Labor teams with Monster.com

The Labor Department is teaming with job search provider Monster.com to promote each other's online job listings and other career resources.

Labor Secretary Elaine Chao announced the partnership June 20 at the department's 21st Century Workforce Summit in Washington, D.C. The summit brought together government, academic, business and labor leaders to address demographic and skills issues facing America' workforce.

Under the agreement, Labor's Employment and Training Administration (www.doleta.gov) and Monster.com will cross-reference each other's listings. The combination of the government's largest job bank provider and the private sector's largest online job bank will open up more possibilities for employment hunters, according Labor spokeswoman Sue Hensley.

"This creates a partnership with a private entity to help more Americans access jobs that [they] might not have realized they had access to," Hensley said.

Kevin Mullins, a spokesperson for Monster.com, said the Web service also will have access to Labor's career classification and outlook information. Monster.com will use Labor's Occupational Information Network, a database of worker attributes and job characteristics that helps job seekers assess their skill levels and explore potential careers.

"It's a mutually beneficial partnership," Labor's Hensley said. "I think it's unprecedented in terms of an electronic job bank agreement."

The partnership is one of the first initiatives in the new 21st Century Workforce Initiative being launched by Chao. As part of that initiative, Chao announced in March the creation of a 21st Century Workforce Office within Labor to help workers adapt to changes in the economy, such as the shift from manufacturing to more highly skilled jobs. The office was approved by President Bush in an executive order signed June 20.

Labor also announced it will launch a new Web site to help disabled people enter the workforce. It will feature information on Bush's New Freedom Initiative proposals, which include providing disabled people with more access to assistive technologies and creating a fund to help them buy equipment needed for telecommuting.