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The USDOL Employment and Training Administration (ETA) sponsored a telephone conference on Friday, March 17, regarding the Administration's plans to discontinue support for America's Job Bank (AJB) as of July 1, 2007.

According to ETA, the environment has changed since AJB was started over a decade ago as most states have developed or purchased their own Internet-based job banks and the private sector has caught up and produced numerous nationwide job bank sites. The two major factors ETA weighed when making their decision to discontinue support for AJB were: (1) changes in the job bank market and (2) the costs associated with running AJB.

ETA is proceeding with plans to phase out AJB by June 30, 2007. ETA officials indicate they will work with states to assess thoroughly their individual situations and address any issues. ETA also will provide technical assistance to states. According to ETA, the impact on the rest of the CareerOneStop suite of electronic tools will be minimal.

One of the major concerns of states pertains to employers who want to post a job order in multiple states. ETA has said it will be working to create a system that allows employers to post a job order once and have it broadcasted to selected state job banks. States using the America's One-Stop Operating System (AOSOS) have a stronger reliance on AJB than most other states. ETA will meet with the AOSOS states and provide counsel on alternative solutions.

Documents that were sent to state administrators regarding the AJB transition are attached below:

ETA Letter Sent to State Administrators
The Phase Out of America's Job Bank Questions and Answers
The Phase Out of America's Job Bank Fact Sheet