WORKFORCE INVESTMENT ACT: Improvements Needed in Performance Measures to Provide a More Accurate Picture of WIA's Effectiveness.

摘要

The Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)in 1998 to begin unifying a fragmented employment and training system and to better serve job seekers and employers. To create a more comprehensive workforce investment system,WIA requires states and localities to bring together most federally funded employment and training services into a single system,called the one-stop center system. Seventeen programs across four federal agencies programs such as the Employment Service (Wagner-Peyser)and Adult Education and Literacy must provide services through this one-stop system. 1) Three of these programs,whose funding is authorized by WIA under Title I to provide services to adults, dislocated workers,and youth,replace those previously funded under the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). 2) These three new WIA programs, authorized at about $3.7 billion in fiscal year 2001,have performance measures established under WIA that states and localities must track in order to demonstrate the effectiveness of the programs. These performance measures gauge program results in the areas of job placement,employment retention,and earnings change,as well as skill attainment and customer satisfaction. States are held accountable by the U.S. Department of Labor for their performance in these areas.