America's Job Bank Gets Laid Off | workforce.com

America's Job Bank Gets Laid Off | workforce.com: "America’s Job Bank Gets Laid Off
The U.S. Labor Department plans to close America’s Job Bank—the national online job board—in a little more than a year, a move that is proving controversial.
May 10, 2006
America’s Job Bank Gets Laid Off
The Labor Department sent a notice to state officials earlier this year saying the benefits of America’s Job Bank 'no longer outweigh the costs of operating and maintaining this system. Therefore, AJB will be phased out during the next 18 months and cease to be operational on June 30, 2007.'

The notice argued that maintaining and improving the site no longer makes sense 'given that AJB duplicates what is already available in the private sector.'

That logic rings true to Peter Weddle, recruiting analyst and executive director of the International Association of Employment Web Sites industry group. Weddle says the Labor Department is wise to shutter America's Job Bank because it replicates services offered by a range of private-sector sites. These include sites targeted at lower-wage and blue-collar workers, says Weddle, whose association includes the major job boards CareerBuilder.com, Monster.com and Yahoo HotJobs."