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Workforce Investment Act: Employers Found One-Stop Centers Useful in Hiring Low-Skilled Workers; Performance Information Could Help Gauge Employer Involvement

GAO-07-167 Published: Dec 22, 2006. Publicly Released: Dec 22, 2006.
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Highlights

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) required that many federal workforce employment and training programs for low-income individuals, the unemployed, and other job seekers provide their services through a streamlined delivery system. WIA also promoted greater employer engagement in this delivery system by, among other things, calling for it to help meet employers' workforce needs with services provided through one-stop centers. In 2005, we found that about half of employers were aware of their local one-stop centers. However, questions remained about how employers use them. In this report, GAO addressed (1) the extent to which employers, both large and small, hire their employees through one-stops; (2) the extent to which these employers view one-stop services as useful; and (3) factors that may affect one-stop service to employers. To answer these questions we surveyed employers who had used the one-stop system, visited eight one-stops, and talked to one-stop and Labor officials.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Labor To ensure that Labor has a better understanding of the extent that employers are engaged in the workforce system, the Secretary of Labor should follow through with plans to collect information on employers' use of one-stop services and develop a way to measure employer engagement in the workforce investment system as part of the department's performance reporting system.
Closed – Not Implemented
The Department of Labor proposed the Workforce Investment Streamlined Performance Reporting system to implement an employer services report that would include information on employers' use of one-stop services. However, as of July 2011 the system had not been implemented. According to Labor, employer engagement continues to be a critical component of their strategic thinking, and the Department helps the workforce system better engage employers by providing technical assistance. Labor noted that in May 2011, the Employment Training Administration (ETA) provided in-person and virtual training to staff responsible for engaging businesses in local workforce areas. Labor also indicated that ETA is providing technical assistance on engaging small businesses. The assistance focuses on developing a research-based "toolkit" that provides the workforce system with resources and best practices and encourages partnerships with Small Business Development Centers and other small business-serving institutions.

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Topics

Data collectionEmployeesEmployment assistance programsHiring policiesPerformance measuresPersonnel recruitingStatistical dataSurveysProgram evaluationJob placement