Unemployment help coming to Oklahoma

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The U.S. Department of Labor is lending a helping hand to Oklahoma workers who were displaced by last month's severe storms. <br><br>A $2 million emergency grant will provide 500

Friday, June 20th 2003, 12:00 am

By: News On 6

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) _ The U.S. Department of Labor is lending a helping hand to Oklahoma workers who were displaced by last month's severe storms.

A $2 million emergency grant will provide 500 temporary jobs to assist in cleaning up areas hit by the storms and also could be used to provide transition assistance to others.

``Oklahomans who have lost their jobs due to the destruction of these tornadoes and storms need our help getting back to work,'' U.S. Sen. Jim Inhofe, R-Okla., said Thursday.

``Today I am pleased that we can offer the assistance needed to get these hard-working Oklahomans back into the workforce.''

That assistance could be in the form of career counseling, job-search training and other support services.

The counties affected are Cleveland, Lincoln, Oklahoma and Osage, Inhofe said.

A second emergency grant of $508,230 will provide assistance to workers who lost their jobs when clothing plants in Seminole and Okemah closed, Inhofe said.

``It is not these workers' fault that their jobs no longer exist, and we need to do all that we can to help,'' he said.'' Inhofe said.