Federal agencies rely on state data sources for performance reporting on employment and training programs, and generally do not obtain personally identifiable information (PII) in the process. Specifically, state agencies provide data to federal agencies for performance reporting after collecting the necessary data from local agencies and other sources, including state Unemployment Insurance (UI)

The number of adults who speak English less than very well grew by 21.8 percent between 2000 and 2007, to roughly 22 million. The Adult Education State Grant Program, the key federal program for adult English language instruction, reported enrollment of about 1.1 million English language learners in 2007--which had remained relatively stable since 2000. However, most state adult education grantee

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

In summary, we found that as of March 31, 2007, states had about $173 million of TAA training funds available compared with Labor's estimate of $447 million. The difference between our estimate and Labor's is due to several factors. First, Labor's estimate included about $92 million in administrative funds, not intended to be used for training, that was awarded to states during fiscal years 2005

Labor and VA have implemented some elements of their agreement to coordinate efforts, but face challenges executing the agreement on the state level and lack a complete plan for implementing and assessing the progress of the agreement. Labor and VA have implemented one element of the agreement--establishing three joint work groups--but have only partially implemented or taken no action on the oth

Labor could improve the way it administers the program in two key areas--the process it uses to allocate training funds and its tracking of program outcomes. Labor's process for allocating training funds presents two significant challenges to states. First, the amount states receive at the beginning of the fiscal year does not adequately reflect the current demand for training services in the sta

Forty-five of the 53 states and territories use statistical models that facilitate the ranking of claimants by their likelihood to exhaust benefits, while 7 states use more limited screening tools that do not facilitate a ranking. Florida delegates the selection of profiling tools to local areas in the state. Factors used to determine the probability of exhaustion include a claimant's education,

During the past 3 fiscal years, the number of petitions certified has declined from about 1,700 in fiscal year 2004 to about 1,400 in 2006, covering an estimated 400,000 workers. The proportion of petitions certified has remained at about two-thirds. About 40 percent of the petitions were denied because workers were not involved in producing an article. While many certified workers receive traini

During the past 3 fiscal years, the number of petitions certified has declined from about 1,700 in fiscal year 2004 to about 1,400 in 2006, covering an estimated 400,000 workers. The proportion of petitions certified has remained at about two-thirds. About 40 percent of the petitions were denied because workers were not involved in producing an article. While many certified workers receive traini

We found that Labor's new electronic application system has, on average, shortened award processing time and most national emergency grants were awarded within Labor's goal of 30 working days as measured by GAO--from the time the application is submitted to the issuance of the award letter. In program year 2004, Labor averaged 25 working days to award grants, in contrast to program years 2000-200