To advise state agencies of plans to improve, streamline, and automate UCX claims processing, including plans to automate the UCX claim notification and the Quarterly Detailed Benefits Payment Data (QDBPD) by providing them in electronic format to the Federal military branches for unemployment compensation (UC) purposes.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of a report entitled: Implementation Analysis of High-Growth Job Training Initiative Programs.

To announce the annual list of Labor Surplus Areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.

To remind states of options that are available under Federal unemployment compensation (UC) law to mitigate layoffs, permit payments for certain self-employment activities, and extend benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular UC.

To alert State Workforce Agency Administrators and Local Workforce Investment Board (LWIB) Executive Directors that a study of TBL in the public workforce system is being implemented and their completion of the State TBL Survey and Local TBL Survey, respectively, will support this effort. The primary purpose of these surveys is to gather up-to-date information on TBL opportunities and usage at the state and local levels, and factors that influence its adoption and design in the public workforce system.

To publicize the availability of funds for the 2012 Employment and Training Administration (ETA) Research Papers Program. This initiative will provide approximately $80,000 to fund approximately 10 projects of Doctoral students interested in writing scholarly, policy-relevant research papers on topics of interest to the public workforce investment system.

To announce the release and availability of the paper, Competency Models: A Review of the Literature and the Role of the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) prepared in ETA’s Division of Research and Evaluation, Office of Policy Development and Research.

To provide an update on the UI Excellence in Action initiative and announce the availability of exciting new tools designed to help states improve business processes in their unemployment insurance (UI) programs

To transmit the updated Agricultural and Food Processing Clearance Order, ETA Form 790; Agricultural and Food Processing Clearance Memorandum, ETA Form 795; and the instructions for both forms.

To inform State Workforce Agencies (SWAs), SWA liaisons, and National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP) grantees of the 2013 National Monitor Advocate Training Sessions, which will take place March 17-20, 2013, at the MAFO 2013 National Farmworker Conference in San Antonio, Texas