Due to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (Recovery Act), both the number of--and funding for--federal employment and training programs have increased since our 2003 report, but little is known about the effectiveness of most programs. In fiscal year 2009, 9 federal agencies spent approximately $18 billion to administer 47 programs--an increase of 3 programs and roughly $5 billion

Overall, the Job Corps program has been operating at or near capacity for male residential students, but under capacity for female residential students during program years 2005 through 2007. During each of those years, Job Corps achieved between 95 and 98 percent of the planned enrollment for male residential students nationwide, but about 80 percent or less for female residential students. In f

GAO estimates that at least 2.4 million young adults aged 18 through 26--or 6.5 percent of the non-institutionalized young adults in that age range-- had a serious mental illness in 2006, and they had lower levels of education on average than other young adults. The actual number is likely to be higher than 2.4 million because homeless, institutionalized, and incarcerated persons were not include

Since 1999, DOT has awarded over $355 million for 352 Job Access grants in 42 states to help low-income people get to job opportunities and job support services, such as training and child care. Job Access grantees used various approaches to provide transportation for this purpose, such as expanding existing bus service, adding new areas to be served by an existing fixed transit route, or enhanci

The 1998 Workforce Investment Act (WIA) required states to provide most federally funded employment-related services through one-stop centers. Two years earlier, welfare reform legislation created the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant which provided flexibility to states to focus on helping needy adults with children find and maintain employment. Nearly all states reporte

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) brought most federally funded employment and training services into a single, one-stop center system. Coordination between Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) programs and one-stop centers has increased since the act was implemented in 2000. Nearly all states reported some coordination at either the state or the local level. Most often, coordination t

Although some welfare recipients who might seem hard to employ are able to successfully enter the workforce, others have needed considerable time and support to become work-ready. As a result, some states have begun to implement or are considering strategies to help hard-to-employ recipients join the workforce. To be successful in moving hard-to-employ Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TAN

A strong competitive workforce is necessary for success in today's era of technological advances and increased global competition. Congress wants to ensure that employment and training programs foster a coherent and efficient approach to helping individuals find jobs in an environment characterized by changing labor demands. GAO identified 40 federally funded employment and training programs for

GAO noted that: (1) while states are making progress implementing WIA, not all of them will have completed all implementation steps by July 1, 2000, when WIA takes full effect; (2) frequently delayed are the steps related to establishing formal agreements between partners at the one-stop centers; (3) to support the one-stop system required under WIA, states report using multiple federal funding s

GAO noted that: (1) research conducted to date on the effectiveness of different welfare-to-work approaches--most of which pre-dated federal welfare reform--suggests that programs that combine approaches, including both job search assistance and some education and training, tended to have better outcomes in terms of employment and earnings than either approach alone; (2) consistent with these fin