Labor Union Blog

The U.S. Department of Labor is joining forces with Facebook and education and employer organizations to provide crucial employment resources to job seekers through the use of social networks.

A new Facebook Social Jobs Partnership page (click here) highlights available training programs, educational opportunities and job search resources. Also Facebook has made a commitment to drive traffic to the page through targeted online public service announcements that will appear to users in geographic areas experiencing high unemployment.

Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis says:

Linking American job seekers with the resources they need to get back to work is a top priority of the Obama administration and my department. By leveraging the power of the social Web, this initiative will provide immediate, meaningful and ready-to-use information for job seekers and employers, and a modern platform to better connect them.

Other partners in the initiative are the National Association of State Workforce Agencies, DirectEmployers Association and the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Those groups will conduct in-depth survey research about how job seekers, college career centers and workforce recruiters are using the social Web effectively; explore how job postings can be shared on Facebook and through other social websites at no charge; and distribute educational materials to recruiters, government agencies and job seekers about the utility of the social Web.

Marne Levine, Facebook’s vice president of global public policy, says:

Facebook is about connecting people, so that they can share what’s important to them, and that is the driving force behind the social jobs partnership. We’ve brought employers, recruiters, college career services and government agencies together to help the millions of Americans who use Facebook to find jobs.