Located in:
- Program-Specific Requirements for Wagner-Peyser Program (Employment Services)
All Program-Specific Requirements provided for the WIOA core programs in this section must be addressed for either a Unified or Combined State Plan.
e. 3. Providing the Full Range of Employment and Training Services to the Agricultural Community, Both Farmworkers and Agricultural Employers, Through the One-stop Delivery System. This Includes: Answer
A. Providing the Full Range of Employment and Training Services to the Agricultural Community, Both Farmworkers and Agricultural Employers, Through the One-stop Delivery System. This Includes:
i. How Career and Training Services Required Under WIOA Title I Will Be Provided to Msfws Through the One-stop Centers;
ii. How the State Serves Agricultural Employers and How it Intends to Improve Such Services.
Current Narrative:
Once a client is identified as a MSFW in the local one-stop, the staff will further interview and assist by starting the process for any needed career counselling or training through AHDC, the Arkansas Department of Human Services, agricultural employers and other service providers, such as faith and community based organizations like Catholic Charities, Central Arkansas Development Council, Arkansas Literacy Council and the Community Action Agency that can offer assistance with healthcare, transportation, utilities and education, through the Single Parent Scholarship. When a client expresses a desire to “break the cycle” of farm labor, a job development may also be used for referral to an employer that may hire them to begin a new career.
Through the Arkansas Job Link (AJL) management information system, agricultural jobs are listed statewide and are available to all jobseekers in the state as well as of out of state by creating an account and searching for suitable employment. An AJL employer account provides the ability to post job openings, search resumes for qualified employees, receive emails on new jobseeker resumes and receive assistance listing the agricultural job opening. ADWS will provide agricultural employers with applicants who meet the job-related selection criteria established by the employers.
This year’s objectives are: to increase the percentage of referrals to agricultural employers; to increase the percentage of agricultural openings filled; to enhance employer/worker job match through the interstate clearance process. ADWS will participate in meetings and conferences of agricultural employers and inform them of employment services and the agricultural recruitment system. Nearly 287,000 Arkansas workers, in 20% of the state’s jobs, were employed as a result of agriculture production and processing, receiving $8.9 billion in wages and salaries - about 19% of the state’s total employee income. The farms in Arkansas are highly mechanized and few require a significant number of manual laborers. Although Arkansas has a relatively large number of farmworkers, many of them are job attached and work year after year for the same employers. They are usually on lay-off during the winter months and return to work in the spring.