Workforce Development weighs closing 39 offices. (Des Moines Register, 2/18/2011)
Excerpt: "We believe we can provide higher quality services more effectively," said Wahlert, who proposes shifting computers, software and other technology from the Workforce Development offices to public libraries, where many jobless people search for jobs and write resumes.
Critics blasted the idea, saying it would hurt services to more than 100,000 unemployed Iowans. The state's unemployment rate has been at 6 percent or above for 19 months.
Sen. Bill Dotzler, D-Waterloo, and Rep. Kirsten Running-Marquardt, D-Cedar Rapids, called the plan disastrous.
"The governor is pulling out the rug on Iowans by reducing their access to key services by closing 39 Workforce Development offices, mostly in rural areas," Dotzler said.
"Instead of increasing access to employment services for workers and businesses, the governor's plan puts up more barriers for Iowans looking for a job and businesses trying to hire new workers," he said.
Dotzler added that public libraries have always been available to workers and the agency's proposal adds no new access. [Emphasis added.]
The proposal, of course, provides no additional resources for Iowa's 540 public libraries, which already, as State Librarian Mary Wegner points out, struggle with having enough hours, books, computers and staffing to meet the needs of people using the library.
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