State facilitates job hunt
for welfare recipients

A program reimburses companies
who hire such employees

The state is hoping to find jobs for as many as 10,000 of Hawaii's unemployed parents on welfare, under a new program that reimburses businesses for hiring job candidates who are receiving government assistance.

Getting started For more information about SEE or to download a job order application, visit the Web site www.seehawaiiwork.org.

The Supporting Employment Empowerment Hawaii Work program, managed by the Department of Human Services, pays businesses $6.25 for each hour worked by an employee hired under the program, plus 14 percent of each new employee's wages to help cover workers' compensation insurance and Social Security costs. The state will also cover health insurance and child care and assist the job candidates with transportation.

Participating companies will be offered their choice of pre-screened public-assistance recipients who have either previous job experience or basic employment skills. SEE job candidates, who must be employed for at least 24 hours a week, are available for positions ranging from administrative assistants and mechanics to computer specialists.

The state will save $19,602 for each welfare recipient who gets employed as a result of SEE, said Lillian Koller, state Human Services director. The average welfare recipient gets about $27,360 in checks over four years, she said.

"That's about a 72 percent reduction in payments per client," Koller said, but she added that the program also has the potential to reduce the social costs related to the higher levels of depression, drug abuse and child abuse exhibited by long-term welfare recipients.

SEE has already placed seven people in jobs with four of the 35 participating employers, which represent a range of industries, including telecommunications and employment staffing companies, mortgage lenders and security firms, said Derick Dahilig, Human Services spokesman.

"There's a lot of interest in this program," Dahilig said. "More than 141 companies came to our presentation, which was held at the Hilton Hawaiian Village" yesterday.

The Department of Human Services spent $95 million of its $170 million state and federal welfare budget on public assistance checks in 2004. That amount is expected to drop to $92.5 million this year, Koller said.

Summit Lending has already put two SEE workers through the first phase of training, said Melissa Steadman, the company's corporate trainer and SEE program administrator.

"As a SEE employer, we receive the benefit of people who are willing to learn a new skill set in the setting of the company's culture while adding to the innovation of a partnership between the state and industry for the betterment of its citizens," she said.

The new program is modeled after Oregon's JOBS Plus program, which was developed in 1995 to reform the state's welfare system by placing recipients in private-sector jobs, Koller said.

"Employers need employees," she said. "SEE provides employers with the opportunity to expand their business at minimum cost by offering to the company a diverse pool of job candidates with various talents and skills."