- WIOA Titles I and III National Performance Summary
- Program Year 2023
- Trends in Program Participants
- Trends in Training Services Provided
- Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit
- Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit
- Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit
- Credential Attainment Rate
- Measurable Skill Gains
- Effectiveness in Serving Employers
- Trends in Participants with a Barrier to Employment
- Types of Barriers to Employment
- Reportable Individuals
- Performance Data Availability
- Data Sources
WIOA Titles I and III National Performance Summary
Program Year 2023
(July 1, 2023 through June 30, 2024)
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) 2023 is the eighth 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.
This summary reflects the information available from the PY 2023 WIOA title I and title III program reports. PY 2023 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 2023 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 2023 performance results.
Trends in Program Participants
Figure 1 shows the changes in the number of participants for each program from PY 2020 through PY 2023. The WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth, and Wagner-Peyser programs served nearly 2.7 million participants in PY 2023. This marks an overall increase of 3.9 percent compared to the previous program year (PY 2022).
Trends in Training Services Provided
Figure 2 shows the trends in the training services WIOA title I program participants received from PY 2020 through PY 2023. In PY 2023 the percentages of Adult and Youth participants receiving training services marginally decreased while the same percentage of Dislocated Workers increased. The actual number of participants who received training services decreased slightly in all three programs.
Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit
Figure 3 shows the PY 2020 to PY 2023 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 and performance steadily improved since then. Overall PY 2023 Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit performance results remain stable with changes for WIOA title I and III within one percentage point of PY 2022.
Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit
Figure 4 shows the PY 2020 to PY 2023 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 2023.
Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit
Figure 5 shows the PY 2020 to PY 2023 results for the Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The WIOA title I program results have been above pre-pandemic levels since PY 2022. For the first time, the Wagner-Peyser program returned to pre-pandemic performance levels for this indicator in PY 2023.
Credential Attainment Rate
Figure 6 shows the PY 2020 to PY 2023 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 2023. 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 2022.
Measurable Skill Gains
Figure 7 shows the PY 2020 to PY 2023 results for the Measurable Skill Gains indicator. Note that Measurable Skill Gains is not a required performance indicator for Wagner-Peyser.
The PY 2023 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 2023, 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 2023.
Figure 9 shows the results for the ESE indicators that states reported in PY 2023.
The Departments made changes in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Effectiveness in Serving Employers Performance Indicator final rule (89 FR 13814 (Feb. 23, 2024)) (ESE final rule). This final rule, which took effect March 25, 2024, defines the Effectiveness in Serving Employers primary indicator of performance (ESE), as required by section 116(b)(2)(A)(i)(VI) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), as Retention with the Same Employer. The ESE final rule requires states to report the indicator as a shared indicator across the six WIOA core programs and PY 2024 will be the first year of data for the newly defined performance 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 1.2 million participants served in PY 2023 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. The percentage of WIOA title I participants with a barrier to employment increased in PY 2023 while the overall number decreased. However, the Wagner-Peyser program served more participants with a barrier to employment in PY 2023 than in PY 2022.
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, Dislocated Worker, and Youth participants and Single Parents for Wagner-Peyser participants. In the Adult program, which had a total of 278,770 participants in PY 2023, 68.8% 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 2020 to PY 2023. 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 2023 the number of Reportable Individuals in the WIOA title I and III programs are relatively unchanged compared to the previous year.
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 - PY 2024
Data Sources
Sources:
- PY 2023 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
- PY 2022 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
- PY 2021 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
- PY 2020 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records