists. “They know what it’s like. They can help and lend a listening ear if that’s what those people need. It’s hard. “
Unemployment is hard, but local economists believe that with the right kind of help, the community will continue to pull out of the ‘great recession.’
“I think the labor market is improving. Employers are starting to find that it’s now time to start hiring workers back,” Jenson said.
Meanwhile, Wilson is going back to school to pursue a career in human resources.
“Of course I would have like to have stayed working full time,” Wilson said. “But it is what it is, and you make the best of it.”
In addition to the peer support specialists, the Department of Labor has a rapid response team which is busy preparing to get laid off employees back to work.
The department also applied for a million-plus-dollar emergency grant from the federal government, to bolster their current programs.
The Department of Labor also pointed out that the Mayor’s Business Day job fair will be happening on March 27 at Idaho Falls High School.
