This notice announces and solicits nominees for a UI Benefit Financing Seminar to be held October 16-19, 2012, in Washington, D.C.

To notify State Workforce Agencies of the opportunity to apply for Fiscal Year (FY) 2012 funds as the lead state to establish, via a cooperative agreement with the U.S. Department of Labor’s (Department) Employment and Training Administration (ETA), a national UI Integrity Center of Excellence (Center). The Center will develop and promote innovative UI program integrity strategies to reduce improper payments and prevent and detect fraud.

To provide guidance to states about their ongoing responsibilities for preventing, detecting and recovering improper payments of EUC, EB and FAC, and inform states of a new management information measure to capture states’ progress in conducting and improving their program integrity activities related to these Federally funded programs

To announce the release and availability of the Comparison of State Unemployment Insurance Laws 2012.

To inform the workforce system of two outreach campaigns to prevent fatal falls in construction and heat illness in outdoor workers.

To emphasize and support the use of layoff aversion and its critical role in creating and sustaining high-performing Rapid Response systems, and to provide examples of allowable and recommended activities and partnerships key to averting layoffs.

We are pleased to announce Workforce System Strategies – a new technical assistance repository designed to make it easier for workforce system professionals to quickly find information that supports positive customer outcomes.  Workforce System Strategies is a highly-searchable tool populated with a growing number of experimental studies, implementation evaluations, and peer-informed how-to guides.  You can use Workforce System Strategies to:

• Help job seekers and employer customers achieve better outcomes
• Identify preliminary evidence that may be useful in program design
• Be at the forefront of the workforce system

To request that states designate ASUs in order for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) to allot funds under WIA for the period beginning on July 1, 2013.

To provide a summary of selected ETA 581 data with associated charts and tables for CY 2011.

To advise state workforce agencies of the new provisions under the Middle Class Tax Relief and Job Creation Act of 2012 governing work search requirements for EUC recipients and state responsibilities for conducting random audits of recipients’ work search activities.