Job Training Partnership Act: Participants, Services, and Outcomes

GAO discussed its review of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA), focusing on the: (1) characteristics of individual participants; (2) kinds and intensity of services they received; and (3) occupations in which they received employment after leaving the program. GAO found that: (1) in the two job readiness groups, the program served significantly fewer school dropouts than among the eligible population; (2) JTPA participants spent an average of 18 weeks enrolled in the program, but little of that was basic education or work experience; (3) the less job-ready participants received less intensive training and more job search assistance; (4) although those who received only job search assistance had higher placement rates, those who received occupational training generally received higher-skilled jobs with higher wages; (5) although on-the-job training (OJT) allowed JTPA participants to earn wages while training, over 40 percent of those were lower-skill occupations; (6) 85 percent of the OJT contracts for training exceeded the Department of Labor's suggested training time; and (7) contracts that provide excessive OJT may provide employers with a wage subsidy, since JTPA participants reimburse employers for one-half of their wages while in training.