State pulling workers out of 31 unemployment offices amid major cuts

The Education and Workforce Development Cabinet is pulling its employees out of 31 unemployment centers across Kentucky in an effort to save millions of dollars.

Workers with the Office of Employment and Training throughout the state received a notice Tuesday that the cabinet was making drastic changes, shifting its focus to 12 “hubs” in Bowling Green, Covington, Elizabethtown, Hazard, Hopkinsville, Lexington, Louisville, Morehead, Owensboro, Paducah, Prestonsburg and Somerset.

The change means 95 employees will be transferred to other positions within the cabinet or elsewhere in state government. There are now 51 Kentucky Career Centers in the state. That number is being reduced to the 12 hubs and eight existing satellite offices.

The 31 affected unemployment offices — including locations in Richmond, Danville, Winchester, Georgetown and Frankfort — won’t be closing entirely, but will be supported by “community partners,” said Kim Brannock, a spokeswoman for the Education and Workforce Development Cabinet.

Read more here: http://www.kentucky.com/news/politics-government/article125733614.html