Business Journal (1-9-12)



In business news for Monday, January 9th, 2012 - Governor Scott Walker rolls out a plan to put more people back to work.

The Department of Workforce Development will hold at least 100 job fairs this year, doubling last year's number, and the Wisconsin Department of Veteran's Affairs will hold more fairs as well.

The program also seeks to improve graduation rates. It's creating a task force to come up with ideas to reduce the number of drop-outs, increase the college graduation rates and make it easier to transfer college credits.

Also on the jobs front - seasonal hiring in the retail industry is making a comeback. Retail hiring was close to pre-recession levels in 2011 with a net gain of 718,500 jobs. That's only about 2,300 fewer positions than the seasonal help hired in 2007 when the economy was still relatively strong.