DIRECTIVE	:	TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 05-97
TO	:	ALL STATE JTPA LIAISONS ALL STATE WORKER ADJUSTMENT LIAISONS ALL STATE EMPLOYMENT SECURITY AGENCIES ALL ONE-STOP CAREER CENTER SYSTEM LEADS
FROM	:	DAVID HENSON Director Office of Regional Management
SUBJECT	:	Final Planning Allotments for Program Year (PY) 1998 Basic Labor Exchange Activities

1. Purpose. To announce final planning allotments for PY 1998 basic labor exchange activities, required by Section 6(b)(5) of the Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended.

2. References. The Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended (P.L. 97-300); 20 CFR 652; TEGL No. 2-97.

3. Background. The Secretary of Labor is issuing final planning allotments for each State's share of PY 1998 funds for basic labor exchange activities. The allotments will be published in the Federal Register.

4. Allotment Formula. These allotments (Attachment I) are based on the FY 1998 appropriation of $761,735,000 and are distributed by the statutory formula described in Section 6 of the Act. Section 6(b)(4) of the Act authorizes the Secretary of Labor to reserve up to 3 percent of the total fund availability to assure that each State will have sufficient resources to maintain statewide employment service (ES) activities. The setaside for distribution through an administrative formula for this program year is $22,312,050. The 3 percent distribution is included in the total final allotment. The setaside was distributed in two steps to States whose relative share of resources declined from the previous year. In Step 1, those States with a civilian labor force (CLF) below one million and that are also below the median CLF density were held harmless at 100 percent of their prior year relative share of resources. The remainder was distributed in Step 2 in pro rata shares to all other States that lost in relative share from the prior year but did not meet the size criteria for Step 1.

   Ten percent of the total sums allotted to each State shall be reserved for use by the Governor to provide performance incentives for public ES offices; services for groups with special needs; and for the extra costs of exemplary models for delivering job services.

   The data used are Calendar Year 1997 averages of CLF and number of unemployed individuals. Differences between preliminary and final planning estimates are caused by the use of Calendar Year data as opposed to the earlier data used for preliminary planning estimates.

5. Postage Costs. Postage costs incurred by States during the conduct of ES activities are billed directly to the Department of Labor by the U.S. Postal Service. The total planning estimate does not include $18,000,000 of the total amount available, which is withheld for the payment of the States' ES penalty mail costs.

6. Inquiries. Questions regarding these final allotments and planning requirements may be directed to the ETA Regional Administrator.

7. Attachment. Final Planning Allotments.