To announce a new Unemployment Insurance (UI) Benefits Operations Self-Assessment Tool for state UI agencies to use in evaluating their UI benefits operations, and to provide the U.S. Department of Labor (USDOL), Employment and Training Administration's (ETA's) guidance to the states on planning for the implementation and use of the tool and reporting of results to ETA.

To promote innovative recommendations by the Secretary of Labor’s Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA) on the use of Registered Apprenticeship as a critical and timely solution to the nation’s workforce, economic, and education challenges; and to encourage the state, regional, and local leaders and the public workforce system to utilize the vision report as a resource for supporting apprenticeship opportunities in their own communities.

To provide information about using Federal Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) data to prevent and detect overpayments as a result of beneficiaries receiving concurrent or overlapping Unemployment Insurance (UI) benefits, and FECA benefit payments when not allowed under a state's UI law.

To provide information and procedural guidance to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) for receiving and handling requests for certification under the WOTC program, for all target groups, after the December 31, 2013, expiration date.

The purpose of this Training and Employment Notice (TEN) is to inform States that in January 2018, the Federal Employment Data Exchange System (FEDES) will be temporarily suspended while the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) reassesses the feasibility of FEDES.

To ensure State Workforce Agencies are aware of the Federal military retired pay annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) provided by the Department of Defense.

To provide information to states about FY 2017 UI State Administration base resource allocations, general guidelines for resource planning, above-base funding, and SBRs.

To advise State Unemployment Insurance (UI) agencies of the need to conduct background investigations on agency or contract staff that use or plan to use Federal Tax Information (FTI) in the performance of their jobs. This Internal Revenue Service (IRS) requirement is designed to ensure appropriate safeguards are in place to protect FTI to the greatest extent possible.

To announce the availability of up to $35 million, for Dislocated Worker Opportunity Grants (DW Opportunity Grants) for Program Year 2016, with awards based on an applicant's share of the Civilian Labor Force and unemployment. These grants will enable eligible applicants to serve dislocated workers with career services and training to help them identify and be more competitive for opportunities in growing or high-demand occupations and industries. Goals of these DW Opportunity Grants are to:

a.  Expand opportunities for Dislocated Workers to upgrade skills that lead to employment or industry-recognized credentials in growing or high-demand industries and occupations; and

b.  Address the skill gaps in a state or local area that have been identified by employers in growing or high-demand industries.

To ensure states are aware that: 1) the social security survivors and old age retirement annuities and the Federal civilian pensions annual cost-of-living adjustment (COLA) will increase for calendar year 2014, and 2) COLA information may be found on the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM) Web site.