WIOA Titles I and III National Performance Summary

Program Year 2022

(July 1, 2022 through June 30, 2023)

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) establishes performance accountability indicators and performance reporting requirements to assess the effectiveness of states and local areas in achieving positive outcomes for individuals served by the workforce development and education systems’ six core programs. These six core programs are the Adult, Dislocated Worker (DW), and Youth programs, authorized under WIOA title I and administered by the Department of Labor (DOL); the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) program, authorized under WIOA title II and administered by the Department of Education (ED); the Employment Service program authorized under the Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended by WIOA title III and administered by DOL; and the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program authorized under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA title IV and administered by ED. WIOA has provided a historic opportunity to align performance-related definitions, streamline performance indicators, integrate reporting, and ensure comparable data collection and reporting across all six of these core programs, while also implementing program-specific requirements related to data collection and reporting.

Program Year (PY) 2022 is the seventh year state grantees reported performance information under the WIOA performance accountability provisions. Title I and title III grantees submitted individual performance records to DOL using the Participant Individual Record Layout (PIRL) (ETA-9172) and states certified the results using the WIOA Statewide Performance Report (ETA-9169). WIOA section 116(d)(2) requires states to report on outcomes achieved on the primary indicators of performance, including outcomes achieved by individuals with barriers to employment, characteristics of participants, and other information such as numbers of participants who received training and/or career services, and the average cost per participant of those services.

PY 2022 performance results have returned to levels comparable to those prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. For all WIOA title I and III programs, the employment and earnings performance results are at or above their pre-pandemic levels. For example, the Employment Rate in the 2nd Quarter after Exit for the Dislocated Worker program went from a low of 58.1 percent in PY 2020 up to 71.4 percent in PY 2022.

This summary reflects the information available from the PY 2022 WIOA title I and title III program reports. PY 2022 reports for WIOA title II programs and reports for WIOA title IV programs are available on the ED performance websites. The WIOA definition of participant does not include those who used only the self-service system and/or received information-only services. These individuals are referred to as Reportable Individuals and are excluded from counts of participants and from the calculation of primary indicators of performance.

PY 2022 data include information on participant characteristics and the six performance indicators: Employment Rate in the 2nd Quarter after Exit, Median Earnings in the 2nd Quarter after Exit, Employment Rate in the 4th Quarter after Exit, Credential Attainment Rate, Measurable Skill Gains, and Effectiveness in Serving Employers.

The following key areas and supporting charts represent DOL’s high-level observations of the national WIOA titles I and III PY 2022 performance results.

Trends in Program Participants

Figure 1 shows the changes in the number of participants for each program from PY 2019 through PY 2022. The WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth, and Wagner-Peyser programs served nearly 2.6 million participants in PY 2022. This marks an overall decrease of 5.5 percent compared to the previous program year (PY 2021).

Trends in Training Services Provided

Figure 2 shows the trends in the training services WIOA title I program participants received from PY 2019 through PY 2022. In PY 2022 the percentages of Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth participants receiving training services marginally decreased. Although the percentage of WIOA Adult program participants who received training services decreased in PY 2022, the actual number of participants who received training services increased by 3,868 participants compared to PY 2021. Of note, 66.1% of all PY 2022 WIOA title I participants who received training services are Persons of Color or Hispanic/Latino. This is a 7.8 percentage point increase compared to PY 2021.

Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit

Figure 3 shows the PY 2019 to PY 2022 results for the Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The results for the Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit indicator were relatively stable through PY 2019. PY 2020 was the first program year in which performance reports reflected the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall PY 2022 Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit performance results improved and are at or above pre-pandemic levels.

Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit

Figure 4 shows the PY 2019 to PY 2022 results for the Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit results have increased year-over-year since PY 2017 and this trend continues in PY 2022.

Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit

Figure 5 shows the PY 2019 to PY 2022 results for the Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The WIOA title I program results are all above pre-pandemic levels. Although performance has improved, the Wagner-Peyser program is the only program that has not fully returned to pre-pandemic performance levels for this indicator, falling short of PY 2019 performance by less than 1 percent.

Credential Attainment Rate

Figure 6 shows the PY 2019 to PY 2022 results for the Credential Attainment Rate indicator. Note that the Credential Attainment Rate is not a required performance indicator for Wagner-Peyser.

Consistent with previous years, Adult and Dislocated Worker program participants most frequently attained occupational certificates in PY 2022. For WIOA Youth, the two most common credential types were secondary school diplomas (or their equivalent) and occupational certificates. Performance results for all three programs remain stable and are relatively unchanged from PY 2021.

Measurable Skill Gains

Figure 7 shows the PY 2016 to PY 2022 results for the Measurable Skill Gains indicator. Note that Measurable Skill Gains is not a required performance indicator for Wagner-Peyser.

The PY 2022 Measurable Skill Gains results continue an upward trend driven by improved data collection and reporting method, but each program’s recent results indicate this measure is stabilizing.

Effectiveness in Serving Employers

The Effectiveness in Serving Employers (ESE) indicator is a statewide aggregate indicator that represents the work done on behalf of employers by all WIOA core programs. In PY 2022, the Departments required states to report data for two of three pilot indicators: Retention with Same Employer Rate, Employer Penetration Rate, and Repeat Business Customers Rate. Figure 8 shows the number of states that reported on each of the three pilot indicators in PY 2022.

Figure 9 shows the results for the ESE indicators that states reported in PY 2022.

The Departments are currently engaged in rulemaking to define this indicator.

Trends in Participants with a Barrier to Employment

Figure 10 shows the total count of participants with a barrier to employment for WIOA title I and title III programs over time. Serving individuals with a barrier to employment is a primary focus of WIOA. Over 1.1 million participants served in PY 2022 reported having a barrier to employment. It is important to note that participants self-report many of the barriers to employment.

Figure 11 shows the percentage of participants with a barrier to employment by program over time. Both the percentage and number of WIOA title I participants with a barrier to employment increased in PY 2022. This was driven largely by the WIOA Adult program.

Types of Barriers to Employment

Figure 12 shows the number of participants with select types of barriers to employment for the WIOA title I programs as defined in section 3 of WIOA.

Low-income is the most common barrier, followed by English Language Learners/Low Levels of Literacy/Cultural Barriers for Adult and Youth participants and Single Parents for Dislocated Worker and Wagner-Peyser participants. In the Adult program, which had a total of 299,910 participants in PY 2022, 64.0% of participants reported a Low-income barrier.

Figure 13 shows the number of participants with select types of barriers to employment for the Wagner-Peyser program.

Reportable Individuals

Figure 14 shows the total count of Reportable Individuals from PY 2019 to PY 2022. Reportable Individuals are individuals who engaged with the workforce development system by accessing self-services, received information-only services or activities, or who did not complete program requirements for eligibility or participation.

The number of Reportable Individuals more than doubled across all title I and III programs from PY 2018 to PY 2019. During PY 2020 the workforce system responded to a surge in individuals seeking assistance during the COVID-19 pandemic. In PY 2021 the number of Reportable Individuals in the WIOA title I and III programs returned to pre-pandemic levels and in PY 2022 the downward trend continued with a decrease of 22.7%.

Performance Data Availability

WIOA Primary Indicator of Performance First Program Year of Complete Performance Data:

• Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit - PY 2017
• Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit - PY 2017
• Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit - PY 2018
• Credential Attainment Rate - PY 2018
• Measurable Skill Gains - PY 2016
• Effectiveness in Serving Employers - TBD (Subject to final definition of indicator)

Data Sources

Sources:

1. PY 2022 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
2. PY 2021 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
3. PY 2020 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
4. PY 2019 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records