Efforts Underway to Save Marshfield Job Center

Local efforts are underway to save the Marshfield Job Center, which is scheduled to close at the end of the year. The center is the victim of government funding cuts and a push for efficiency.

It costs $35,000 a year to keep the Job Center open four days a week at the Marshfield City Hall. Now, the government of Wood County has told city leaders that it can no longer afford to pay its $24,000 share. Marshfield City Administrator Steve Barg says the unemployed may soon have to drive 35 miles to the main Wood County Job Center in Wisconsin Rapids. “If you’re struggling to find employment, you’re probably not readily having accessible transportation, or being able to afford a 70 mile round trip to and from Wisconsin Rapids to meet with someone, to get on their computer system or whatever.”

Barg says a coalition of local community and business leaders is trying to find ways to keep the Marshfield center open. “Mid-State Technical College, UW Wood County, the Marshfield Area Chamber of Commerce and Industry, or Mackie as we call them, you know, folks like that have come to the table saying, what can we do, where can we find another place to locate, how can we help.”

Democratic State Representative Amy Sue Vruwink says this is not just a problem for Marshfield and Wood County. She says the county cannot afford to keep two job centers open because of cutbacks in state aid. “This is local units of government, and with the cutbacks across the state, these are some of the things that they have to look at cutting. Wisconsin Rapids still has its job center open, and people look at it and say, well there needs to be efficiency in government, but we also have two major cities in Wood County.”

This is not the first time the Marshfield Job Center has faced closure. Five years ago, a joint effort kept the center open after another state push for efficiency threatened to shut it down.