CHARLESTON -- WorkForce West Virginia officials said they’ve run out of money for a program to retrain workers who have lost their jobs and will need to request more funding from the federal government.

Each fiscal year, the agency allocates federal Workforce Investment Act funding to seven districts across the state to retrain jobless workers in other careers. Those funds have dried up early in three districts hit with a particularly high number of layoffs – the districts encompassing Beckley, Parkersburg and Wheeling.

Workforce West Virginia Director Russell Fry said it’s hard to estimate just how much the state needs for the remainder of the fiscal year.

“That’s kind of a moving target, because we don’t know how many people will come in between now and June 30 (the end of the fiscal year),” he said.

However, the agency estimates it will need $750,000 to $800,000 just to serve those jobless workers already on the waiting list, he said.

Workforce Investment Act funds are cash reserves unemployed workers can tap into to pay for job training. The money in question must be used for approved programs in careers where there is a high demand in the areas the workers live.

Fry said it was unusual for the funding to run out so early. He said the bad economy is to blame, noting the agency’s unemployment offices are processing twice as many people as they were a year earlier.

The agency will request an emergency grant from the U.S. Department of Labor to shore up the fund until the beginning of the next fiscal year, when it will receive a new round of funding.

Fry said the agency will be able to handle the request in-house and won’t need to ask the Legislature for any special authorization.