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Department of Energy Workforce Reduction: Community Assistance Can Be Better Targeted

RCED-99-135 Published: May 07, 1999. Publicly Released: Jun 07, 1999.
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Highlights

Pursuant to a legislative requirement, GAO reviewed the Department of Energy's (DOE) community assistance program for minimizing the impact of downsizing its contractor workforce, focusing on: (1) how much funding DOE had committed to spend and spent in support of its worker and community assistance program for fiscal years (FY) 1994 through 1998; (2) who received benefits during FY 1997 and FY 1998; (3) comparing DOE's separation benefits with the benefit packages of other federal and nonfederal organizations; and (4) what effect DOE's criteria had on determining which communities received assistance.

Recommendations

Recommendations for Executive Action

Agency Affected Recommendation Status
Department of Energy In order to target financial assistance to those communities that need it the most, the Secretary of Energy should revise the Department's criteria for administering community assistance so that aid is more focused on economic need. One way of doing this would be to develop community financial assistance criteria similar to those used by the Economic Development Administration in its existing guidance. These could include such factors as a community's unemployment rate and the impact of federal job loss on the local economy.
Closed – Implemented
DOE's "60-day letter" indicated that it has revised its Policy and Planning Guidance to allocate funding based on the relative needs of communities affected by work force restructuring. This criteria now includes (1) economic distress measured by unemployment and loss of income, (2) job loss relative to the size of the affected community, (3) diversity of employment, and (4) overall size of the work force reduction.

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Topics

Comparative analysisContractor personnelEligibility criteriaFederal downsizingImpacted area programsReductions in forceUnemployment ratesLabor forceJob creationWorkforce restructuring