About the Report

Download Report

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) of 2014 included multiple provisions to strengthen service quality, access, accountability, and coordination across many programs. The report focuses on implementation of key changes to the Title I Adult and Dislocated Worker programs under WIOA. Discussed are the successes and challenges, promising practices, and possible areas for further technical assistance related to WIOA for these two programs.

Download this Summary (PDF)

Key Takeaways

• Increased efforts to promote use of work-based learning. State and local respondents reported that they had focused on trying to develop work-based learning opportunities —particularly registered apprenticeships.
• Little change in receipt of work-based learning. Despite changes to provisions related to work based learning and efforts to expand its use, national level data on the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs (compiled from state data) showed that the number of program participants exiting the programs (that is, exiters) who received registered apprenticeship, on the job training (OJT), and customized training services during the first 3 years of WIOA (program years 2015-2017) remained the same or was only slightly higher than during the last two program years (PYs) of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
• Reasons for low enrollment in work-based learning. State and local respondents shared their perspective that the low numbers reported in national data were likely due to the amount of staff-time needed to develop work-based learning opportunities and the lack of interest among employers and participants for such services.
• Alignment with existing Adult and Dislocated Worker program efforts. Nearly all states (13 of 14) and local areas (26 of 28) reported they were already implementing career pathways efforts of some kind for their adult and dislocated worker participants before WIOA.
• Clearer definition of career pathways strategy. Respondents from two states and two local areas reported that WIOA helped their Adult and Dislocated Worker programs to better promote and align their approaches to career pathways with other core and required partners.
• Increased focus on people with barriers to employment. Respondents from 8 states and 15 local areas reported that WIOA’s passage pushed them to try to serve more people facing barriers to employment, including those with disabilities, low basic skills, and involvement in the justice system.
• Little change in number of people served who had barriers to employment. Despite reports of shifting focus to people with barriers to employment, national program data on the Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs show that the percentage of people with barriers to employment served by the programs stayed fairly flat from the end of WIA (PY 13-14) through the first years of WIOA (PYs 15-17).
• Partnerships were reported to be key to addressing challenges in serving individuals with barriers to employment. Adult and Dislocated Worker program respondents from eight local areas noted several challenges with serving an increased number of people with barriers, including challenges identifying which priority groups people belonged to, staff not having the expertise to work with individuals with certain barriers to employment, and lack of capacity to ensure people were receiving services from partner programs to address their barriers.
• Some increased alignment with partner programs. Most Adult and Dislocated Worker program respondents at the state and local levels reported that they had already been relatively well-aligned with certain partners under WIA, particularly the Employment Services (ES).
• Communication and relationship-building improved partnerships. Adult and Dislocated Worker programs and their partners reported facing a number of barriers in trying to align services across programs, such as challenges coordinating across partners when they were not co-located, a lack of knowledge about partner programs, and lack of a unified case management system. Improving knowledge sharing and relationships between partners was cited as important for trying to address some of these challenges.
• Refining processes to streamline services for job seekers. To further align and streamline services, local workforce boards designed new and improved processes for referral, intake, and staffing. In most cases, these were long-term efforts that built upon progress that began under WIA.
• Support for existing efforts to consolidate business services. Two-thirds of the local areas visited reported that they had developed cross-program business services teams with staff funded by the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs before WIOA, often with Employment Service (ES) staff.
• Partnerships with Vocational Rehabilitation. Changes to the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program increased the focus on business services for that program—and often the staff devoted to it—which respondents indicated had led to greater interest in partnerships with Adult and Dislocated Worker programs across 10 local areas.
• New industry and sector partnerships were less common. Most states (12) and local areas (21) reported that they had begun their industry and sector efforts under WIA.
• States and local areas reported employing a variety of strategies to support partnerships. These efforts included summits and convenings that enabled practitioners to network and learn from one another, grants to increase staffing, and staff training.
• Respondents reported that the tight labor market had spurred employer demand for incumbent worker training. Respondents from six local areas reported being able to implement incumbent worker training because of increasing demand from employers, especially in industries with severe shortages of skilled workers.
• Rebranding, as well as simplified paperwork and reporting requirements, helped sell training to employers in some areas. Respondents from three local areas described employers as unwilling to deal with the paperwork and reporting requirements of training contracts, and one found that employers had a negative association with the word “incumbent.”

Research Gaps

• Future research topics could include (1) integrated intake, case management, and data systems currently in use, and (2) innovative strategies identified by respondents to improve referrals and case management, and their relationship to outcomes. (page xiv)

Citation

Dunham, K., Paprocki, A., Grey, C., Sattar, S., Roemer, G. (2020). Social Policy Research Associates. Implementation Study of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Regarding Title I and Title III Core Programs: Change and Continuity in the Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs under WIOA. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

Download Report   View Study Profile

The Department of Labor’s (DOL) Chief Evaluation Office (CEO) sponsors independent evaluations and research, primarily conducted by external, third-party contractors in accordance with the Department of Labor Evaluation Policy and CEO’s research development process.