Texas Back to Work Program Hits New Employment Milestone

A statewide program aimed at helping the unemployed to join the workforce is seeing success.

The Texas Back to Work initiative surpassed a milestone in February, by helping to provide job seekers with more than 25,000 job placements.

Since the program’s implementation in March of 2010, almost 4,500 employers have received wage incentives from the State for hiring qualified out-of-work Texans.

“The Texas Back to Work program is a great example of what happens when states have the freedom to craft innovative programs to address the needs of their workforce,” said Texas Workforce Commission Chairman Tom Pauken. “Millions in new wages have been added to the state’s economy, and the initiative has reduced the demand on Texas’ Unemployment Insurance Trust Fund.”

The program provides up to $2,000 in hiring incentives to hire and retain out-of-work Texans, particularly those who have received or exhausted employment benefits.

More than 1.7 million job seekers and nearly 160,000 employers utilized the Texas workforce system in fiscal year 2011.