US Department of Labor announces more than $6 million in grants to states to improve the link between workforce and education data

WASHINGTON – The U.S. Department of Labor today announced $6.4 million in grants for the third round of the Workforce Data Quality Initiative, which is designed to improve the quality and availability of workforce data.

These funds will enable six additional states to build or expand databases that integrate workforce data and create linkages to education data in order to enhance the effectiveness of employment and training programs. The grantees include four states that will begin to develop their longitudinal databases (Kansas, Oregon, North Carolina and Wyoming) and two states that intend to expand work already initiated on their databases (Ohio and Virginia). Information gathered through this initiative will be used to develop tools to help users learn about the benefits of the publicly-funded workforce system.

"The grants awarded today will help improve our understanding of the workforce development system and will give consumers more information about which programs will better serve their needs" said Gerri Fiala, acting assistant secretary for employment and training.

These grants stem from the Obama administration's focus on access to high-quality data and complement the Department of Education's Statewide Longitudinal Data Systems grants to build longitudinal education databases.

Grantees will be expected to achieve multiple goals during the three-year grant period. These include developing or improving state workforce longitudinal data systems with individual-level information; enabling workforce data to be matched with education data to create longitudinal data systems; improving the quality and breadth of the data in the workforce data systems; using longitudinal data to provide useful information about program operations; analyzing the performance of education and employment training programs; and providing user-friendly information to consumers, in the form of scorecards or integrated digital platforms, to help them select the training and education programs that best suit their needs.

The first round of the Workforce Data Quality Initiative was awarded in November 2010 and the second round was awarded in June 2012. With today's announcement, a total of $30 million has been awarded to 29 states. For more information on the WDQI, including a list of previous grantees, visit http://www.doleta.gov/Performance/workforcedatagrant09.cfm

Editor's note: A list of the grantees, their locations and award amounts follows this news release.