Increasing colocation of services at a single site, as well as consolidating state workforce and welfare administrative agencies, could increase efficiencies, and several states and localities have undertaken such initiatives. However, implementation may pose challenges and little information is available about the strategies and results of these initiatives. To facilitate further progress in inc

ETA's 2007 to 2012 research plan generally addressed key employment and training issues, but some studies were limited in their usefulness. Most experts on our panel reported that the areas in ETA's plan reflected key national employment and training issues at least to a moderate extent. ETA invested most of its research and evaluation resources in the areas of Unemployment Insurance and increasi

In summary, for fiscal year 2009, GAO identified 47 federally funded employment and training programs administered across nine agencies. Almost all of these programs overlap with at least one other program in that they provide at least one similar service to a similar population, but differences may exist in eligibility, objectives, and service delivery. WIA's structure provides the opportunity t

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

We found that OSHA has done little to ensure that investigators have the necessary training and equipment to do their jobs, and that it lacks sufficient internal controls to ensure that the whistleblower program operates as intended. More specifically, we found the following: (1) OSHA enhanced its whistleblower training, establishing two mandatory 2-week courses between 2007 and 2008, but has not

From the policy options identified through two surveys and discussions at a 1-day forum, participants prioritized the following actions for improving work outcomes at three levels: individual, employer, and federal. 1) Individual: Participants articulated a key underlying principle for increasing work participation--improve incentives for individuals with disabilities to work while strengthening

Retention incentives encompass the majority of 3R incentives awarded to FDA employees in recent years. FDA's employees in mission-critical occupations received the greatest number of 3R incentives from 2007 to 2009. However, without an updated strategic workforce plan or established agencywide indicators for tracking its use of 3R incentives, FDA cannot assess the impact that these incentives hav

In summary, we found that ETA's research center lacks independent authority for research, has limitations with regard to transparency and accountability processes, has not routinely involved stakeholders in developing its research agenda, and has been slow to evaluate the programs and activities carried out under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). (1) ETA is currently in the process of r

Labor has made some progress addressing earlier concerns regarding performance measurement and the accuracy of performance data, but issues with funding remain. The move to common measures helps provide a more complete picture of WIA services and may encourage services to challenging clients. With regard to such clients, Labor has chosen not to systematically adjust expected performance levels to

To prepare for the projected departure of over 15,000 air traffic controllers between 2008 and 2017, FAA began significantly increasing the number of new hires in fiscal years 2006 and 2007, when it hired 1,116 and 1,815 controllers, respectively. By contrast, in fiscal years 2002 through 2005, it had hired an average of 467 controllers per year. Retirements are taking place sooner than FAA expec