Governor Bill Walker announces that two divisions will be combining in order to save the state money.
Walker said Department of Labor Commissioner Heidi Drygas came to him with the idea.
Gov.Walker: “Through Administrative Order 275, it will be a combination in the Department of Labor, combining two divisions. This combines the Employment Security Division and the Division of Business Partnerships into one Division of Employment and Training Services. It saves about $600,000, six hundred thousand dollars does not balance the budget but it’s a start.”
Commissioner Drygas outlined the combination inside the department more clearly.
Drygas: “What’s going to happen is it’s going to result in the elimination of eight vacancies within both division. And that’s really just a start because as we move forward with consolidation we can identify possibly other vacancies that we can eliminate as well as other efficiencies. What it will also do is it will eliminate a lot of administrative overhead that currently exists right now within both of those divisions.”
The elimination of administrative overhead means that more of the workforce training grants within the departments will be used out in the public to put Alaskans to work according to Drygas.
She added that combining the divisions involves no layoffs.
