Mark Butler, the Georgia Department of Labor Commissioner, told the Buckhead Business Association on Dec. 8 that he wants to reduce what the government spends on unemployment benefits and spend it training workers.
Butler suggested giving workers 50 weeks of unemployment benefits and using the rest of the money to train them instead of giving unemployed workers 99 weeks of benefits.
“Workforce development is the No. 1 issue in Georgia now,” Butler said. “I cannot tell you how many people are knocking on my doors saying, ‘We cannot find individuals to fill our jobs.’ … If we’re going to be involved in this process we have to incentivize business to train these people or we’re going to have to take some of our resources and train them.”
He said additional unemployment benefits are not going to pull the country out of the current recession.
“We need to spend more money on technical colleges, upgrading the materials they have,” Butler said. “They need to have the best equipment whether it’s material, resources, simulators – that is our quickest and best turn around right there.”
He said if the state doesn’t start focusing on workforce development, it’s going to be “outhustled” by its neighbors in Tennessee and Alabama.
Butler said the department’s current technology is outdated, and said the job search function on the state website is “pitiful.”
He said he wants to implement a system where job posters have accounts with the department of labor and job seekers receiving unemployment would post resumes online.
He said he’s also working with Georgia Secretary of State Brian Kemp to identify “barriers to business” that would allow the state to identify ways that government limits business growth. He said he’s always wondered why people need a cosmetology license to cut hair or why a business has to participate in a public hearing so it can offer valet parking.
“How much money and resources are we making people spend in order to put people back to work? We don’t need to have a process just for the sake of having a process,” Butler said.
He told the BBA people think of his division of government as the unemployment office.
“I view our office as the employment office,” he said.
BBA members gave Butler’s presentation positive reviews.
Jeanette McCarter, owner of Housing Problems Solvers Company, agrees the state Department of Labor should rethink its website.
Lawyer Heather Wright, a Buckhead Business Association member, said she was excited to hear about the department’s emphasis on training workers.
“We need a more highly-trained workforce and the only way it’s going to happen is through the Department of Labor,” Wright said.
At the Dec. 8 meeting, the BBA announced its 2012 officers.
The new BBA Executive Committee members are:
- Catherine Cattles, president
- Brian Daughdrill, president elect
- John Wright, treasurer
- Brian McGuire, secretary
