• To provide instructions to states for extending the life of their State Strategic Plans for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) and the Wagner-Peyser Act (“the State Plan”) for an additional year, through Program Year 2009;
• To provide instructions to states for extending existing waivers and requesting new waivers; and
• To announce renewal of Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval for Stand-Alone and Unified Strategic State Planning Guidances.

To remind states of options that are available under Federal unemployment compensation (UC) law to mitigate layoffs, permit payments for certain self-employment activities, and extend benefits to individuals who have exhausted their regular UC.

To advise State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) of their Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) grant allocations for the first 92 days of the FY 2009 Continuing Resolution (CR) in effect October 1, 2008, through March 6, 2009.

To announce the annual list of Labor Surplus Areas for Fiscal Year (FY) 2009.

To inform states of recent amendments to Federal law authorizing the recovery of certain unemployment compensation (UC) debts due to fraud from Federal income tax refunds.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of a report entitled: Implementation Analysis of High-Growth Job Training Initiative Programs.

To advise states of an expansion of the Emergency Unemployment Compensation, 2008 (EUC08) program and to provide operating instructions for its implementation.

To announce the release and the availability of the following Youth Opportunity (YO) Grant Initiative items:

• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Summary and Implications
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Executive Summary
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Ethnographic Evaluation Final Report
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Impact and Synthesis Report
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Management Information System Final Report
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Process Evaluation Final Report
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Appendices
• Youth Opportunity Grant Initiative: Public Data Set

To inform states that the UI Benefits and Adjudication National Training Forum is scheduled for April 14-16, 2009, in Portland, Oregon, and to encourage states to participate in the conference.

To provide guidance to states regarding the change in the definition of “paying state” for an unemployment compensation (UC) combined-wage claim (CWC) filed under the Interstate Arrangement for Combining Employment and Wages.