Direct from Washington, November 2008

Workforce Development Innovation and the WIA

One place to start changing to a workforce development view might be with the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), according to a policy brief from a foundation-sponsored project that focuses on the working poor. The Act was supposed to have been renewed in 2003, but it has limped along on a year-to-year basis with no real analysis or oversight of its $3 billion in appropriations (which have declined since WIA was authorized 10 years ago).

While WIA has been criticized for its burdensome regulations, there are areas where the funding could be used to develop innovative state workforce policies and programs. One is the 15 percent state set aside for activities determined by the governor. (In at least seven states’ programs for youth have been the priority of this allocation).

Another source for innovation is the incentive award grants given to states that exceed their performance targets in various outcomes measured by the Department of Labor (in the latest round, 10 states received awards ranging from just under $1 million to $3 million). Illinois, for example, used WIA discretionary funds to support its Critical Skills Shortage Initiative, which links regional economic growth to education and workforce services. Education providers were among the groups involved in regional planning efforts that identified high-need economic sectors and then matched education and training services to build pipelines of skilled workers. A similar regional planning approach was taken by Washington State, whose governor used the WIA discretionary money to establish Industry Skill Panels. Among other things, the skill panels typically partner with community and technical colleges to develop new training products for new employees and help current workers gain earning power. The Skill Panels also have leveraged outside resources from businesses, foundations, and other federal programs, and in four years attracted more than $40 million in additional funding from these sources.

Oregon’s Pathways Statewide Initiative under the WIA discretionary program supports the transitions of students across an education continuum. It operates the program through its 17 community colleges that partner with K-12 systems and universities as well as state agencies. For example, the Initiative “chunks” degrees for students going from high school to postsecondary education, providing them with career pathways certificates that require as few as 12 or as many as 44 credits tied to an occupation in demand in the local labor market.

While the WIA “has fallen short of advocates’ hopes that it would usher in a new eras of accountable, effective programming responsive to both labor market demand and jobseeker priorities,” some states have been able to use their discretionary money to develop innovative approaches to workforce development, the brief contends. “The discretionary funds have proven valuable both as a safety valve within WIA’s otherwise overly determined programming, and as a spur toward the sort of boundary-breaking, innovative programming that transcends a regulatory mindset to help communities solve their workforce problems.

The brief recommends that groups interested in workforce development for those at the low-income end:

• Examine state discretionary and incentive funds to determine current and ideal usage,

• Focus resources on developing and testing new strategies to better serve low-income working adults, within the context of economic development goals, and

• Design initiatives to leverage other resources.

(“Using the Workforce Investment Act to Develop and Foster Innovative State Workforce Policies and Programs,” The Working Poor Families Project, www.workingpoorfamilies.org)