LV welfare system called untapped recruiting source

Las Vegas's tight labor market makes the welfare system an untapped recruiting source for labor, providing what an expert calls "hard-working, enthusiastic and motivated employees."

Hiring welfare recipients makes sound business sense and fulfills a social responsibility, said Ken Tully, president of Employment Innovations, a consulting firm specializing in welfare-to-work programs.

Changes in the nation's welfare program in 1996 created a new system of block grants. These Welfare-to-Work grants went to the states for Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF).

The goal was to move people off of welfare and into the work force by encouraging employers to seek welfare recipients for long-term employment.

Tully spoke at a Las Vegas Chamber of Commerce luncheon Wednesday.

He discussed the two-tier program of tax credits that can reduce federal taxes by $8,500 per new employee for a firm over a two-year period.

Under the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, employers hiring certain welfare recipients receive special tax breaks. For keeping an employee working between 120 and 400 hours, the employer can receive a 25 percent tax credit on the first $6,000 in wages earned.

An employer receives a tax credit equal to 40 percent on the first $6,000 earned for an employee who is retained for more than 400 hours.

Tully said employers can opt to take part in the newer Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit program if the individual has been on welfare for an extended period of time.

This program provides a tax credit of $8,500 to businesses employing a hard-to-employ welfare recipient for two years. A tax credit of 35 percent of first-year wages up to $10,000 and a benefit equal to 50 percent of second year wages up to that amount is available.

Tully said funds are available for reimbursement of training costs as well.

Tully, a nationally recognized expert in the field who has addressed the topic several times on national television, first became involved as a part of Marriott International's welfare-to-work training program, Pathways to Independence.

As project director, he worked directly with welfare recipients and insists that common perceptions are often false. Most people on welfare really want to work and are not satisfied with their position, he said.

Some of the challenges they face are a lack of job skills and a lack of confidence to persevere, Tully said. He said many of the practices commonly associated with business success, like calling ahead if running late, are foreign to welfare recipients.

As a model for the type of training required, Tully discussed the Pathways to Independence program in detail.

The programs goals were to:

--Hire qualified, motivated people.

--Provide assistance in developing a strong work ethic.

--Help develop marketable, productive job skills.

--Help trainees become independent and employable.

"If you got the will, we'll give you the skill" Tully said, relating one of the guiding principles of the program.

He said the business benefits can include good employees, lower turnover in the labor force, investment in the community and the coveted tax credit.

After the presentation, he said that programs similar to Pathways would be "a very good fit" for Las Vegas given the nature of the local job market: Low unemployment and employees struggling to find and retain good workers.

The program is set up so businesses can "cheat" by training workers to fit their needs, said Tully.

In order to make a program of training or employment successful, he pointed out that certain issues must be considered. Transportation, child care, health care, housing, and case management are the "building blocks of welfare to work," Tully explained.

Though the economy is strong and unemployment is low, Tully said the program could still be a success if the economy's growth slows. In a recession, the nature of the jobs may change, but the program can survive, he said.

Rota Rosaschi, chief of benefits and support for the Nevada State Welfare Division, said Nevada is "certainly taking the leadership in the nation" in getting welfare recipients into the workforce.

Rosaschi said the Welfare Division is developing partnerships with the Department of Employment Training and Rehabilitation, the Community College System and Nevada Partners, a local non-profit organization, to further increase educational opportunities, placement and job retention.

Some private firms have been scrambling to put together proposals for large additional grants distributed nationwide on a competitive basis, Rosaschi said. These grants would provide added funding, partially through private entities, for programs designed to bolster welfare-to-work programs.

A total of $3 billion in Welfare-to-Work grants are to be distributed to the states over the next two years.

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