DATE: Saturday, October 18, 1997            TAG: 9710180342

SECTION: BUSINESS                PAGE: D1   EDITION: FINAL 

SOURCE: BY MICHAEL CLARK, STAFF WRITER 

                                            LENGTH:   46 lines

STATE WINS JOB CENTERS GRANT EMPLOYERS, JOB-SEEKERS WILL BE ABLE TO ACCESS CENTERS VIA COMPUTER.

The hassles of the employment game are about to change in Virginia thanks to a three-year, $11 million grant awarded Friday by the U.S. Department of Labor.

The commonwealth will use the grant to launch a One-Stop Career Center System.

Virginia's job-seekers and employers will soon have state-operated centers where they can meet. The centers are a more customer-friendly way to provide services under the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982, said a Labor Department spokesman.

``They will be able to file for unemployment insurance, see if a job they're interested in requires training, find out if the training providers are in the region,'' he said of job-seekers. Employers will be able to recruit workers, post job listings and advertisements and find help with labor market information.

Ann McGee, executive director of the Governor's Employment and Training Department, said the centers will work cooperatively throughout the state.

``It's a locally driven program,'' McGee said. ``For example, the job market in southwestern Virginia is very different than in Northern Virginia.''

Next year, Virginia will use $4 million of the $11 million awarded to implement the system, McGee said.

Virginia has designated 39 local offices of the Virginia Employment Commission, including some in Hampton Roads, as full-service centers. In addition, 23 Area Agencies on Aging will be less comprehensive one-stop sites.

The money ``will be used to buy the hardware and software, principally,'' she said.

``This is not a bricks and mortar system,'' McGee said. ``Our system in Virginia is principally a technology system.''

Employers and job-seekers will also be able to access the centers from office and home if they have computers and modems.

After three years, the state will run the system with the help of the localities, McGee said.

To receive the grants, states have to submit a plan detailing how they will use the funds.

Virginia submitted its grant proposal last summer. KEYWORDS: GRANT EMPLOYMENT

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