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MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF LABOR AND INDUSTRIAL RELATIONS
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Tammy Cavender (573)
751-7500
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: October 11, 2007
MISSOURI DEPARTMENT OF LABOR RECEIVES OVER $1.9 MILLION IN GRANTS
Jefferson City – The Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations today announced that Missouri has received more than $1.3 million in federal grants from the U.S. Department of Labor to improve unemployment insurance programs. Missouri also received two federal grants in August equaling $608,035. Those grants will be used to develop an Internet registration option for new employers and implement procedures to prevent and detect unemployment insurance tax rate manipulation schemes.
Missouri received $500,000 to implement an electronic folder system, which will help resolve unemployment insurance issues in a timelier manner. The electronic folder system will allow staff to quickly disperse the workload evenly across the four statewide phone centers to ensure optimum productivity. Because many manual processes will be eliminated, the resulting automated program will ensure all conditions for adjudicating unemployment issues are met.
Another $450,000 was received to strengthen computer security for the unemployment insurance programs. Increasing safety precautions will ensure data is secure and will help the Department combat fraud and identity theft.
Nearly $236,000 will be spent on implementing software that will assist in getting unemployment claimants the re-employment services they need faster and returning them to work quicker. Another $50,000 will be used to study and examine the current unemployment insurance mailing costs, exploring opportunities to improve efficiency and reduce mailing costs.
Last, Missouri was awarded close to $128,000 for developing a method to cross match unemployment insurance data against a National Directory of New Hires. This type of cross matching would allow Missouri to identify and combat potential erroneous payments of unemployment benefits via fraud detection and verify eligibility for benefits.
The Missouri Department of Labor applied for 11 federal grants and was awarded nine. The U.S. Department of Labor decided to scale back the amount of federal grants due to the concern of Hurricane Katrina related funding needs. “The Department is grateful to receive a total of nearly $2 million in federal grants,” said Tom Deuschle, director of the Missouri Department of Labor and Industrial Relations. “These additional funds will allow Missouri to strengthen its technology and internal security, link unemployed workers to job opportunities faster and detect unemployment overpayments earlier.”
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Information and Planning · 3315 W. Truman
Blvd.
· P.O. Box 1958 · Jefferson City, MO
65102-1958
573-751-7500 · 573-751-6552 (Fax)
Relay Missouri: 1-800-735-2966 (TDD) 1-800-735-2466 (Voice)