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The brief describes the role and activities of One-Stop Operators in 40 comprehensive American Job Centers (AJCs). It provides an overview of the types of entities that served as Operators, the roles that Operators played, common supervision models, and the key activities of AJC managers in day-to-day center operations. It concludes with a description of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) One-Stop Operator requirements and identifies some general concerns raised about these changes as local areas prepared for their implementation.

Key Takeaways

• Both Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) and WIOA allow local boards to designate a single-entity or a consortium of organizations as the One-Stop Operator. There is no centralized source of data on the number and type of Operators in the AJC system, including whether they are single-entities or consortia. Among the 40 AJCs examined for this study, most AJCs (30) had single-entity Operators.
• Both WIA and WIOA also allow a variety of different organizational entities to serve as One-Stop Operators. The most common types of organizations that served as Operators—whether as single entities or as part of a consortium—were state workforce agencies (19) and local boards (17). The least common types of Operator organizations were private for-profit organizations (4) and nonprofits (4).
• About two-thirds of Operators (27) performed two closely related and sometimes overlapping functions: coordinating AJC services provided by partners and managing day-to-day operations of the AJCs. At these centers, the Operator either employed an AJC manager or provided joint oversight of an AJC manager employed by a consortium member. The other 13 Operators delegated day-to-day management for the AJC to a manager employed by a partner organization.
• Most Operators (35) also provided direct services at the AJCs, typically for the U.S. Department of Labor-funded Adult and Dislocated Worker programs and the Employment Service (ES) program.

Citation

Dunham, K., Kogan, D. (2018). Social Policy Research. An Institutional Analysis of American Job Centers (AJC): One-Stop Operators of the AJC System. Chief Evaluation Office, U.S. Department of Labor.

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This study was sponsored by the Employment and Training Administration, Office of Policy Development and Research, Division of Research and Evaluation, and was produced outside of CEO’s standard research development process.