[House Hearing, 112 Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
MODERNIZING THE WORKFORCE INVESTMENT
ACT: DEVELOPING AN EFFECTIVE JOB TRAINING
SYSTEM FOR WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS
=======================================================================
HEARING
before the
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION
AND WORKFORCE TRAINING
COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
AND THE WORKFORCE
U.S. House of Representatives
ONE HUNDRED TWELFTH CONGRESS
FIRST SESSION
__________
HEARING HELD IN WASHINGTON, DC, OCTOBER 4, 2011
__________
Serial No. 112-41
__________
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COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION AND THE WORKFORCE
JOHN KLINE, Minnesota, Chairman
Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin George Miller, California,
Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, Senior Democratic Member
California Dale E. Kildee, Michigan
Judy Biggert, Illinois Donald M. Payne, New Jersey
Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
Joe Wilson, South Carolina Robert C. ``Bobby'' Scott,
Virginia Foxx, North Carolina Virginia
Bob Goodlatte, Virginia Lynn C. Woolsey, California
Duncan Hunter, California Ruben Hinojosa, Texas
David P. Roe, Tennessee Carolyn McCarthy, New York
Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
Tim Walberg, Michigan Dennis J. Kucinich, Ohio
Scott DesJarlais, Tennessee Rush D. Holt, New Jersey
Richard L. Hanna, New York Susan A. Davis, California
Todd Rokita, Indiana Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona
Larry Bucshon, Indiana Timothy H. Bishop, New York
Trey Gowdy, South Carolina David Loebsack, Iowa
Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania Mazie K. Hirono, Hawaii
Kristi L. Noem, South Dakota Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania
Martha Roby, Alabama
Joseph J. Heck, Nevada
Dennis A. Ross, Florida
Mike Kelly, Pennsylvania
Barrett Karr, Staff Director
Jody Calemine, Minority Staff Director
SUBCOMMITTEE ON HIGHER EDUCATION AND WORKFORCE TRAINING
VIRGINIA FOXX, North Carolina, Chairwoman
John Kline, Minnesota Ruben Hinojosa, Texas
Thomas E. Petri, Wisconsin Ranking Minority Member
Howard P. ``Buck'' McKeon, John F. Tierney, Massachusetts
California Timothy H. Bishop, New York
Judy Biggert, Illinois Robert E. Andrews, New Jersey
Todd Russell Platts, Pennsylvania Susan A. Davis, California
David P. Roe, Tennessee Raul M. Grijalva, Arizona
Glenn Thompson, Pennsylvania David Loebsack, Iowa
Richard L. Hanna, New York George Miller, California
Larry Bucshon, Indiana Jason Altmire, Pennsylvania
Lou Barletta, Pennsylvania
Joseph J. Heck, Nevada
C O N T E N T S
----------
Page
Hearing held on October 4, 2011.................................. 1
Statement of Members:
Foxx, Hon. Virginia, Chairwoman, Subcommittee on Higher
Education and Workforce Training........................... 1
Prepared statement of.................................... 3
Hinojosa, Hon. Ruben, ranking minority member, Subcommittee
on Higher Education and Workforce Training................. 3
Prepared statement of.................................... 4
Statement of Witnesses:
Cox, Kristen, executive director, Utah Department of
Workforce Services......................................... 6
Prepared statement of.................................... 8
Fall, Jaime S., vice president, workforce and talent
development policy, HR Policy Association.................. 26
Prepared statement of.................................... 28
Herman, Bruce G., organizer and strategist, National Call to
Action..................................................... 18
Prepared statement of.................................... 20
Larrea, Laurie Bouillion, president, Workforce Solutions
Greater Dallas............................................. 14
Prepared statement of.................................... 16
Additional Submissions:
Mr. Hinojosa:
Donnelly, Hon. Joe, a Representative in Congress from the
State of Indiana, prepared statement of................ 51
MODERNIZING THE WORKFORCE
INVESTMENT ACT: DEVELOPING AN
EFFECTIVE JOB TRAINING SYSTEM
FOR WORKERS AND EMPLOYERS
----------
Tuesday, October 4, 2011
U.S. House of Representatives
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Committee on Education and the Workforce
Washington, DC
----------
The subcommittee met, pursuant to call, at 10:04 a.m., in
room 2175, Rayburn House Office Building, Hon. Virginia Foxx
[chairwoman of the subcommittee] presiding.
Present: Representatives Foxx, Petri, Biggert, Roe, Hanna,
Bucshon, Barletta, Heck, Hinojosa, and Loebsack.
Staff present: Jennifer Allen, Press Secretary; Katherine
Bathgate, Press Assistant/New Media Coordinator; Casey Buboltz,
Coalitions and Member Services Coordinator; Heather Couri,
Deputy Director of Education and Human Services Policy; Lindsay
Fryer, Professional Staff Member; Rosemary Lahasky,
Professional Staff Member; Brian Melnyk, Legislative Assistant;
Krisann Pearce, General Counsel; Linda Stevens, Chief Clerk/
Assistant to the General Counsel; Alissa Strawcutter, Deputy
Clerk; Kate Ahlgren, Minority Investigative Counsel; Aaron
Albright, Minority Communications Director for Labor; Jody
Calemine, Minority Staff Director; John D'Elia, Minority Staff
Assistant; Livia Lam, Minority Senior Labor Policy Advisor;
Brian Levin, Minority New Media Press Assistant; and Michele
Varnhagen, Minority Chief Policy Advisor/Labor Policy Director.
Chairwoman Foxx. Good morning. A quorum being present, the
subcommittee will come to order. I want to welcome our
witnesses. Some of them have traveled a great distance to
participate in today's hearing, and we appreciate the
opportunity to hear your thoughts about ways we can improve
assistance for our nation's workers.
This is the committee's fourth opportunity to example the
challenges and successes of the federal job education system.
For several months, we have been working to detect what a 21st
century workforce investment system should look like, and
identify the responsible reforms necessary to help get us
there.
As a result, we have gained a greater understanding of the
changes that must be undertaken to build a stronger, more
competitive workforce. One of the most important things we have
learned through these hearings is that the status quo is no
longer acceptable. Particularly in times of record debt and
persistently high unemployment, we need a system that is
efficient and effective.
Wasting State and federal resources is a disservice to
taxpayers and workers. Earlier this year, the Government
Accountability Office identified 47 job programs administered
across nine federal agencies at a cost of $18 billion. Forty-
four of these programs overlap, serving similar populations.
Barely a handful have been reviewed for effectiveness.
Clearly, there is a great opportunity to make the job
training system leaner and more responsive. Fortunately, we
have also learned there are a number of creative and successful
reforms underway at the State and local levels that may serve
as models for reform. An improved job education system must
empower state leaders to pursue policies that best meet the
needs of the local workforce.
After all, officials in Clemmons, North Carolina and
Edinburg, Texas have a greater understanding of the needs of
their communities than do a roomful of Washington bureaucrats.
Finally, we have learned that while there are differing views
on how we move forward, there is agreement on both sides of the
aisle that job education programs play an important role in the
success of our workforce.
In his latest stimulus plan, the president noted the
importance of job training. However, his proposal to dedicate
$4 billion in new spending to create two additional job
training programs is questionable, particularly when one
considers the dozens of existing programs identified by the
GAO. I am concerned the president's proposal will layer more
bureaucracy, more rules and more spending onto a job education
system that is already overwhelmed by burdensome regulations
and waster resources.
With 14 million Americans unemployed, we simply cannot
afford to double down on the failed policies of the past.
Instead, we should focus our efforts on modernizing the
Workforce Investment Act so it reflects the realities of
today's economy, the needs of job-seekers, and the demands of
employers. Ideas have already been laid on the table.
Representative McKeon, former chairman of the full committee
and champion of this program, has introduced his own proposal
to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act.
I am grateful for his leadership, and look forward to
working with him in the weeks and months ahead. I hope the
president will soon send us his own plan to modernize an
outdated job training system. Ultimately, American workers are
looking for responsible policies that will help the economy
grow and create new jobs.
My Republican colleagues and I are eager to find common
ground on solutions that will improve federal job education
assistance on behalf of workers, employers, and taxpayers.
Additionally, we are advancing our Plan for America's Job
Creators, and pursuing a fall agenda that targets some of the
most harmful regulatory roadblocks to job creation.
Improving the nation's workforce investment system is an
important part of Washington's efforts to put people back to
work. I wish to thank our witnesses for contributing their
views and experiences today and helping us ensure the final
product reflects the positive state and local solutions already
underway.
Now I would like to recognize the distinguished ranking
member, Mr. Hinojosa, for his comments.
[The statement of Mrs. Foxx follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Virginia Foxx, Chairwoman,
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Good morning and welcome to our witnesses. Some of you have
traveled a great distance to participate in today's hearing, and we
appreciate the opportunity to hear your thoughts about ways we can
improve assistance for our nation's workers.
This is the committee's fourth opportunity to examine the
challenges and successes of the federal job training system. For
several months, we have been working to determine what a twenty-first
century workforce investment system should look like and identify the
responsible reforms necessary to help us get there. As a result, we
have gained a greater understanding of the changes that must be
undertaken to build a stronger, more competitive workforce.
One of the most important things we have learned through these
hearings is that the status quo is no longer acceptable. Particularly
in times of record debt and persistently high unemployment, we need a
job training system that is efficient and effective. Wasting state and
federal resources is a disservice to taxpayers and workers. Earlier
this year, the Government Accountability Office identified 47 separate
job training programs administered across 9 federal agencies at a cost
of $18 billion. Forty-four of these programs overlap, serving similar
populations. Barely a handful have been reviewed for effectiveness.
Clearly, there is a great opportunity to make the job training system
leaner and more responsive.
Fortunately, we have also learned there are a number of creative
and successful reforms underway at the state and local levels that may
serve as models for reform. An improved job training system must
empower state leaders to pursue policies that best meet the needs of
the local workforce. After all, officials in Clemmons, North Carolina
and Edinburg, Texas have a greater understanding of the needs of their
communities than do a room full of Washington bureaucrats.
Finally, we have learned that, while there are differing views on
how we move forward, there is agreement on both sides of the aisle that
job training programs play an important role in the success of our
workforce. In his latest stimulus plan, the president noted the
importance of job training. However, his proposal to dedicate $4
billion in new spending to create two additional job training programs
is questionable, particularly when one considers the dozens of existing
programs identified by the GAO. I am concerned the president's proposal
will layer more bureaucracy, more rules, and more spending onto a job
training system that is already overwhelmed by burdensome regulations
and wasted resources. With 14 million Americans unemployed, we simply
cannot afford to double-down on the failed policies of the past.
Instead, we should focus our efforts on modernizing the Workforce
Investment Act so it reflects the realities of today's economy, the
needs of job-seekers, and the demands of employers. Ideas have already
been laid on the table. Representative McKeon, former chairman of the
full committee and champion of job training assistance, has introduced
his own proposal to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act. I am
grateful for his leadership and look forward to working with him in the
weeks and months ahead. I hope the president will soon send up his own
plan to modernize an outdated job training system.
Ultimately, American workers are looking for responsible policies
that will help the economy grow and create new jobs. My Republican
colleagues and I are eager to find common ground on solutions that will
improve federal job training assistance on behalf of workers,
employers, and taxpayers. Additionally, we are advancing our Plan for
America's Job Creators and pursuing a fall agenda that targets some of
the most harmful regulatory roadblocks to job creation.
Improving the nation's workforce investment system is an important
part of Washington's efforts to help put people back to work. I wish to
thank our witnesses for contributing their views and experiences today,
and helping us ensure the final product reflects the positive state and
local solutions already underway.
______
Mr. Hinojosa. Thank you. Thank you, Chairwoman Foxx. I also
want to welcome and thank our distinguished panel of witnesses
for joining us today. Before we begin today's discussion on
modernizing the Workforce Investment Act, better known as WIA,
I would like to provide some context for today's hearing.
As ranking member of this subcommittee, I believe that it
is vitally important for us not to lose sight of the hardships
that millions of American workers and families are facing in
this economy. While our nation's economy is recovering,
millions of American workers--both blue collar and white collar
workers--continue to struggle to find good family-sustaining
jobs.
It is important to note that racial and ethnic minorities
have been disproportionately impacted by this economic
recession, with unemployment rates as high as 25 percent in
some parts of our country according to the Economic Policy
Institute. To make matters worse, a recent report issued by the
Census Bureau shows that greater numbers of Americans are
living in poverty.
What is more, of the 46 million people who live in poverty
in America in 2010, one in five were children. In fact, Latino
children are now the largest group of children living in
poverty, according to a study by the Pew Hispanic Center. It is
imperative that Congress works to reverse these stark trends by
creating good, family-sustaining jobs, and by strengthening our
public workforce training and adult education system so that it
can do more to serve the long-term unemployed and our most
vulnerable populations.
I am afraid that it is difficult for me to lead a
substantive discussion on WIA without also addressing the issue
of jobs and the unmet needs of today's 25 million unemployed
and underemployed workers. Simply put, jobs must be our number
one priority.
I strongly agree with President Obama on the need to
expedite the passage of the American Jobs Act, and I fully
support Ranking Member George Miller's request to have hearings
on this issue in this committee as soon as possible.
Constitutes in my congressional district want Congress to act
to make federal investments in infrastructure, in schools,
businesses, and job training programs.
While my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support
the consolidation of WIA programs, and may argue that any
savings should be used to reduce deficit, I can only support
consolidation efforts and flexibility in the areas where it
makes sense. Instead, our focus must be on improving the
quality and accessibility of employment and job training
services, not on eliminating WIA programs and weakening our
public workforce training and adult education system.
It is my hope that this committee can work in a bipartisan
manner to move a jobs bill forward, and work closely with Labor
Secretary Hilda Solis to reauthorize WIA.
With that, Madam Chair, I thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Hinojosa follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Ruben Hinojosa, Ranking Minority Member,
Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Training
Thank you, Chairwoman Foxx.
I also want to welcome and thank our distinguished panel of
witnesses for joining us today.
Before we begin today's discussion on modernizing the Workforce
Investment Act (WIA), I would like to provide some context for today's
hearing.
As ranking member of this subcommittee, I believe that it's vitally
important for us not to lose sight of the hardships that millions of
Americans workers and families are facing in this economy. While our
nation's economy is recovering, millions of American workers, both
blue-collar and white-collar workers, continue to struggle to find
good, family-sustaining jobs.
It's important to note that racial and ethnic minorities have been
disproportionately impacted by this economic recession, with
unemployment rates as high as 25 percent in some parts of the country,
according to the Economic Policy Institute.
To make matters worse, a recent report issued by the Census Bureau
showed that greater numbers of Americans are living g in poverty.
What's more, of the 46.2 million people who lived in poverty in America
in 2010, one in five were children. In fact, Latino children n are now
the largest group of children living in n poverty, according to a study
by the Pew Hispanic Center.
It is imperative that Congress work to reverse these stark trends
by creating good, family sustaining jobs and by strengthening our
public workforce training and adult education system, so that it can do
more to serve the long-term unemployed and our most vulnerable
populations.
I'm afraid that it's difficult for me e to lead a substantive
discussion on WIA without also addressing the issue of jobs and the
unmet needs of today's 25 million unemployed and underemployed workers.
Simply put, jobs must be our number one priority.
I strongly agree with President Obama on the need to expedite the
passage of ``the American Jobs Act,'' and I fully support Ranking
Member Miller's request to have hearings on this issue on this
committee as soon as possible.
Constituents in my congressional district want Congress to act, to
make federal investments in infrastructure, schools, businesses, and
job training programs.
While my colleagues on the other side of the aisle support the
consolidation of WIA programs and may argue that any savings should be
used to reduce deficit, I can only support consolidation efforts and
``flexibility'' in areas where it makes sense.
Instead, our focus must be on improving the quality and
accessibility of employment and job training services, not on
eliminating WIA programs and weakening our public workforce training
and adult education system.
It is my hope that this committee can work in a bipartisan manner
to move a jobs bill forward and work closely with Labor Secretary Hilda
Solis to reauthorize WIA.
Thank you.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Hinojosa. Pursuant to
Committee Rule 7c, all subcommittee members will be permitted
to submit written statements to be included in the permanent
hearing record. And without objection, the hearing record will
remain open for 14 days to allow statements, questions for the
records, and other extraneous material referenced during the
hearing to be submitted in the official hearing record.
It is now my pleasure to introduce our distinguished panel
of witnesses. Ms. Kristen Cox was appointed executive director
of workforce services for the State of Utah in March 2007. In
this capacity, Ms. Cox oversees the operation of 12 divisions
encompassing federal and State programs, including workforce
development. Prior to this appointment, Ms. Cox held positions
in Maryland as secretary of the nation's first cabinet-level
Department of Disabilities, and as the director of the
Governor's Office for Individuals with Disabilities.
Ms. Laurie Larrea has served as president of the Dallas
County Workforce Development Board since 1996. She serves as
executive director of the Private Industry Council of Dallas
and on three other Texas workforce investment boards, including
the director of programs for the Houston Job Training
Partnership Council and director of the Southeast Texas
Employment and Training programs.
Mr. Bruce Herman is the principle organizer and strategist
for National Call to Action, a voluntary coalition, including
labor, business community, and public offices promoting a
three-pronged pathway to economic revitalization to address the
current employment crisis. Prior to NCTA, he served as the
deputy commissioner of labor for Workforce Development, the New
York State Department of Labor.
Mr. Jaime Fall is vice president for workforce and talent
development policy for the HR Policy Association in Washington,
D.C. In this position, he leads the organization's efforts to
equip workers to succeed in the rapidly-changing workplaces of
America. Prior to joining HR Policy, Mr. Fall served for nearly
7 years as deputy secretary, employment and workforce
development for the California Labor and Workforce Development
Agency.
Again, we welcome all of you to be here. Before I recognize
you to provide your testimony, let me briefly explain our
lighting and sound system.
You will have 5 minutes to present your testimony. When you
begin, the light in front of you will turn green. And there
will also be an audible signal. When 1 minute is left, the
light will turn yellow. And when your time is expired the light
will turn red, at which point I would ask that you wrap up your
remarks as best you are able. After you have testified, members
will each have 5 minutes to ask questions of the panel.
I would now like to recognize Ms. Cox for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF KRISTEN COX, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR,
UTAH DEPARTMENT OF WORKFORCE SERVICES
Ms. Cox. Is it on? Okay. Thank you for the opportunity to
be here today. It is certainly an honor. And for the record, my
name is Kristen Cox, and I do run the Department of Workforce
Services in Utah. And we come to this with, I think, a very
unique and important perspective. Utah has a highly-integrated
model, and we are also a Statewide workforce investment board.
We administer everything from WIA to Wagner-Peyser and
trade, to TANF and food stamps and eligibility for all public
assistance programs, including Medicaid and CHIP. We have over
90 different federal programs we administer. So we see what is
working, and also many opportunities where we think it could be
improved.
So let me just highlight a couple principles that we think
are important, and then I will highlight some of our
recommendations. They are in my written testimony in much more
detail. So I will just go through some of them. But some
important principles we think are critical. One, that programs
should be designed to maximize dollars that go to the customer.
We need to eliminate bureaucracy and make sure all of our
money gets pushed down to the job seekers and the people that
need it. Second, we think we should focus more on results and
less on process and compliance activities. WIA's highly, highly
focused on compliance and process activities, which is a waste
of taxpayer dollars.
Third, we think States should have maximum flexibility.
Governor Herbert's a huge proponent of this. As governor, I
think he is the one to make the best decisions about what Utah
needs, not people in D.C. We think, also, that innovation
should be encouraged, and not penalized. And finally, we think
it is critical that we look at operational excellence.
We develop public policy in context of what it is going to
take on the ground to make it work. In Utah, we have a huge
focus on that so that we can make sure everything we do is
efficient. Let me highlight some of our major recommendations.
One, we think some major funding streams should be
consolidated--dislocated worker fund, belt worker youth, and
Wagner-Peyser.
We serve common customers--we need to integrate those
funds. Second, we think States should be given a waiver
process, or waiver ability, to go and ask that even additional
programs be integrated, such as trade, or food stamp employee
in training programs, or adult basic education. Other programs
really have similar purpose, and we want the waiver authority.
We know that welfare reform occurred because States had the
ability to create innovative processes. We want that same
opportunity to demonstrate that we can make that happen. We
also think in that process, if we can actually move towards
more integrated model, we could have true unified planning. We
spend hundreds of hours sending hundreds of pages to D.C. on
planning efforts for different programs that all serve the
common customer, and it is a waste of time.
We also think that the idea of discretionary grants needs
to go away, especially the administration's new proposal on the
Workforce Innovation Fund. It is sweeping dollars from States,
where we can get funds directly to customers quickly into a new
discretionary grant program. That, plus other discretionary
grant programs, forces us to chase money in ways that do not
necessarily meet our needs.
Next, we think that governors should have an ability to
govern and set up their own governance structure. We should not
have to ask permission, or mother may I, about how big our SWIB
is, or if we want to change our SWIB, or what the local
workforce enforcement boards will look like. We think it should
be business-driven, for sure, but governors should not have to
ask permission on those kinds of small process issue.
A few other quick things that are really important. We
believe common measures, and we will talk about this in more
detail, hopefully, are as important. But we do think there
should be some other measures around how we actually support
businesses, cost per equivalent services, and other areas that
could keep us accountable. We do agree that financial reporting
needs to be looked at.
We are always vulnerable in the system to recissions
because of the way Congress treats obligations. We think that
we should go from 1 year of obligation to 2 years of
expenditures as compared to 3 years. But that would give us the
opportunity to be transparent, but also avoid all these
recissions that occur. It is very difficult to create a stable
environment.
Finally--the beep took me off my roll--a couple of our
things, quickly. We have a high reporting burden in the
Workforce Investment programs. I have looked at all the
programs we have, including Medicaid to TANF. The reporting
burden in the WIA programs is over 5 percent of our
administrative costs, Wagner-Peyser 2.3 percent, where the rest
of our costs are at 1 percent or less.
The reporting burden is very interested in these programs,
and we need to take a hard look at reducing those. And then
finally, modernizing eligibility, cross-matching data sets, and
having the ability to do online Social Security stuff that we
can do with our public assistance programs that does not exist
in WIA. We need to look at modernizing that.
Those are just a few of many of our ideas that we have put
on the table. But at the end of the day, it boils down to
everything has to be on the table. In this economy, we need to
make sure that every action, every step, every policy, every
process is value-added. At the end of the day, the taxpayer and
job seeker would say it is worth it, it is value-added and I am
willing to pay for it, and businesses think we are relevant.
I look forward to answering any questions. Thank you.
[The statement of Ms. Cox follows:]
Prepared Statement of Kristen Cox, Executive Director,
Utah Department of Workforce Services
Mr. Chairman and Members of the House Education and the Workforce
Subcommittee, I am Kristen Cox, the Executive Director of the Utah
Department of Workforce Services. I appreciate the opportunity to
provide you with an overview of my observations on the re-authorization
of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA).
The Utah Department of Workforce Services (DWS) believes the
following core principles should guide all reform and reauthorization
efforts focused on jobs, including the Workforce Investment Act:
1. Programs should be structured in a manner that maximizes
resources for participants;
2. Requirements should be minimized and focused on developing a
consistent and structured performance accountability system;
3. States should be provided maximum flexibility to design the
programs and initiatives best suited to its citizens, businesses, and
workforce development partners;
4. Budget streamlining should not just penalize the states--federal
agencies should be examined and unnecessary bureaucracy and processes
should be eliminated;
5. Innovation and risk-taking in the design and delivery of
employment and job training services should be encouraged rather than
penalized;
6. Programming should be data-driven and evidence-based with
tangible accountability measures; and
7. Congress must refrain from establishing parallel job training
programs and/or discretionary grants that duplicate the existing
workforce system.
At the Utah Department of Workforce Services, our goal is simple--
to help unemployed Utah citizens find employment. Since my appointment
as Executive Director in 2007, I have worked to create a culture in the
agency that reflects my belief that government should spend as much
time focusing on operations as on public policy. Accordingly, we
administer our programs with a guiding principle that directs money for
training programs to those programs and not on administrative
bureaucracy.
In Utah, we are employing an agency-wide strategy designed to align
our entire department around a common goal--jobs. The strategy is based
on our commitment to operational excellence, results, and to ensuring
that Utah's economy continues to be among the best in the nation. The
strategy is also grounded in our philosophy that ``people who can work
do work'' and, to-date has saved Utah taxpayers $18 million while
caseloads in our Eligibility Services Division have increased
dramatically. This direction may sound simple, but it is not a given
with many of the federal programs administered by our department. We
need to look at WIA reauthorization as a perfect opportunity to focus
on streamlining processes and programs. As we do, I can't help but
point out that the United States Constitution is only four pages, so I
believe we have the ability to simplify the hundreds of pages that
comprise the Workforce Investment Act. When combined with the hundreds
of pages in the Code of Federal Regulations and all of the policy
guidance letters, the current Workforce Investment Act creates a system
crushed under paperwork and compliance.
The current design of the public workforce investment system is a
maze of individual programs and funding streams with various mandates
attached to each program. It is then the expectation of the states to
manage through these mandates and bureaucracy and provide individuals
and businesses with the employment and job training services needed,
thus contributing to the improvement of the national economy. Just
meeting individual program requirements, providing fiscal stewardship
over each individual funding stream, tracking outcomes and results for
individual programs, and implementing a business-friendly, customer-
centric model around targeted program mandates is extremely inefficient
by diverting finite resources from actual employment and job training
services.
When properly aligned, program integrity efforts, re-employment
initiatives, operational efficiencies, and trust fund management should
ensure that limited resources are maximized and directed to those who
are eligible for assistance and re-employment activities. Utah has an
integrated model that captures over 90 different federal programs,
giving us a unique and comprehensive perspective on employing
individuals. In fact, a Government Accounting Office (GAO) report
earlier this year singled out Utah for our consolidation efforts and
noted that ``the consolidation allowed job seekers to apply for
assistance they had not considered in the past.''
In Utah, we are committed to assessing the quality of programs
administered and are proactively reviewing services in order to ensure
maximum value is provided to the public. Reauthorization of WIA should
take the same approach. As a state agency charged with administering
some of the largest public assistance programs under scrutiny due to
current budget deficits, the effectiveness of job training programs--
specifically the effectiveness of the manner in which the services are
rendered at the state level--is an issue of great concern to our
stakeholders.
Accordingly, DWS has conducted an extensive job training analysis
for the purpose of guiding policy-makers in decisions pertaining to
training services. For example, the report shows that Utahns who
complete DWS-assisted degree programs are 5% more successful finding
employment and earn an average of $9,600 more per year than those who
do not. The full research report will be available on the web at http:/
/jobs.utah.gov/wi/trainingstudy later this week.
Because of Utah's landmark approach, our experience in
understanding and working within a framework of a myriad of federal
laws and regulations provides us with a unique perspective in providing
recommendations and viewpoints on various federal law reauthorizations.
As the committee begins its important work, the State of Utah
submits a comprehensive proposal for consideration that maximizes state
flexibility and focuses on connecting job seekers with jobs.
Workforce Investment Act Structure and Governance
In order to promote efficiency, better serve job seekers, workers,
youth and employers, and maintain a level of services with fewer
financial resources, the federal government should provide states with
a new Workforce Investment Fund, which is an integrated grant to states
that combines the following current individual formulaic grants:
Workforce Investment Act Adult
Workforce Investment Act Dislocated Worker
Workforce Investment Act Youth
Wagner-Peyser Employment Service
These four funding streams provide the foundation for the Workforce
Investment Fund because they provide the same or similar services,
which could be enhanced to populations needing employment and training
assistance.
In addition, at the request of the Governor, through a new
Innovation Waiver process, the following programs could be delivered
through the Workforce Investment Fund:
Adult Education
Vocational Rehabilitation
Trade Adjustment Assistance (training)
Veterans Employment and Training
Food Stamp Employment and Training
Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (employment/
training)
The Innovation Waiver process would involve the appropriate Cabinet
Secretary in charge of the program and would provide a state with an
opportunity to demonstrate how delivery of the program would promote
efficiency and improved services for customers and set a common
standard for participation. Waiver requests would need to be responded
to within 30 days, or the waiver request would be automatically
approved. In addition, the waiver process should also allow states to
include strategies that would better integrate and align Unemployment
Insurance (UI) customers into the broader workforce system.
Traditionally, and even in the President's recent jobs bill, UI re-
employment efforts are isolated from the broader system and is often
nonexistent in many states.
Utah also believes that Congress should decrease the number and
amount of discretionary grants overseen by DOL and opt for funds with
clear accountability standards. State and local governments spend too
much time and resources on ``chasing'' money in the form of grants that
may not best be suited for their unique needs. With diminishing
resources, it's unfortunate that state and local governments are
increasingly faced with the dilemma of hiring full-time grant writers
or bringing consultants on board who are well-versed in how to navigate
the grant process. Consequently, grant awards can be made on how well
the application is written rather than on the actual merits of the
proposal. It has become its own cottage industry.
In addition, grants require separate budgeting, monitoring, and
reporting--all of which take away money from customers and expand
administrative overhead. Grants can take too much time to approve and
often end up being one-time programs with no prospects of
sustainability. States need resources they can count on to develop
meaningful programs that can measurably move the needle over time and
quickly respond to structural changes.
Discretionary grant programs such as the Workforce Innovation Fund
would be eliminated in order to maximize funding to the states. Utah
feels that directing any portion of federal funding currently set-aside
as Statewide Activity funds for state-led innovations to a new
federally dictated, controlled and prescribed program (such as the
Innovation Fund) adds bureaucracy and defeats its intended purpose. I
maintain that governors, not the federal government, are uniquely
positioned to innovate and advance systemic workforce development
initiatives. Washington, D.C. should not be determining what is or is
not innovative in Utah--the decision should be made by Utah's Governor.
National Emergency Grants should be maintained in order to fund
unforeseen dislocation events. However, with excess monies historically
existing year after year at the end of a program year, the
authorization for funding would be capped at $100 million annually and
grant requests would need to be responded to with 45 days of the
receipt of the application. Other small programs that maintain a
separate delivery system to serve special populations would be
eliminated with services to these populations specifically authorized
under the Workforce Investment Fund.
Unified State Planning: The current state planning process is an
exercise in frustration as there is no real purpose for the planning--
it is essentially a ``check the box'' exercise. Every year, Utah
submits hundreds of pages of plans and I am uncertain as to whether or
not they are ever reviewed by appropriate officials. Recent proposals
seek to improve unified state planning by requiring lots of new
reporting on the ``coordination'' of programs. This approach is flawed
in that it increases the work and burden on states with no measureable
positive impacts as programs and funding streams remain separate and
delivered by a multitude of entities and delivery systems.
As part of the Workforce Investment Fund implementation and
Innovation Waiver process, a unified state plan would provide meaning
and reason to the plan. The goal of a unified state plan should not be
to provide lots of details on ``hoped for'' coordination; rather, it
should be a meaningful document describing to the federal government
and the public the types of services, methods of services, and goals
and objectives of service delivery and integration. The Workforce
Investment Fund unified state plan would be a guiding document
promoting reform, improved services, and actual results.
Local Workforce Investment Areas/State and Local Workforce
Investment Boards: The current structure and responsibilities of state
and local workforce investment boards are a legacy of the 1970s era
Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA). Because CETA funds
flowed directly from the federal government to local cities and
counties, local ``Private Industry Councils'' were formed, which
continued through the 1980s and 1990s under the Job Training
Partnership Act (JTPA). At the same time local job training funds were
being appropriated to counties and cities, funds for the same or
similar services were being provided to states through programs such as
the Wagner-Peyser Employment Service and Trade Adjustment Assistance.
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 tried to balance this shared
state-local employment and job training service provision
responsibility by crafting responsibilities of local workforce
investment boards in coordination with the state local workforce
investment board. In conjunction with this, WIA provides very little
flexibility to re-designate local workforce investment areas around
economic regions or changing demographics due to a desire to protect
the current system. A few states, such as Utah, have additional
flexibility as ``single state workforce area,'' but this designation is
authorized under a grandfathering provision, which allows few changes
unless a state is willing to risk losing this special flexible
designation.
Reform of the workforce investment system needs to include fewer
federal mandates around the state and local workforce investment boards
and areas and more emphasis on allowing innovative design that improves
services for customers and more efficient service delivery.
States that are currently single state workforce areas should be
allowed to remain and make modifications without the threat of losing
the designation and additional states should be allowed to re-designate
as single state workforce areas if doing so improves service delivery
and efficiency. In addition, governors, through consultation with local
stakeholders, should be able to re-designate local workforce investment
areas and report the criteria and rationale for local workforce
designation to the federal government. WIA should promote alignment of
workforce investment areas around regional economic or other
appropriate criteria and not around what is politically expedient.
Finally, governors should have flexibility around who should be on
the state workforce investment board, and should have options to
designate a state economic development or other appropriate council to
also serve as the state workforce investment board. Reform should
promote the integration of state economic development, education and
workforce development policies and service delivery, and should not
maintain unnecessary barriers to this integration.
Local workforce investment board membership should be decided
through a negotiated process between the governor and local elected
officials, and should not be mandated as part of a ``top down''
approach. Broad criteria could be put in a WIA reform bill with
governor's reporting to the federal government the rationale behind
state and local workforce investment board structure and membership.
One-Stop Center Delivery System: The idea behind a ``one-stop''
delivery system is sound--workers, job seekers, employers and others
can access a host of federally-funded employment and training services
at one physical location or through a coordinated electronic delivery
system. Unfortunately, due to the ``silo'' nature of the various
programs and the incentive for those working for individual programs to
protect their own infrastructure, the costs of maintaining physical and
technological infrastructure has been borne mainly by the WIA-funded
programs and Wagner-Peyser. As a result, service coordination has been
inconsistent from local area to local area and WIA funds are rarely
used for training services because a vast majority of the dollars are
paying for personnel, building, utilities, and supplies.
To strengthen the one-stop system and reduce duplicative,
``siloed'' infrastructures, integrating funds into the Workforce
Innovation Fund is the first step to solving the problem. However, the
federal government should also provide governors with a mechanism to
identify other employment and job training programs that could be
delivered through the one-stop system and provide flexibility by: (1)
allowing the ``pooling'' of administrative dollars for one-stop
infrastructures; and (2) offering incentives to foster further
integration. For instance, community colleges and other higher
education partners maintain an extensive set of physical buildings
throughout urban, suburban and rural communities. States that develop
innovative solutions to service delivery by integrating higher
education infrastructure with the one-stop system could be provided
incentive funds for promoting efficiency and greater service access to
customers.
Education and Training Services
The United States economy has changed dramatically over the past
two decades as a result of new technologies and globalization. As a
result, successful attachment to the labor force to include good
earnings requires access to skills and competencies gained through
post-secondary education and job training. ``Light-touch,'' low-cost
employment services do not provide everyone with the ability to compete
well in the labor market.
The Obama administration, along with a host of businesses,
philanthropic foundations, and community-based organizations, have
called on increasing the number of individuals receiving post-secondary
credentials including industry-recognized certificates, associate's
degrees and bachelor's degrees. Along with simply improving credential
attainment, workforce investment system leaders and managers must also
ensure that these credentials align with job and career opportunities
within local and regional labor markets.
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998, while trying to instill
accountability for employment results and ensuring that training
institutions provided skills for available jobs, created a number of
requirements and mechanisms that have proven difficult to manage and
have limited customer opportunities for post-secondary education and
training. Along with system design changes detailed above, specific
changes to education and training delivery should provide more
opportunities for individuals to access high-quality post-secondary
education and training.
Eligible Training Provider Lists: In order to ensure that training
participants were receiving quality training attached to labor markets
outcomes, WIA created the Eligible Training Provider (ETP) lists, a set
of post-secondary education and training providers maintained by
states. WIA mandates a set of requirements for states to follow when
designing and maintaining the ETP, which has only had the effect of
keeping good providers away from serving WIA customers due to the
onerous reporting and application burdens.
To alleviate this challenge, an institution of higher education
receiving regional accreditation from one of the recognized regional
accrediting bodies should continue to be automatically eligible as a
WIA provider. States can set additional criteria focused on programs
and align eligible provider programs with jobs-in-demand. For post-
secondary institutions accredited through a national accrediting body,
such as the American Council on Education, a streamlined approval
process should be provided whereby states could provide expedited
clearance based on a simple set of standards and business practices.
For any institution not granted either regional or national
accreditation, states could set a rigorous set of requirements tied to
outcomes and accountability reporting.
Contracting and Individual Training Accounts: More flexibility
should be granted to states to utilize a training account mechanism
and/or contracting mechanism when working with post-secondary partners
on the provision of education and training. Appropriate customer choice
in training tied to employment is an important principle and should be
promoted. In addition, opportunities exist for cohort training whereby
a group of similarly situated workers (sometimes dislocated) would
benefit by entering a training program at a community college, other
institution, or appropriate employer-sponsored and/or hosted training.
States need flexibility to maximize both approaches in order to foster
increased access to post-secondary education and training services.
Eliminate Sequence of Services: Currently under WIA, a participant
must first avail himself/herself to ``core'' and ``intensive'' services
in order to access training. The premise behind this requirement was a
promotion of employment as the main outcome of the workforce investment
system; however, it has promoted a ``one-size-fits-all'' culture to the
provision of services and has added unnecessary costs as a result of
meeting the federal sequencing mandate.
In designing services based on data, employer feedback, and
industry needs, states should be given flexibility to provide a menu of
services to participants accessing workforce investment services.
States should also be encouraged to utilize appropriate assessments,
up-front, to assist customers with the services most beneficial to them
in obtaining good-paying jobs.
Youth Programs: Although it is proposed that the WIA youth program
be integrated into the Workforce Investment Fund, services to youth
should be maintained. However, federal requirements should be limited
to developing eligibility standards in serving the most vulnerable
youth and should not dictate the manner or impose burdensome reporting
criteria. A separate summer youth program should not be authorized and
the focus of youth services should be on helping youth obtain a high
school diploma and making a transition into a post-secondary program of
study. A priority should be placed on supporting youth models with a
proven record of results either through an impact evaluation or other
recognized mechanism.
Performance and Financial Reporting
Various employment and job training programs have a myriad of
performance measures, program definitions, and rules around reporting
performance as well as financial spending and reporting. The result is
time-consuming and burdensome reporting requirements for states that do
not provide a clear picture as to the true effectiveness of many of
these programs. Changing and conflicting rules and expectations around
financial spending and reporting have resulted in a lack of consistent
reporting on obligations and expenditures, thus making the system
vulnerable to rescissions and reduced appropriations.
Core Indicators of Performance: The four adult indicators and four
youth indicators of performance implemented as ``common measures''
should be codified in the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization as
well as applied to all employment and job training related programs
across the federal government, including Temporary Assistance to Needy
Families, Carl Perkins, and other discretionary job training grant
programs. In order to more efficiently report, limited access to the
National Directory of New Hires should be authorized to efficiently
obtain data needed on employment and wages while maintaining privacy
protections.
Common Definitions and Data Validation: Integrating programs will
reduce the variety of definitions, but in addition, all employment,
education, and job training programs should have a mandated use of
common definitions such as ``entered employment'' or ``job retention.''
In addition, states should be given flexibility to define ``work
engagement'' for purposes of common reporting on programs that require
this standard. Efforts to validate data are important, but should be
limited to only those elements and procedures that are absolutely
necessary to ensure data integrity. In addition, methods for cross
matching data across programs should be consistent--allowing states to
modernize and streamline their data and performance systems.
Financial Reporting: In order to resolve lingering issues around
obligation and expenditures, WIA reauthorization should clarify that
the Workforce Investment Fund would allow one year to obligate funds
and two years to spend funds. Encumbrances should be considered as
obligations. Limiting carry-over from three years to two years would
resolve concerns about funds remaining unspent for a long period of
time. This would streamline financial reporting and provide greater
transparency for funds.
Administrative Issues
The U.S. Department of Labor maintains an oversight and technical
assistance support function that can be costly and may not always
provide value-added services to the states. Streamlining of
administrative processes should occur in order to ensure that the
maximum amount of appropriations is provided to the states for services
and that bureaucracy is not causing needless waste of state resources
and staff time.
Regional Offices: The U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and
Training Administration currently maintain six regional offices--down
from ten a decade ago. The responsibility of the six regional offices
is to provide grant oversight for both formula and discretionary
grants. State officials are to interface with their appropriate
regional office and not Washington, D.C. headquarters.
The regional office structure is a hold-over from pre-internet
times, when access to affordable telecommunications and air travel was
also difficult. The premise of this structure is that offices were
needed close to the states in order to provide technical assistance and
guidance on a number of programs. However, given that states can
directly interface with program experts, administrators, and grant
officers in Washington, D.C., the regional office function could be
improved.
Align WIA Reporting Burden: In Utah, the WIA program reporting
burden as a percent of total administrative costs is five times that of
other programs. The average cost of reporting for all Utah Department
of Workforce Services programs is about 1.0 percent of total
administration. However, WIA is at 5.2 percent and Wagner-Peyser is at
2.3 percent. U.S. Department of Labor reporting and monitoring burdens
are significantly higher while funding is significantly less than other
employment and job training programs.
Access to Electronic Verifications: Utah recommends that WIA
reauthorization make provisions for an agreement with SSA for states to
use the SOLQ/SVES files to verify SSNs and SSI benefits. Additionally,
having access to VA data to more readily identify Veterans would help
us serve employers and Veterans. Veterans are one of the nine groups of
job seekers to qualify for the WOTC. In addition, having VA data would
help us identify Veterans who are job seekers. The Administration for
Children and Families and the VA have made this possible through the
PARIS project for public assistance programs by allowing access to data
from the VETNET system, so the VA has proven their willingness to work
with agencies to supply data.
Inspector General Oversight: The Inspector General plays an
important role in assuring that grant and other funds are used
appropriately and for program purposes. However, there are often more
officials working on Inspector General reports and probes than there
are federal program officials or state program officials who are tasked
to maintain day-to-day operations. In addition, Inspector General staff
are incentivized to ``find something wrong'' so even though there may
not be an issue, they will still develop ``findings'' in order to
justify the expenditure of dollars toward a report or investigation.
Congress should investigate this issue and provide limitations on
expenditures by the Inspector General when a legal issue (fraud or
abuse) does not exist within the scope of a report or investigation.
Conclusion
As our nation struggles with reducing its debt while providing
critical services, we must ask ourselves how the taxpayer would define
``value'' and if they would be willing to pay for it. I suggest that
many of the procedural aspects of WIA could not pass this test.
However, at its core, WIA provides significant value to the customer
and to our nation as it elevates the competitiveness and economic
prosperity of our workforce. WIA reauthorization should rest squarely
on its core value and discard any efforts to weigh it down with non-
value added activities.
The State of Utah stands ready to assist the Committee in its
efforts to bring innovative policy answers that aggressively address
the Workforce Investment Act. We believe that states are the
appropriate starting point for re-authorization conversations and
encourage you to maximize flexibility and allow states to focus on
helping people find employment and then hold them accountable for doing
so. Thank you for the opportunity to address the Committee and I look
forward to answering any questions you may have.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. What a great presentation. If every one of
our witnesses came in and was as direct and specific as you we
would be in a lot better situation on this committee.
Now I would like to recognize Ms. Larrea for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF LAURIE BOUILLION LARREA, PRESIDENT, WORKFORCE
SOLUTIONS GREATER DALLAS
Ms. Larrea. Thank you very much for having me this morning
to present testimony. Thank you, members of the committee. I
would like to offer greetings from Mayor Rawlings. Chair Foxx,
we went with you and Chairman Kline recently, and was very
pleased. So I'm extending those greetings from Dallas.
The Dallas-Fort Worth-Arlington-North Central Texas area is
where I am from. It is one of the largest regions in Texas,
fastest-growing. Great economy, but workforce is a critical
issue for us. The Dallas Workforce Board has, for many years,
prided itself in having technology to remedy certain
circumstances. We believe flexibility is critical in any
reauthorization, but technological solutions should be
paramount in our discussions.
In Texas, we have the benefit of five major programs, much
as Utah discussed--Temporary Assistance to Needy Families,
Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, supply nutrition assistance,
the Workforce Investment Act, and Child Care and Development
Fund. And I bring that in as a very critical issue with
infrastructure. It assists the families in working. I will say
a little more of that in a minute.
In Texas, we have a single authority. The Texas Workforce
Commission buffers us at the local level from having all of the
multiple reporting systems, audit systems, and counting
systems. We have one financial authority, one financial report
a month, and one critical report of 15 performance measures,
some of which do measure our performance against service to
businesses, which is, I think, something the fed should adopt,
as well.
The efforts to modernize and innovate the national
workforce system will be successful if we learned from the
efforts that we have made in these other States and other local
areas. Two projects, three projects I would like to discuss
with you quickly that we have had success in Dallas.
We have got an in-home learning lab for welfare families.
After 3,200 families in 10 years, we have discovered that we
have the greatest return on investment for this process. Most
families are off of welfare after one year of participation, 85
percent. And it has the highest post program wage of any
program we have ever tested.
In addition, during the recession, we dabbled in programs,
very non-traditional programs, helping the executives who had
been displaced, high-level people who were displaced, and could
not find a way to put themselves back to work. Over a thousand
people went back to work, at less than $1,000 per customer.
That was a really big success during the recession.
The last thing we are doing that is very critical, an
online workforce center. We know we can not do the brick and
mortar. It is too costly. So we have an online workforce center
for job seekers. We are seeing 4,000 a week in our online
system. We have only kicked it off eight months ago. The next
step will be to put an employer service page to that same
website.
What have we learned from the Workforce? Workforce
development works best when it is outcome-based, not process.
Please examine measures for process innuendo. We must look at
outcomes. The marriage between employer and employee, that is
what this is about. Everybody works. That is what this whole
program should be about.
Workforce development works best when the programs are
planned, funded, and streamlined through one authority. We do
not have multiple school districts in the same area, multiple
water authorities. We have one authority. Workforce is a
system. It is not the multiple programs that we see at this
level. It is the system of assistance at the local level for
employers and job seekers.
Very importantly, the existing funds are not adequate for
the volume of job seekers. All of the target funding needs to
be recognized. In Texas, we do see that the funds identify the
population for which they were intended. We are very careful to
see that the monies go to the populations. But we have put it
all under the same umbrella of workforce.
The employers do not need to differentiate between the
targets. Perhaps we do to see that people get their fair share,
but we should be looking at this as an employer-driven system.
And that is what Dallas sees as the most important issue.
Workforce development is best when workforce becomes--the
convener should be the private sector.
Private sector majority workforce boards are critical for
us. Strong conflict of interest and open meeting policies. I
cannot stress this enough. We have no contracts with
boardmembers in Dallas except public education. Workforce
development works best when you work with Chambers of Commerce.
We have a very strong regional workforce planning effort that
supports aerospace, health care, infrastructure, logistics, and
advanced technology.
Those are the infrastructures that support our workforce.
We support them. It also works best when you look at the
infrastructure issue of child care. Child care is very critical
in the Texas model, and a maximum amount of money is spent on
the care and feeding of our children. But if a parent cannot
see quality care for their child they cannot be present for
work.
It is very important. Lastly, I leave you with a comment
from an employer. Primary customer, the employer. When asked
how workforce development would work best, he had this to
share. ``We often think of training as specific skills needed
for the job, and that is true. However, as an employer I am
seeing the need for broader training to create work-ready
employees who are willing to work, and grow, and learn new
knowledge.''
He is the chairman-CEO of a manufacturing company, Micropac
Industries, and said that our work was so important as a
customer, he became a volunteer boardmember. I think that
counts. I think it means something. We have a system that is
important to employers if we make it the system they need. And
they must drive it.
I thank you for allowing me to speak today.
[The statement of Ms. Larrea follows:]
Prepared Statement of Laurie Bouillion Larrea, President,
Workforce Solutions Greater Dallas
Thank you Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Hinojosa and
distinguished members of the subcommittee for allowing me to present
testimony today. I am Laurie Bouillion Larrea, President of Workforce
Solutions Greater Dallas, the workforce investment board serving the
City of Dallas and Dallas County. Chair Foxx, let me also extend
greetings on behalf of Mayor Rawlings. He enjoyed his recent
opportunity to meet with you and Chairman Kline and sends his regards.
Dallas--Fort Worth--Arlington, the North Central Texas region is one of
the fastest growing areas in the US. Within Dallas County, a population
of 2.3 million people, and an unemployment rate of 8.4%, workforce is a
critical issue. The Dallas workforce system has a proud history of
innovation and use of technology in reinventing services. Our Mission--
``achieving competitive solutions * * * for employers through quality
people and for people through quality jobs.'' The primary customer in
the Dallas workforce system is and always has been the employer
customer.
I have worked for the Dallas Board since 1989, and in that time,
I've witnessed dramatic change and flexibility in state and local
systems leading to improvements and efficiencies gained from the Texas
delivery model. We are blessed in Texas with bipartisan legislation
allowing that ``most'' of the federal employment and job training funds
are implemented under the authority of the twenty-eight local workforce
investment boards. Texas' 5 big programs--Temporary Assistance for
Needy Families, Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, Supplemental
Nutrition Assistance Program, Workforce Investment Act, and Child Care
and Development Funds--are awarded to the Texas Workforce Commission--a
single state authority. The state buffers multiple federal funding
authorities, each requiring separate state plans, annual reports,
monitoring, auditing and performance reporting. However, the Texas
local workforce boards experience a single fund authority, one monthly
financial report, one set of 15 significant performance measures, and
uniform monitoring. The usual duplication and overlap of paperwork used
to cost taxpayers millions of dollars every year. These are dollars
that are better spent providing services directly to employers and job
seekers.
Efforts to modernize and innovate the national workforce
development system will be successful if we study best practices and
learn from past experiences. The system has been expanding and growing
at the state and local levels driven by limited resources and increased
demand for services. Workforce professionals have embraced change out
of necessity. Greater need and fewer resources created a laboratory for
workforce innovation. Over the past years in Dallas we have
experimented with in-home learning systems for welfare families. After
ten years and 3200 welfare households, we realize that this computer
assisted in-home project yields the highest post program earnings for
former welfare recipients (15% or greater), and the lowest recidivism
of any welfare to work strategy we've measured (85% are removed from
welfare). In the most recent three years, we have provided a unique
assistance center to non-traditional customers--highly prepared and
educated professionals who lacked the skill to replace themselves
during the recession. The results were gratifying, (956 placed in
employment--average wage $109,000 annually--less than $1000 cost per
placement) and proved that the workforce system exists for every job
seeker. In the past eight months, we kicked-off a virtual workforce
center for job seekers. Our online workforce community is a vibrant
package of self-help, self-assessment and whole community access for
workforce information, access to Work in Texas (the Texas job bank),
and daily updates for registered job seekers. We are currently seeing
activity from nearly 4000 job seekers weekly. Our next step includes
the development of a similar site for area employers.
What else have we learned? Workforce development works best when
performance is judged by outcomes, not process. The most important
function of the workforce system is the successful marriage of
employees and employers. There may be a variety of means to that end,
but the end is the critical product of the system. We must prepare a
workforce to meet the needs of area employers--in an effort to drive
economic development and prosperity.
Workforce development works best when the ``programs'' are planned,
funded and implemented as a unified system--when the many federal and
state programs, intended to develop the workforce, are all part of the
general resources administered by the area workforce boards--multiple
fund sources provide the opportunity to share costs for administration,
oversight, and to provide workforce centers that are equipped with
necessary technology. The system must also retain adequate dollars to
meet employer driven objectives for job placement. Coalescing resources
has resulted in economies in auditing, monitoring, and procurement.
Workforce programs must be better aligned and streamlined to ease
access and service delivery for both workers and employers. It is not
the case, however, that there is duplication in the actual provision of
services for the populations served by these individual programs. While
the GAO finds that a number of programs offer similar services, it also
notes that ``Even when programs overlap, the services they provide and
the populations they serve may differ in meaningful ways.'' Alignment
of multiple programs must occur without diluting the funds intended for
the specified population. In Texas, we preserve the original purpose of
the money and incorporate the targeted customer into our jobs strategy.
The existing funds are not adequate for the volume of job seekers and
employers seeking assistance. The resources have to be similar to those
available to the variety of programs currently in existence to maximize
the effectiveness. The alignment alone produces cost benefits in
increasing direct services and better quality.
Workforce development works best when the workforce board acts to
convene community partners to lead a system of employer and job seeker
services. Most importantly, boards must govern. A strong policy and
oversight board is necessary for this very complex combination of
services. In addition, board members cannot become mired in staff work.
Boards in Texas are composed of diverse employer leadership; a majority
of private sector employers, reflective of the key industries that
comprise the areas workforce; and are subject to strong conflict of
interest and open meeting requirements. The Dallas board allows no
contracts to board members with the exception of public education.
Workforce development works best in close coordination with
economic development. The three workforce boards in the Dallas Fort
Worth and North Central area joined forces with the three major
Chambers of Commerce--Dallas Regional, Arlington and Fort Worth to form
the Regional Workforce Leadership Council. Not just another
organization, but a handshake and a commitment of the six entities to
support industry sectors--Aerospace, Healthcare, Infrastructure,
Logistics Manufacturing, and Advanced Technology. The partnership has
been in existence for over nine years and is responsible for the
conduct of current worker training, skills identification and
curriculum development, K-12 programs to encourage the interest of the
future workforce, and fulfill our shared mission--jobs for North Texas.
Workforce development works best when we recognize the
infrastructure necessary to sustain the American worker. In Texas, the
legislature had the foresight to include Childcare funds as part of
workforce. Childcare assistance is intended for working parents who
lack adequate resources, and these resources become an essential part
of the workers capacity to be present. For those of us who have been
working parents and relied on the childcare system to enable us to
work, we know the value of reliable, quality childcare for our
children. Other than housing, there is no greater expense and
responsibility for the working parent than to find a consistent,
healthy and trustworthy environment for our children. The Texas model
recognized and empowered local workforce boards to provide oversight of
this significant ``workforce'' expenditure.
In summary, I'd like to share the reflections of a primary
customer--an employer. When asked how does workforce development work
best, he had this to share.
``We often think of training as specific skills needed for the job,
and that's true, however, as an employer, I'm seeing the need for
broader training to create work ready employees who are willing to work
and grow through an openness to learning ``new knowledge.'' Anything we
can do to break down barriers for our potential employees, and enhance
the connections * * * will have a high rate of return on investment in
the training and workforce readiness that the Workforce Investment Act
provides''. The employer is Mark King from Garland, TX. He is Chairman,
CEO and President of Micropac Industries. He was our customer, and so
believed in the work of the system, he became a Board member. It's a
strong signal that the workforce system matters.
Micropac Industries, Inc. provides microelectronic and
optoelectronic components and modules along with contract electronic
manufacturing services. The Company offers a wide range of products to
the industrial, medical, military, aerospace and space markets.
Micropac offers both custom and standard products from its ISO 9001 &
2000 and AS9100:2004. Rev B qualified facilities. There products
include custom hybrids, high temperature hybrids, power hybrids and
multi-chip modules, optocouplers, LEDs, Hall Effect sensors and custom
optoelectronic assemblies.
Thank you again for this opportunity to speak with you today.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much for your comments.
Mr. Herman, I would like to recognize you for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF BRUCE G. HERMAN, ORGANIZER AND STRATEGIST,
NATIONAL CALL TO ACTION
Mr. Herman. Good morning, and thank you for inviting me to
testify at today's hearings. For the past 4 years I was the New
York State deputy of labor for Workforce Development. I
recently left State service in order to engage more directly in
advocacy initiatives such as the National Call to Action that
would better address the persistent job crisis that is
devastating so many of our communities and America's working
families.
Today's hearing is focused on the specifics of the
Workforce Investment Act. However, I would like to begin my
comments by putting forward a broader framework inclusive of
the Workforce Investment Act but not limited to WIA. The
pervasive crisis that is upon us cannot adequately be addressed
by WIA alone, no matter how much it can and should be improved.
With 25 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, much
needs to be done. And further delay will compound the crisis
and further damage the American economy and society. As we all
know, poverty is increasing in our nation and many Americans
will not fully recover from the economic losses they have
suffered through no fault of their own.
It is in this context, the context of crisis, that the
National Call to Action was created. The National Call to
Action is a voluntary coalition, including labor, business,
community, public officials. Over the past year-and-a-half, the
National Call to Action has developed a three-pronged pathway--
retain, restore, and create jobs to revitalize the economy and
address the lingering employment crisis.
Reauthorization of the Workforce Investment Act is critical
to carrying out this strategy. One of the allowable activities
under WIA Rapid Response is layoff aversion. Layoff aversion
has saved good, family-sustaining jobs at a fraction of the
cost of job attraction deals. In early 2010, in New York, we
launched the Assist-Stabilize-Secure-Empower Turnaround, ASSET,
program, which assisted more than 100 businesses and benefited
nearly 4,500 workers through out network partners.
We found the cost per employee to save these jobs to be
approximately $138, a clear savings. Layoff aversion, an
allowable activity under the Workforce Investment Rapid
Response, should be a mandatory activity. And a system of
robust technical assistance should be created to build and
expand best practice.
Another important proven program that saves jobs and
provides needed flexibility is Workshare, shared work. An
alternative to full-time layoffs and the subsequent economic
devastation far too many Americans have experienced, Workshare
is truly a win-win-win proposition. At the peak of the
recession, over 50,000 New Yorkers and 3,000 New York
businesses accessed shared work for needed flexibility in
dealing with economic distress.
Employers value greatly an alternative to full-time layoff,
knowing full well that finding new skilled employees is a very
costly undertaking. Workers can manage a partial loss of income
much more effectively than the economic train wreck of complete
job loss. And results show that UI dollars are saved because of
Workshare.
President Obama's American Jobs Act creates a national
Workshare program. So overall, much needs to be done to
preserve good jobs. As that great former New York governor,
Franklin Delano Roosevelt, once said, ``A job saved is a job
created.'' Right on. In New York State, we invested heavily in
on-the-job training, also an allowable activity under the
Workforce Investment Act.
In my opinion, one of the most effective, immediate efforts
that would support businesses willing to hire, and Americans
willing and able to work, is a robust national OJT project. In
program year 2007, more than 86 percent of the individuals
participating in WIA adult dislocated worker-funded OJT
programs were still on the job 12 months after exiting the
program.
This is a much stronger incentive than tax credits which,
in my experience, are accessed mostly after the hire decision
has been made. Because New York State requires UI recipients to
report to one-stops--and we have had a state-funded
reemployment effort under way since 1998, and have pursued
federal support to expand our reemployment programs--in 2009 we
served nearly 306,000 workers.
That is nearly 28 percent of the nation's participants in
WIA Title 1-B. Key components of this reemployment effort are
presented in my written testimony. Some WIA-specific points to
close. It is not sufficient to just tweak WIA. Look at the
synergies in combining WIA, TAA, TANF jobs program, a community
college's workforce development efforts make a lot of sense to
me.
But better alignment cannot mean fewer resources. The U.S.
continues to under-invest in its people, and our global
competitive challenges reflect this. Flexibility is important,
but flexibility without accountability to clear demonstrative
program outcomes is anarchy. Too many workforce investment
boards are not aligned with regional economies. More
flexibility is needed to work across State borders.
Regional economics does not stop at artificial political
boundaries. Please get out of our way. It is certainly true
that workforce programs could be better aligned, and
streamlined to ease access and service delivery for both
workers and employers. The solution, in my experience, is
better coordination, some consolidation, aggressive sharing,
and replication of best practice.
A block grant approach is a tempting way to fill a budget
gap in these very challenging fiscal times but would, I
believe, lead to even more diminished resources available to
support Americans' quest for better skills, and jobs that will
sustain their families. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Herman follows:]
Prepared Statement of Bruce G. Herman, Organizer and Strategist,
National Call to Action
Good morning Chairwoman Foxx and Ranking Member Hinojosa. Thank you
for inviting me to testify at today's hearing. My name is Bruce Herman
and for the past four years I was the New York State Deputy
Commissioner of Labor for Workforce Development. I recently left state
service in order to pursue new opportunities and engage more directly
in advocacy initiatives that would better address the persistent jobs
crisis that is devastating so many of our communities and America's
working families. The National Call to Action (NCTA) is one of those
initiatives and I am proud to be part of this effort that brings labor,
business, community and government together to advocate for a three
pronged pathway to economic revitalization focused on retaining,
restoring and creating jobs.
With 25 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, Congress
must focus its efforts on policies that help create jobs and put people
back to work. As we all know, poverty is increasing in our nation and
many, many Americans will not fully recover from the economic losses
they have suffered through no fault of their own. Workforce development
alone can not adequately address the jobs crisis our nation confronts,
but it is dangerously naive to believe that the American people will be
successful in the global economy without the ability to access their
tax dollars to support their just desires to improve their skills and
connect with family sustaining jobs. We as a nation continue to under
invest in our people and our global competitive challenges reflect
this. The question remains--what can be done and what will be done?
It is in this context, that we are here today to talk about job
training and the importance of ensuring our nation has the skilled
workforce necessary to sustain job growth, contribute to economic
recovery, and lead the world in the 21st century economy.
Why Skills Matter
There is little doubt that education and training are critical to
enhancing the competitiveness of U.S. businesses in the global economy,
and to ensuring that U.S. workers are able to obtain well-paying jobs
and careers. A 2010 report from Georgetown University's Center on
Education and the Workforce found that about 63 percent of all job
openings between 2008 and 2018--nearly 30 million jobs overall--will
require at least some form of postsecondary education and training,\1\
And the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics estimates that nineteen of the
thirty fastest-growing occupations during that same timespan will
require at least a postsecondary vocational award.\2\ Meeting the
growing labor market demand for higher skills and credentials will be
impossible without targeted and timely investments that expand access
to education and training for workers at all levels.
In particular, many emerging jobs in critical sectors such as
health care, clean energy, and advanced manufacturing will be middle-
skill jobs, that is, jobs that require significant education and
training beyond the high school level, but not a four-year college
degree. In their 2007 report America's Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs,
economists Harry Holzer and Robert Lerman found that these occupations
make up about half of all jobs in today's labor market, and will
continue to be the single largest segment of the labor market well into
the future.\3\ While federal policy can and should support increasing
U.S. attainment of baccalaureate and advanced degrees, it must also
support strategies that enable workers to earn associate's degrees,
occupational certificates, and other industry-recognized credentials
that prepare them for well-paying middle-skill jobs.
While the imperative to increase job skills and credential
attainment impacts all workers and businesses, the recent economic
crisis has demonstrated that lower-skilled workers face greater
obstacles entering and remaining in the labor market than average
workers. For example, in December 2010 workers with less than a high
school diploma experienced a national unemployment rate of 15.3
percent, more than triple the rate for individuals with a bachelor's
degree or higher (4.8 percent), and nearly double the rate for workers
with at least some postsecondary education, including those with
associate's degrees (8.1 percent).\4\ Younger workers entering the
labor market--who often have relatively little formal education beyond
the secondary level--also faced significant challenges during the
economic downturn. Nearly a quarter of jobseekers between the ages of
16-19 were out of work in December 2010.\5\
Even workers with substantial work experience can be impacted by
skills deficits. Two-thirds of workers participating in the federally-
funded Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program--which provides
training and other benefits to workers dislocated due to foreign
trade--lack any postsecondary education credentials, with a quarter
lacking even a high school diploma.\6\ A recent report from the
Department of Labor indicates that workers in the top twenty declining
occupations often have significant literacy issues, with 54 percent
scoring ``basic'' or ``below basic'' in prose literacy, and 62 percent
scoring basic or below in quantitative literacy.
Responding to the Jobs Crisis
The challenges in putting people back to work in the current
economy are enormous. Demand for services is skyrocketing--last year
more than 9 million individuals received training and other employment
services programs funded under Title I of the Workforce Investment Act
(WIA), a 248 percent increase in participation in just two years--while
federal funding is being slashed. Yet by capitalizing on the
flexibility that already exists in the system, some states and local
communities have been able to implement strategies that are making a
difference.
For example, in New York State, as we were hemorrhaging jobs during
the height of the recent recession, we capitalized on the flexibility
that currently exists under WIA to focus on layoff aversion strategies,
an allowable activity under the WIA Rapid Response program that, where
practiced well, has saved good family sustaining jobs at a fraction of
the cost of trying to attract new jobs to replace those that are lost.
In early 2010 we launched the ``Assist, Stabilize, Secure, Empower,
Turnaround'' (ASSET) program. This pilot effort produced good results,
since its inception in early 2010; NY ASSET has assisted more than 82
businesses, benefitting roughly 4,456 employees through our network of
partners. The NY ASSET turnaround team has provided assistance to 22
businesses, helping 1,281 employees in those businesses. We have found
that the cost per employee to be approximately $138. Importantly, we
learned from what other states had already done--like Pennsylvania's
Strategic Early Warning Network (SEWN), one of the country's most
developed and successful layoff aversion programs--and were able to
share our experience with other states, like Texas, so they could adapt
our program to meet their needs. This would have been much easier,
though, if layoff aversion were made mandatory under WIA and a system
of robust technical assistance were created to build and expand best
practice.
In New York State we also invested heavily in on-the-job training
(OJT), an allowable activity under WIA. OJT services may be funded
using local formula dollars under the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker
funding streams, and must be provided through contracts between local
workforce investment boards (WIBs) and employers in the public, private
non-profit, or private sector. As part of an OJT agreement, employers
must agree to hire or employ eligible individuals, provide them with
skills training over a specific period of time, and pay wages at the
same rate as similarly situated employees of the employer. In exchange,
employers are eligible to receive a subsidy of the OJT employee's wages
to cover the extraordinary costs of training. OJT activities may not
lead to the full or partial displacement (including reduced hours or
wages) of a currently employed individual, and cannot be provided if
any other any other individual is on layoff from the same or
substantially equivalent job. OJT activities may not impair an existing
contract for services or a collective bargaining agreement, and any
activities that would be inconsistent with the terms of a collective
bargaining agreement must be approved in writing by the employer and
the labor organization.
OJT provides significant advantages for both businesses and
workers. Employers are able minimize the upfront costs of training and
supervision for new employees, ensure that training is aligned with
actual skill requirements of the job, and realize immediate gains in
productivity as workers learn on the job. Employees participating in
OJT benefit because they are receiving a paycheck while acquiring the
skills to perform effectively on the job and advance their careers
beyond the lifespan of the training program. And evidence indicates
that OJT can have a lasting impact: in PY 2007, more than 86 percent of
individuals participating in WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker-funded OJT
programs were still on the job twelve months after exiting the
program.\9\
Another strategy we adopted in New York State was to develop a
robust reemployment program that is focused on improving alignment and
connectivity between WIA, the Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, and
the Unemployment Insurance (UI) program. Key components of this
reemployment effort are:
Front end skills based assessments
Not just state inter-agency collaboration but strong Local
Workforce Investment Board engagement (bias against UI recipients can
be firmly planted in WIA world)
Rapid Response and Trade Adjustment Assistance are key
feeders
Regional One Stop Business Services Teams to better
connect w/employers
Develop common case management system across all agencies
with workforce development and employment programs.
Because New York State requires UI recipients to report to One-Stop
career centers, has had a state funded reemployment effort underway
since 1998 and has pursued federal support to expand our reemployment
program, we served nearly 28 percent of the nation's participants in
WIA Title 1B in 2009 (305,924 dislocated workers) and still met our
employment goals. I would stress that we were able to do this under
current law by capitalizing on existing flexibility in the system. For
us, these efforts were always a question of alignment, not
consolidation.
Another important, proven program that we adopted in New York is
Work Share/Shared Work. An alternative to full time layoff and the
subsequent economic devastation far too many Americans have
experienced, Work Share is a truly win- win-win proposition. Employers
value greatly an alternative to fulltime layoff knowing full well that
finding new, skilled employees is a very costly undertaking. Workers
can manage a partial loss of income much more effectively than the
economic train wreck of complete job loss. And results show that UI
dollars are saved because of Work Share. NYS's Shared Work program
saved tens of thousands of jobs in the teeth of the worst economic
crisis in our lifetime. At the peak of the crisis over 50,000 New
Yorkers and 3,000 New York businesses accessed Shared Work for needed
flexibility in dealing with economic distress. And while Work Share is
primarily a UI program, because we align our UI and WIA programs in New
York, we assure that workers participating in Work Share who could
benefit from training are referred to the appropriate education and
training services.
Local communities in New York State have also developed a number of
innovative sectoral programs to better engage employers, and ensure
that job training is connected to real jobs.
In 2007, the New York State Department of Labor launched
its 13N Transformational Sectors Strategies initiative, a program to
help local Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs) create and support
regional sectoral initiatives throughout the state. By focusing on the
workforce and education needs of industry sectors, these grants are
helping to develop pipelines of workers with the middle-skill
credentials needed to drive regional growth and competitiveness. For
example, the Western New York Regional WIBs are using these grants to
expand the growth of high-wage jobs in the advanced manufacturing and
life sciences industries in the region, combining education, workforce
and economic development strategies to create an educational pipeline
to ensure these businesses have the skilled workforce they need to
expand and compete. By creating demand-driven training on a
regionalized but statewide basis, this innovative model is one example
of how New York is taking initial steps toward creating more demand-
driven education and training opportunities for its workers.
The Finger Lakes Advanced Manufacturers' Enterprise, or
FAME, is an initiative of the Finger Lakes Workforce Investment Board
and a collaborative public/private partnership of regional stakeholders
working to attract and grow the workforce talent in advanced
manufacturing in the Finger Lakes region. Through the Finger Lakes
Community College, this unique, high-tech, hands-on degree program
offers students an opportunity to learn the tools and techniques of
emerging technologies which are crucial for designing, testing,
manufacturing and quality control in industrial, commercial, medical
and other settings.\10\
For New York City residents interested in health care and
seeking career advancement opportunities as a pathway out of poverty,
NYC's Workforce1 Healthcare Career Center at La Guardia Community
College offers training for individuals in several high-wage, high-
growth health care occupations. Providing a full range of training and
job placement services to new jobseekers and incumbent workers, the
Center is part of a sector-focused approach to career training that
leads to higher wages for workers and better outcomes for businesses.
Serving the Brooklyn community, Opportunities for a Better
Tomorrow helps disadvantaged older youth and young adults advance
towards self-sufficiency and financial security through job training,
academic reinforcement, improved life skills, job placement, and
support services. OBT's youth training model is an intensive 20-week
program that includes GED classes (if needed), business math, business
English, office procedures, computer classes, public speaking and
communications, and a world-of-work module. With an overall job
placement rate of 85 percent annually, OBT has helped over 5,000 young
people and 2,500 adults improve their lives and the lives of their
families since its founding in 1983.
The New York City Department of Small Business Services
partnered with the New York City Workforce Funders, a coalition of
foundations that invest in local workforce development activities, on
the New York City Sector Initiative (NYCSI), a multi-million dollar
initiative that supported the development of career-track training and
job placements for several hundred New Yorkers in a range of health
care and biotechnology job titles. As public funding for job training
and employment services continues to fall, new models for investment
will be necessary to support services at a level commensurate with
demand.
For all of these initiatives we drew on WIA resources and
infrastructure, capitalizing on existing flexibility in the system to
develop innovative solutions to extremely difficult problems. And while
WIA provided an important foundation for this work, too often we ran
into obstacles under the law that we had to find ways around. There is
no question there is room for improvement in the system, but in many
ways we already know what is working on the ground. The challenge now
is for federal policy to catch up with best practices in the field.
WIA Reauthorization
I am extremely pleased by the committee's efforts to reauthorize
WIA, the core of our nation's federal workforce development system. In
1998, Congress established WIA as a framework for the nation's
workforce development system. The law replaced multiple existing
training programs with state formula grants, and created a nationwide
network of locally administered ``one-stop career centers'' where both
workers and employers could access training, employment, and support
programs administered through the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) and
other agencies, such as the U.S. Departments of Education and Health
and Human Services. Due to be reauthorized nearly a decade ago, WIA has
failed to keep pace with changing economic conditions. The law's
original emphasis on short-term training and rapid re-employment is
increasingly inconsistent with growing demands for longer-term training
aligned to high-growth and emerging industries.
Failure to reauthorize this program will continue to leave federal
job training programs vulnerable to funding cuts. Formula funding for
WIA has declined by more than 30 percent since 2001, losing more than
$300 million in formula funding in FY 2011 alone. Such cuts will not
only lead to disruptions in services--including the likely closure
onestop centers and training programs in communities across the
country--and will impact the ability of our nation's employers to find
the skilled workers they need to fill immediate job openings and plan
for future growth.
I know that some members of Congress have expressed concern about
the effectiveness and efficiency of the current workforce development
system, and I feel strongly that the best way to begin addressing these
concerns is through the reauthorization process.
An effective workforce development system should do three things:
1) engage employers through sector partnerships to better ensure that
training is connected to real jobs and that limited investments are
effectively targeted in local and regional economies; 2) create career
pathways to ensure training is readily available and easily accessible
so that a diversity of workers can enter, persist, and succeed; and 3)
hold the system accountable for credential attainment to ensure that
limited federal investments result in the attainment of industry-
recognized credentials, vocational certificates, or degrees that have
value in the labor market.
Toward this end, I would make a number of specific recommendations
for WIA reauthorization.
Specific Recommendations
Title I--Workforce Systems for Adults, Dislocated Workers,
and Youth
Increase the Number of Individuals Receiving Training
As Congress considers reauthorizing WIA Title I, policymakers
should ensure that the program is supporting high quality education,
training, and related services that provide a diversity of jobseekers
with the necessary skills to obtain, retain, and advance in well-paying
occupations and careers.
Significantly strengthen focus on attainment of postsecondary
degrees, certificates, and other industry-recognized credentials under
WIA Title I. Establishing meaningful goals and performance measures for
credential attainment would enable policymakers to determine how
successful the public workforce system is in meeting the skill
requirements of jobseekers and employers on a national, regional, and
local basis, while allowing state and local workforce agencies to
emphasize the kinds of longer-term training that leads to well-paying
jobs and careers for participants, rather than focusing on rapid labor
market attachment encouraged under current performance measures.
Specifically, Congress and DOL should:
Require that credential attainment be a core performance
indicator under Title I;
Set numeric goals for state and local Workforce Investment
Boards (WIBs) to increase training and credential attainment,
consistent with DOL's Employment and Training Administration's goal of
increasing the number of individuals earning degrees, certificates, and
other industry-recognized credentials by 10 percent by 2012;
Require states to include the list of credentials offered
by Eligible Training Providers (ETP) on state ETP lists;
Incentivize collaboration between WIBs and education and
training providers to develop and implement innovative training
programs that increase credential attainment for low-skilled adults,
including integrated education and training programs that combine adult
education and occupational skills instruction; and
Recognize and promote local or regional credentials
developed through sector partnerships or other employer consortia
within a specific industry or geographic area, and delivered by a
qualified training provider.
Support career pathways under WIA Title I. A number of states have
begun to implement career pathways strategies which align adult
education, job training, and higher education programs to allow
participants to obtain progressive educational or occupational
credentials even as they continue to work,\11\ but their efforts could
be strengthened by:
Requiring states and local areas to set and meet goals for
co-enrollment of participants in WIA Title I and Title II programs, and
require that co-enrollment percentages increase over time;
Establishing performance measures for Title I that reward
states and local areas for interim outcomes along career pathways, such
as GED attainment or completion of postsecondary courses leading to an
industry-recognized degree, certificate, or other credentials;
Clarifying how WIA Title I funds may be used in
conjunction with Pell Grants, and ensure that local workforce staff are
trained to assist participants in accessing the full range of student
assistance they need to succeed in training; and
Providing states and local areas with flexibility to merge
Title I and Title II funds as necessary to support integrated education
and training programs and other innovative strategies that provide
services through multiple education and training programs.
Congress should also eliminate the current sequence of service
requirements; increase overall formula funding for WIA programs to at
least the level of combined spending under the American Recovery and
Reinvestment Act and regular Fiscal Year (FY) 2009 appropriations bills
to ensure that local WIBs and one-stops have the necessary resources to
respond to heightened demand for services; create and fully fund a
separate line item under DOL's budget to support one-stop
administrative and infrastructure costs while requiring that a minimum
percentage of WIA formula funds be used to directly support job
training; and retain the Recovery Act provision that allows local WIBs
to contract for training services for multiple participants where such
practices do not limit consumer choice.
Invest in Sector Partnerships to Effectively Target Scare
Training Resources
Sector partnerships are industry-led collaboratives between key
stakeholders connected to a local or regional industry that optimize
investments by carefully targeting training to local and regional
employer skill needs. Recent research demonstrates that well-designed
sector programs can have significant positive outcomes for low-income
workers, including earnings gains, steadier employment, and increased
access to health care and other benefits.\12\ In 2010, the House of
Representatives passed legislation--the SECTORS Act (HR 1855)--that
would have established designated capacity and funding to support
sector partnerships under WIA;\13\ Congress should incorporate the
language from this bill as part of a broader WIA reauthorization
effort.
Maintain and Improve the Public Workforce Infrastructure
The public workforce system coordinates a range of federally-funded
training programs and services that address the distinct and specific
needs of different worker populations and industries. The state-
administered Employment Service\14\ provides critical job search,
labor-market information, and other core services, while locally-
administered WIA Title I programs provide assessment, training and
supportive services, and employment services to both jobseekers and
employers. Prior reauthorization efforts have been stalled, in part, by
attempts to merge WIA and the Employment Service, or to eliminate the
Employment Service altogether. The resulting confusion, rather than
achieving new efficiencies, would likely lead to further friction in
the distribution of training funds, unemployment insurance, or sound
labor market information to workers in need. Congress should reject any
such efforts in the future and focus its efforts on increasing
effective coordination between the two systems while also ensuring
adequate funding for each program.
Title II--Adult Education and Family Literacy Act
Increase Investments in Adult Basic Education
Adult education programs are severely underfunded and are simply
unable to provide the services and supports low-skilled individuals
need. The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) state grants
have declined by more than 17 percent in inflation-adjusted terms
between FY 2002-2009. Fewer than 3 million low-skilled individuals are
served by federally-funded adult basic education programs each year,
and those who do manage to get served see an average investment of just
$645 per student annually.\17\ Congress should significantly increase
funding for state adult basic education formula grants; maintain
current state maintenance of effort (MOE) requirements; and consider
additional funding for competitive grants to states and localities to
support innovative service delivery strategies and systems alignment.
Focus on Career and Postsecondary Success
Under current law, federal adult education funds can be used to
support a wide range of activities, such as family literacy programs,
that are not directly related to enhancing participants' employment or
educational prospects. Congress should set increasing career and
postsecondary success for low-skilled individuals as the primary
purpose of AEFLA, and limited federal resources should be devoted
exclusively to helping those individuals who are pursuing adult
education and literacy services as a means to succeed in the workplace
or in postsecondary education and job training. State, local, or other
funding sources should continue to be available to meet other literacy
and adult education needs. Congress should modify the current
performance accountability system to require that workforce outcomes be
reported for all Title II participants, which would reduce current
incentives for Title II providers to avoid discussing employment goals
with participants at intake to reduce post-completion data collection.
Congress should include measures of postsecondary success beyond
enrollment--including attainment of industry-recognized credentials or
completion of college-level coursework--to ensure that adult education
programs are adequately preparing individuals to succeed in
postsecondary training and education programs.
Prepare More Workers for the 21st-Century Economy
Between Program Year (PY) 2004--2007, the percentage of adults who
exited WIA Title I who were also co-enrolled in adult basic education
programs declined from about 0.7 percent to 0.2 percent.\18\ This
suggests that many individuals seeking adult education services to
enhance their career prospects are not taking advantage of the range of
employment and supportive services--including child care and
transportation assistance--that are available under Title I, and are
enrolling in programs that may not be adequately aligned with entrance
requirements for occupational training and postsecondary educational
programs. Congress should explicitly permit activities offered under
Title II to be provided before, or in combination with, work or
postsecondary education and training activities. In particular,
Congress should consider removing current restrictions on the use of
Title II dollars to support occupational training if offered as part of
an integrated education and training program or similar service
delivery model. Congress should address ``creaming'' issues related to
conflicting performance requirements by allowing programs offering
services to dual-enrolled individuals to track a single set of
performance outcomes for such participants, and should require states
and local areas to set and meet annual co-enrollment goals between
Title I and Title II.
Congress should also consider providing grants to states to support
program alignment efforts across state and local agencies, and
authorizing state and local grants to support the development of
innovative service delivery strategies leading to industry-recognized
credentials along well-defined career pathways within key industries.
Congress should consider separate performance measures for these
programs, rather than holding them accountable for the current adult
education performance measures, and conduct an evaluation of the impact
of integrated programs on the rate at which students attain career and
postsecondary success.
WIA reauthorization is long overdue; it is an important tool to
help address the economic challenges that surround us. Our nation is
tethered to the global economy, which we have embraced, but not
adequately understood or addressed in terms of its impact on America's
working families. We must recognize that globalization impacts us all
and impacts a large number of Americans in very negative ways. The time
is long overdue to recognize this reality and move toward a system of
Globalization Adjustment Assistance for All. It is the right thing to
do with a piece of our tax dollars.
ENDNOTES
\1\ http://www9.georgetown.edu/grad/gppi/hpi/cew/pdfs/
FullReport.pdf.
\2\ http://www.bls.gov/news.release/ecopro.t07.htm.
\3\ http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/assets/reports-/
americasforgottenmiddleskilljobs--2007-11.pdf.
\4\ http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea5.pdf.
\5\ http://www.bls.gov/web/empsit/cpseea13.pdf.
\6\ http://www.doleta.gov/tradeact/docs/AnnualReport10.pdf.
\7\ http://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText--Documents/Workers--
in--Declining--Industries--Literacys--Role--in--Worker--
Transitions.pdf.
\8\ http://www.bls.gov/news.release/pdf/empsit.pdf.
\9\ http://www.doleta.gov/performance/results/pdf/PY2007--WIASRD--
Data--Book.pdf (see p. 92 for Adult retention rates, p. 176 for DW
retention rates)
\10\ For more information about the Finger Lakes Advanced
Manufacturer's Enterprise, visit http://www.nyfame.org/about.asp.
\11\ See, for example, the Joyce Foundation's Shifting Gears
Initiative, which was launched in six Midwestern states in 2006. http:/
/www.shifting-gears.org/.
\12\ http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/325--
publication.pdf.
\13\ HR 1855; see http://www.nationalskillscoalition.org/federal-
policies/sector-partnerships/ for additional information about the
SECTORS Act and sector partnerships.
\14\ Authorized under the Wagner-Peyser Act (WIA Title III).
\15\ Calculations by National Skills Coalition based on Department
of Education data.
\16\ http://www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/
ReachHigherAmerica/ReachHigher.pdf, pg. v.
\17\ http://www.nationalcommissiononadultliteracy.org/content/
strawnbriefrev101807.pdf.pdf, pg. ii.
\18\ http://www.doleta.gov/performance/results/pdf/PY--2008--
WIASRD--Data--Book--FINAL--1192010.pdf.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much. I want to compliment
the first three of you for doing so well on the time. Thank you
so much for doing that.
Now I would like to recognize Mr. Fall for 5 minutes.
STATEMENT OF JAIME S. FALL, VICE PRESIDENT, WORKFORCE AND
TALENT DEVELOPMENT POLICY, HR POLICY ASSOCIATION
Mr. Fall. Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Hinojosa, and
honorable members of the subcommittee, on behalf of the HR
Policy Association I want to thank you for the opportunity to
appear before you today. Unfortunately, neither the chair of
our workforce development committee, Eva Sage-Gavin of Gap, nor
chair of our public policy committee, Sue Suver of the U.S.
Steel Corporation, could be present today.
I am pleased to appear in their place, and we appreciate
the opportunity to discuss the views of chief human resource
officers regarding the role of business in WIA programs. HR
Policy Association is the lead organization of chief human
resource officers of more than 330 of the largest corporations
doing business in the U.S. and globally.
These are people who make the hiring decisions for
companies that employ more than 10 million workers in the
United States, nearly 9 percent of the private sector
workforce. I have worked in the workforce development arena
since 1995, spending nearly 10 years here in Washington at the
National Association of State Workforce Agencies and the U.S.
Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.
Most recently, I served as deputy secretary of the
Employment and Workforce Development for Governor Arnold
Schwarzenegger in California, where I had responsibility for
workforce programs. As chronicled in the Association's
Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st Century, HR Policy Association
members believe the workforce system must be closely aligned
with the nation's business community to ensure that training
that is purchased with federal funds results in job
opportunities for workers in a highly-skilled workforce for
employers.
Therefore, we make the following recommendations. The
federally-funded workforce system must be employer-driven. The
nation's workforce system can only be successful in building
the skills of job seekers and helping them secure employment if
it is closely linked with employers. State and local boards
must continue to be led by business majorities and chaired by
business leaders.
In turn, those business leaders need to drive State and
local boards to make the current and future skill needs of
their region's business community the central focus of all the
training decisions and investments made with these scarce
resources. Industry-recognized credentials should be the focus
of training funded through WIA. The value of training is
measured in the quality of job opportunity it enables
participants to receive.
The best way to ensure training results in quality job
opportunities is to invest in training that leads to industry-
recognized credential which certifies that job seekers have the
skills in demand by employers and have mastered proficiency in
those skills. The workforce investment system needs to be
evaluated on how it meets the needs of employers.
The effectiveness of the workforce system is currently
measured on how it serves job seekers. However, a close,
effective working partnership with employers is the foundation
upon which these results depend. Therefore, as proposed in the
Senate draft bill, a new performance measure should be
developed to measure the effectiveness of the workforce system
and its services to businesses.
Access to services provided through the workforce system
must be made easier for employers with facilities in multiple
locations. The magnitude and complexity of forming partnerships
with multiple local areas in one-stop centers discourages many,
if not most, large national employers from participating in the
workforce development system.
More needs to be done to ensure that large national
employers have easier access to services so job seekers can
more easily be placed into available positions. Employers and
local boards need more flexibility to negotiate training
agreements. Although the workforce investment system was
created to be a locally-designed and flexible system, barriers
have developed over the life of the program that limit the
flexibility employers and local boards have to negotiate
training agreements that meet the needs of the local area.
These agreements, generally aimed at preventing layoffs or
upgrading the skills of existing workers, could help maximize
highly effective and proven services to employers, such as
incumbent worker training and on-the-job training. More
flexibility should be given to employers and local boards to
form the partnerships that are most beneficial to the regional
economy.
HR Policy Association encourages you to use this process to
strengthen the connection between employers and the workforce
system. Employers must be in a perpetual cycle of innovation to
find better ways to do everything. If our job training system
is to be successful it must do the same, with employers leading
the way.
In closing, although it is not directly related to our
discussion here today, our members believe that career and
technical education programs funded through the Perkins Act are
a critical component of the overall national strategy to
develop a skilled workforce. We encourage you to strongly
support these programs as you discuss WIA, No Child Left
Behind, and the Perkins Act.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today. I
will be happy to take any questions. Thank you.
[The statement of Mr. Fall follows:]
Prepared Statement of Jaime S. Fall, Vice President,
Workforce and Talent Development Policy, HR Policy Association
Chairwoman Foxx, Ranking Member Hinojosa and honorable members of
the subcommittee: On behalf of the members of the HR Policy
Association, I want to thank you for the opportunity to appear before
you today. Unfortunately, neither the Chair of our Workforce
Development Committee, Eva Sage-Gavin, Executive Vice President, of
Human Resources and Corporate Affairs for Gap, Inc. nor the Chair of
our Public Policy Committee Sue Suver, Vice President, Human Resources,
of the U.S. Steel Corporation could be with you here today due to
longstanding prior commitments. I am very pleased to appear in their
place and we appreciate the opportunity to be here to discuss the views
of chief human resource officers regarding the role of business in
federally funded Workforce Investment Act programs.
HR Policy Association is the lead organization representing chief
human resource officers of major employers. The Association consists of
more than 330 of the largest corporations doing business in the United
States and globally, and these employers are represented in the
organization by their most senior human resource executive.
Collectively, their companies employ more than ten million employees in
the United States, nearly nine percent of the private sector workforce,
and 20 million employees worldwide. They have a combined market
capitalization of more than $7.5 trillion. These senior corporate
officers participate in the Association because of their commitment to
improving the direction of human resource policy. Their objective is to
use the combined power of the membership to act as a positive influence
to better public policy, the HR marketplace, and the human resource
profession.
By way of personal background, I started working in the workforce
development system back in 1995. I've held positions in both large and
small states. I've also spent about 10 years here in Washington working
at the National Association of State Workforce Agencies and the
U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration.
Most recently, I served as Deputy Secretary of Employment and Workforce
Development for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger where I had
responsibility for workforce programs including our State Workforce
Investment Board.
As chronicled in the Association's Blueprint for Jobs in the 21st
Century: A Vision for a Competitive Human Resource Policy for the
American Workforce, HR Policy Association members believe America is
experiencing fundamental long-term structural economic changes that
require long-term policy changes to restore the nation's
competitiveness. The 21st century has brought with it new global
economic forces that are transforming the way work is done, where it is
done, by whom it is done, and the skills needed to get it done.
Caught in the middle of this transformation is the American worker,
who is discovering that the skills and infrastructure that enabled
success in the 20th century have fundamentally changed. Technology is
being deployed at increasingly rapid rates, resulting in high
productivity and less expensive products and services, but also lower
employment levels. New products and services are born and then become
obsolete in a matter of months, and the skills needed to produce,
market, service, and sell them are in constant evolution. Americans are
not being educated in sufficient numbers to meet the demands of today's
highly technical work processes and products. Most importantly, there
is not enough coordination between all the various institutions
involved in generating economic opportunity--employers, educators,
government, and employees--to take the steps necessary to restore
America's competitiveness and provide employment security for today's
workers.
The members of HR Policy Association are the chief human resource
officers responsible for employing more than ten million Americans.
Most of their companies operate globally, and they have firsthand
knowledge of government polices and economic systems that work as well
as those that fail to provide employment security and job growth for
their citizens. These are their unique perspectives on the role of
employers in a newly redesigned workforce investment system to make the
system stronger and more effective for employers and jobseekers alike.
The Federally Funded Workforce Development/Job Training System Must Be
Employer-Driven
Background
The authors of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 crafted the
legislation so that businesses would have a great deal of influence in
how the programs funded under the law are carried out.\1\ The current
law requires that state and local workforce investment boards that
oversee the activities of the federally funded system be led by
business majorities. The strong role of business was built into the law
to ensure a close link between those who create jobs and hire workers
and the job training programs funded to prepare workers with the skills
they need for the jobs of today and the future.
Status
While some state and local workforce boards have flourished under
strong business leadership, this has not been the case everywhere.
Business leadership on some state and local boards has deteriorated to
the point where the boards struggle to maintain the required business
majority. Many ineffective state and local boards deteriorated through
a cycle that saw the board dealing with administrative matters instead
of key policy making decisions which resulted in the business
representation being relegated to progressively less and less
influential leaders in the business community. This, in turn, led to a
further decline in the influence the business leaders had over the
activities of the system. Though some might argue which factor
contributed first or most to the cycle of decline, few would argue that
strong and engaged business leadership has been one of the most
critical elements present in effective state and local boards.
One of the most effective efforts used by boards to connect the
skill needs of employers to the workforce system is ``sector
strategies.'' \2\ These partnerships bring together employers,
education and training providers, community based organizations, and
other key partners around a specific regional industry. Their goal is
to develop strategies to meet the workforce needs of employers by
aligning programs to meet those needs. Over the last decade, industry
sector initiatives have developed in most of the major industries and
in nearly every state.\3\
However, in spite of the success of these initiatives developed by
the business led state and local boards, under the discussion draft of
the Workforce Investment Act reauthorization legislation released by
the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee the employer
majority led state boards would be replaced by boards consisting of
one-third business, one-third employee representatives and one-third
government program providers.
HR Policy Association members believe it is critical to further
strengthen the links between employers and job training programs and
the proposal to weaken the role of business on state boards would be a
grievous strategic error. This diminishment of the role of private
sector employers in the programs would not only weaken their
effectiveness but would be a tremendous disservice to those who rely on
these programs to obtain the skills employers need to be competitive.
If anything, the WIA Reauthorization process should strengthen the
connection between employers and the workforce system. Employers are
under even more intense competitive pressure than they were when WIA
was passed in 1998. Employers have to be in a perpetual cycle of
innovation to find better ways to do everything. If our job training
system is to be successful, it has to be receiving real-time
information from employers on the skills they need and adjusting
training programs to meet those requirements.
Position
The federally funded workforce investment system must be employer
driven. The nation's workforce investment system can only be successful
in building the skills of jobseekers and helping them secure employment
if it is closely linked with employers. State and local workforce
investment boards must continue to be led by business majorities and be
chaired by business leaders. For those boards to achieve their
objectives, they will need to be driven by business leaders in order to
make the current and future workforce/skill needs of their regions'
business community the central focus of all the training decisions and
investments made with these scarce resources. This will also receive
greater engagement by employers in curriculum development, identifying
needed credentials and implementing sector partnerships.
Industry Recognized Credentials Should Be the Focus of Training Funded
Through the Workforce Investment Act
Background
Congress designed the federally funded workforce investment system
to provide employment and training opportunities for Americans to
``meet the challenge of the changing workplace by enabling men and
women to acquire the skills required to enter the workforce and to
upgrade their skills throughout their careers.'' \4\ It was meant not
just to help workers keep up, but to get ahead. However, as
unemployment rose and hiring slowed during the recent recession, it
became more challenging for the system to place unemployed jobseekers
in jobs.
There are approximately 5 unemployed Americans for every available
job opening compared to less than 2 for every job opening in 2007.\5\
Moreover, there is a significant mismatch between what skills the
unemployed have and where the job openings are. For example, in 2010,
there were almost 25 unemployed construction workers for every job
opening in the construction industry, 9 unemployed manufacturing
workers for every job opening in manufacturing, and almost 7 unemployed
transportation and utility workers for every job opening in those
industries.\6\ On the other hand, in May 2011, professional and
business services and the health care industry had the most job
openings and relatively few unemployed workers with those skills
looking for jobs.\7\
The success of the workforce investment system rests on its ability
to complete the very difficult challenge of assessing the skills of
jobseekers, helping them quickly develop the skills that employers need
and are currently looking for in the workplace, and then assisting the
newly skilled jobseeker to secure employment.
Status
One proven and effective way to ensure the skills developed through
job training programs meet the needs of employers is to fund more
training resulting in employer recognized credentials that document
skills. However, as the economy worsened, the ranks of the unemployed
ballooned and demand for services skyrocketed, the training funded by
the workforce investment system resulted in fewer credentials being
received. In program year 2005, more than 75 percent of those who
received training obtained a credential. But by program year 2008, that
number had dropped to just over 66-percent.
The U.S. Department of Labor has recognized the value in and the
need for more credentialing and has made it an agency goal that by June
2012, there will be an increase of 10 percent (to 220,000) in the
number of people who receive training and attain a degree or
certificate through programs funded through the Workforce Investment
Act.\8\
Some in Congress realize the importance of industry recognized
credentials. Senator Kay Hagan, (D-NC) has introduced the American
Manufacturing Efficiency and Retraining Investment Collaboration
Achievement Works Act or AMERICA Works Act (S 1243) to amend the
Workforce Investment Act of 1998 to require state and local workforce
boards to give priority consideration to programs that lead to an
industry-recognized and nationally portable credential.\9\ The bill
also requires the Secretary of Labor to create a registry of skill
credentials and to list in the registry credentials that are required
by federal or state law for an occupation and all industry-recognized
and nationally portable credentials.
The President is also promoting industry recognized credentials and
has gone so far as to announce a partnership with the Manufacturing
Institute to credential 500,000 manufacturing workers by 2016.\10\
While not all industries are as advanced in identifying industry
skills, developing curriculum to build those skills and creating the
credentials that signify the skills have been obtained, business led
state and local workforce boards are positioned to bring together the
workforce training and education partners to complete the process
required to develop these industry recognized credentials.
Position
Industry recognized credentials should be the focus of training
funded through the Workforce Investment Act. The value of training is
measured in the quality of job opportunity participants receive. The
best way to ensure training results in quality job opportunities is to
invest in training that leads to industry recognized credentials which
certify that jobseekers have the skills in demand by employers and have
mastered proficiency in those skills.
Access to the Services Provided through the Workforce Investment System
Must be Made Easier for Employers with Facilities in Multiple
Locations
Background
While the workforce investment system is funded by the federal
government, nearly all of the services are provided at the state and
local levels. Practically speaking, one of the predominant activities
of the workforce system is to help match skilled local jobseekers with
jobs in local businesses. For jobseekers, the system is easily
accessible regardless of whether they are seeking work across the
street or across the nation. In any case, all a jobseeker has to do is
go online and search for jobs or register for services at one of the
3,000 local career centers located near their home or near where they
want to work.\11\
Conversely, that same national network of 3,000 one stop career
centers operated by more than 500 local workforce investment boards
located across the 50 states presents a tremendous challenge for large
national employers with facilities in multiple locations throughout the
nation. Although, most hiring still happens at the local level, the
sheer complexity of having to form relationships with such a vast,
disconnected array of separate organizations causes the time and effort
required to outweigh the benefit that can be gained by most large
national employers.
Status
The U.S. Department of Labor has recognized the challenges of
navigating the vast national network of one stop career centers and
tried to take steps to ease the process. Under President Bill Clinton,
the Department created America's Service Locator
(www.servicelocator.org or 877US2-JOBS) to help jobseekers and
businesses locate the one stop career center nearest them. Under
President George W. Bush, the Department created a Business Relations
Group (BRG) within the Employment and Training Administration to serve,
in part, employers by creating partnerships between the workforce
system and business. The mission of the BRG was to find innovative
approaches to help large national employers better access the services
of the state and local workforce investment system and to educate the
public and the workforce system about the jobs in demand with career
paths. Although the BRG served an important role, the small staff
(approximately 20) was limited in the number of employers they could
assist.
Under the Obama Administration, the Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) has continued the effort to find meaningful and
effective ways to engage employers with the workforce development
system. In October 2010, President Obama announced the launch of a new
initiative called Skills for America's Future alongside five HR Policy
Association member companies (Gap, PG&E, United Technologies
Corporation, Accenture and McDonalds).\12\ The initiative is an effort
to improve industry partnerships with community colleges to ensure that
America's community college students are gaining the skills and
knowledge they need to be successful in the workforce.
The complex structure of workforce system has caused many large
national employers with good jobs to choose not to participate in the
programs. In a 2010 survey of the Association membership, 54 percent of
companies reported not taking advantage of government training
programs, 43 percent use them only modestly, while only three percent
make strong use of them. Only nine percent of Association members
reported being satisfied with the government programs that they use.
More than 60 percent believe that federal, state, and local
policymakers need to spend far more time ensuring that their training
resources fit contemporary workforce needs. Two-thirds believe that
there is too much red tape and bureaucracy in these programs, and 65
percent believe employers should be given a far greater voice in the
design of them.
Position
Access to the services provided through the workforce investment
system must be made easier for employers with facilities in multiple
locations. Employers with locations in multiple workforce investment
areas are forced to complete multiple processes with multiple local
boards in order to participate in the services offered. This problem is
greatly amplified for employers who are located in multiple locations
throughout the nation. The magnitude and complexity of forming
partnerships with multiple workforce investment areas and one-stop
career centers dissuades many large national employers from
participation in the workforce development system. More needs to be
done during the reauthorization process to ensure employers with
facilities in multiple locations are able to access all of the services
available so jobseekers can more easily be placed into available
positions.
The Workforce Investment System Needs to be Evaluated on How It Meets
the Needs of Employers
Background
When Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, its
authors were intent on making sure the results of the system they were
creating were carefully measured. They believed that by closely
measuring the performance of the programs, the providers not meeting
their measures could be sanctioned, and if necessary, defunded.\13\ In
order to achieve this goal of thoroughly measuring the success of the
system, program providers were required to report the outcomes of 100
varying and incomparable performance measures.\14\ One of these
measures was ``customer satisfaction'' of employers as measured by
surveys of employers. However, by July 1, 2005, the Department of Labor
had worked to simplify these very cumbersome measures into common
measures that could help provide comparable data across various
education and training programs.
Status
As the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee works
to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act, HR Policy Association is
pleased to see the bipartisan draft legislation calls for the
Performance Accountability System to include the creation of at least
one yet to be identified measure to evaluate the effectiveness of the
programs in serving employers.
Specifically, the legislation gives the Secretaries of Labor and
Education one year from the passage of the new law to work with
representatives of ``States and political subdivisions, business and
industry, employers, eligible providers of activities carried out
through the core programs, educators, researchers, participants, the
lead state agency officials with responsibility for the programs
carried out through the core programs, individuals with expertise
serving individuals with barriers to employment and other interested
parties to develop the measure(s).''
The Association is pleased to see renewed interest in measuring the
effectiveness of how these programs serve employers. We hope this
Committee, as well as the Departments of Labor and Education will
consider us as a resource in this area. Our members would be more than
happy to be engaged in the discussion of identifying meaning measures
for employer services.
Position
The workforce investment system needs to be evaluated on how it
meets the needs of employers. The effectiveness of the workforce
investment system is currently measured on how it serves jobseekers.
However, a close, effective working partnership with employers is the
foundation upon which these results depend. Therefore, a new
performance measure needs to be developed to help measure the
effectiveness of the workforce system's services to businesses.
Employers and Local Boards Need More Flexibility to Negotiate Training
Agreements that Develop Skills That Are Connected to Real Jobs
Background
The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 was a bipartisan enactment
passed with broad support from both parties in each chamber.\15\ It
passed with the support of 343 members of the house and 91 members of
the Senate. One reason the bill had such broad bipartisan support in
both houses was because it was written to give each state and each
local workforce investment area within the states the ability to design
a workforce development system that would best meet the needs of that
region as long as it met certain federal guidelines and performance
measures.
However, some safeguards have developed around the law that limit
the flexibility of the local areas in certain cases. For example, while
the legislation allows for on-the-job training and customized training,
other legislative and regulatory guidelines generally limit flexibility
at the local level by capping the percentage of the cost that could be
paid using WIA funds depending on the program and the size of the
employer.
In addition, the law allows local areas to transfer funds between
the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs but only if the Governor
approves the transfer and only if the transfer does not exceed certain
limits.\16\
Status
As employers and local boards work together to create training
strategies to develop the skills of the workers in their region, they
are sometimes frustrated by unnecessary restrictions. This lack of
flexibility for employers and local boards to negotiate training
agreements that work best in their local area has caused a
proliferation of waiver requests to the Department of Labor. As of
March 31, 2011 all 50 states, the District of Columbia and five
territories have applied for and received waivers under certain
provisions of the WIA legislation.\17\ Some of the most common waiver
requests are to waive restrictions related to training agreements
negotiated between employers and their local boards. Some of the most
common waivers include:
Waiver of the requirement for a 50 percent employer
contribution for customized training, to permit a sliding scale
contribution for small- and medium-sized businesses (27 states)
Waiver to increase the employer reimbursement for on-the-
job training for small- and medium-sized businesses (32 states)
Waiver to permit the use of a portion of local area
formula allocation funds to provide incumbent worker training (30
states)
Waiver to permit a state to use a portion of rapid
response funds to conduct incumbent worker training (25 states)
Unfortunately, the waiver process is a poor substitute for the
flexible system the authors of the legislation envisioned.
Position
Employers and local boards need more flexibility to negotiate
training agreements that develop skills of the region's workforce that
are relevant to employers' needs. Although the workforce investment
system was created to be a locally designed and flexible system,
barriers have developed over the life of the programs that limit the
flexibility employers and local workforce investment boards have to
negotiate training agreements that meet the needs of the local area.
These agreements, generally aimed at preventing layoffs or upgrading
the skills of existing workers, could help maximize highly effective
and proven services to employers such as incumbent worker training and
on-the-job training. Federal restrictions to these proven practices and
others like them need to be removed and more flexibility given to
employers and local workforce investment boards to form the
partnerships that are most beneficial to the regional economy.
A Cross-Industry National Workforce Investment Board Made Up Solely of
Employers Should Be Created
Background
The authors of the Workforce Investment Act made it a priority to
establish a ``strong and active role'' for business at both the state
and local levels.\18\ It was their intent that business-led state and
local boards would lead the efforts to design and implement the new
training system established by the law. They believed a close link with
employers was the best way to make sure the training provided to
jobseekers is for the high-skill, high-wage jobs of the future in
demand occupations.
Under the law, business led State Workforce Investment Boards are
responsible for advising the Governor on the creation, implementation
and continuous improvement of the state's workforce development system.
They create policy recommendations designed to make the system
efficient, lead the strategic planning process and set priorities for
the state's workforce investment strategic plan.
Approximately 15,000 business leaders volunteer their time to serve
on local workforce boards across the nation.\19\ It is the role of
those business leaders on the Local Workforce Investment Boards to work
with local Chief Elected Officials to oversee the delivery of workforce
services to their local residents and businesses through their network
of local one-stop career centers. These centers, through partnerships
with other local, state and federal agencies and education and economic
development organizations, provide access to jobs, skill development
and business services vital to the economic health of their
communities.
Status
Each year the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training
Administration (ETA) receives slightly less than $4 billion to fund
employment and training related programs.\20\ While the vast majority
of these funds are distributed directly by formula to states and then
to local workforce investment boards, there is still a tremendous
amount of funding awarded through national discretionary grant programs
administered by the Department.
For example, under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act
alone, ETA awarded approximately $742 million in competitive high-
growth job training grants in health care and green jobs.\21\ In FY
2011, ETA requested nearly $350 million to fund a national innovation
fund discretionary grant program and a Green Jobs Innovation Fund.\22\
In addition to these important annual discretionary funding
decisions, the Department is also continuously making policy decisions
that greatly affect the state and local workforce development system
and the services jobseekers and businesses receive. These policies
influence what services are and are not provided, how they are
provided, how they are funded and many of the fundamental practices
within the system, yet they are made with little or no up-front input
from those who create and fill jobs.
Position
A cross-industry national workforce investment board made up solely
of employers should be created. There are employer led local workforce
investment boards to guide investments and service delivery strategies
at the local level, and state workforce investment boards to guide
investments and service delivery strategies at the state level, but
there is no such similar business voice at the federal level to help
advise the secretary of labor on state and local service delivery
policy and strategies and investments at the federal level. The HR
Policy Association believes this is a critically important voice that
is missing from the WIA system.
Conclusion
We recognize there are many important administrative facets of the
law unmentioned in this discussion that do not directly relate to the
role of business. We will continue to monitor the debate to reauthorize
WIA as it moves forward and will weigh in on these issues when the
business perspective is important. Our objective in providing these
recommendations is to help articulate, from our unique perspective, the
role business can and should play in the general oversight and
direction of the nation's publically funded workforce investment
system.
Thank you for this opportunity to share with you our views of the
role of business in federally funded Workforce Investment Act programs.
I'll be happy to take any questions you might have.
ENDNOTES
\1\ Workforce Investment Act of 1998--Conference Report, Senate--
July 30, 1998, Page S9489, http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/
F?r105:25:./temp/?r105We9kFl:e0.
\2\ Sheila Maguire, Joshua Freely, Carol Clymer, Maureen Conway,
and Deena Schwartz, Tuning Into Local Labor Markets: Findings from The
Sectoral Employment Impact Study, Public/Private Ventures (2010),
http://www.ppv.org/ppv/publications/assets/325--publication.pdf.
\3\ Summary of State Sector Activity, Corporation for a Skilled
Workforce, (October 2010), available at: http://
www.sectorstrategies.org/library/2010/snapshot-state-sector-activity.
\4\ Workforce Investment Act of 1998--Conference Report, Senate--
July 30, 1998, Page 9490.
\5\ Bureau of Labor Statistics, Job Openings and Labor Turnover,
May 2011, and The Employment Situation, May 2011, available at
www.bls.gov.
\6\ Id.
\7\ Id.
\8\ U.S. Department of Labor Training and Employment Guidance
Letter Number 15-10, December 15, 2010, Available at: http://
wdr.doleta.gov/directives/corr--doc.cfm?DOCN=2967.
\9\ America Works Act, Senator Kay Hagan.
\10\ Remarks by the President at a Skills for America's Future
Manufacturing Event, June 8, 2011, Available at: http://
www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2011/06/08/remarks-president-
skills-americas-future manufacturing-event.
\11\ The Public Workforce System, U.S. Department of Labor,
available at: http://www.doleta.gov/business/pws.cfm.
\12\ President Obama to Announce Launch of Skills for America's
Future, October 4, 2010, Available at: http://www.whitehouse.gov/the-
press-office/2010/10/04/president-obama-announce-launch-skillsamerica-
s-future.
\13\ Workforce Investment Act of 1998--Conference Report, Senate,
July 30, 1998, Congressional Record, Page S9490.
\14\ National Governor's Association Testimony to Congress, July
26, 2007, available at: http://www.nga.org/cms/home/federal-relations/
nga-testimony/page--2007/col2-content/main-contentlist/july-26-2007-
testimony---competi.html.
\15\ Bill Summary & Status, 105th Congress (1997--1998), H.R.1385,
Major Congressional Actions, the Library of Congress.
\16\ The Workforce Investment Act of 1998, page 55, available at:
http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/PLAW105publ220/pdf/PLAW-105publ220.pdf.
\17\ Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Waiver Summary Report, Program
Year 2010 (July 1, 2010-June 30, 2011), Available at: http://
www.doleta.gov/waivers/pdf/WIA-summary-waiver-report-03-3111.pdf.
\18\ Congressional Record 105th Congress, Conference Report on H.R.
1385, Workforce Investment Act of 1998, House of Representatives, July
31, 1998.
\19\ National Association of Workforce Boards, available at: http:/
/www.nawb.org/i/About/History/c/About/History.aspx?hkey=bf134769-15ec-
457d-b4f62396d9b27a5a.
\20\ FY 2011 U.S. Department of Labor Budget in Brief, Page 8
available at: http://www.doleta.gov/budget/docs/11ETA--BIB.pdf.
\21\ American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, Excerpts
Pertaining to the Employment and Training Administration, HR- 1, Page
59, available at: http://www.doleta.gov/budget/docs/09Rapptxt.pdf.
\22\ FY 2011 U.S. Department of Labor Budget in Brief, Page 8
available at: http://www.doleta.gov/budget/docs/11ETA--BIB.pdf.
______
Chairwoman Foxx. No, thank you, Mr. Fall, very much. Again,
I want to thank the panelists who are here today for your very
succinct comments. And now, each one of us will have the
opportunity to use 5 minutes to ask you some questions. And I
will start with Ms. Cox, if I might.
What do you think should be the overall mission for this
system as we look for reauthorization? And there are a couple
of different parts to this. And some of you have said, I think,
should it focus on workers, unemployed workers underemployed
workers, low-income workers, or serve all workers?
Ms. Cox. That is a great question. We have talked a lot
about that internally, as well. In my mind, the workforce
investment system, not just WIA but the system, should be about
helping businesses become competitive and getting them
connected with good workers that are qualified.
And I am strongly in favor of a business-driven system
because businesses are the ones that create the jobs. And then
we need to make sure our workers can get the skills so they can
actually get the jobs. But we deal with folks on unemployment
insurance and dislocated workers and adults. I think there are
about three categories of folks you serve.
You serve folks that are low-income, or maybe struggle, or
just detached from the mainstream system and have a hard time
and need more intensive help getting back to work. That is
certainly a population. You have folks that have trained. They
have lost their job, maybe, in construction, which we have seen
a lot in Utah.
They know how to work the system, but they just need some
new skills. And then you have folks that are very light-touch
that know how to work the system. They know how to network.
They just need leads. They need to know how to maybe use the
new online tools. So there are different categories.
What is challenging for me in the workforce investment
system is that we so often leave out unemployment insurance
customers. Even the present jobs bill focuses on unemployment
UI customers as if they are separate and apart from the
workforce system. I know Texas and Utah, we have been
aggressive in trying to work with getting the administration
and our policy to say that UI customers make up thousands of
individuals that need to be integrated and pulled into the
Workforce Investment Act system.
We do not need stand-alone systems. We need an integrated
model so that we can serve these different populations. But at
the end of the day we have to be competitive. We know we are
coming up against people in China or India. We all know about
the global economy. And we have got to let businesses tell us
what they need so we can respond quickly and get people back to
work.
And I think the system can do it if people get out of our
way.
Chairwoman Foxx [continuing]. Than other local workforce
investment boards have across the country.
Ms. Larrea. We have had great success, as I mentioned, with
working with Chambers of Commerce. And we have such amazing
Chambers through the Dallas regional and Arlington and Fort
Worth Chambers. Making access to employers is very critical.
But it is only good if we can deliver on that promise.
Getting the introduction is one thing. Then producing
results is very critical. So our regional workforce leadership
has been amazing. We have had businesspeople come together who
are not part of an organization, not part of any workforce
board. It goes beyond the borders.
A gentleman said earlier, employers do not look at regional
boundaries. They do not look at State confines, city confines.
You have to be able to work with them wherever they reside. So
you have the Lockheeds, you have the TIs, we have massive
organizations that need us to respond. And what we have done is
said, ``Okay, what do you need?'' ``What do you got?'' ``What
do you need?''
We go through this exercise with employers because they are
not sure what a public program can do for them. And that is
something that we have to be critical about. What can we do for
you that is meaningful? Getting input from on the front end is
the most important part, but also building the pipeline. That
is what they have told us. ``Build kids who have an interest in
my work because we need people to come into the jobs as jobs
become available. Make them prepared.''
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you all very much.
Mr. Hinojosa?
Mr. Hinojosa. Thank you. Ms. Larrea, I have heard a great
deal from policymakers and researchers about the value of these
programs and whether or not the federal government should
invest in training and employment services for America's
workers. And in your opening statement you said that we did not
have enough money, enough funds, to get the job done.
But here is what we know. According to the latest
performance information from the Department of Labor, over 9
million job seekers used these programs in the past year. That
is a 248 percent increase in participation rates compared to
two years ago. Despite the fact that there are four-and-a-half
job seekers nationally for every available job, over half of
WIA participants find a job.
From your experience running these programs, what impact
have they had on the workers and employers in your respected
communities in Texas?
Ms. Larrea. Yes, sir. Many of the facts and figures are so
pertinent to us. As you mentioned earlier, there is higher
poverty. That is true for the Dallas community. We have seen a
huge growth in poverty. So our system is breaking at the seams.
That is why we have gone to an online system to get people an
access point that does not mean walking into one of the stable
centers.
What we do see with employers is, they are afraid to open
new jobs. And will a tax credit do it? Probably not. They need
capital, and they need assurance that someone wants their goods
and services. That is the only way that we will see job
creation, and I do not know how to give them that assurance.
Job-sharing has been very critical in our community. We
have shut down a few places that said, ``Oh, I have got to lay
off a thousand people.'' And we said, ``Please do not, please
do not. Broker this. See that they each work 20 hours a week.''
That is asking a lot of families, but they would rather do that
than be on an unemployment check.
Mr. Hinojosa. Obviously, you believe WIA funding is
valuable. So what would happen if WIA funding is drastically
reduced or eliminated with the talk that is going on on how to
reach the $4 trillion worth of cuts?
Ms. Larrea. I am committed to workforce. It is 33 years of
my career. And seeing many laws come and go, and seeing many
funding patterns. I believe if the programs were not available,
if money were not available to help people, I think the
desperation in our communities would heighten. I see people
every day coming to us for answers and counseling.
``Just talk me through it. Just keep me from going over the
edge.''
Mr. Hinojosa. I agree with you. I agree with you, and time
is short. So I want to ask the next question of Mr. Bruce
Herman. The Latino jobless rate is higher than the national
average of unemployment. Despite the vast majority of workers
still hurting from the recession, including Hispanic families
in my region, earlier this year the majority proposed effective
elimination of these programs at HRI.
What would occur if they were eliminated?
Mr. Herman. Well, you are right to point out that the
Latino community and other communities of color have been even
more dramatically impacted by the recession. We see that, of
course, in New York State, particularly, you know, in New York
City. If you look at the Bronx, the large Latino community has
more than double the official State rate of unemployment.
So the lack of resources to address these challenges will
be devastating. There is one program that I would cite that New
York State had put forward that I think is relevant to address
the needs of this population. It is our 599 program, where the
State dedicates $20 million in New York State taxpayer money to
address the skills gap for low-income, low-skilled workers.
Originally, this program was designed to forego job school
for UI recipients that would not readily find employment. We
tweaked that, and we identified that we have a lot of low-skill
workers that need communication skills, ESL, other basic
locational skills to find better employment.
And it is not a matter of if you were, for example, a bus
person or a dishwasher in a restaurant and you lose the job. Of
course, those jobs are rather readily available but they are
not family-sustaining. We need opportunities and support to
help people get the skills and raise their incomes and find
access to better jobs.
Mr. Hinojosa. I understand. What would be the impact on
workers and our businesses in your community in the absence of
any federal investment in these job services you are
describing?
Mr. Herman. I think it would be devastating, and more
individuals would find themselves falling below the poverty
line. And we would be dealing with large, even larger, numbers
of individual Americans in poverty and it would have a
devastating impact on our communities.
Mr. Hinojosa. Thank you all for answering our questions.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Hinojosa.
Mrs. Biggert?
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you, Madam Chairman, and thank you for
holding this hearing. Ms. Cox, in your testimony you recommend
that we allow 1 year to obligate funds and 2 years to spend
funds and to resolve lingering issues around the obligation and
expenditures.
Can you explain what specific problems are caused by the
current system, and how do you suggest to improve it?
Ms. Cox. It seems that Congress struggles with this idea of
carry-in for 3 years. And also what happens in the system,
somebody comes in to our system they need training. And
training often goes beyond just 1 year. So we obligate those
funds for 2 to 3 years.
But it makes those funds very vulnerable for recission. So
Congress will look at it, and say, ``Oh, you have expended this
much, but you have encumbered $2 million. We are going to cut
that because it has not been actually expended.'' So it becomes
very difficult to create sustainable training programs for
individuals, and we are constantly in flux trying. Do we hold
back the money in case we do not get some next year, do we
spend it?
What we suggest, that may create a little more
transparency, is that we have a year to obligate and then 2
years for expenditure. So that that 3-year period may not be as
difficult for Congress to manage. And that we have 2 years to
spend those funds may create a little transparency, and make
the system a little more sustainable and predictable.
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you.
And then Ms. Larrea?
Ms. Larrea. Larrea.
Mrs. Biggert. Larrea? Thank you. You talked about the
online learning and the learning lab. And then you spoke about
you want make sure that the job seekers are work-ready and
learn new knowledge. When you do an online training, how do you
make sure? How do you focus on what skills, then, that they
should learn?
And if you really want to get into, you know, the 21st
century and the skills, how do you decide what skills would be
offered to individuals?
Ms. Larrea. That is a very good question. I think most of
the work we are not concentrating on is proper assessment of
the customer and proper acknowledgment of what the employer's
really requesting of us. And often times, those two do not
intersect, leading to a lot of people trained and frustrated
who cannot find work.
Proper assessment tools are hard to come by, and they are
expensive, and we have been looking to minimize those costs.
Also another thing is people like to be guided. They really
come in and say, ``Oh, I want to do this'' because they know
someone who has done that job. But, in fact, if we cannot find
them the work, and we can not find the money to support their
size of family, we strongly discourage people from picking the
wrong choice, making the wrong choice.
Communities need information on jobs. Employers need to
share that information. ``What do you really need my son to
study, what do you need my daughter to study, to get a
meaningful career in our community?'' And without the workforce
boards, that convening would not occur where there is enough
community information going on. So assessment of the customer
in detail, and all ascribing to good assessment tools.
Honest counseling has to go on, and good information about
what the training is producing. I think that is critical.
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you.
And then Mr. Fall, from an employer's perspective, what can
be done to ensure the workforce training programs prepare not
only for the current labor demands, but also the 21st century,
the global economy?
Mr. Fall. Sure. Thank you. We believe the key really is
focusing training funds on industry-recognized credentials that
allows employers to really define the skill needs that they are
looking for. And to lay out what curriculum is needed in order
to develop those skills allows those programs to be provided
through local training providers.
And then at the end, the job seeker has a credential that
they can take to an employer and show that they have mastery of
a skill.
Mrs. Biggert. Do those employers go to WIA, or does WIA go
to the employers? I mean, is there a dialogue that is happening
right now? I mean, it sounds like a huge undertaking.
Mr. Fall. It is a huge undertaking. Several things are
happening on that front. The U.S. Department of Labor has
raised the goal, and asked State and local areas to spend more
of their funds on industry-recognized credentials. So we have a
push going from that level, which we appreciate. And you have
15,000 employers who are involved in State and local workforce
investment boards to help try to provide that input on what is
needed in employers.
And frankly, in some areas it is working very well, and in
some areas it is not working very well.
Mrs. Biggert. Thank you. I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mrs. Biggert.
Mr. Loebsack, from Iowa?
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman. And I do thank
you for calling this hearing today--a very important hearing.
And thank you for talking with me about these issues previous
to the hearing, as well, about a month or so ago.
There really is not, I think, a better time to be talking
about the reauthorization of WIA than now, with the
unemployment rate being what it is. And, you know, over 14
million at least officially unemployed, 6 million people out of
work for 27 weeks or more. We are in dire straits, there is no
doubt about it.
I think the last thing we should be doing, probably, as a
Congress is pulling back from the unemployed. So I am very
happy to hear the testimony today from all of you. I think
Congress needs to do something on the economy. We have got to
focus on job creation. And this is actually what I have been
hearing from Iowans in recent years, and this is my fifth year
in office. And I have taken a strong interest in job creation.
I have taken a strong interest in sector development, in
particular. I noticed that at least a couple of you mentioned
that in your testimony, and I really appreciate that. I have
been around the district. I am home just about every weekend,
and I have done a lot of visits to employers during the time
that I have been in Congress.
And over the last couple of years, after I introduced my
own sectors act companion piece, a bill over on the Senate side
that Chair Brown has introduced, of course. What I hear over
and over again from these employers in many of these situations
where mid-skill jobs are at stake, is that it seems
counterintuitive. But at a time of 9 percent unemployment--
admittedly it is better in Iowa, but still it is 6 percent--
they simply can not find people for these jobs.
It does not make any sense but it is, in fact, the case.
And what I am finding is that they cannot find people who are
properly trained. Every time I go to an employer I ask them,
``Are you okay? Can you find people to do the jobs?'' And much
more often than not they are telling me they cannot find people
who are trained.
Now, there are a lot of different places around this
country, including Iowa, where people have used innovative
sector-based approaches. Community colleges are important,
workforce investment is important, employers are all important,
of course, on this. Labor unions, in cases where they have
apprenticeship programs, can be very important.
But I would like to ask Mr. Herman, and Mr. Fall in
particular, if you could speak to that issue. Because I know
that you mentioned it in your testimony, Mr. Herman. I think
Mr. Fall might have referred to it, as well. Go ahead, if you
would.
Mr. Herman. Certainly. And I want to thank you,
Representative, for your leadership in pushing and promoting
this very practical approach to achieve business engagement.
Which is one of the challenges in the workforce system overall.
We know from experience that sector partnerships, industry
partnerships, create engagement for the long term. That they
leverage business support, as well as private sector
investment.
That they help inform the broad workforce and education
system to better address employers' needs. I have been active
in this sector field since the early 1990s, when I was
president of the Garment Industry Development Corporation in
New York City, one of the early recognized sector initiatives.
And what we found is that if we really want to get businesses
involved we cannot just go to them episodically and ask them to
employ the people that we need to get jobs.
We have to have a deep, ongoing engagement to address
multiple needs simultaneously. Sometimes it is incumbent worker
needs, the need to train and up-skill their workforce so they
can create more entry level positions. Sometimes it is trying
to assist them during economic distress. And there is where our
Workshare program has proved so effective.
But the key engagement tool, the key component, is that
sector initiative. It saves money, it leverages private sector
resources. And in States like yours, but also Pennsylvania
where industry partnerships are the cornerstone not only of
their workforce system but their economic development system,
we see that State and local resources are also accessed to
support these partnerships.
This is a very important tool to achieve substantive
business engagement.
Mr. Loebsack. Mr. Fall. Then I will ask Ms. Larrea, too, to
respond because she has been nodding her head quite a bit.
Go ahead, Mr. Fall.
Mr. Fall. Yes. Thank you. I would just support your comment
that the employers that we speak to do have a perpetual
difficulty in finding skilled workers right now. And it does
seem almost unthinkable with such a high unemployment rate. But
specifically around skilled trades seems to be an area that we
are hearing from our members more than perhaps any other that
just finding the workers with the skills and the ability that
they need to be successful in the workplace is, in fact,
becoming more and more of a challenge.
Mr. Loebsack. Thank you, Mr. Fall.
Ms. Larrea?
Ms. Larrea. Yes, sir. We have practiced the regional
workforce leadership with sector concentration for more than 9
years. And it yields great results. The community college
benefits, this ISD's benefit. And in the Dallas region that is
a huge number of people being affected by these industries. We
support them because they support us. That is where the jobs
are.
They give of their time. They are not just sitting on
workforce boards. They actually come and participate in general
sessions on describing the workforce they need because it is so
critical to find important people. Women in engineering became
a huge issue for TI. Not enough women pursuing engineering. You
can get the visas and get them here from other countries, but
we are not training them here.
Those are the kinds of issues that a workforce system must
know to function.
Mr. Loebsack. I still have you, and I appreciate your
indulgence, Madam Chair. And I should just say one last thing.
This is a very bipartisan approach, and I appreciate that.
Thank you.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Mr. Loebsack.
Dr. Roe?
Mr. Roe. Thank you. And thank you all for being here. It
has been a great hearing, and I have learned certainly a lot. I
know my good friend, Mr. Hinojosa, did not get a plug in, but I
want to get a plug in for the adult education literacy. I think
that is so basic that if you cannot read and communicate
properly you will never have a job. So I think that goes
without saying. And I know he has been very supportive, as I
have, in adult literacy.
What I heard in the very beginning, and I think this is the
critical point, is what, Ms. Larrea, you started out with. I
will give you an example about how a job is created in my
business. If I go to church on Sunday, and someone says, ``Dr.
Roe, I have been trying to get an appointment with your for 4
months and I cannot get in.'' And then I go back to my front
desk, and I find that all the doctors do not have an
appointment for 4 months. It is time to hire another doctor,
and hire some people.
So we have a demand for our services. And that is one
thing. And then I have to have the capital there to be able to
expand my office or whatever. And that is what I think people
are facing now is that very thing. That very issue is critical.
For you to put somebody there, there has to be a demand for the
product or service that you are trying to place them into.
And that is a far bigger question, I think. I heard this
from all four of you, and correct me if I am wrong. Any of you
can jump in here at any time. That WIA is working, but could
work better if there were more consolidation, employer-driven,
I heard. And then boards, director-led by local businesspeople,
to identify exactly what needs are.
And then I think, Mr. Herman, you clearly pointed out that
borders should not matter. I know I live in a rural area in
east Tennessee, but people do not care. They would go to the
job. If they live in one county, they will be glad to drive to
another county or across the state line. I am very near
Virginia, so people driving back and forth across that State
line all the time.
And we need to forget those borders. I could not agree
more. What could we do--and any of you can jump in here--to
help make our dollars go further? And I think one of the
things, Ms. Cox, I heard you say was just the bureaucracy of
filling out all of the paperwork that does not create any value
to your customer, which is the person coming looking for a job,
or employment.
Ms. Cox. Yes, thank you, and I will make a couple comments
on this. One, there is just a high reporting burden. And in my
mind, before you cut any dollars to the customer you have got
to cut down the bureaucracy. And we have very specific things,
both in the written testimony and the position paper we have
taken of how we think that can happen.
One thing we think we need to also look at, not just
putting all of the burden on the feds, but at our State and
local levels of efficiency. Not only are we highly integrated,
but we are a State-wide workforce investment board. We do not
have local boards. And so we have a lot of flexibility to shift
those around.
We do not have to negotiate with local boards, the local
board. If there is a state-wide employer we can work State-
wide. We have a lot of flexibility. If we ever wanted to change
the makeup, however, of our State workforce board we would
actually have to get permission from DOL. And there is a
grandfather position, that we could lose that if we changed it.
I do not think they would ever take that away from us. But
I think that is an important model. And I am all for local
control. And I am going to say this with all due respect. If
you system's run by just hundreds, I think we probably have
200, 300 local workforce boards in our system. Each one of
those takes an administrative cost to run.
And so I think we cannot just put the entire burden on the
feds. We have to look State and local to see where we can
reduce administrative costs, pool funding through admin., have
similar technology. Texas does that. All States do not. And so
you end up having just hundreds of individual admin costs
across the country. And so I think it is a political issue.
It is a difficult one to touch, but I think governors need
that flexibility to design it in a way that provides maximum
benefit to the user, not just to us running the system.
Mr. Roe. And I agree with Mr. Fall. I am going to go very
quickly. There is a piston plant, Molly Piston Company. And 10
years ago, they had 16 people on a line. Today they have two,
and these two are producing the same number of pistons that 16
were because it is a very highly technical job.
Welders. We cannot get enough welders, even in a down
economy. We cannot get each other people trained. And I think
that is the problem. Many times we are training people and the
jobs are not there. We are not training people for the jobs
that are here, now, in today's economy. And we have got to
retrain.
I 100 percent agree with that, and I will stop and let you
comment. My time is about to expire.
Mr. Fall. Thank you. Certainly, welders are another area
where we have heard a tremendous shortage of our members. And
it is impacting work and how much work can be done. So it is
something that we really need to focus on.
I appreciate your comments, and that is something that we
would love to work with you on trying to resolve and improve.
Mr. Roe. Thank you. I yield back. Thank you.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you, Dr. Roe.
I will go next to Mr. Hanna.
Mr. Hanna. Thank you, Madam Chairwoman.
Mr. Herman, I heard you say something about that job tax
credits do not work. And I saw Ms. Larrea nod her head yes. How
could that money be better spent, and what is it about them
that? I mean, I have had hundreds of employees in my life. I do
not think they work.
But aside from that, what does work? What would you like to
see differently with those same tax dollars?
Mr. Herman. Thank you for that question. I think it is a
very important one. Just to sort of maybe highlight, further
explain, in my experience, why I do not think they work. For
the most part we see, you know, tax credits being accessed
after a hire has already taken place. Particularly large
employers that have accountants who scrub their books, and say,
``Hey, guess what? You hired 100 people, and 20 of them are
eligible for a tax credit.''
I think what we need now is a much stronger front end
incentive. And also to address the skills mismatch that has
been raised throughout the hearing. OJT, in our experience--on-
the-job training--is a much better front-end incentive. It
provides a concrete financial incentive for employers to hire
now rather than defer hiring.
But it also requires a formal training plan to address that
skills mismatch. So an individual that has most of the basic
skills that employers are looking for, but not the specific
skills they need in terms of their process to deliver the
services they provide, through a period of OJT they are trained
to be productive, value-added employees.
And I think we see a return on that investment, too,
because the individuals are employed. So that front-end
investment of the system is recouped through payroll taxes,
recouped through income taxes. So I think that is a much more
effective program. Particularly in this time, where we know
employers are hesitant to hire--in part because of market
conditions, but nonetheless are looking, in many situations,
for skilled employees.
I think that would be a much more effective use of our
taxpayer dollars than the tax credit approach which, as I
mentioned before, I do not think it is a strong enough front
end incentive.
Mr. Hanna. Ms. Larrea?
Ms. Larrea. Yes, sir. In Texas, there is also the Texas
Back to Work. We do on-the-job training. It is a very difficult
program to administer, but we do do that in the Dallas area, as
well. The Texas Back to Work program makes a direct correlation
for the employer between an unemployed person and the cash back
within a 4-month period.
We have had great results. I know that Georgia, several
States, have some of these projects. It happens better, I
think, at the State level than it does at the federal level. I
do not know that the incentive can be applied, early enough to
create a job, from the federal authority. I think that is the
difference. You are too far apart from the employer.
But by and large, we are not going to have good jobs until,
as the doctor acknowledged, you know there is a need for your
services. You do not want make-work. We want real jobs, people
want real jobs. It is how we define ourselves in this country--
``What do you do?'' It is one of the first questions we ask
someone.
And if we cannot give people real work I think we are
faltering. So I am worried about making it a real job, not just
something for the money.
Ms. Cox. Can I make one quick comments on this, too? I
always become a little nervous when we have specific programs
that we are going to mandate. We tend to create programs rather
than solving problems. And in each State--New York, Texas,
Utah--there is all great things most States across the country
are doing. So we get a good idea, and then we want to mandate
it. And then you create a new monitoring compliance, training
program, data validation system.
And you lose focus. What would be optimal in
reauthorization is maybe a menu of things that a state could
do. Not mandatory, but hold us accountable for results. Tell me
my entered employment, my retentions numbers, earned income.
How am I really being relevant to business in terms of
supplying the demand they need--turnaround time, training time.
Hold me accountable for those, but do not mandate a lot of
programs. Give me a menu, and then hold my feet to the fire.
But when we start talking wanting to mandate a program I get
very concerned.
Mr. Hanna. I think, Ms. Larrea, you said that unemployment
insurance and the people on unemployment need to be integrated
into those people. Was it your, Mr. Herman? How would you
propose to do that? Because it seems so common sensical. Either
one.
Mr. Herman. Well, like Texas and Utah, New York State co-
enrolls. You are recipients. As soon as they apply for
unemployment insurance they are in our WIA system. And that is
a very important front end measure, to make sure that the UI
recipient is also a WIA customer. So that is very important. We
call them in and we do an initial assessment, and we determine
that some are more readily employable than others.
Those that are not then, receive services and training
assistance, with training and education to re-skill themselves.
But we do not wait for that UI recipient that is often long
into their UI tenure to kind of walk in our one-stop doors. We
require that they come in, and if they do not they are
sanctioned in terms of their UI support.
Mr. Hanna. Thank you for your testimony.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Hanna.
Dr. Heck?
Mr. Heck. Thank you, Madam Chair. And thanks, all of you,
for your testimony here today. This is really a critical issue
for my district. I represent southern Nevada, which has the
highest unemployment rates in the nation right now. So much so
that we actually conducted a field hearing on WIA in my
district over the August work period.
And during that--we have heard a lot of discussion this
morning about flexibility--one of the pieces of we received
from Dr. Metty-Burns, who is the executive director of the
Division of Workforce and Economic Development at the College
of Southern Nevada. And she stated that within their workforce
programs they had mixed results with an ability to access and
utilize WIA funds, continue to find it challenging and
frequently frustrating to provide the training and education
that local workforce needs when confined to the limitations
that come with WIA funds.
So much so that they have, at times, opted out of
requesting funds because of the cumbersome process involved.
Stated that the certificate and degree programs at the college
are not even eligible for WIA funds, as the time frame exceeds
what WIA will allow even a more in-depth educational approach
may be the more appropriate pathway for job placement, a higher
wage, or long-term success.
In the time remaining I want to ask each of you, if you
were going to write this reauthorization bill what is the one
thing you would either eliminate or seek to implement. And if
we could just go right down the panel, and have each of you
give what your top priority would be.
Ms. Cox?
Ms. Cox. Gosh, that is so hard to choose. There is so many.
The top two ones, for me, would be the ability to ask for
waiver authority to really integrate the programs. So that you
can do some of the things you are talking about, so that we can
turn around and OJT in a meaningful way, so that we can have
common definitions about what we are doing, and pool our funds
to really meet the needs of employers and individuals.
And if we had that waiver authority, I think we could do
some amazing things that were new and innovative, and that
would break us out of the system we are in and take us to,
really, a whole new level. That would be one of the most
important things that I could see coming out of the bill.
Mr. Heck. Thank you.
Ms. Larrea?
Ms. Larrea. The most important thing, I think is, I agree
it is hard to choose. But the coalescing of funds, the
identification of all resources on the front end, and putting
everything in the same resource basket, again without
eliminating, or diluting, those resources. But I think having a
separate project sitting over at HUD and a separate project
sitting over at HHS all directed at employing people should go
through an employment authority, something where we are looking
at being consistent, judging all programs against the same
criteria.
And I think it also, then, will recognize what resources we
have that go beyond those walls. The Pell Grants, Perkins, and
those other things in education we should not be duplicating. I
think that is the most critical in this. Why are we duplicating
so much of our effort? So streamlining administration would
occur. It has in Texas.
Mr. Heck. Thank you.
Mr. Herman.
Mr. Herman. A much stronger engagement and connection with
community colleges overall. In my experience in New York State,
some of our best outcomes, our best one-stops, are housed in
the community college system. Where educational attainment is
one of the primary missions of the community college is fully
supported. And then the workforce dollars can focus on
employment engagement.
I think that kind of integration is very positive, and will
leverage resources and produce better outcomes.
Mr. Heck. Thank you.
And Mr. Fall?
Mr. Fall. Thank you. We would like to see, really, more
employer input at the front end of this whole process. Too
often, what happens is employers are consulted after the
process is well down the track. We really believe that
employer's voice at the very beginning of the design of the
programs, at the beginning of the curriculum development on
what skills are needed, that is where it is really critical.
You know, if we could accomplish anything through this
system it would be a way to create some sort of feedback so the
system was receiving real-time labor market information from
employers so they really knew what skills were in demand that
day, and what skills were going to be needed in the future.
Mr. Heck. Thank you. Thank you all very much for your
testimony again. Thank you, Madam Chair. I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. You get the prize for using the least
time.
Mr. Barletta?
Mr. Barletta. Thank you, Madam Chair.
As a former mayor and a former businessman, I understand
very well that the workforce investment boards provide a great
service to our communities. In my district, the Luzerne-
Schuylkill Workforce Investment board is responsible for the
oversight of public workforce programs.
After the devastating floods that hit northeastern
Pennsylvania, the board offered valuable assistance to
individuals in Luzerne and Schuylkill Counties who were out of
work because of the flooding. They set up hotlines where
individuals could call because they had lost their job due to
the floods. And that was very, very important.
There is also a program that I want to talk about. It is
called Partners in Education. ``PIE'' is the term we use. And
what it does is, it brings together educators, students, and
local employers to the table. And it provides the students with
an opportunity to see first-hand what opportunities are there,
what jobs are there in the local community. Sometimes our young
people may not realize that these jobs even occur.
At the same time, it provides the employers an opportunity
to talk about the basic work skills that are needed for their
particular businesses. And the educators tweak the curriculum
to teach those work skills. So we are actually providing a farm
system for employees, future employees, for the local
businesses that try to keep people at home.
The point I am trying to get at is, I just think that State
and local officials are far more knowledgeable than any of the
bureaucrats here in Washington. So my question is to Ms.
Larrea. In your opinion, what would some of the benefits of
reforming the Workforce Investment Act to give more flexibility
to the State and local workforce investment boards to do some
of the things that I talked about?
Ms. Larrea. ``Flexibility'' is the key word, the key word I
think. Every one of us, you notice the consensus here,
business-led, flexible money, less federal activity about this.
It cannot be done from Washington. It has to be done by
business leaders. And our new mayor is also a businessman.
Often times, those are the multiple hats in the community that
can make a difference. Education is strongly aligned with
everything we do.
The flexibility that exists in workforce--and as I say, I
have been in the program for years and years and years, in the
system and we have gotten better and better with each
iteration--this is the time to make something really special
happen. This particular reiteration of workforce, I think,
stands to set us apart from where we have failed in the past.
Making sure that we are looking to business to lead us, but we
are not losing sight of the fact many people are not ready for
work.
And I think that flexibility is missing. One thing we do
not have in the system right now is a program for college
graduates to get to work. If you notice, we talk to youth. We
talk about drop-out youth, underprivileged youth. We do not
talk about college grads who are sitting on the steps now
because they cannot get to work. They have a great education;
they have to get to work.
That flexibility could be imported at a local level where
it means something to us, where those are the kids I see. I
mentioned a program for executives. That is hardly ever talked
about in workforce investment. But when that is what is needed
in your community, you should be able to come to the table and
make that happen.
Mr. Barletta. I think the mindset here right now in
Washington is, it is a yes or a no mindset. You know, either we
give money or we take it away. Would you believe that possibly
if we gave that flexibility to you, you might be able to take
the money and use it towards programs that are really working
and make those decisions down at the local level, rather than
people here in Washington.
Ms. Larrea. Absolutely. And as Ms. Cox says, hold our feet
to the fire on outcomes. Not the means, but the ends. Hold us
accountable.
Mr. Barletta. Ms. Cox?
Ms. Cox. Yes. What is so frustrating in this is, you know,
the few funds we had to be innovative around projects like what
she is talking about--college grads or the governor's set-aside
funds. The few funds we had to do that, the administration came
and swept all those funds and created, now, a new Workforce
Innovation Fund. So now we have to apply for, and go through an
entire bureaucracy to do the things we were already doing.
It creates a new cost to the system to run it. And now
States are going to spend months trying to apply for the grant
and get the grant. Six months more before you can get something
on the ground, where before we could get something on the
ground, if we are aggressive, in two to four weeks.
So it is just going in the wrong direction, and I just
absolutely cannot understand the rationale for that kind of
direction in a program. It undermines everything that we have
been talking about today.
Mr. Barletta. Thank you. I want to thank you all for what
you are doing. Thank you, Madam Chair.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you very much, Mr. Barletta.
Dr. Bucshon?
Mr. Bucshon. Madam Chairman, I yield my time to Mr. Hanna.
Chairwoman Foxx. Mr. Hanna is recognized.
Mr. Hanna. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank you.
Ms. Larrea, you said that often times you can provide
skills to employers. And they will come back to you, and they
will say that the employees still do not have the total set of
skills that they need. I wonder if all you might have some idea
that that is true, or not, and if you could elaborate.
Ms. Larrea. Yes. I will just kick it off, two things that
we have looked at recently where we perhaps missed the mark.
Two years ago the cry was green jobs. Everybody said hurry up
and train people, there will be green jobs. But what we found
out is, there was a greening of the workforce. There are no
green jobs, per se.
Did we ask employers before we spent money on that
training? Not as many questions as we should have asked. The
new one now, health information technology. Do we need people
in training? I met with Baylor yesterday. They do not need new
workers. They need workers trained who already work for them.
They need the technological skills.
So creating jobs sometimes, we tend to get off on the wrong
foot. We need to know from employers exactly what is going to
build to the new job.
Mr. Fall. I would just add that what we see is jobs are
just becoming far more complex these days. The pace of change
within the workplace has really accelerated and the use of
technology has accelerated. So even if a local workforce board
does an adequate job of developing the skills for a job that
existed the last year, that skill requirement could change. And
that pace is, like I said, greatly accelerating.
And that is something that we have got to find a way to
help the workforce system keep up with.
Mr. Herman. And I think it is all true that the pace of
change is accelerating. And it is difficult to anticipate what
employers need. And I think that is why we need a more
effective system of employer engagement in our workforce
system. And why this sectors act, the sector approach, the
industry partnership is a vehicle whereby to achieve that.
Again, it is a long-term engagement that is not just about
what I need today. But yes, help me with what I need today. But
now, a year or two down the road I am going to need some other
things. It is also the way to achieve that engagement with the
youth. What some of my experience in New York State is, through
sector partnerships we have been able to introduce young people
more effectively to the world of work while they are still in
an academic environment.
But engage them, and introduce them to the world of work so
they know better, first-hand, what it requires in terms of the
skills they have. And also the discipline needed to be
effective workers. I think this is the approach that is really
going to bear fruit. If we have that long-term engagement with
employers through a sector industry, a partnership approach, we
will be getting that continuous feedback that is required from
our employer community so we can better address their needs and
better utilize the resources available.
Ms. Cox. Just one more point. When we say ``industry,'' it
is such a broad field. So what we are trying to do in Utah is
be a little more selective and focused using data to select
what industry partners we can partner where we see growth. And
what we see. What industries need help today?
And we cannot help all industry. So we need to have to say
what are our growing clusters--aerospace, biotech, advanced
manufacturing, health care? We have to be very selective even
in that area. Which ones are we going to target in aerospace?
So using data to make those decisions is critical.
And it cannot just be sitting down and talking to
employers, and getting feedback from everyone. You do have to
be selective because we have very limited resources. But I do
believe it has to be data-driven to determine if you are going
to use a sector, a cluster, approach which ones are you going
to actually select, and industry understands why or why not you
did do that. And then that is the beginning. That is the
beginning.
Mr. Hanna. So to paraphrase the four of you, then, we need
a more demand-driven model?
Ms. Cox. Absolutely, yes.
Mr. Hanna. Thank you. I yield back.
Chairwoman Foxx. Well, thank you very much. I am going to
take the prerogative of the chair since Mr. Hanna had about a
minute left, and make a couple of closing comments.
I want to thank all of you all for coming today. I think
your comments have been extremely enlightening. I think the
fact that the members have been very engaged, and have picked
up on the things that you have said and checked them out with
you, has been a great thing to have happened.
And I think Mr. Loebsack is right. This is a very
bipartisan concern, and we want to do something to make the
system better. I want to compliment you on using the term
``customer.'' All of you used that term, and it caught my ear.
I think because we are serving customers, and I think that it
is important that in government programs we understand that.
I want to tell you, I spoke recently with a very large
employer in my district who told me the horrors of using the
tax credit system, Mr. Herman. She said she decides she would
do it because it was out there, people were saying do it. And
she said it was an absolute nightmare, the amount of paperwork
that was required after the fact, after the fact. All the
things that she was asked to provide to the federal government
after these people had been employed.
She knew nothing about it to begin with. It cost her more
money to be able to provide the data than she got from the tax
credit, and she will never use it again. The third thing I
wanted to say is I appreciate you mentioning community
colleges. As a community college person--and Mr. Loebsack is an
education person, also--I know we appreciate the comments.
I have always felt the community colleges are under-
appreciated and underutilized. And I think it is high time that
they be integrated into all of these programs. And then the
last thing I want to say is--and I will submit this to you for
the record--I want to ask you, and again, I will ask you to put
it in writing afterwards--if you see any value at all that is
added to this process by the federal bureaucracy.
Mr. Loebsack, you have some comments you would like to
make.
Mr. Loebsack. Just a few. Thank you, Madam Chair. I really
do appreciate the opportunity to be here today, and I really
appreciate your putting this panel together. I think it was a
great panel, a lot of great insights and recommendations. And I
thank all of you.
Just a few things, too. I liked the comments in response to
Dr. Heck. You know, certainly streamlining the bureaucracy is
absolutely critical, something we can do in every federal
program, probably every governmental program that has ever
existed. So I think that makes a lot of sense.
Also, I want to reiterate the importance of community
colleges, as Mrs. Foxx did and as the chair did and as Mr.
Herman did. I think everybody here probably agrees how critical
community colleges are. I have my own saying. As a former
college professor, I would give credit if I thought credit was
due. But I think I came up with it. Community colleges are the
principle intersections between education and workforce
development.
Not the only, but the principle intersection, I believe.
And I think the way public colleges, public universities, or
private colleges, but community colleges play that role better,
I think, than any others. Fulfill that role better than any
others. And the employer involvement. I think that is
absolutely critical, especially when it comes to sectors.
Again, just want to reiterate that. To be clear, there is
no doubt that creating jobs must be our top priority. American
workers need our help to acquire good jobs, and the education,
training, and counseling and guidance to reenter the workforce.
And we must never lose sight of this.
With that, I look forward to working with my colleagues in
a bipartisan manner, as was mentioned here. I think we are off
to a good start. We have to make sure that we strengthen and
adequately fund our nation's public workforce training and
adult education system. And I look forward to more hearings on
the part of this subcommittee, and the larger committee, to
address what really is a jobs crisis in America today.
So thank you. And thank you, again, Madam Chairwoman.
Chairwoman Foxx. Thank you all very much. I hope that your
trips back home are very successful. And we thank you once
again for coming and sharing your ideas with us. It has been a
very, very useful day.
The meeting is adjourned.
[Additional submission of Mr. Hinojosa follows:]
Prepared Statement of Hon. Joe Donnelly, a Representative in
Congress From the State of Indiana
This House Education and the Workforce Committee hearing on the
Workforce Investment Act (WIA) and job training could not come at a
more appropriate time. With many companies struggling to compete in an
increasingly global marketplace and other countries continuing to
invest more in their workers' skills and education, it is clearer than
ever that the United States must make more efficient use of its
workforce training dollars. I look forward to learning what conclusions
the committee ultimately draws from today's hearing and witness
testimonies.
Like the committee, I have also reached out in search of good ideas
that will benefit our workforce and, in turn, the economy. That is why
in March of this year I held a manufacturing summit at Ivy Tech
Community College in Indianapolis to discuss issues facing the
manufacturing industry and its workers. Representatives in education,
business, and labor came from every corner of the state to present
their views and participate in a conversation on how we can restore
vitality and growth in the manufacturing sector and ensure that it
remains a robust source of good jobs in the future.
During my summit, one common theme was the difficulty many
employers are having trying to find workers with the necessary skills
to fill open positions. When positions sit empty, American companies
fall behind. We need to do a better job of matching skilled workers
with those looking to hire them.
With this in mind, I worked with the National Association of
Manufacturers and Reps. Todd Russell Platts and Dan Boren to introduce
H.R. 1325, The AMERICA Works Act. The goal of this bipartisan
legislation is to better prepare American workers and keep our
manufacturers competitive in the global marketplace by ensuring that
workforce training programs, like those under WIA, are teaching to the
needs of our employers and are issuing recognized, portable
credentials. Additionally, the bill addresses the need for a more
streamlined way of categorizing and credentialing specific skills so
that we can more efficiently connect skilled job seekers with the
employers who need them.
The federal government invests billions into workforce training
programs annually to help workers obtain the skills they need to land a
good paying job and to help companies find workers with the right skill
sets. AMERICA Works does not take this funding away or even increase
it; instead it prioritizes existing WIA funds, as well as Trade
Adjustment Assistance and Perkins Vocation-Technical Education Act
funds, for programs that teach toward nationally portable, industry
recognized skill credentials. Encouraging education centers to offer
programs teaching in-demand skills would help ensure our companies can
find workers equipped to compete in today's global economy. Likewise,
this emphasis on in-demand, portable credentials would help those
workers who already have these skills or are training for them to more
easily gain and keep good jobs.
To make certain that the credentials being awarded are what
employers are looking for, AMERICA Works would require the Department
of Labor to establish a registry of skills credentials. This registry
would list credentials that are required by federal or state law for an
occupation, are from the Manufacturing Institute-Endorsed Manufacturing
Skills Certification System, or are industry-recognized and nationally
portable credentials. The registry enables education centers to be sure
that they are offering relevant and desired skills.
I would like to thank the Education and the Workforce Committee for
conducting this hearing. The current economic crisis is the toughest we
have faced since the Great Depression, and no one idea is going to
solve the problem. However, simple and innovative ideas like AMERICA
Works--which passed the House of Representatives last year by a vote of
412 to 10--that enable American workers and American small businesses
to grow and compete represent solid steps in the right direction. I
urge members of this committee to support this bipartisan bill.
______
[Whereupon, at 11:25 p.m., the subcommittee was adjourned.]