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Workforce Training: Employed Worker Programs Focus on Business Needs, but Revised Performance Measures Could Improve Access for Some Workers

GAO-03-353 Published: Feb 14, 2003. Publicly Released: Mar 07, 2003.
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Highlights

Although training for employed workers is largely the responsibility of employers and individuals, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) allowed state and local entities to use federal funds for training employed workers. Similarly, welfare reform legislation created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grants and gave states greater flexibility to design training services for TANF clients to help them obtain and retain jobs. To better understand how the training needs of employed workers, including low-wage workers, is publicly supported, GAO was asked to determine (1) the extent to which local areas and states provide assistance to train employed workers, including funding training; (2) the focus of such training efforts and the kind of training provided; and (3) when targeting training to low-wage workers, the approaches state and local officials identified to address challenges in training this population.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To improve the use of WIA funds for employed worker training, the Secretary of Labor should review the current WIA performance measure for change in adult average earnings to ensure that this measure does not provide disincentives for serving employed workers. For example, Labor might consider having separate average earnings gains measures for employed workers and unemployed workers.
Closed – Implemented
Labor has reviewed the WIA performance measures and, effective July 1, 2006, the agency is measuring the average 6 months earnings of individuals who are employed after program completion. This definition has been applied as the earnings measure for many Labor workforce programs, including WIA adults, WIA dislocated workers, and others. In June 2007, Labor also released new performance measures for the Senior Community Service Employment Program that eliminated a disincentive to serving seniors with work experience: federal officials determined that using a measure that focused on the change in earnings provided a disincentive to serving people with previous work experience, especially those with higher pre-program wages.

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Topics

EducationEmployment assistance programsFederal fundsEmployee trainingSurveysLabor forceTemporary assistance for needy familiesPublic officialsEconomic developmentWorkers