2.5.3.1. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Program
The U.S. Department of Labor’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Program has established “One-Stop” Centers as a central focal point for all job-related activities including job training and human support services (GDOL 2004). There are currently
over 45 full service WIA One-Stop Centers in Georgia. In addition to these full-service sites, many communities have satellite locations for customers to access workforce services. These service sites may include libraries, technical colleges, welfare offices, community centers, or mall kiosks, and may provide limited services, or services for specialized populations (Berkeley Policy Associates 2003, Fitzgerald 2000). Not all WDS facilities offer a full-range of instructional courses, creating a potential mismatch between new students and their desired courses of instruction. Title I of WIA includes adult, dislocated worker, and youth employment and training services, in effect
continuing the JTPA “second chance” job training program (Bartik and Hollenbeck 2000). The WIA program provides eligibility for core services to all adults aged 18 and older. Adult, Youth, and Dislocated workers fall under Title I of WIA.
The WIA program offers a pathway to create systems change within a context of existing programs and facilities (Giloth 2000). The WIA Program is unique with
statewide geographical coverage and access to government funding flows.
Unfortunately, much of the funding for the construction and staffing of One-Stop Centers came at the expense of existing services (Lafer 1998). Priority for intensive and training services is given to recipients of public assistance and other low-income individuals. WIA excludes the long-term unemployed from definition of dislocated worker.
The Georgia WIA (GDOL 2004) plan builds on the system of workforce development services currently provided through the state’s technical colleges and the GDOL One-Stop Career locations, local WIA programs and vocational rehabilitation services. The One-Stop system actually functions on two levels: the electronic
delivery system created across the state by state and local partner organizations. However, complete implementation of a fully integrated statewide workforce
development system is still a work in progress. While the national WIA program has centralized client intake, the services offered by the One-Stop Centers have not been well integrated in terms of participating agencies and funding streams (Giloth 2004, O’Shea and King 2001).
2.5.3.2. The WIA Program’s Work-First Philosophy
The WIA operational philosophy is based on immediate work activity as its highest priority. Skills development through occupational training is available to only an limited number of individuals (Bartik and Hollenbeck 2000, Workforce Alliance 2002). The WIA “One-Stops” provide core services which provide access to job listings to all individuals but involve minimal support. If local resources are available, individuals who do not find employment after core services may be eligible for intensive services which include a voucher to be used for training (USDOL 2002).
Many workforce development professionals regard WIA’s framework of tiered services to be a “work first” system, in which skills training is a last option, available only after other services have failed repeatedly to help someone secure a steady job (Smith 2002). An alternate strategy would move clients through the service tiers into skill-based training as quickly as possible, so those who can benefit from training can do so, thereby improving their chances of finding a decent job when they go out into the labor market (Workforce Alliance 2003).
Most WIA services are divided into three tiers: core, intensive and training. Participants must utilize the services in one tier before moving to the next (Berkeley Policy Associates 2003)
1. Core Services--One-Stop operators provide job search and placement assistance, information about the local labor market, job banks, support services, information on filing for unemployment compensation, and performance and cost information on eligible training providers.
2. Intensive Services--Participants can only access intensive services after failing to gain employment through core services. Intensive services include comprehensive and specialized assessment of skill levels, development of individual employment plans (IEPs), case management and short-term pre- vocational services, any of which may be delivered by the One-Stop operator or through contracts with service providers.
3. Training Services--Employer-linked programs and classroom-based skills training leading to a specific occupation are only available to individuals who have failed to obtain employment through core and intensive services. (Workforce Alliance 2003). Training programs include occupational training, on-the-job training, skills upgrading and job readiness delivered by service providers meeting the eligibility requirements (Public Private Ventures 2002).
2.5.3.4. How Has the WIA Program Worked In Practice?
Nationwide, implementation of the WIA program has had positive impacts in some areas, including expansion of publicly available information systems and improved access to the local workforce development planning process by the private sector.
However, there are important areas in which WIA has not achieved its objectives, and in some cases has actually reduced opportunities for local workers to develop the skills demanded by local employers (The Workforce Alliance 2003).
Training has become less of an option for job seekers under WIA than it had been under JTPA. As mentioned, tiered service delivery has led many states to adopt a “Work First” approach to WIA that limits training for a wide range of workers, including the recently laid off. Many One-Stops have effectively relegated training to a “last resort” for their clients. (The Workforce Alliance 2004). Lastly, because TANF was not included as a mandatory partner agency under WIA, many One-Stops have excluded TANF recipients from access to training services (The Workforce Alliance 2002, W. K. Kellog Foundation 2004).
2.5.3.5. WDS Funding Constraints
Funding constraints on the U.S. Department of Labor’s workforce programs have increasingly limited access to job training and education programs (Mulhausen 2002). Spending on JTPA/WIA programs dropped by 29 percent between 1985 and 2003 in inflation-adjusted dollars (Workforce Alliance 2003). Funding has shifted from
education and training to work first activities geared toward quick employment (Spence 2003, Atkinson 1998). Even dislocated worker funding, after years of increase, has fallen by 15 percent since 2000. Funding on other job training programs has decreased
including the HHS Job Opportunity and Basic Skills (JOBS) Program and DOE’s Perkins Vocational and Technical program. While funding under the U.S. Department of
Education’s Pell Grant program has grown, the supply of students has far outstripped funding. It is very questionable whether available WDS funding matches the number of
potential unemployed trainees (Spence 2003). Historically, and continuing to the present, GDOL job service programs draw on an array of fragmented, separate funding streams subject to the vagaries of the Congressional budgeting process. The “triage” approach of the WIA’s tiered access to job training services, which minimizes access to the more expensive training services such as factory or assembly line skills training, is well suited to a funding environment with chronic budget constraints.