[Senate Hearing 116-]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
DEPARTMENTS OF LABOR, HEALTH AND HUMAN SERVICES, AND EDUCATION, AND
RELATED AGENCIES APPROPRIATIONS FOR FISCAL YEAR 2020
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THURSDAY, MAY 2, 2019
U.S. Senate,
Subcommittee of the Committee on Appropriations,
Washington, DC.
The subcommittee met at 10:04 a.m. in room SD-124, Dirksen
Senate Office Building, Hon. Roy Blunt (chairman) presiding.
Present: Senators Blunt, Alexander, Lankford, Murray,
Durbin, Schatz, Baldwin, and Murphy.
DEPARTMENT OF LABOR
Office of the Secretary
STATEMENT OF HON. R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA, SECRETARY
opening statement of senator roy blunt
Senator Blunt. The Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor,
Health and Human Services, Education and Related Agencies will
come to order.
I want to first of all thank you, Secretary Acosta, for
appearing before the subcommittee today to discuss the
department's budget that you submitted for 2020. The request is
about in line with what you asked for last year and about 10
percent below what the committee decided you needed to operate
last year. I think the budget includes a handful of what I
would consider to be forward leaning and positive proposals;
the funding of apprenticeships, veterans workforce training,
and employer compliance assistance. However, I think we are
going to want to discuss some of the cuts that are proposed.
Now if things are duplicative or ineffective, we hope you
can help us make that case, because we do not want to have
programs that are not doing what they should do. I know you
have had to make difficult decisions and in fact, in previous
budgets we have made difficult decisions, as this committee set
sort of committee-wide different priorities than we might have
had in the past.
However, as I said before, it is about the same proposal
that you made a year ago and it is not where we wound up a year
ago. I think we want to look at the $703 million cut in the Job
Corps program and hear what you have to say about that. We want
to focus on programs that start workforce training, the
apprenticeship programs and we have strong ideas on that, as
you do.
I know you and I were at the Carpenters' Joint
Apprenticeship Training Facility in St. Louis earlier in the
year. But you know what I noticed at that particular location
was how many people had been out of high school about 10 years.
Seemed to me there was a real significant number of 28 and 30-
year-old people who had their own story of their lost decade of
trying to figure out what they wanted to do.
I hope you can help us figure out how we can help you and
high schools, particularly, figure out some of the better
alternatives that are out there with registered apprenticeship
programs. I think we currently are training about 1,300
apprenticeships, the carpentry trades for instance, and those
programs, seem to be working.
The Budget requests further investment toward workforce
programs that are responsive to the needs of people looking for
work, including veterans and military spouses.
I just talked to our general assembly last week about the
importance of transferring skills that military spouses bring
to the next military assignment with them, but also looking at
skills that veterans have achieved in the military and doing
everything we can to be sure that those same skills are
recognized as completely and quickly as possible, when people
leave the military.
So, we are glad you are here, I will have a longer
statement for the record. We do have a series of votes that
began about 10:30 and at least for that first vote, I am going
to go vote as Senator Alexander pitches in, and then I will get
back as he goes to vote. And we will try to move as quickly as
we can to get questions asked by members in the time they
expected to be here.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of Senator Roy Blunt
Good morning. Thank you, Secretary Acosta, for appearing before the
Subcommittee today to discuss the Department of Labor's fiscal year
2020 budget request. We look forward to your testimony.
The Department's budget request is $10.9 billion, a reduction of
$1.2 billion or 10 percent, largely mirroring the last budget request.
The budget includes a handful of positive, forward-leaning proposals,
such as funding for apprenticeship, veterans' workforce training, and
employer compliance assistance. However, the budget also cuts funding
or eliminates programs the Administration says are duplicative or
ineffective.
I agree that we should constantly evaluate programs and be willing
to reduce or eliminate funding for programs that are ineffective and
prioritize that funding elsewhere. We have made those difficult
decisions in previous budgets and I know we have more we could do in
that regard. However, as similar as this request is to previous ones, I
expect the committee will have much the same reaction as it did to
those, especially the unrealistic $703 million cut in the Job Corps
program.
Therefore, we should focus on the programs we can all agree on,
which starts with workforce-training programs, particularly the
apprenticeship program the Committee started 4 years ago. Mr.
Secretary, when we were in Missouri together earlier this year, we met
with apprentices at the Carpenter's Joint Apprenticeship training
facility in St. Louis. This program is a DOL registered apprenticeship
program, currently training 1,300 apprentices in carpentry trades. Each
apprentice completes 4 to 4.5 years of training, working alongside
contractors in the field, all while earning a wage. These apprentices
not only earn family sustaining salaries upon completion--averaging
$75,000 a year--but they are also free of student debt when they
complete the program. The apprenticeship program has received strong
bipartisan support and I look forward to hearing more about how the
Department is deploying these funds.
Second, the budget requests further investment toward workforce
programs that are responsive to the needs of Americans looking for
jobs, including our veterans and military spouses. Veterans have skills
and experiences that are an asset to employers, but finding the right
job opportunity can be a major challenge as they transition from active
duty to civilian life. Companies like Winning Technologies in St.
Louis, are setting the standard for their veterans hiring and retention
practices, conducting outreach at Scott Air Force Base to recruit
separating military service members. More than 30 percent of Winning
Technologies' workforce are veterans and they are a recipient of DOL's
HIRE Vets Medallion award. I am a strong advocate for reducing barriers
to employment and, particularly focused on the need to increase across-
State licensing, which can be challenging for military spouses who move
every 2 to 3 years. I appreciate that the budget includes resources to
address these workforce challenges, especially for our military
families.
We also must be certain to target workforce training to regions
particularly hard hit. In fiscal year 2018, the committee started a
rural workforce initiative focused in the Delta and Appalachian regions
where unemployment rates are higher than the national average. We have
now appropriated $60 million for this initiative and I am pleased the
budget includes another $30 million in fiscal year 2020 to help
individuals who have lost their jobs learn new skills and meet the
workforce demands of the 21st Century. However, I am disappointed that
not a dollar of fiscal year 2018 funds have been awarded even though
you have had the funding for well over a year. This delay is hurting a
population that needs these targeted resources to recover. I expect the
Department to move forward with obligating these dollars and the fiscal
year 2019 funding immediately.
The Department of Labor serves an important role in the functioning
of our overall economy through the workforce programs you oversee. By
most every major indicator, the U.S. economy is thriving. We have had
more than 100 months of job growth and the unemployment rate is holding
steady around 3.8 percent. Everyone benefits from a strong and growing
economy--when jobs are created, employment is sustained, and Americans'
wages increase. While the nature of work is changing in the 21st
Century, there are greater opportunities today for Americans to climb
the economic ladder and earn family-sustaining wages. I look forward to
hearing how the Department's budget proposal will continue to support
high-quality training and employment programs.
Mr. Secretary, I look forward to hearing your testimony today and
appreciate your work on these important issues. Thank you.
Senator Blunt. So, Senator Murray, again, glad to be here
with you today and want to recognize you for your opening
statement.
STATEMENT OF SENATOR PATTY MURRAY
Senator Murray. Thank you very much Chairman Blunt.
Mr. Secretary, as you know I have voiced my concern since
you were first nominated, that as head of our Labor Department
you would continue a long track record you have of serving
special interests instead of workers and families. And I have
to say at every turn you have managed to prove that concern was
well-founded, especially with this budget proposal.
This budget weakens the department's role in holding
employers responsible for providing safe and healthy
workplaces, and ensuring people get the pay that they earned
and benefits they are entitled to under our labor laws. It
takes us backwards by failing to support workers in developing
the skills they need to advance and makes it harder for us to
move forward on tackling many of the other challenges families
and workers are facing, including a childcare crisis, a
retirement crisis, and the epidemic of workplace assault and
harassment. At every turn this budget moves us further away
from those very important goals.
Mr. Secretary, an important mission of your department is
to make sure workers return home safely after each shift. Yet
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration has
dramatically reduced inspections, especially in areas that pose
the greatest hazards to workers and require more resources to
conduct those.
The department's overtime proposal will leave millions of
workers without protections and cost those workers more than $1
billion over a decade. And despite the scourge of wage theft
across the country, the department is making it harder for
workers to hold their employers accountable when their wages
are stolen.
Mr. Secretary your budget fails to protect workers jobs,
careers, and opportunities to prepare them for the future.
Instead of increasing investments in successful workforce
training models for our rapidly changing economy, this budget
proposes more than $1 billion in cuts to the department's
employment and training programs.
I am also deeply concerned about the Trump administration's
efforts to undermine the highly effective and broadly supported
Registered Apprenticeship Program.
Mr. Secretary, I have to ask why is the department so
insistent on slashing this budget and undermining its very own
mission?
I am hopeful Mr. Chairman, that working together we will
reject the harmful proposals and pass again a timely and
responsible LHHS Appropriations bill that does invest in
workers and families in our future.
And finally, Mr. Secretary, I just have to say before we
get started, I do continue to have very serious concerns about
the plea deal that you helped negotiate for Jeffrey Epstein for
the horrific abuses he committed. That sweetheart deal and the
way that it came about raises a lot of questions, and it really
is unacceptable that we still do not have answers.
Thank you, Mr. Chairman.
Senator Blunt. Thank you Senator Murray.
Secretary, in 2018, the committee started a rural--Oh, I am
sorry. Your opening statement. Please proceed.
SUMMARY STATEMENT OF HON. R. ALEXANDER ACOSTA
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman thank you, and Ranking
Member Murray thank you for the invitation to appear. And I
will try to make my opening statement brief in light of the
votes.
Let me just touch on a few points and you know, the
question of the budget and enforcement and wage theft were
raised, and then, so a few points I would like to make first
with respect to the budget.
The budget for the enforcement agencies, MSHA (Mine Safety
and Health Administration), OSHA (Occupational Safety and
Health Administration), Wage and Hour and others are all the
same as the President's budget for assisted 2019 enacted, is
the same or higher for enforcement. And I think that is
important to note because we have aggressively enforced the
laws and that is something we take very seriously. So, if we go
through the various parts, our EBSA, the Employee Benefits
Security Administration, we covered more than $1.16 billion in
enforcement actions and obtained 142 criminal indictments. That
recovers a 70 percent increase over the prior year.
If we look at MSHA, MSHA fulfilled its statutory mission of
inspecting each underground mine four times per year, each
surface mine two times per year. And although the fatalities
are still too high, we had the second lowest number of
fatalities ever in the calendar year, and the lowest number in
the fiscal year.
OSHA, the number of inspections is actually up. And we have
conducted more than 32,000 inspections in each of the last 2
fiscal years, which is more than the prior years. In addition,
we had 26,300 compliance assistance visits, which resulted in a
number of improvements to the workplace and estimated savings
of over a billion dollars to the various workplaces that
improved safety and thereby prevented fatalities. Fatalities
overall again are too high but are down in the most recent
year.
If we look at the Wage and Hour Division. The Wage and Hour
Division recovered more than $304 million in back wages, and
that is the highest recovery ever in the history of the Wage
and Hour Division.
So, I say this because I know that there are disagreements
as to the budget, and we are going to disagree on issues, but I
think in terms of the record of the department, particularly in
enforcement, the record is quite strong.
Thank you and I yield the remaining time.
[The statement follows:]
Prepared Statement of R. Alexander Acosta
Chairman Blunt, Ranking Member Murray, and Members of the
Subcommittee, thank you for the invitation to testify today. I am
pleased to appear before this Subcommittee and to represent President
Trump and the hardworking men and women of the Department of Labor in
reporting to you the progress of our work on behalf of all Americans,
and to outline the Administration's vision for the Department of Labor
in fiscal year 2020 and beyond.
The President has put forth a responsible and well-reasoned budget
for fiscal year 2020 that reflects Administration priorities to support
the American workforce. Indeed, although the budget reflects a 10
percent decrease over fiscal year 2019, the budget proposes greater
investment in programs that work, eliminates programs that do not, and
generally bolsters opportunities for working Americans through
commonsense reforms. The budget reflects a continued focus on
comprehensive compliance assistance for those seeking help to comply
with the law paired with vigorous, fair, and effective enforcement
against those who violate the law and reflects our priority of putting
American workers first, including ensuring that labor protections in
trade agreements are enforced to prevent unfair competition. As the
information below shows, the Department of Labor has proven its ability
to do more with less and to maximize the value of taxpayer dollars. The
budget balances fiscal responsibility, sound management, and focus on
priorities.
overview
The dedication, ingenuity, and innovation of our American
workforce--the greatest workforce in the world--is unparalleled. No one
does it better than the hardworking men and women of our Nation who
farm, mine, make, build, transport, innovate, design, create, provide
services, and engage with other Americans to make our lives healthier,
safer, easier, and more productive.
The President's vision for America and the American workforce is
straightforward: to empower our economy to each day create jobs, more
jobs, and even more jobs that are safe and family sustaining. The
Department is hard at work to keep Americans safe in the workplace;
prevent discriminatory employment practices; safeguard retirement
savings; increase employment opportunities for all Americans; level the
playing field for working Americans through fair trade; collect,
analyze, and disseminate essential economic information; promote
private-sector union democracy and financial integrity; protect the
interest of workers, and their families, who are injured or become ill
on the job; and ensure workers are paid what they are owed--in full and
on time. The Department is also working diligently to identify and
eliminate regulations that unnecessarily eliminate jobs, hinder job
creation, or impose costs that outweigh the benefits.
The first 2 years of the Trump Administration were marked by
remarkable growth for our economy, increased opportunity for the
American workforce, and a renewed confidence exemplified by investment
in our Nation by job creators. In part due to a commonsense approach to
deregulation, I am pleased to report on just a few notable milestones:
--In fiscal year 2018, according to the Office of Management and
Budget, the U.S. Department of Labor's deregulatory efforts
totaled $3.28 billion in present value cost savings;
--Since January 2017, the American economy has created 5.1 million
jobs, 3.2 million of those new jobs have been created since the
President signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act;
--At the time this testimony was prepared, there were 7.1 million job
openings, over one million more than the 6.2 million job
seekers in the United States--American job creators are looking
to hire;
--In 2018, average hourly earnings increased 3.3 percent, the largest
increase in average hourly earnings since 2009; and
importantly, wage growth for the lowest decile earners was at
approximately 6.5 percent;
--Unemployment remains near its all-time low, and the increase in the
labor force participation rate may indicate that Americans who
were previously discouraged are rejoining the American
workforce; and
--Even as employment substantially increased over the last 2 years,
the numbers and rates of fatal injuries and nonfatal injuries
and illnesses in the workplace declined in 2017.
While these statistics document the country's success, during my
travels throughout our Nation over the past 21 months, it is clear that
Main Street, not just Wall Street--from Indiana to California, Alaska
to Florida--is deriving significant benefit from the economic growth.
More Americans are working today than ever before. They are safer in
the workplace. They are earning more. They have more opportunities for
growth and advancement. The future of the American workforce and the
American economy look bright, and the Department looks forward to
working with Congress to continue that growth and opportunity.
Removing Roadblocks to Job Creation Through Regulatory Reform
The Department administers and enforces more than 180 Federal laws.
These laws and the regulations that implement these laws cover more
than 150 million workers and retirees, and 10 million employers.
Consistent with the President's priorities, the Department has worked
to identify regulations that unnecessarily eliminate jobs, inhibit job
creation, or impose costs that exceed benefits--and reform or eliminate
them.
Our approach to regulatory reform is simple, we adhere to two core
principles: respect for the individual and respect for the rule of law.
The Department's rulemaking is carried out in a deliberative manner
guided by fidelity to the law. Public participation in the rulemaking
process through notice and comment is vital. It ensures all Americans
have an opportunity to express their views before a rule is promulgated
or changed.
As mentioned above, the Office of Management and Budget estimates
the regulatory impact of the Department's fiscal year 2018 regulatory
reform efforts to reflect $3.28 billion in present value cost savings
to the economy. Put simply, this means the Department significantly
decreased the compliance burden on Americans.
In addition to these actions, we expanded access to affordable
quality healthcare coverage options through Association Health Plans
and rescinded the ``Persuader Agreements'' rule, which the American Bar
Association and others believed inappropriately impinged on attorney-
client confidentiality.
Our deregulatory actions have continued this fiscal year with two
recent final actions: one ensuring continued safety of crane operations
while reducing paperwork burdens and the other removing the electronic
collection of certain information about workplace injuries that raised
worker privacy concerns and that is unnecessary for the Occupational
Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA) electronic data collection
requirements. We have also issued deregulatory proposals in the last
few weeks on overtime thresholds for Fair Labor Standards Act
exemptions and what goes into the regular rate of pay for overtime, in
addition to a proposal that addresses concerns about joint employment
liability so that workers and their employers, especially small
businesses like franchisees, have definitive guidance on their rights
and responsibilities. There are a number of other items that should be
proposed shortly, including a proposal to ensure Americans and
especially our military veterans have the broadest possible networks
available when they need a doctor.
Demanding Better Results Through Greater Accountability
Accountability to the American taxpayer is a priority at the
Department as we design new programs and evaluate existing ones. We are
focused on refining our efforts in a manner that respects principles of
Federalism, and best serves the American people. Where Departmental
efforts and programs are working, we are looking for ways to improve
them and learn from them, where Departmental programs are not working,
we are looking for ways to make them work or consider whether we should
refocus our efforts elsewhere.
One example I have often mentioned is the difficulty of gauging the
success of Federal programs when measuring inputs like dollars spent
and program participants instead of outcomes like the career attainment
rates of program graduates. In fiscal year 2018, the Department
redesigned the way we measure the success and efficacy of the Job Corps
program. We announced that the Office of Job Corps would reform the
Outcome Measurement System to focus on student performance and long-
term outcomes over inputs such as dollars spent and outputs such as
number of students served. More specifically, the weights given to
credential attainment have been reduced from about half, to 35 percent
in Program Year (PY) 2018 and 20 percent in PY 2019. New metrics that
focus on initial placement, placement wage, and placement quality (job
training match and apprenticeships, military, and full-time placements)
are now an additional 30 percent of the report card for both program
years, and long-term placement and placement wage after 6 months and 12
months account for the final 35 percent and 50 percent in PY 2018 and
PY 2019.
The Department also looks closely at opportunities to eliminate
duplication to bring greater efficiency to our work and allocation of
resources. One such example is in the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA). During fiscal year 2018, MSHA leadership
examined the capacity and utilization of its field inspectors and
discovered that there was significant overlap between the duties
performed by metal/non-metal mine inspectors and coal mine inspectors,
but different training and an imbalance in capacity relative to the
actual utilization of inspectors. As a result, MSHA leadership
developed a plan to cross-train mine inspectors and reallocate
resources. The Department expects that this will result in significant
savings to MSHA in fiscal year 2019 with no impact on the health and
safety of American miners.
Finally, beginning in fiscal year 2018 and continuing on into
fiscal year 2019, the Department is working to reduce the number of
improper payments made through the State-run Unemployment Insurance
(UI) Program. The President's fiscal year 2020 budget request includes
$126 million in additional resources to address improper payments made
through the State-run UI program and improve interstate communication
to reduce such payments. The UI program is important to those Americans
who need a helping hand during unemployment, and individuals that abuse
the system may place added strain on these resources. The Department is
committed to reining in improper payments in the UI program.
Returning Flexibility to the States
The Department recognizes that the workforce development needs of
Alaska, New York, Arizona, and Vermont differ widely. The Department
has made it a priority to work with States to help them customize their
workforce programs. An example is the exercise of the Secretary's
waiver authority under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
(WIOA) to grant flexibility where possible. To date, the Department has
granted 67 waivers to 28 States and territories to better tailor
approaches to the needs and opportunities present in their States and
communities.
Providing States greater flexibility to administer programs
efficiently and effectively is one way to better serve the
individualized needs of Americans in various States and localities. To
that end, the President's fiscal year 2020 Budget proposes broader
waiver authority for the core WIOA programs, allowing the Department to
trust our Nation's governors with the responsibility of how best to
operate their workforce systems.
Bringing Clarity to Employers and Employees
After meeting with many American job creators, one of the things
most important to them that affects working Americans is stability and
understanding how an agency interprets its statutes and regulations.
Clarity and consistency in agency interpretations allow the regulated
public to comply with the law in a way that is not unduly burdensome or
costly and ensure a level playing field.
One of the ways the Department can best do that is by answering
specific questions from the regulated community and making those
answers known publicly. Accordingly, in June 2017, the Department's
Wage and Hour Division (WHD) announced it was resuming its longstanding
practice of issuing opinion letters. Opinion letters are official,
written opinions provided by the Department that address the
application of statutes and regulations in specific circumstances
presented by an employer, employee, or other entity. The letters were
previously a Department practice for more than 70 years and
specifically allowed in statute, until the practice was discontinued in
2010.
In fiscal year 2018, WHD reissued 18 previously withdrawn opinion
letters and has issued 14 new opinion letters. These are now more
readily available to the public on the WHD website via a searchable
tool. Among other areas, one of the more recent opinion letters
addressed a longstanding question as to whether organ donors can avail
themselves of the Family and Medical Leave Act. Thanks to this opinion
letter, it is now clear that they can. Following on this success, the
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) also recently
announced the institution of an opinion letter program.
expanding access to high-quality health and retirement coverage for
americans
On June 21, 2018, the Department published a final regulation
expanding the ability of employers to participate in Association Health
Plans (AHPs).\1\ The rule allows employers, including self-employed
individuals and sole proprietors, to band together to offer group
health coverage to their employees. AHPs provide more affordable, high-
quality healthcare coverage choices to consumers, while maintaining
important consumer protections to safeguard against discrimination on
the basis of the perceived health of a company's workforce and
individuals' pre-existing conditions. To date, more than 30 major
organizations in 14 States have set up, or announced their intent to
set up, AHPs to offer quality, affordable healthcare coverage options
to their members' employees.
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\1\ On March 28, 2019, the U.S. District Court for the District of
Columbia entered an order that vacated certain provisions of the final
rule. We disagree with the Court's ruling and are considering all
available options to defend the legal viability of the provisions ruled
upon by the Court.
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Building on this momentum, on August 31, 2018, President Trump
signed Executive Order 13847 on Strengthening Retirement Security in
America. Recognizing that all Americans deserve access to retirement
savings opportunities, President Trump instructed the Department to
examine opportunities to expand access to workplace retirement plan
options and increase retirement security for all Americans.
On October 23, 2018, the Department proposed a regulation
clarifying the circumstances under which a group or association of
employers, or a professional employer organization (PEO) can act as an
employer and sponsor workplace retirement plans under the Employee
Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). If published as a final rule,
this regulation has the potential to expand Americans' access to
affordable, quality retirement savings options.
The Department is currently reviewing the public comments to the
proposed regulation submitted before the comment period closed on
December 24, 2018.
Expanding Career Opportunities in America Through Reskilling,
Upskilling, and Apprenticeships
In fiscal year 2018, President Trump established the National
Council for the American Worker and charged it with developing a
national strategy to prepare Americans for careers in high-demand
industries. As part of the work of the National Council for the
American Worker, more than 200 companies, associations, and labor
organizations have pledged to provide enhanced career opportunities by
expanding programs that educate, train, and reskill American workers
from high school age to near retirement. As of the time of this
writing, these organizations have pledged to create 7,452,470 new
opportunities for Americans.
The Department is continuing to promote increased adoption of the
apprenticeship model as a pathway to good, family-sustaining jobs for
all Americans. Since January 2017, nearly 500,000 new apprentices have
taken the first steps toward lifelong careers.
In May 2018, the President's Task Force on Apprenticeship
Expansion--comprised of governors, and leaders from companies, trade
and industry groups, unions, educational institutions, workforce
advocates, and nonprofit organizations--transmitted its final report to
the President outlining its recommendations on how to best expand high-
quality apprenticeship programs across industries.
On July 27, 2018, the Department adopted the overwhelming majority
of the Task Force's recommendations through Training and Employment
Notice 3-18 (TEN), providing a framework for industry recognized
apprenticeships (IRAPs) to form alongside the more traditional
registered apprenticeship program. The TEN sets out, at a high level,
the policies and procedures that certifiers will be expected to have in
place to establish standards, establish certification intervals,
evaluate and certify programs focused on outcomes and process, report
results, and maintain records.
Also last year, the Department launched the first-ever sector-based
apprenticeship grant funding opportunity to invest $150 million to
expand apprenticeships in those in-demand industry sectors most often
filled by individuals on H-1B visas, such as information technology,
healthcare, and advanced manufacturing. This grant funding opportunity
introduced an innovative approach: a 35 percent private-sector match
requirement. This brings the total investment to $202.5 million, $57.7
million coming from the private sector. As a result of this private
sector match requirement, educators have a greater incentive to join
with industry to ensure curricula address the needs of our ever-
changing workplace, investing in the latest technologies and
techniques, and providing more in-demand opportunities for Americans.
In fiscal year 2020, the Department's budget includes $160 million
to continue our expansion of apprenticeship programs, along with a
proposal to increase H-1B fee revenues to fund additional
apprenticeship activities.
Helping our Heroes and their Spouses Find Good, Family Sustaining
Careers
Through the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), the
Department helps America's veterans succeed in civilian careers when
they conclude their military service and protects their employment
rights under the Uniformed Services Employment and Reemployment Rights
Act (USERRA). The Department also helps eligible spouses of military
service members navigate State licensing requirements and find
meaningful employment, and advocates for the elimination or temporary
suspension of occupational licensing requirements for military spouses.
In 2018, thanks to a growing economy and VETS' efforts, the overall
veteran unemployment rate dropped to 3.5 percent, an 18-year low, and
the lowest annual unemployment rate for veterans since 2000.
The Department is currently engaged with the Departments of Defense
and Veterans' Affairs to improve the Transition Assistance Program
(TAP) as part of the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year
2019 (NDAA). NDAA directs these agencies to establish at least three
pathways for transitioning service members, and the Department will
alter the delivery of employment related workshops in fiscal year 2020
to align with the new legislative requirements. The Department will
also enhance the quality of employment support services for
transitioning service members, with a focus on improved outcomes.
Additionally, the Department is also developing components of TAP for
military spouses as they transition from base to base or to civilian
life when their active duty spouse leaves the military.
Finally, the Department is committed to recognizing the many
American job creators that employ veterans. In 2018, the Department
implemented the Honoring Investments in Recruiting and Employing
American Military Veterans (HIRE Vets) Act program 1 year earlier than
the statute contemplated through a demonstration program. On November
8, 2018, the Department recognized 239 employers that employ and offer
growth opportunities to our Nation's veterans. Collectively, these 239
employers hired more than 8,350 veterans.
Bringing Americans with Disabilities into the Workforce
The Department, through the Office of Disability Employment Policy
(ODEP), provides Americans with disabilities with opportunities to join
and succeed in the workforce. ODEP develops policy recommendations and
offers tools and technical assistance to American job creators so they
can hire and retain employees with disabilities.
In fiscal year 2018, ODEP expanded its Stay at Work/Return to Work
(SAW/RTW) initiative to support early intervention pilot projects and
research initiatives, work with States to promote effective SAW/RTW
policies, and address the need for early intervention for young people
with disabilities to transition to gainful employment. In September
2018, DOL awarded nearly $19 million in grant awards to eight State
workforce agencies for the Retaining Employment and Talent After
Injury/Illness Network (RETAIN). Jointly funded and developed by ODEP,
the Department's Employment and Training Administration (ETA), and the
Social Security Administration (SSA), the primary goal of RETAIN
demonstration projects is to help Americans who are injured or ill
remain in or return to the workforce, through early coordination of
healthcare services and employment-related supports and services.
ODEP also connects employers and skilled workers with disabilities
through its technical assistance centers, such as the Job Accommodation
Network (JAN) and the Employer Assistance and Resource Network on
Disability Inclusion (EARN), and partnerships such as the Partnership
on Employment and Accessible Technology (PEAT) which provides a free
tool for employers to optimize online job applications and outreach
efforts.
In fiscal year 2018, JAN provided technical assistance to more than
42,000 employers, individuals with disabilities, and service providers,
and conducted more than 107 trainings. EARN provided technical
assistance to more than 5,000 employers and ODEP's Public Service
Announcements supporting its efforts aired approximately 32,000 times
on more than 650 television stations nationwide.
Helping Americans Reenter the Workforce After Incarceration
When Americans who commit crimes have paid their debt to society
and leave prison, it is important to find ways to reintroduce those
individuals into society and the workforce. Simply put, individuals
that have made mistakes in life and paid their debts to society deserve
the opportunity to find good, safe, family sustaining careers and
become contributing members of society. Long-term success at lowering
recidivism rates requires that we offer Americans a second chance to
pursue paths to opportunity. These concepts were part of the bipartisan
First Step Act passed late last year.
In fiscal year 2018, to address this important issue, the
Department awarded Reentry Projects grants to 43 nonprofits and local
and State governments focusing on two major groups: young adults (ages
18 to 24) who have been involved in the juvenile or adult justice
system and adults (ages 25 and older) formerly incarcerated in the
adult criminal justice system. These grants offer communities the
chance to deploy evidence-based, comprehensive strategies to facilitate
the reintegration of ex-offenders into the workforce. In fiscal year
2019, the Department will award an additional $83 million in Reentry
Projects grants.
The Department is also engaging with the Bureau of Prisons to
develop apprenticeship programs. These programs seek to offer skills
instruction and develop credentials that address the geographical issue
associated with prison-based programs--Federal inmates are often
incarcerated in one State, transferred, and released in another. As
part of this new apprenticeship program, education and training in more
than 120 skilled trades will be offered.
Also, to address the stigma that employers associate with formerly
incarcerated individuals, the Department is expanding its Federal
Bonding Program which provides employers with access to $5,000-$25,000
of fidelity bond coverage for the first 6 months of employment for
formerly incarcerated individuals.
Protecting Working Americans by Confronting Visa Fraud and Abuse
Companies that commit visa fraud, and abuse the temporary worker
system hurt working Americans and American job creators that play by
the rules. These bad actors cut costs by not providing legally required
wages and working conditions and, in some instances, foreign workers'
lives are at stake.
In June 2017, I directed the Department to confront non-immigrant
visa program fraud and abuse, including making criminal referrals to
the Office of the Inspector General (OIG). The Department also made
changes to the H-1B application forms to ensure greater transparency
and better protect American workers from employers seeking to misuse
the program.
In fiscal year 2018, the Department concluded 649 non-immigrant
visa program cases and found violations in 553 of those cases. In
fiscal year 2018, the Department issued 37 debarments in the H-2A, H-
2B, and PERM visa programs--precluding those employers from obtaining
visas or doing work with the Department--a 61 percent increase over
fiscal year 2017. In total, Department has recovered almost $11.6
million in back wages on behalf of 6,061 non-immigrant visa employees
in fiscal year 2018 and issued almost $4.2 million in civil money
penalties--under 27 percent of dollars recovered. By way of comparison,
in fiscal year 2016, the Department concluded only 526 non-immigrant
visa cases, and recovered only $7.8 million in back wages for 5,161
employees. At the same time, the Department assessed approximately $4.8
million in civil money penalties--nearly 38 percent of dollars
recovered.
Leveling the Playing Field for Working Americans Through Fair Trade
U.S. labor laws guarantee that working Americans be paid a minimum
wage and overtime, that workplaces abide by health and safety
standards, and restrict child labor. U.S. free trade agreements and
preference programs require our trade partners to adopt, maintain, and
effectively enforce labor laws addressing similar areas of protection.
When trading partners fall short of their labor standards
responsibilities under trade agreements, they create an uneven playing
field that can hurt working Americans. The Budget strategically focuses
efforts to make U.S. trade agreements fair for U.S. workers by
monitoring and enforcing the labor provisions of free trade agreements
and trade preference programs, combatting the reprehensible use of
child labor and forced labor abroad, and providing technical assistance
to countries seeking to improve labor standards.
In addition to the Department's direct work on international labor
issues, the Department also provides detailed research products and
tools that help foreign governments and employers improve compliance
with international child labor and forced labor standards. On September
20, 2018, the Department released its 17th annual child labor report,
Findings on the Worst Forms of Child Labor, representing the most
comprehensive research product to date on the state of child labor in
132 countries worldwide. Simultaneously, the Department released an
updated version of its Comply Chain app, which is designed to help
businesses identify and root out abusive child labor and forced labor
from global supply chains. Comply Chain is now also available in
Spanish and French.
Women's Bureau
The Department's Women's Bureau assists in the development of
policies and initiatives that promote the interests of the more than 74
million women in the United States labor force. Women's Bureau
collaborates with Department program agencies and other Federal
partners to provide policy guidance, including on initiatives such as
apprenticeships, military spouses, and occupational licensing, to
better support the needs of women and their families.
Women's Bureau is holding listening sessions across the country
with military spouses in an effort to design a TAP specific to military
spouses, 92 percent of whom are women. The Department leveraged its
work with military spouses to aid efforts to redesign the workforce
reentry components of TAP, focusing on assisting military spouses.
Women's Bureau is also holding nationwide events and listening
sessions--several of which were attended by Advisor to the President
Ivanka Trump--to discuss the challenges, best practices, and potential
solutions to help all working families access affordable, quality child
care.
Finally, the Department is conducting data analysis to better
understand the impact of the opioid crisis on women in the labor force.
This includes identifying and correcting the lack of information
related to the opioid epidemic's effect on women in the labor force,
relative to the existing research on its impact on men in the labor
force. Building on this effort, the Department piloted a reemployment
program grant in Maryland for women impacted by the opioid epidemic.
The Budget focuses the Bureau's work on high priority areas like
childcare, military spouses, entrepreneurship, and paid leave while
eliminating unnecessary regional offices and eliminating grants.
a strategy of vigorous enforcement coupled with compliance assistance
The vast majority of employers are responsible actors, fully
committed to following worker protection laws and to providing good,
safe jobs for their employees. There are, however, those that fail to
comply with their legal obligations. In those instances, the Department
enforces our Nation's laws that protect working Americans--and does so
vigorously. By way of example, in fiscal year 2018 the WHD's work
resulted in a record $304 million in back wages recovered for more than
265,000 workers across America. Fully enforcing the law levels the
playing field for the majority of American job creators who play by the
rules and supports the Nation's most important asset--working
Americans.
As a parallel to enforcement, there is significant value in
compliance assistance programs that help working Americans and American
job creators understand their rights and responsibilities under the
law. Cooperation between the private sector and government can yield
strong results at a quicker pace and lower cost than adversarial
enforcement actions. Parties acting in good faith should have the help
of the government to do so and should not be penalized for proactively
requesting assistance.
In August 2018, the Department launched the Office of Compliance
Initiatives (OCI) to bring together agencies' compliance assistance
efforts into a single, concerted program. The office, led by a career
employee team, will help working Americans and American job creators
understand their rights and responsibilities under the law and has
launched the websites employer.gov and worker.gov to provide plain
language guidance.
The Department's fiscal year 2020 budget request includes
additional resources for this office, as well as funding increases for
every worker protection agency.
Employee Benefits Security Administration
EBSA helps ensure the security of the retirement, health, and other
workplace related benefits of almost all American workers who have
private-sector employer-sponsored plans. EBSA's enforcement authority
extends to an estimated 694,000 private retirement plans, 2.2 million
health plans, and similar numbers of other welfare benefit plans which
together hold $9.5 trillion in assets. These plans provide critical
benefits to America's workers, retirees, and their families.
In safeguarding and clearly delineating fiduciaries'
responsibilities on behalf of participants, on April 23, 2018, EBSA
issued a Field Assistance Bulletin (FAB) laying out the Department's
position that fiduciaries may not sacrifice investment returns, or
assume greater risk, in order to promote collateral social goals, and
must exercise care before incurring significant expenses to fund
advocacy in the proxy voting space.
In fiscal year 2018, EBSA recovered more than $1.16 billion in
enforcement actions--a 70 percent increase over fiscal year 2017--and
EBSA's criminal program resulted in 142 indictments. A large portion of
this increase is attributable to EBSA's Terminated Vested Participants
Program, which recovered over $807 million in benefit payments for
participants and beneficiaries in defined benefit plans. During the
same time period, EBSA's Benefits Advisors recovered an additional
$443.2 million on behalf of participants and beneficiaries through
informal dispute resolution, assisting 170,909 Americans.
The President's fiscal year 2020 budget request for EBSA stands at
$193.5 million, a nearly 7 percent increase from the fiscal year 2019
revised enacted budget, and includes additional enforcement resources
of $10.0 million and 45 FTE that will focus on investigating self-
insured AHPs and self-insured Multiple Employer Welfare Arrangements.
Mine Safety and Health Administration
MSHA's enforcement strategy is grounded in its mandate to inspect
all active mines in the United States and its territories regularly.
MSHA's enforcement mandate is essential to protect miners and advance a
culture of safety and health in the mining industry.
In support of its mission, MSHA also provides grants and compliance
assistance to the mining community. In fiscal year 2018, MSHA's annual
Training Resources Applied to Mining (TRAM) conference drew more than
300 mining stakeholders to learn about training techniques, new
technology, and best practices in mining. The MSHA Academy provided 443
course days of compliance assistance training to the mining community.
Educational Field and Small Mine Services, with support from
Educational Policy Development personnel, provided 69,186 hours of
additional compliance assistance in the field.
In fiscal year 2018, MSHA fulfilled its statutory mandate to
inspect all underground mines four times per year and all surface mines
twice per year which, combined with non-mandatory inspections, helped
foster a more safe mining industry. Notably, the mining industry
overall experienced the lowest number of fatalities in fiscal year
2018. The Department remains focused on reducing the numbers of mining
injuries and fatalities even more, because our goal must be zero mining
deaths.
The President's fiscal year 2020 Budget request for MSHA stands at
$376 million, an increase over the fiscal year 2019 revised enacted
budget, and proposes a new enforcement structure that combines the Coal
Mine Safety and Health and Metal/Non-Metal Safety and Health budget
activities. This consolidated budget activity will provide the
flexibility to address industry changes and maximize the efficient use
of MSHA's resources.
Occupational Safety and Health Administration
OSHA helps ensure that employers provide safe and healthful working
conditions for working men and women by setting and enforcing standards
and by providing training, outreach, education, and assistance. OSHA
also administers the whistleblower provisions of more than 20
whistleblower statutes. Compliance assistance and enforcement--driven
by workplace inspections and investigations--play a vital role in
OSHA's efforts to reduce workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.
In fiscal year 2018, and in fiscal year 2017, OSHA conducted more
than 32,000 inspections each year, exceeding the fiscal year 2016
number. These results are impressive particularly given that OSHA
dedicated substantial resources in fiscal year 2018 to hiring and
training new inspectors. In August 2017, OSHA was provided blanket
approval to hire needed inspectors to carry out its important work. The
result was the hiring of 76 new inspectors in fiscal year 2018. The
timeframe for new inspectors that join the Department to be prepared to
conduct inspections can vary between one to 3 years depending on their
prior experience and complexity of the inspections they may carry out.
During this time, these new hires do not generally conduct independent
inspections. OSHA has been hard at work to onboard and train new
inspectors and expects to have a significant increase in inspectors in
fiscal year 2019.
In fiscal year 2018, in addition, OSHA personnel made 26,362
compliance assistance visits covering more than 970,000 workers and
ensuring that 135,021 hazards were identified/corrected. The estimated
savings in injuries and costs prevented by this program exceed $1.3
billion.
Late in 2018, the Bureau of Labor Statistics released the injury
and fatality data for calendar year 2017. Even as employment
substantially increased and less-experienced workers were onboarded,
the numbers and rates of fatal injuries and nonfatal injuries and
illnesses in the workplace declined. With 43 fewer workplace fatalities
in 2017, reversing a 3 year upward trend, the fatality rate fell to 3.5
per 100,000 full-time equivalent workers. The incidence rate for
private industry nonfatal cases fell to 2.8 per 100 full-time
equivalent workers after employers reported 45,800 fewer cases. This
overall decrease occurred against a backdrop of a substantial increase
in fatalities due to unintentional overdose from nonmedical use of
drugs or alcohol, which increased from 217 to 272 workplace fatalities
nationwide.
The Department is committed to fostering an environment that
promotes disclosure of dangerous work conditions and protects
whistleblowers. OSHA's Whistleblower Program prevents retaliation
against workers that report injuries, safety concerns, or engage in
other protected activity. In fiscal year 2018, OSHA implemented
internal measures, such as expedited case processing and streamlined
case documentation requirements, to increase the efficiency of the
Whistleblower Protection Program. fiscal year 2018 saw 9,387 new
complaints under the program, a 9 percent increase over fiscal year
2017, and processed 9,308 complaints, an 8.4 percent increase over
fiscal year 2017.
The President's fiscal year 2020 budget request for OSHA stands at
$557.5 million, a slight increase over the fiscal year 2019 revised
enacted budget, and proposes additional funding for staff, including 30
additional Compliance Safety and Health Officers and five additional
whistleblower investigators.
Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs
OFCCP is tasked with ensuring that Federal contractors and
subcontractors comply with their equal employment opportunity
obligations.
OFCCP supports compliance through assistance tools, resources, and
incentives. Indeed, in fiscal year 2018, OFCCP held 346 events to
inform and educate the regulated community and handled 2,797 help desk
requests via telephone calls and email. Also in fiscal year 2018, OFCCP
issued its ``Town Hall Action Plan'' and ``What Contractors Can
Expect'' to engage with the regulated community and demystify OFCCP's
work. Specifically, the agency sought to develop the broad
understanding that contractors and subcontractors seeking OFCCP's
assistance with satisfying their nondiscrimination and equal employment
opportunity obligations can expect clear, accurate, and professional
interactions with OFCCP's staff.
In fiscal year 2018, the OFCCP conducted 812 compliance
evaluations, entered into 168 conciliation agreements, and obtained
over $16 million in monetary remedies for more than 12,000 affected
employees and applicants.
The President's fiscal year 2020 budget proposal for OFCCP stands
at $103.6 million, a slight increase from the fiscal year 2019 revised
enacted budget, and includes funding for IT modernization efforts which
is largely offset by gains obtained through operational efficiencies in
OFCCP.
Office of Labor Management Standards
The Office of Labor Management Standards (OLMS) administers and
enforces most of the provisions of the Labor-Management Reporting and
Disclosure Act (LMRDA). The LMRDA promotes union democracy and
financial integrity in private sector labor unions, and transparency
for labor unions and their officials, employers, labor relations
consultants, and surety companies through reporting and disclosure
requirements. In fiscal year 2018, OLMS conducted 16,968 participant
hours of compliance assistance instruction--the highest since fiscal
year 2012.
The Department is also currently working on a new transparency
regulatory proposal for union trust accounts so that union members can
see where their money is going when it becomes part of a covered trust.
In fiscal year 2018, OLMS investigated 128 union elections after
complaints of violations, supervised 28 rerun elections due to election
violations, and conducted 223 criminal investigations which resulted in
73 convictions.
The President's fiscal year 2020 budget for OLMS stands at $49.1
million, a 15.8 percent increase over the fiscal year 2019 revised
enacted budget, and includes a proposed increase of $4.2 million in
staffing increases to support enforcement programs that ensure union
transparency and financial integrity, both of which inure to the
benefit of the hardworking men and women that make up the membership of
unions.
Office of Workers' Compensation Programs
The Office of Workers' Compensation Programs (OWCP) administers
four major disability compensation programs covering more than two
million Federal employees, and a significant number of private sector
workers, which provide wage replacement benefits, medical treatment,
vocational rehabilitation, and other benefits to certain working
Americans, or their dependents, who experience work-related injuries or
occupational disease.
Among those programs, OWCP oversees prescription benefits for
injured Federal workers and is taking aggressive measures to control
fraud. OWCP implemented measures in fiscal year 2018 to target and
intercept abusive billing patterns, resulting in a $5 million per month
average savings in overall pharmaceutical spending.\2\ These savings
are in addition to the $19 million per month average savings in overall
pharmaceutical spending realized in fiscal year 2017 from addressing
compounded drugs.\3\
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\2\ Comparing the 7 months following implementation of measures in
2018 (June 2018--December 2018) to the months prior in fiscal year 2018
(October 2017--May 2018).
\3\ Comparing the first 6 months of 2016 to the fiscal year 2017
months after the primary compounded drug control was implemented
(November 2016--September 2017).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
In 2017, the President rightfully declared the opioid crisis a
public health emergency. Opioids are affecting how job creators hire,
how job holders work, and how job seekers find family-sustaining jobs.
This crisis is far-reaching and touches far too many Americans. The
Department is doing its part to combat the opioids crisis. OWCP has
taken aggressive steps to prevent the over-prescribing of opioids for
the approximately 200,000 Federal employees or dependent beneficiaries
each year who receive workers compensation benefits. Specifically, OWCP
issued prescription guidelines for medical providers, and will monitor
billing patterns and multi-party networks of interest using predictive
analytics and risk metrics.
OWCP is also updating its computer resources and acquiring a
Pharmacy Benefit Manager to assist in these efforts. Since January
2017, OWCP has seen a significant drop in the number of claimants
prescribed high-dose opioids, with a 59 percent drop in claimants
prescribed a morphine-equivalent dose (MED) of 500 or more, and a 31
percent drop in claimants prescribed an MED of 90 or more as of the end
of February 2019. Additionally, when comparing 20 months of data--
January 2017 to August 2018 and the same time period in 2015 to 2016--
there was a 24 percent drop in new opioid prescriptions and a 51
percent decline in new opioid prescriptions lasting more than 30 days.
The Department is resolute in its commitment to ensuring that
injured Federal employees access opioids only with adequate medical
supervision. OWCP now requires that the prescribing physician complete
a medical evaluation and attest to the medical necessity of continued
opioid treatment for all new opioid prescriptions that extend beyond an
initial period of time, requires prior authorization and a letter of
medical necessity for all new opioid prescriptions that extend beyond
an initial grace period, and has imposed fill and re-fill prescription
limits.
OWCP has also worked closely with the OIG to eliminate Federal
Employees' Compensation Act (FECA) fraud. In cooperation with the OIG,
OWCP created documents that facilitate interagency investigation and
prosecution efforts by providing guidance to the government-wide OIG
community on how to request FECA data and submit reports of
investigation that implicate waste, fraud, and abuse. In fiscal year
2018, OWCP submitted 62 medical provider referrals to the OIG--covering
more than 100 individual providers--for possible fraudulent medical
billing. These referrals were due in large part to the establishment of
OWCP's Program Integrity Unit housed in the Division of Federal
Employees' Compensation.
The President's fiscal year 2020 request for OWCP's discretionary
salaries and expenses amount stands at $117.8 million, a slight
increase over the fiscal year 2019 revised enacted budget.
Wage and Hour Division
WHD is tasked with ensuring compliance with, and enforcement of,
many of the Nation's fundamental Federal labor laws, including minimum
wage, overtime, and child labor laws. To accomplish its mission, WHD
employs enforcement and compliance assistance strategies, along with
evidence-based and data-driven approaches to allocate resources in a
manner that maximizes its impact on behalf of workers in the United
States.
Fiscal year 2018 also saw record enforcement numbers from WHD
resulting in the recovery of more than $304 million in back wages for
more than 265,000 workers across America. Enforcement is a critical
part of WHD's overall strategy and is employed rigorously when
compliance assistance, alone, is not enough. WHD's enforcement efforts
are tailored to safeguard workers' rights and obtain due compensation
for violations of the law.
In fiscal year 2018, WHD conducted a record 3,643 outreach events
and presentations, providing valuable information and compliance
assistance to participants across the United States. As part of this
effort, WHD employs Community Outreach and Resource Planning
Specialists (CORPS) in nearly all district offices nationwide. The
CORPS have been successful in establishing partnerships with industry
associations and employers to offer compliance assistance and educate
stakeholders on labor standards.
In fiscal year 2018, WHD recovered more than $304 million in back
wages for more than 265,000 working Americans and other workers--more
than any other year in the agency's history, and an average of $1,147
per person.
The President's fiscal year 2020 budget request for WHD stands at
$232.6 million, a slight increase over the fiscal year 2019 revised
enacted budget, and proposes additional funding for staff to modernize
compliance assistance efforts.
Helping Americans Get Back to Work After Natural Disasters
This fiscal year, the states of Florida, Georgia, North Carolina,
South Carolina, and territories of Northern Mariana Islands endured an
active and destructive hurricane season. At the same time, Puerto Rico
and the U.S. Virgin Islands continued their recovery from last year's
storms. For a second year in a row, California suffered destructive
wildfires.
The Department of Labor worked with Federal, State, and local
agencies to provide much-needed support to those affected. The
Department:
--provided more than $100 million in grants to help affected States
and territories assess their workforce needs;
--sent personnel and donated equipment to assist in recovery efforts;
and
--oversaw Disaster Unemployment Assistance aid to those unemployed as
a result of the hurricanes.
In addition to funding and direct support, the Department also
worked to reduce barriers to rebuilding and aid efforts, and reduce the
burdens on survivors by providing much-needed regulatory flexibility.
The Department:
--temporarily waived certain retirement plan and group health plan
requirements and deadlines;
--temporarily suspended select Federal contractor requirements,
allowing businesses involved in hurricane relief the ability to
prioritize recovery efforts;
--temporarily eased reporting and other regulatory burdens on labor
organizations, labor relations consultants, and employers
affected by the hurricanes; and
--provided other regulatory flexibility requested by individual
States.
The Department continues to support the Federal Emergency
Management Agency (FEMA) with hurricane and wild fire recovery efforts.
In the wake of the 2017 and 2018 hurricanes, Department staff conducted
more than 2,229 outreach activities, providing critical information and
compliance assistance to more than 14,000 workers in affected areas;
more than 2,276 safety and health interventions reaching more than
11,494 workers, of which more than 6,391 individuals were removed from
hazards; and served more than 24,907 working Americans. The Department
is also conducting investigations to ensure workers employed in
recovery efforts are receiving the wages to which they are legally
entitled and ensure a level playing field for law-abiding businesses.
The hardworking men and women of the Department also donated 13,659
hours, or more than 1,707 days, and more than $47,000 in gift cards to
their colleagues who suffered significant property damage or loss as a
result; and more than 500 DOL employees volunteered to travel to
affected areas to support the recovery efforts.
conclusion
In closing, I hope my statement today makes clear the depth and
breadth of the Department's accomplishments this past year. The
Department is hard at work supporting Americans' efforts to find, and
excel in good, safe, family-sustaining jobs.
We look forward to working with Congress on these important goals.
Senator Blunt. Well thank you. I was obviously eager to get
to our question time, and always, I am glad to hear your
comments, particularly the fact that those programs that have
direct contact with workplace issues, that you have increased
slightly the budget for those.
RURAL WORKFORCE INITIATIVE
I want to talk a little bit about the Rural Workforce
Initiative that this committee started in 2018, fiscal year
2018, dealing with the Delta Regional Authority and the
Appalachian Regional Commission, the unemployment rates and
even in a good economy are still well higher than the national
average.
We have now appropriated $60 million for this initiative
and you have asked for another $30, but none of that money has
yet been spent. At least I do not believe it has been spent. My
sense is since you are asking for more money, these programs
can work. What are you doing to get that money out the door now
and see that they work?
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman, thank you. Thank you for
the question. I think we all agree that this is a good
investment and that this, in fact, should go forward.
The way the appropriation was written, in the opinion of
our attorneys created difficulty, as it was written. I think
this committee intended the money to go to the regional
commissions and have those commissions disperse it to
individual entities within the region.
Our attorneys, however, said that based on the language we
had to do the disbursement directly to the individual entities.
We have entered into an MOU (memorandum of understanding) with
the regional commissions where we are providing funds for the
regional commissions to do technical assistance so that the
individual entities can apply to us, with the assistance of
those regional commissions. So, the individual entities will
apply to us as our budget attorneys say they have to, but with
the assistance of those regional commissions.
Going forward I hope that our staffs can work together, and
my understanding is they are working together, to develop
appropriate language so we do not have to face this next year.
It is a technical issue.
Senator Blunt. Then you would hope we could put that
language in this next appropriating bill?
Secretary Acosta. Absolutely. I think everyone agrees on
what this should look like. There is a technical legal issue
that we are working around. We have issued the MOU and entered
the MOU with both the Delta, and I apologize, I forget the
other.
Senator Blunt. Appalachian.
Secretary Acosta. With both the Delta and the Appalachian
regional commissions so that we can disburse the money with
their assistance, as they work with their local grantees.
JOB CORPS BUDGET
Senator Blunt. Let's move to what I think was about a 40
percent proposed cut for Job Corps that is over $700 million.
Does that mean you are going to eliminate 40 percent of the
locations in the country, or what do you expect to do with
that?
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman I think I mentioned to you
when we spoke earlier this year, the debate over Job Corps is
one that goes back several decades. This committee is going to
determine the appropriate funding level for Job Corps as it did
last year, and the year before that. We have concerns about the
program, irrespective of funding level. We are proceeding based
on those concerns with reforms to the program that we think may
be helpful. So, we are using our pilot project authority
working with governors that are interested too, to try
different pilot projects in particular States.
So yesterday for example, I shared that that we are
starting a Job Corps Scholars Pilot Program. It is small, it is
only $20 million, but we issued a request for proposal for
community colleges to set up many job corps within those
community colleges, cohorts of 40 students. They would receive
funds that would cover tuition, that would cover housing, that
would cover counseling services, and interestingly it would be
at about half the cost per student, of a job corps center,
because job corps centers depending on the particular center,
sometimes $30-$40,000 per student, per year.
We are also working with, in Idaho for example, with the
governor, the Job Corps Center is now being managed, or about
to be managed, by their local community college. So, we are
trying different approaches to see what works and what does not
work, and we will proceed as this committee sees fit on the Job
Corps program.
USDA-RUN JOB CORPS CENTERS
Senator Blunt. Now there are a couple of USDA (United
States Department of Agriculture) run Job Corps Centers in the
country, I know we have one in Missouri. I have been told that
they are no longer interested in running those programs.
Secretary Acosta. The USDA has indicated that they have
concerns as to the effectiveness of those programs. And if they
do withdraw, then we would look at program Job Corps Center by
Job Corps Center and determine whether to close that center,
whether to consolidate that center, or whether to convert that
center into something different.
Senator Blunt. And you are working with the States on that?
Secretary Acosta. We would be working with the USDA and the
States, yes.
Senator Blunt. Thank you.
Senator Murray.
Senator Murray. Thank you Mr. Chairman.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Before I ask about budget Mr. Secretary, I do need to ask
you about when you served as U.S. Attorney and your office
negotiated a ``deal of a lifetime'' for a serial sex abuser,
Jeffrey Epstein, which allowed him to serve minimal jail time
and avoid Federal prosecution for sex trafficking charges.
What I want to know is why the non-prosecution agreement
you negotiated was not stronger? Why just 13 months in jail
for--when those young girls were victims of what you described
as a quote ``very vile crimes?''
Secretary Acosta. So, Senator Murray first, let me point
out that this started and was, a State matter. The district
attorney received the information, the evidence from the
police. The district attorney took this to a grand jury. The
grand jury in the county recommended a single charge that would
have resulted in no jail time; that would have resulted in no
registration at all. And on that basis Epstein was arraigned in
State court.
Now as Federal prosecutors we looked at this and we said,
this is of concern. The way this is proceeding in State court,
no jail time, no registration, is of concern to us. So, we
weighed in and we said that a Federal prosecution and
investigation could result, and would result, if the State did
not negotiate something that was much stronger. And at the end
of the day he entered a plea in State court that called for 18
months; that called for registration as a sex offender.
Senator Murray. 13 months.
Secretary Acosta. 18 months, Senator. The way that the
State then allowed him to serve the sentence, it was reduced to
13, but it was 18.
Senator Murray. Well as you know he was a serial sex
offender, and this, it does not feel that he was appropriately
punished at all.
And earlier this year a Federal Florida judge said the non-
prosecution agreement violated the law. So, let me ask you,
would you join with me calling for a thorough, independent
investigation by career ethics officials into whether non
prosecution agreements violated Federal law or Department of
Justice policies?
Secretary Acosta. Senator Murray, first let me say the
Office of Professional Responsibility at the department is
looking at this matter already.
Secondly, if I could point out, the Department of Justice
at the time, had a policy in place that did not--where the
Crime Victim Notification's Act of the CBRA did not apply to
non-prosecution agreements, and in fact, there was an Office of
Legal Counsel decision.
Senator Murray. Well, there is an investigation going on.
I want to get to the budget. Do you agree with me that the
investigation should be released to all members of the
Congress?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I think that is a Department of
Justice decision, they have protocols on that.
Senator Murray. What is your opinion?
Secretary Acosta. I think that this is a Department of
Justice decision.
Senator Murray. So, you do not have an opinion on whether
we should see it?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I do not know what the protocols
are at the Department of Justice. I think the Department of
Justice has protocols, and that they should follow these
protocols.
FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE
Senator Murray. All right, well let me turn to the budget.
Yesterday you testified before the House, Education and Labor
Committee that, ``We do not support a change to the Federal
minimum wage at this time''. You know the Federal minimum wage
has not been increased in a decade and low-wage workers now
make less per hour than they did 50 years ago.
So, I would like you to clarify that statement. If workers
do not deserve, a quote, at this time, then, when do they?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, the prior comments around that
pointed out that 29 States have increased their State minimum
wage above the Federal minimum wage. And within the remaining
21 States there are some localities that also may have
increased the minimum wage above the Federal.
And so, part of this question, in fact the Washington Post
had an editorial that pointed this out, should the 29 States
that have raised the minimum wage above the Federal, impose
their cost structures on the remaining 21 States? And so, the
Post editorial, for example, pointed out that a one-size-fits-
all approach does not work and does not work well.
Senator Murray. Well we have worked well under a Federal
Minimum Wage Law that made sure that we did not have increasing
disparities among workers. So, you and I are going to disagree
on this.
APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS
I do want to ask about apprenticeships. The Registered
Apprenticeship Program is really highly effective in providing
workers with good paying jobs. It long has had a history a
bipartisan support from this Congress, so I have to say I am
very deeply concerned about your implementation of this
program, and your efforts to create a duplicative lower quality
apprenticeship program. You call it IRAPs (Industry Recognized
Apprenticeship Programs).
Now despite your repeated public assurance that our
appropriation can only legally fund the Registered program,
earlier this year I learned that DOL (Department of Labor)
spent $20 million on a contract to quote, ``Expand industry
relevant apprenticeship programs that are recognized and/or
registered''. And it was not until we had a congressional
inquiry months after the agreement was signed, DOL backtracked,
acknowledging this would be illegal and inconsistent with the
committee's direction.
I am also concerned by your failure to spend the fiscal
year 2018 funding. We appropriated that more than a year ago
with the majority of that $145 million still unspent, despite a
fast approaching expiration date.
And finally, I am very troubled at the department's clear
intent to undermine the Registered Apprenticeship Program by
proposing changes to its regulation to weaken fundamental labor
standards and limit Federal oversight, over tens of millions of
dollars of taxpayers. Oversight is our responsibility.
So I just, I only have a few seconds left, if you could
just answer yes or no. Given the highly questionable nature of
the $20 million contract I just mentioned, I sent you a letter
today requesting DOL provide all the contract documents related
to this agreement. Will you respond to that in a timely and
transparent manner?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I disagree with the
characterization of that contract, and yes, I will respond.
Senator Murray. Okay. Mr. Secretary given the White House's
2017 Executive Order and your proposed regulatory changes, is
it your position that DOL should be in the business of shifting
tens of millions of dollars, of taxpayer dollars away from a
proven Registered Apprenticeship Program to set up this
unnecessary system with minimal Federal protections or
oversights?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, again I disagree with the
characterization, and we are not in the process of shifting
dollars from registered to industry recognized apprenticeships.
Senator Murray. Okay. My time has expired, and we will
follow-up with written questions.
Senator Blunt. Thank you Senator, Senator Murray.
Senator Alexander.
Senator Alexander. Thank you Mr. Chairman.
HUMAN TRAFFICKING
Mr. Secretary, welcome. Given the conversation that Senator
Murray mentioned, let me ask you two questions about the plea
agreement. At the time of the non-prosecution agreement that
she mentioned, and you discussed, did the George W. Bush
Justice Department, for whom you worked, approve the agreement
as consistent with the Department of Justice policy?
Secretary Acosta. The agreement was reviewed in main
justice as high up as the Deputy Attorney General, yes.
Senator Alexander. Is the answer yes?
Secretary Acosta. Yes.
Senator Alexander. By the Deputy Attorney General?
Secretary Acosta. By him or his staff, yes.
Senator Alexander. And second, since then has the
Department of Justice under President George W. Bush, President
Obama, and President Trump continued to support your decision
on the non-prosecution agreement as consistent with Department
of Justice policy?
Secretary Acosta. Yes, Senator.
Senator Alexander. So, the decision you made was consistent
with the Department of Justice at that time and it was
consistent with the Department of Justice policy under three
administrations and what we have now is a judge who disagrees
with three administrations Department of Justice policy. But
that to me, does not reflect on your decision at all.
ASSOCIATION HEALTH PLANS
Let me go to Association Health Plans. Obamacare is a big
problem in our country and such a big problem that almost all
members of Congress would like to substitute something else for
it. Republicans would like to replace it with policies that
would give States more flexibility and individuals more choices
and lower cost, and a large number of Democrats would like to
replace it with Medicare for All, which would take away
insurance on the job from 181 million Americans. So, there is
broad agreement on both sides of the aisle that Obamacare does
not work and is a problem. We just have different views about
what to replace it with.
Now, perhaps the most extraordinary problem with Obamacare
is in the individual market. Which Senator Murray and I worked
on to try to reduce premiums, and in the end, there was not an
agreement. But in Tennessee for example, you might make $50-
$60,000 if you are a farmer and be paying $20,000 for your
insurance. You do not get any Obamacare subsidy.
The best solution of that it seems to me, is your rule to
reinstate Association Health Plans, which existed before
Obamacare and which you reinstated in a fairly conservative
way, and which basically give employees of smaller companies
and some sole proprietors, the opportunity to buy the same sort
of insurance that employees of big companies can buy with the
same protections for such things as pre-existing condition.
Now, your reinstatement of Association Health Plans has
been popular, but a judge has stopped it. What happens for
example, to the Las Vegas employee whose company organized
insurance under the Association Health Plan rule? Does that
employee lose her insurance as a result of the court decision?
And what are the prospects for expanding Association Health
Plans as a way of reducing outrageously high insurance
premiums?
In Tennessee since the start of Obamacare, individual
insurance premiums are up more than 176 percent. So, what can
you say about that?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, thank you. First let me point
out is, you are correct, they have been popular.
The Washington Post ran two articles, one an article, one
an editorial board member. These are the headlines:
``Association health plans expanded under Trump looks promising
so far'', talking about how they are quality plans, and
``Experts hated this Trump healthcare policy. So far, they are
wrong''. Those are from February 1st and 4th.
These first, let me say, are quality plans, the same plans
offered by IBM and other major corporations. Now, about 30
associations around the Nation have set up these AHP's and they
have thousands of individuals that are covered.
We issued earlier this week a nonenforcement policy with
respect to Association Health Plans that said that those plans
under the courts order, they cannot receive new clients, but
they have an obligation to continue to provide coverage to
existing clients under the current insurance contracts.
So those individuals in Las Vegas that are covered by the
Las Vegas AHP should know that their insurance contract will
continue through the end of that contract and renewals thereof.
Senator Alexander. I am out of time, but is the decision by
the District Court judge on appeal and when is that appeal
going to be heard and when will it be decided?
Secretary Acosta. It is appealed, we do not have a date and
so I do not know when it will be decided.
Senator Alexander [presiding]. Thank you Mr. Secretary.
Senator Schatz.
Senator Schatz. Thank you Mr. Chairman, ranking member.
Secretary, thank you for being here.
CHANGES TO FEDERAL MINIMUM WAGE
I want to follow up on Senator Murray's questioning about
that minimum wage. Let us sort of set a baseline here. Do you
believe that there should be a minimum wage?
Secretary Acosta. Senator I do believe there should be a
minimum wage, yes.
Senator Schatz. A Federal minimum wage?
Secretary Acosta. Yes.
Senator Schatz. So, you think $7.25 is the right number?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I know that at least 29 States
have increased----
Senator Schatz. Hold on, hold on. It is a very simple
question. You are the Secretary of Labor. You said there should
be a minimum wage, so we got that, $7.25 is the current rate
which annualizes to about $15,000 a year. What do you think the
right number is?
Secretary Acosta. $7.25 is the current Federal minimum
wage.
Senator Schatz. I got that.
Secretary Acosta. And I do not believe the Federal minimum
wage should be changed at this time.
Senator Schatz. Because that is enough?
Secretary Acosta. There are different wage structures
throughout the Nation.
Senator Schatz. Yes, I got all that. I mean, listen, we
have 5 minutes; I am not trying to trap you, I just want to
understand your thinking. Do you think $15,000 a year is enough
for the 88 percent of minimum wage workers who are over 20
years old?
Secretary Acosta. Senator----
Senator Schatz. It is yes or no. Do you think that is
enough money for them?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, the number of individuals that
are on minimum wage varies depending which data you use between
about .5 percent to a little over 1 percent. One question that
I think is very important is, how long individuals continue to
receive minimum wage; is this viewed as an entry-level wage, a
training wage, a wage that is paid temporarily.
Senator Schatz. Should I take that as a yes that it is
enough as long as it is temporary?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I think you should take that as
a--this area is a little more complicated than yes or no
questions.
Senator Schatz. But you have to set a number, right? So, I
get that. I mean I understand the workforce I understand how
wages work; I understand that some people who get a minimum
wage, a job immediately ascend to a higher paying job. But I
will say that if you start at $7.25, you do not immediately go
to $15.25, you go from $7.25 to $9.25. Right? And then to
$11.25 if you are lucky, over many, many, many, many years.
So, it really very much matters what the base pay is
because you are not going to double your pay from $15,000 a
year to $20,000 a year.
So, the question for the Secretary of Labor is, what is the
right number? And I understand that you are a former professor,
but I am asking you what you think the right number is.
Secretary Acosta. And Senator, my response is at this time,
I do not think that there should be change in the Federal
minimum wage. I understand that localities may and are changing
that, but if one was to look for example at the labor force
participation rate of younger Americans, it has fallen
dramatically. The unemployment rate among younger Americans is
a challenge, and one question that we need to think about----
Senator Schatz. But what about the adults who make the
minimum wage? And I guess that the question I have is if you
make minimum wage, if you make $15,000 a year, you are almost
inevitably on a number of public subsidies. So, it seems to me
that the Government is subsidizing the corporation's
underpaying of the individual.
Can you address that problem? Because there is just no
doubt if you are paying someone $7.25, they are going to be on
SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) benefits, and
any number of other Government paid taxpayer subsidized
assistance. Which seems to me a crazy way to do these things,
because if you just paid them enough, we could have the lower
tax rate and a solid social safety net, but not one that
required that we basically subsidize all the companies who were
underpaying people.
Secretary Acosta. Senator, what you are referencing is, the
``cliff effect'', which is in essence the trade-off between
Government benefits and wages, is something that I would be
more than happy to talk, maybe after the hearing, at length
about. Because I would much rather see individuals working and
working with good wages, than being the recipient of Government
benefits. I think it is better for the individual.
Senator Schatz. And so just--let's try it this way. Why not
raise the minimum wage? Other than sort of, like ideology,
let's presume I am a progressive and you are a conservative and
we have our ideological reasons coming into this. If we took
off our partisan hats, why not pay everybody $10?
We have a robust economy, we have a housing shortage, we
have healthcare costs that continue to outpace inflation, you
have prescription drugs going through the roof, you have people
across the country struggling, and yet GDP (gross domestic
product) and productivity and the stock market are not quite
all time highs, but are doing quite well. And we still want to
pay people seven dollars an hour?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, I think I mentioned at my
hearing yesterday, the overall wages are up, the highest, the
fastest increase we have seen in more than a decade, but----
Senator Schatz. But what about people making seven bucks?
Secretary Acosta [continuing]. In particular, something
that I think is very important is at the lowest decile last
year, wages increased 6.5 percent, almost double, double the
median, and that is a very, very good thing. And so, I think we
share the desire to see wages go up at the lowest decile. The
question is how do we go about doing that in a thoughtful way
that does not generate a loss in jobs, particularly in lower
cost areas of the Nation?
Senator Schatz. Thank you.
Senator Alexander. Thank you Senator Schatz.
Senator Durbin.
WAGE GROWTH
Senator Durbin. Thanks Mr. Secretary for being here. I am
sorry I was at another hearing and unable to join you here.
But just to follow up on Senator Schatz's questions, when
you are starting at $7.25 an hour and there is a 6.5 percent
increase, you realize that it does not have a very dramatic
impact on your lifestyle. The cost of living is going up too,
and I would agree with his premise that paying people a decent
livable wage, not only gives them dignity in the work that they
perform, but also may absolve us from some Government
responsibilities that we assume for those who are on the
margins in our economy.
Maybe someone here can remind me, Senator Schatz, or
yourself, when was the last time we raised the minimum wage?
Secretary Acosta. I believe it was 2009.
Senator Durbin. 10 years ago. So, 6 1/2 percent a year at
10 years, it should go up what, 60 percent let's say from where
it is, at currently $7.25. You start seeing the effect that we
do not respond and let this thing languish, it just worsens the
plight of many people.
CAREGIVERS
I would like to ask you to consider something which we have
never discussed, but I hope all of us will discuss more and
more. I really started focusing on an aspect of the work force,
of which we better pay closer attention to, and I called them
generically, caregivers.
Whether we are talking about daycare, and the desperate
efforts of families to find safe quality, affordable daycare
for that new infant and child, or the care for those who are
disabled. The growing responsibility of individuals for caring
for those later in life, many of whom are facing those serious
health challenges. This segment of our population workforce is
growing dramatically, at great sacrifice for many family
members.
And I think we ought to be looking at it in more honest
terms about how we are going to deal with it in the future, to
make sure that the people who care for those grandchildren we
love, or those grandparents we love, are treated like the
professionals that they need to be to do their jobs well.
What is your response to that?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, first I agree that this is a
growing segment of the population. That if we just look at our
demographic's individuals, we are having more and more
individuals retire. And as the retiree population increases
this is going to become more of an issue.
I would very much welcome the opportunity to have a
conversation. I think there is a push-pull here. We want to
recognize the professionalism and the value of individuals that
are caring for others, both formally and informally. At the
same time, we want to make sure that we do not put in place
regulations or rules that make it difficult for individuals to
get the kind of care that they want or need.
So, I would welcome the opportunity to sit down and to have
that conversation. There may be areas where there is room for
agreement, and we can move forward.
CAREGIVER'S PROGRAM FOR DISABLED VETERANS
Senator Durbin. Well I can give you an example. We have had
a caregiver's program for disabled veterans for several years
now. It is a bill that I picked up from then, Senator Hillary
Clinton, and with the help of Danny Akaka and many others, it
has become the law of the land. And over 20,000, I am not sure
the exact number, but I think it is over 20,000 disabled
veterans now have the help of caregivers.
There are three things we provide. The basic training they
need, medical training so they can respond to that disabled
vets needs. Respite care there is a period of time we can give
them, 2 weeks of the year for example, for their own relaxation
and vacation, and then in extreme circumstances, financial
assistance as well, so that they can take care of veterans.
Which I might add is a great savings to the Federal Government
if they are at home taking care of the veteran as opposed to an
institutional setting.
I think it is an interesting template for what I raised
earlier. This spectrum of caregiving that is now growing
dramatically in this country, that we ought to make sure that
at least those three elements are part of any response to a
caregiver's core or something like it.
I hope that we look at this more seriously. The desperate
situations that people face with infants, as well as aging
parents, really call on us to be more mindful of this in the
future.
Secretary Acosta. Senator I have discretion over fees
received from H-1B applications and we are directing those fees
into three areas based on where the H-1Bs are being issued the
most.
One of those areas is healthcare. Not for physicians, not
at the, what I will call the more expensive end of healthcare,
but the more every day part of healthcare and education for
individuals entering the profession. So, there is a need both
on the workforce education side, and also on making sure that
there are appropriate communications between those that can
offer the skills and those that need the skills.
Senator Durbin. Thank you sir.
Secretary Acosta. Thank you.
Senator Blunt [presiding]. Thank you Senator.
Senator Baldwin.
Senator Baldwin. Thank you Mr. Chairman.
INDUSTRY RECOGNIZED APPRENTICESHIP PROGRAMS
Secretary Acosta, on July 27 of last year the Department of
Labor issued the Creating Industry Recognized Apprenticeship
Programs to expand opportunity in America, often nicknamed the
IRAP programs. It outlines the process that will allow trade
associations and other nongovernmental entities to self-certify
apprenticeship programs.
In February of this year a number of my colleagues and I
sent you a letter asking you to explain and show documentation
for the department's rationale in the creation of the IRAP
program. And recently I have had a number of compensations with
Wisconsin stakeholders, who include business owners, and others
who do not understand the departments move away from the
registered apprenticeship system that they have used for years.
They understand how to navigate the program, to comply with it,
and it really has an 80-year track record of success in my home
State of Wisconsin.
So, can you provide this committee with any specific
evidence that the proposed IRAP program model is needed? And
also, how are the proposed IRAPs consistent with the National
Apprenticeship Act provisions that state quote ``The Secretary
of Labor is authorized and directed to formulate labor
standards necessary to safeguard the welfare of apprentices''.
In short where are the protections for apprentices in the IRAP
system?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, thank you for the question.
First, let me dispel any notion that we are moving away from
the Registered Apprenticeship Program, as this subcommittee and
the full Senate and House appropriate dollars for Registered
Apprenticeship Programs. Those dollars are dispersed to support
Registered Apprenticeship Programs.
So, we are not moving away from the registered program. We
are setting up a parallel system primarily for those industries
where Registered Apprenticeship Programs are not used. As you
pointed out, there is an 80-year track record of these
programs; these programs work well. The chairman and I, the
chairman mentioned earlier, visited one in Missouri and I
visited apprenticeship programs around the Nation that worked
quite well and that have good results.
We are not looking to take anything away from those, but
there are industries that are not making use of that program
and for those industries we are saying there is an alternative
model, the industry recognized apprenticeship model.
Now you asked how it is consistent with the act, and one
way to sort of conceptualize this is in the education space.
The Department of Education delegates accreditation authority
to, for example, the American Bar Association or other national
associations, that then look at law schools for example, and
say this law school meets the appropriate standards.
The concept of having third parties in essence, accredit
and administer programs for particular industry, is not
something that is new, but is something that is quite often
used in the field of education, and workforce training is
education.
Senator Baldwin. Okay, I am going to cut you off there and
I would like to continue this dialogue of how it is consistent
with the act. But in terms of your statement and trying to
reassure us that you are fully supportive still of registered
apprenticeship, I wonder if you could explain why fiscal year
2018 and 2019 funds have not been released to support
registered apprenticeship; and what the department plans are
going forward to rectify this situation. What is the deadline
to spend fiscal year 2018 funds appropriated for apprenticeship
training?
Secretary Acosta. Senator, all the funds have been released
with the exception of the funds that are going to the
individual States. That particular portion of the funds is
pending I believe at OMB (Office of Management and Budget) for
final clearance and should be released fairly soon.
Again, we are not, we are not trying in any way shape or
form--we believe in apprenticeship programs. We are not trying
to move away from this.
Senator Baldwin. Okay, we are going to be tracking that
closely because obviously we have heard concerns.
INFRASTRUCTURE PACKAGE
On Tuesday the President agreed to begin work on a $2
trillion infrastructure package. A few weeks ago, at the
Building Trades Legislative Conference you said that
infrastructure should, and will, include Davis-Bacon.
Do you believe the President will support your position on
Davis-Bacon, and have you spoken with the President about
including Davis-Bacon in the infrastructure packet?
Secretary Acosta. Senator this has been our position since
last year's Senate hearing on infrastructure. Infrastructure
will be bipartisan. That means infrastructure will include
Davis-Bacon.
Senator Baldwin. And has the President given you his
commitment to include Davis-Bacon?
Secretary Acosta. The President has not given--I have not
spoken with the President about this in particular, but the
White House is aware of this position and understands that
apprenticeship--I am sorry that the infrastructure will be
bipartisan.
Senator Baldwin. And will include Davis-Bacon.
Secretary Acosta. And will include Davis-Bacon.
Senator Baldwin. All right. Thank you.
CAREER PATHWAYS FOR HIGH SCHOOL STUDENTS
Senator Blunt. Thank you Senator Baldwin.
Mr. Secretary, I have four or five other things I would
like to get on the record here before we make a determination
about how we deal with the rest of this hearing.
What can you do, what can we do, to work with the
Department of Education to create a better sense in high school
of the variety of paths that people have? The variety of career
paths they have, and I am certainly not opposed to the focus on
associate degrees and bachelor's degrees and graduate work.
I think you and I have both seen a number of incidences
now, where people get out of high school, they maybe do one
semester of college and then kind of drift into various part-
time things that do not really lead them where they eventually
figure out they need to be going.
How can we get more information out there earlier?
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman I think this is incredibly
important. I think one thing that matters, it is difficult to
do from the Senate, but it is really a local issue is, how do
counselors and high schools get rewarded. Do they get
recognized solely based on how many of their students go to
college? Or do they get recognized based on whether the maximum
number of their students find a path forward to success?
Because success can be very different things. Success can
be a great welding job that can pay $60, $70, $80,000. I read
an article last week about oil riggers that are making almost
$200,000 a year; or success can be college. And that counselor
is so critical early on.
Senator Blunt. Well, I think that is right, in fact I told
a group yesterday that maybe we ought to be evaluating high
schools as opposed to how many people get into college, how
many people 5 years after they are out of high school have a
job that pays at least $60,000 a year. And obviously there is a
window there that is not quite as quick as you have enrolled in
college and the next fall, but it is a measurable window, and
would be a much greater indication probably of whether people
were prepared to where they eventually may wind-up headed in
life; airplane mechanics, welders, electricians, all of those
things.
ELIMINATING EMPLOYMENT OBSTACLES FOR VETERANS AND MILITARY SPOUSES
And on that topic, let's start with veterans and military
spouses. What can we do to further encourage States to accept
credential skills? Somebody for instance, in the military has
been driving a truck for 3 years, it would seem to me that
getting a commercial truck driving license should not be an
obstacle; or if they have been an electrician or doing some
kind of medical assistance work. Those kinds of things. We need
to do a better job I think, transitioning them into what is now
a very tight workforce where people are looking for people.
What can we do to encourage eliminating needless obstacles
there?
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman, I think you raise a very,
very important point. Someone can be licensed to drive a truck
in Falluja and literally not be licensed to drive a truck when
they leave the military and come back to their home. States
seem to have difficulty addressing this, these are often caught
up in local issues and local politics.
I think it would behoove this Congress to look at how it
can encourage, should I say, States to really look at these
licensing issues, their barriers to entry. I think of one State
where a license to install fire alarms cost more than a license
to be a practicing lawyer.
And not only are they barriers to entry for individuals
that are leaving the military and coming back home, but they
are barriers for entry often for those who can least afford to
pay these licenses.
This is a real, real issue depending on studies, Federal
Reserve estimates 1.5 million Americans are broke and 3 million
Americans are not working because of licensing issues. They
just decided we are not going to pursue this license.
Senator Blunt. Now some States, and Missouri is one of
those, is getting pretty aggressive in this area on the topic
of military spouses, who of course, the strength of the
military families and military spouses getting credentialed
quickly when they move as the person who is serving is
transferred to a new base.
I think we had the first person sworn in immediately as a
member of the Missouri Bar when one of the military spouses was
sworn-in in January, and immediately was going to work as a
lawyer. Something that in our State would not have happened
before without substantial time being involved. And whether it
is that or teaching, or healthcare provider, or whatever. I
think that is another area that is fairly easy to open that
door. Everybody understands why that door and the veteran's
door should open.
But it also seems to me in this kind of economy, States
should want to compete with each other to see who can make it
the easiest for skilled people to move to your State, and
frankly, I hope my State leads the way on that.
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman, I have heard it said that
we recruit an individual, but we retain a family in the
military. Military spouses sacrifice a lot so that the service
person can be in the military and defend us. And to ask them to
choose between maintaining the integrity of the family unit, or
their career I think, is just an inappropriate and wrong
choice.
Military spouses--the military service person has to move
on orders typically every 2 years. And the military spouse then
has to decide, do I move, or do I keep my career. And to have
to relicense every time someone moves and wait to get that
license and go through that process, and pay those fees, and
that bureaucracy, seems wrong.
So, some mechanism of recognition where if a spouse is
temporarily in a State, that State recognizes the license in
the home State, I think would be a wonderful idea, and
something I am working with some governors to encourage States
to adopt.
Senator Blunt. I am glad to hear that. Senator Gillibrand
and I worked on some legislation a couple of years ago where
military families now have new capacity to either stay a little
longer and have the family support where they are or leave a
little earlier if they want to do that because of education or
job. You know, if there is a month left in school, if there is
a month left in a contract, if you need to get there a little
earlier. I think that is working well.
But this is an area where I think letting military spouses
use the skills they have as soon as you possibly can once they
move, makes a big difference in whether people continue to
serve. Retaining families is a good way to look at that.
H-2B VISAS
Let me ask a question about H-2B workers. Across the
country and in Missouri in amusement parks, and hotels, and
resorts, and tourism there is a particular need there. That
number is much lower than the applications for those workers.
In fiscal year 2019 the Department of Homeland Security
Bill included a provision to allow for as many as 69,000
additional visas with consultation with the Department of
Labor. I think those visas are now going to be available, but I
have not seen the rule yet. Does your department process that
rule, and are you in the place to do that?
Secretary Acosta. Mr. Chairman, we have processed the rule
I believe that OMB has concluded review, and I believe
publication should commence--should occur, shortly.
Senator Blunt. If you find out anything differently than
that, let me know.
Senator Lankford.
Senator Lankford. Mr. Chairman thank you very much.
PROCEDURE FOR ISSUING SUBREGULATORY GUIDANCE
Secretary, thank you for being here in conversation, I am
ping-ponging both between votes and two other committees, so if
you have already been asked this I apologize, but I wanted to
be able to drill down on little bit.
The Inspector General had looked at some of the guidance
that is been done specifically by OSHA and it asked about
procedures in place and if those procedures are working. They
found that OSHA did not have a lot of procedures in place for
issuing guidance, and the procedures they did have in place
only 80 percent of the time they did not follow it. That is an
issue.
I am sure you have looked at this trying to be able to
figure out where this goes from here, what is happening with
just basic structural; when we put out guidance, how we can
give some sort of certainty to companies that are out there.
How they can get insight because they need a question answered.
But do you still also need to know this could make consistent
process, so some other company does not ask a question and they
get hit.
Secretary Acosta. Senator thank you for the question. Let
me break it down into a few parts. The Inspector General, in
fact, did look at the use of guidance, subregulatory guidance,
guidance that does not undergo APA rulemaking process as by
OSHA. So, this goes to a broader issue within the Department of
Labor that also goes to the Wage and Hour Division and others
that used subregulatory guidance for example to issue new
interpretations for Joint Employer, and many other issues that
fundamentally changed the department's approach.
One of the problems with this is often this guidance is
directives to the field and are not even published. So how is
the employer to even know what is expected of them.
In other areas, because it is not formal public guidance,
the public does not have input and often the public does not
have the opportunity to challenge these new, they are not
technically rules, but they have the effect of rules, in court.
And so, two things, first, we do not use subregulatory
guidance in the same way. So, for example on the Joint Employer
Rule, in the joint employer area we have chosen to go through
full APA rulemaking, we believe that is the better approach. It
allows the public input.
Second, we are in the process of looking internally at how
we can develop a rule, and apologies that this sounds so
bureaucratic, but it is almost a rule on how to issue rules.
Senator Lankford. Right. There is a process.
Secretary Acosta. Yes, a process only in Washington, but it
is important, because we need to check our own ability in my
opinion, to impose restrictions on the American public that
they do not even know about, or restrictions that do not fully
accord with the law.
So, we are developing our own internal mechanism that will
look at all guidance documents and determine whether this is
something that should appropriately be a guidance document, or
whether this would require rulemaking.
Senator Lankford. Okay. That is going to be on all
entities, that is not just an OSHA issue. Though the Inspector
General is looking at OSHA, you are talking about broadening
that out to everyone to make sure everyone follows basic
process.
Secretary Acosta. That is right Senator. The Inspector
General focused on OSHA, but I do not think that this is an
issue that is limited to OSHA, and I think that this should be
not an OSHA matter, but a department wide approach.
Senator Lankford. So, can I ask a question, how does this
get maintained long-term? This is a practice that you put in
place. Ten years from now is that still a practice in place or
is this something that we need to be able to speak to.
Secretary Acosta. Well, certainly Congress can speak to
whether or not subregulatory guidance should be used. Apart
from that, the rulemaking process itself could set out
standards by which something is not given effect if it does not
undergo the APA process.
JOINT EMPLOYER RULE
Senator Lankford. So, you mentioned the Joint Employer
conversation going through the Administrative Procedures Act,
and the journey through that. What is the status on that right
now, and specifically what is your sense of how this will
affect franchises?
Secretary Acosta. Senator that is currently pending public
comment. A notice of proposed rulemaking was issued. And what
this does is two things, first it provides clarity. The Federal
Courts of Appeals had so many different tests, it was very
difficult for particularly national franchises, to know what
they could and could not do because it might vary by circuit.
So, what the interim rule does is it says, there is a
plurality approach and the plurality approach is this. These
are the factors that are considered. And we are proposing that
these are the factors that be adopted, so that there is
clarity, so that is predictability.
It is also important, I read an interesting article with
respect to franchises and it pointed out that franchises want
to provide technical assistance for example, on sexual
harassment policy, but they are concerned that doing so would
make them a Joint Employer.
This is important so that franchises can provide
information to their franchisees on any number of issues that
will help those franchisees operate, understanding that it is
ultimately the franchisees choice whether to follow that are
not.
Senator Lankford. Right. Ultimately the franchise--who owns
the franchise itself, has also responsibility to be able to
protect their own trademark, protect their own name, and
protect some semblance of quality in the process. Though the
franchisees out there, the owners, that local entity, that is
their best step to be able to get into owning a business rather
than working at a business.
So, whatever is done at this long process, I look forward
to trying to protect the American dream. Quite frankly, as you
have the opportunity to be able to do, allow people to move
from ``I work here'' to ``I own here''.
And that is through the franchise process often so, I
appreciate and look forward to that being finalized.
ADDITIONAL COMMITTEE QUESTIONS
Senator Blunt. Thank you Senator Lankford, thank you
Secretary Acosta.
The record will stay open for one week for additional
questions.
[The following questions were not asked at the hearing, but
were submitted to the Department for response subsequent to the
hearing:]
Questions Submitted by Senator Roy Blunt
workforce opportunity grants for appalachian and delta regions--a
Question. The fiscal year 2018 and fiscal year 2019 LHHS bills each
included $30 million for a new dislocated worker training initiative to
provide reemployment and training assistance to workers in rural areas
of the country hit hardest by the recession and recovering more slowly.
During the hearing, Secretary Acosta, you said that the fiscal year
2018 funding opportunity announcement is forthcoming for the new
Workforce Opportunity for Rural Communities (WORC) grants for the DRA
and ARC regions. The Committee looks forward to seeing the FOA and
encourages the Department to ensure the fiscal year 2019 funds are
obligated in a timely manner. You also said that transferring the funds
directly to the DRA and ARC would have sped up the process for getting
funds on the ground in these rural communities.
Aside from transferring the funds directly to the DRA and ARC, what
else should the Committee consider to ensure these funds are
expeditiously obligated in future years?
Answer. Earlier this year, ETA, DRA and ARC signed a Memorandum of
Understanding (MOU), detailing our cooperative efforts and allowing for
the transfer of technical assistance funds to support rural communities
in the Appalachian and Delta regions. In developing the MOU and the
initial funding opportunity announcement for the Workforce Opportunity
for Rural Communities Grant Initiative, ETA, DRA, and ARC worked
through a variety of questions that covered many foundational,
logistical, and policy-related matters. Future funding opportunities
will be more efficient as we build on these cooperative efforts. ETA,
DRA, and ARC published the jointly drafted funding opportunity
announcement on May 15, 2019, with a closing date of July 15, 2019.\1\
The funding will be awarded to entities in these regions based on the
appropriations language included in the fiscal year 2018 appropriation.
ETA, DRA, and ARC are all actively publicizing the grant opportunity
with stakeholders through email distribution lists, website updates,
social media, and webinars for potential applicants and plan to award
grants by September 30, 2019. In addition, utilizing funds transferred
through the MOU, ARC and DRA are providing in-person technical
assistance and pre-application workshops to potential applicants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-
grants.html?keywords=Workforce%20
Opportunity%20for%20Rural%20Communities%20(WORC)%3A%20A%20Grant%20Initia
tive%20
for%20the%20Appalachian%20and%20Delta.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
transition assistance program
Question. The fiscal year 2019 National Defense Authorization Act
requires reforms to the Transition Assistance Program and the budget
request includes funding to begin implementation of the TAP reforms,
with plans to expand DOL's role in future years.
Please provide a detailed projection of the Department's long-term
plan for implementation of these reforms and the range of resources
that may be needed over the next 3 years to meet the Department's
objectives?
Answer. Transitioning service members are invaluable to American
communities, bringing technical skills and leadership traits that job
creators need. The Transition Assistance Program (TAP) for separating
and retiring service members and their spouses, provided under 10
U.S.C. 1144, helps to smooth the transition from active duty to
civilian life. TAP is a cooperative effort among between the Department
of Labor (the Department), the Department of Defense (DoD), the
Department of Homeland Security, the Department of Veterans Affairs
(VA), the Small Business Administration, and the Office of Personnel
Management.
The Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS) estimates that
approximately 150,000 transitioning service members will attend the
Department's Employment Workshops this year. President Trump signed
H.R. 5515, the John S. McCain National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA)
for fiscal year 2019, (Public Law 115-232), into law on August 13, 2018
that included requirements to improve TAP.
In fiscal year 2019, the Department is laying the groundwork to
implement fiscal year 2019 NDAA requirements with a focus on improving
outcomes, including providing one day of required instruction on
employment preparation and two days of elective instruction on
vocational training and employment preparation. VETS is updating and
reformatting curricula accordingly. Beginning on June 24, 2019, the
Department, will pilot the NDAA curricula at selected military
installations.
In fiscal year 2020, VETS will begin implementing required
improvements, including career counseling, resume preparation, and job
search assistance. These changes to TAP are designed to help
transitioning service members make the best career choices available to
them, taking into account individual skills and high-demand career
fields. Better matching veterans to career opportunities prior to
transition could reduce job turnover rates among recently-transitioned
veterans. VETS receives data on transitioning service members from DoD.
This growing database contains demographic information, highest
education level achieved, military base geographic data, and a full
list of all the courses each service member participated in during the
transition process. This information, when matched with wage data, will
allow the Department to better understand outcomes achieved.
The Department is also developing a course curriculum specific to
the employment needs of military spouses who are transitioning with
their service member. The course curriculum will continue the
Department's efforts to address obstacles present in a military
spouse's career such as the complexities presented by State licensing
and credentialing requirements associated with relocations across State
lines. As an example, last year, the Department developed a military
spouse web portal where military spouses can efficiently search for
specific points of contact, guidelines, and State laws on professional
licensing, including information on how occupational licenses from one
State can be recognized in another. While developing the new course
curriculum, VETS will evaluate delivery options with DoD to determine
the most effective and efficient format, likely hybrid models that
allow face-to-face programming and digital delivery.
Over the next 3 years, VETS will continue to implement TAP
improvements. The Administration will evaluate resources needs on an
annual basis and provide estimates of that need in the VETS annual
budget request.
h-2b visa application surges
Question. Across the country, H-2B workers play a vital role in the
timber industry, hospitality, and landscaping. In Missouri, H-2B
workers are employed throughout the State at amusement parks, in
hotels, and resorts supporting our robust tourism industry. This
Committee has provided resources to help the Department process labor
certifications in a timely manner.
How have these resources been deployed to address the surge of H-2B
applications?
Answer. The Department received a $20 million transfer to reduce H-
2A and H-2B processing delays with funding made available in fiscal
year 2017 and fiscal year 2018. However, since this transfer,
application volumes across labor certification programs in the H-2A and
H-2B program have continued to rapidly spike. The Department used the
funding made available under the transfer to temporarily increase
staffing for H-2 case processing, modernize technology supporting
electronic filing and processing of H-2 applications, and increase
grants to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) to fulfill State-level
activities required in the H-2 programs (e.g., posting job orders to
recruit U.S. workers).
In fiscal year 2017, the Department obligated $6.56 million of the
$20 million transfer, with $5.14 million dedicated to increase the
Department's staffing in support of H-2 case processing and $1.42
million to provide additional grants to SWAs.
In fiscal year 2018, the Department obligated the remaining $13.44
million with funds allocated as follows: $7.37 million to increase
staffing in support of H-2 case processing; $5.17 million to initiate
development of a modernized information technology (IT) system to
support electronic filing and processing of H-2 applications; and
$900,000 to maintain the legacy IT system and enhance program integrity
until the new system could be launched.
For several years, the Department has requested the authority to
collect and retain user fees to cover the full cost of operating
Foreign Labor Certification programs. The ability to charge fees for
these programs would give the Department a more reliable, workload-
based source of funding that would eventually eliminate the need for
congressional appropriations. In addition to helping the Department
handle the workload and limit potential backlogs during peak times, a
fee would also discourage illegitimate employers from abusing the
system and potentially depriving American workers of job opportunities
as well as appropriately allocating financial responsibility for the
program to the entities that utilize and benefit from the program.
Question. What feedback has the Department received from
stakeholders regarding efforts to prevent future surges of
applications, such as the unprecedented volume of applications that
crashed the iCERT system on January 1, 2019?
Answer. As a result of stakeholder comments and the most recent
filing period, in which the Department experienced a service disruption
due to the large volume of system user requests, the Department's
Office of Foreign Labor Certification (OFLC) reassessed its procedures
for processing H-2B applications. On February 26, 2019, the Department
announced updates to its standard procedures for processing H-2B labor
certification applications. Because of the intense competition for H-2B
visas in recent years, in concert with the limited number of H-2B visas
permitted by Congress on a semi-annual basis, the Department's
technology and available staff resources have been challenged to handle
the increasingly large volume of H-2B applications filed on January 1
of each year.
Pursuant to the new procedures, all H-2B applications filed on or
after July 3, 2019, will be randomly ordered for processing based on
the date of filing and the start date of work requested. Those
applications filed during the first three calendar days of the
regulatory time period for filing H-2B applications, and requesting the
earliest start date of work permitted under the semi-annual visa
allocation (i.e., October 1 or April 1), will be randomly ordered and
assigned for processing. Once first actions are issued on this initial
group of filings, OFLC will randomly assign for processing all other
applications filed on a single calendar day.
As a result, the transition from a first-come, first-served basis
to random ordering should devalue the motivation for applicants to
submit their applications immediately after midnight on the first day
of the filing period. These processing changes will create more
fairness to all applicants when the difference in submission to the IT
system could be only thousandths of a second, and accordingly, reduce
the likelihood of a surge in filing.
impacts of 2015 ifr housing policy
Question. The fiscal year 2019 Senate Report 115-289 directed the
Department to provide a detailed report with an assessment of the
impacts of the 2015 Interim Final Rule [IFR] housing policy in
industries that require a mobile workforce. The Committee received the
Department's report, however, the Department failed to provide any data
regarding the impact of the policy.
Please provide an analysis of the economic impact of the housing
policy on the affected employers and workers, by industry, including
the costs incurred by employers as a result of the housing policy.
Answer. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) requires that wages be
paid to employees, free and clear, and that employer deductions be
reasonable. In accordance with the statute, deductions or costs
incurred for facilities (including housing) that are primarily for the
benefit or convenience of the employer are not considered reasonable
under the FLSA and therefore may not be charged to the worker. The
Department has long applied these FLSA principles to employers covered
by the FLSA, including H-2B employers.
Accordingly, this longstanding position was set forth in the
Department's 2012 H-2B rulemaking (2012 Rule), predating the 2015
Interim Final Rule (2015 Rule), and the Department responded to
comments on this very issue.\2\ The preamble to the 2015 Rule simply
reiterated that lodging for workers in industries requiring a mobile
workforce is primarily for the H-2B employer's benefit and convenience,
and therefore cannot be charged to the workers either directly or
indirectly, to the extent it would reduce the worker's pay below the
offered wage.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ See 77 Fed. Reg. 10038, 10067 (Feb. 21, 2012).
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
As such, there was no change in policy in that the Department
continued to apply longstanding FLSA principles in the 2015 Rule.
Therefore, the Department did not quantify the economic impact on the
H-2B program under the premise that no change created no impact.
The Department, through its national and local outreach and
compliance assistance efforts, regularly hears from stakeholders
regarding the impact of Department's policies on its operations. The
Department will continue to assess whether there are any other impacts
of its mobile housing policy through these efforts.
job corps construction and renovation
Question. Earlier this year, the Employment and Training
Administration stated that there is an estimated $700 million in
facilities maintenance projects at Job Corps centers. According to the
fiscal year 2020 Congressional Budget Justification: ``Job Corps will
prioritize its CRA funds to address the most critical issues, including
leaking roofs that if not repaired result in facility damage and
unhealthy living conditions; heating, ventilation, and air conditioning
(HVAC) systems that no longer provide adequate air quality; emergency
repairs that affect center operations; and environmental and Executive
Order compliance matters.''
How does the Department prioritize CRA projects?
Answer. Facility surveys are conducted at each Job Corps center
every 3 years to document the condition of the facilities, identify
deficient conditions, and provide recommendations and cost estimates
for correcting deficiencies. Each deficiency is classified based on its
severity and its impact on the facility and the program, and
categorized based on the affected building system.
Each deficiency is initially scored based on the classification,
category, and building type (e.g., dormitory, education). Those
deficiencies that receive a higher score have higher priority for
repair. Deficiencies classified as Life Safety and Health are funded
soon after the facility survey, while the remaining deficiencies and
resulting projects become candidates for future funding.
Candidates for future funding are scored based on the operational
impact, degree of degradation, impact to the building, remaining useful
life, and programmatic impact. Deficiencies and projects are considered
for funding to prioritize the safety of students and staff, address
asset preservation, improve the facility condition index (FCI), and
bring Job Corps facilities into compliance with program guidelines and
overall Job Corps and Departmental priorities.
Question. Please provide a breakdown by center and project type of
the $700 million backlog of construction and renovation projects.
Answer.
JOB CORPS REPAIR BACKLOG BREAKDOWN BY PROJECT TYPE--AS OF MAY 14, 2019
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
HVAC, Other Rehab
Center Electrical and Building Interior Plumbing, and and Total Repair
Fire Alarm Envelope Finishes Mechanical Miscellaneous Backlog
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ALASKA.................................................. $505,207 $1,254,693 $372,229 $827,596 $483,214 $3,442,938
ALBUQUERQUE............................................. $299,575 $939,151 $95,272 $1,556,770 $442,211 $3,332,979
ANACONDA................................................ $376,856 $736,953 $1,187,741 $582,668 $1,652,584 $4,536,802
ANGELL.................................................. $1,402,110 $242,305 $15,938 $592,722 $988,983 $3,242,059
ARECIBO................................................. $717,053 $243,713 $366,491 $1,073,306 $1,308,975 $3,709,538
ATTERBURY............................................... $973,713 $10,228,921 $6,094,485 $1,243,522 $1,140,217 $19,680,858
BAMBERG................................................. $977,587 $261,297 $292,024 $591,790 $2,988,455 $5,111,154
BENJAMIN L. HOOKS....................................... $1,350,005 $481,261 $103,164 $2,162,952 $1,427,348 $5,524,729
BLACKWELL............................................... $93,889 $219,716 $296,708 $324,286 $970,504 $1,905,103
BLUE RIDGE.............................................. $118,491 $458,440 $483,806 $270,014 $266,448 $1,597,200
BOXELDER................................................ $781,050 $619,430 $228,594 $403,227 $1,490,988 $3,523,288
BRUNSWICK............................................... $2,462,106 $735,189 $1,265,299 $5,432,312 $2,640,445 $12,535,350
CARL D. PERKINS......................................... $207,484 $96,896 $7,436 $976,418 $913,701 $2,201,936
CARVILLE................................................ $1,027,061 $181,167 $79,428 $166,250 $356,334 $1,810,240
CASCADES................................................ $119,925 $1,412,884 $0 $401,241 $2,133,061 $4,067,111
CASS.................................................... $172,620 $1,034,922 $173,783 $233,301 $583,187 $2,197,813
CASSADAGA............................................... $1,165,310 $1,011,140 $142,573 $2,184,245 $1,781,197 $6,284,465
CENTENNIAL.............................................. $27,746 $2,214,739 $492,788 $370,379 $92,376 $3,198,027
CHARLESTON.............................................. $97,356 $764,096 $64,617 $1,233,686 $471,159 $2,630,914
CINCINNATI.............................................. $7,117 $42,579 $49,647 $527,750 $7,741,649 $8,368,741
CLEARFIELD.............................................. $584,232 $27,225,090 $520,083 $6,725,764 $777,815 $35,832,983
CLEVELAND............................................... $2,009 $6,042 $619 $13,168 $76,375 $98,213
COLLBRAN................................................ $54,752 $30,042 $213,617 $142,841 $5,709,388 $6,150,640
COLUMBIA BASIN.......................................... $81,723 $1,753,665 $391,991 $1,450,577 $1,365,946 $5,043,902
CURLEW.................................................. $557,851 $276,485 $1,922,510 $1,338,366 $350,528 $4,445,740
DAVID L. CARRASCO....................................... $204,177 $156,272 $405,999 $511,044 $88,092 $1,365,585
DAYTON.................................................. $2,144,277 $1,656,731 $1,333,410 $1,941,567 $8,349,008 $15,424,993
DELAWARE VALLEY........................................ $307,957 $2,724,002 $574,329 $132,824 $5,827,567 $9,566,679
DENISON................................................. $12,652 $1,813,271 $42,466 $1,030,083 $912,079 $3,810,551
DETROIT................................................. $1,642 $79,323 $1,300 $38,003 $1,100,310 $1,220,578
EARLE C. CLEMENTS....................................... $1,761,537 $3,782,991 $2,529,900 $538,815 $3,731,852 $12,345,095
EDISON.................................................. $2,338,661 $184,887 $3,430,921 $6,980,784 $6,131,187 $19,066,440
EXCELSIOR SPRINGS....................................... $292,888 $1,970,541 $211,645 $871,812 $362,665 $3,709,551
EXETER.................................................. $18,680 $18,235 $37,134 $103,279 $0 $177,328
FINCH-HENRY............................................. $51,390 $107,483 $96,702 $253,472 $2,366,617 $2,875,664
FLATWOODS............................................... $779,556 $410,876 $1,337,632 $1,068,830 $244,311 $3,841,204
FLINT HILLS............................................. $2,054,804 $27,250 $11,344 $1,007,800 $310,400 $3,411,599
FLINT/GENESEE........................................... $250,739 $29,982 $736,405 $2,044,369 $1,116,644 $4,178,139
FORT SIMCOE............................................. $195,077 $46,376 $7,800 $629,685 $45,864 $924,802
FRED ACOSTA............................................. $205,086 $1,726,960 $156,648 $610,351 $1,636,513 $4,335,558
FRENCHBURG.............................................. $384,783 $948,694 $9,299 $700,615 $399,824 $2,443,215
GADSDEN................................................. $441,115 $1,133,859 $133,643 $94,222 $229,958 $2,032,798
GARY.................................................... $609,488 $2,744,704 $1,451,923 $4,184,037 $14,231,175 $23,221,327
GERALD R. FORD.......................................... $9,957 $113,920 $0 $43,999 $214,733 $382,609
GLENMONT................................................ $1,384,802 $1,766,469 $714,206 $2,248,870 $753,246 $6,867,592
GRAFTON................................................. $1,053,737 $3,693,675 $136,805 $10,862,412 $3,153,902 $18,900,531
GREAT ONYX.............................................. $178,628 $202,142 $1,203,864 $258,967 $106,041 $1,949,641
GULFPORT................................................ $789,113 $2,595,386 $1,421,977 $8,340,931 $748,222 $13,895,629
GUTHRIE................................................. $1,244,747 $411,497 $255,866 $994,633 $618,857 $3,525,600
HARPERS FERRY........................................... $296,666 $751,737 $70,306 $247,909 $2,754,417 $4,121,035
HARTFORD................................................ $16,211 $0 $163,157 $50,332 $940,551 $1,170,251
HAWAII.................................................. $580,931 $1,445,679 $108,361 $265,067 $192,025 $2,592,063
HAWAII/MAUI............................................. $519,124 $676,853 $552,111 $113,195 $451,593 $2,312,876
HUBERT H HUMPHREY...................................... $488,751 $1,109,703 $16,687 $3,022,337 $1,348,301 $5,985,779
INLAND EMPIRE........................................... $577,403 $1,721,383 $251,804 $589,691 $852,086 $3,992,367
IROQUOIS................................................ $219,918 $390,163 $8,885 $796,556 $561,874 $1,977,396
JACKSONVILLE............................................ $579,606 $262,577 $62,367 $1,299,822 $435,516 $2,639,888
JACOBS CREEK............................................ $1,045,463 $506,280 $348,920 $711,259 $836,604 $3,448,527
JOLIET.................................................. $5,828,003 $7,773,687 $353,120 $4,766,682 $9,288,844 $28,010,336
KEYSTONE................................................ $184,642 $1,535,844 $135,071 $1,539,998 $2,657,644 $6,053,199
KICKING HORSE........................................... $440,682 $153,922 $21,330 $455,517 $741,072 $1,812,522
KITTRELL................................................ $1,188,951 $552,410 $678,530 $745,472 $553,543 $3,718,905
LAREDO.................................................. $277,438 $1,640,533 $57,420 $582,769 $1,133,813 $3,691,974
LITTLE ROCK............................................. $309,948 $0 $1,059 $250,649 $1,029,149 $1,590,804
LONG BEACH.............................................. $941,709 $1,309,042 $106,922 $308,043 $65,076 $2,730,792
LORING.................................................. $550,811 $1,752,410 $1,059,063 $11,547,828 $2,312,674 $17,222,786
LOS ANGELES............................................. $259,538 $36,063 $14,219 $664,224 $391,917 $1,365,960
LYNDON B. JOHNSON...................................... $435,177 $526,542 $284,416 $468,125 $315,788 $2,030,049
MIAMI................................................... $197,762 $473,301 $42,582 $677,004 $474,367 $1,865,016
MILWAUKEE............................................... $201 $122 $0 $2,900 $242 $3,465
MINGO................................................... $388,490 $349,781 $686,433 $499,874 $1,204,577 $3,129,155
MISSISSIPPI............................................. $1,196,785 $1,399,786 $207,410 $2,449,507 $279,073 $5,532,560
MONTGOMERY.............................................. $7,962 $1,820,518 $391,727 $658,163 $211,664 $3,090,034
MUHLENBERG.............................................. $259,720 $545,456 $1,333,441 $84,702 $2,046,072 $4,269,390
NEW HAMPSHIRE........................................... $196,708 $1,629,172 $0 $386,035 $68,084 $2,280,000
NEW HAVEN............................................... $32,207 $141,756 $437,210 $606,771 $313,959 $1,531,903
NEW ORLEANS............................................. $35,149 $23,796 $1,579 $22,120 $29,933 $112,577
NORTH TEXAS............................................. $2,869,337 $2,993,026 $256,396 $633,113 $1,248,097 $7,999,970
NORTHLANDS.............................................. $39,229 $399,820 $293,862 $1,105,036 $3,496,773 $5,334,720
OCONALUFTEE............................................. $455,828 $829,774 $50,759 $297,689 $190,824 $1,824,874
OLD DOMINION............................................ $64,296 $3,586,475 $253,810 $275,823 $231,878 $4,412,281
ONEONTA................................................. $1,559,691 $1,084,330 $1,693,835 $2,103,104 $2,376,763 $8,817,723
OTTUMWA................................................. $0 $0 $0 $4,645 $5,458 $10,103
PAUL SIMON.............................................. $183,963 $136,914 $48,856 $899,642 $206,792 $1,476,166
PENOBSCOT............................................... $123,974 $631,106 $108,143 $344,018 $260,995 $1,468,236
PHILADELPHIA............................................ $6,776 $8,301 $32,735 $16,220 $14,715 $78,746
PHOENIX................................................. $590,472 $2,771,873 $510,281 $429,704 $533,552 $4,835,882
PINE KNOT............................................... $52,263 $260,516 $216,289 $1,012,482 $1,138,158 $2,679,707
PINE RIDGE.............................................. $348,528 $379,333 $94,181 $599,631 $483,733 $1,905,405
PINELLAS COUNTY......................................... $61,248 $21,812 $0 $27,658 $60,843 $171,560
PITTSBURGH.............................................. $256,448 $1,403,877 $661,790 $9,535,700 $958,794 $12,816,609
POTOMAC................................................. $1,096,858 $2,188,884 $1,485,593 $3,025,755 $1,526,352 $9,323,443
QUENTIN BURDICK........................................ $102,117 $2,508,720 $34,720 $274,336 $112,087 $3,031,981
RAMEY................................................... $2,616 $173,046 $892,820 $1,671,770 $3,375,624 $6,115,875
RED ROCK................................................ $313,753 $785,433 $316,917 $2,866,358 $2,154,073 $6,436,534
ROSWELL................................................. $1,544,558 $1,966,771 $516,366 $4,098,531 $1,131,979 $9,258,205
SACRAMENTO.............................................. $479,918 $2,407,551 $22,367 $569,073 $356,732 $3,835,641
SAN DIEGO............................................... $1,671,428 $1,279,605 $3,077,565 $1,374,783 $1,022,549 $8,425,930
SAN JOSE................................................ $280,480 $2,314,607 $162,185 $1,159,465 $139,857 $4,056,594
SARGENT SHRIVER........................................ $290,166 $2,592,874 $166,062 $782,641 $230,264 $4,062,007
SCHENCK................................................. $521,477 $411,901 $359,924 $2,023,464 $452,089 $3,768,854
SHREVEPORT.............................................. $3,564,634 $5,888,064 $580,520 $2,961,211 $1,024,581 $14,019,011
SIERRA NEVADA........................................... $226,635 $551,463 $68,281 $2,951,308 $2,227,334 $6,025,020
SOUTH BRONX............................................. $1,328,741 $959,613 $846,261 $10,387,119 $4,401,634 $17,923,367
SPRINGDALE.............................................. $1,125,713 $473,586 $273,045 $363,132 $601,821 $2,837,297
ST LOUIS................................................ $982,696 $493,722 $11,924,959 $303,430 $1,363,770 $15,068,576
TALKING LEAVES.......................................... $554,057 $204,858 $89,315 $144,344 $673,147 $1,665,721
TIMBER LAKE............................................. $593,792 $749,327 $202,692 $1,935,872 $602,572 $4,084,255
TONGUE POINT............................................ $361,156 $724,251 $12,020,144 $2,941,892 $628,280 $16,675,723
TRAPPER CREEK........................................... $82,435 $16,392 $6,136 $460,748 $668,545 $1,234,256
TREASURE ISLAND......................................... $1,213,377 $2,293,261 $5,740,365 $1,656,315 $16,273,694 $27,177,013
TULSA................................................... $316,318 $171,525 $0 $2,333,195 $125,816 $2,946,854
TURNER.................................................. $4,385,492 $3,360,190 $628,117 $6,712,792 $6,334,748 $21,421,340
WEBER BASIN............................................. $189,208 $1,628,485 $634,073 $529,972 $1,172,787 $4,154,525
WESTOVER................................................ $1,543,339 $5,090,633 $320,108 $2,339,452 $9,742,914 $19,036,445
WHITNEY M. YOUNG........................................ $137,543 $356,501 $315,163 $1,148,088 $506,864 $2,464,158
WILMINGTON.............................................. $996 $1,477 $0 $259 $10,498 $13,230
WIND RIVER.............................................. $45,749 $9,447 $3,334 $16,018 $1,107 $75,655
WOLF CREEK.............................................. $509,238 $268,743 $26,870 $415,842 $1,969,381 $3,190,074
WOODLAND................................................ $493,440 $237,362 $618,740 $126,987 $3,259,511 $4,736,041
WOODSTOCK............................................... $672,366 $801,846 $459,234 $3,243,436 $4,547,722 $9,724,604
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
$79,575,023 $164,920,154 $84,580,918 $191,549,404 $200,653,027 $714,847,251
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
job corps procurement
Question. In response to a question for the record submitted in
June 2017 regarding short-term contracts and the impact on staff
turnover, the Department indicated it had reduced the backlog with
intentions to address the remaining 13 contracts by June 2018.
What is the status of the procurement backlog?
Answer. The procurement backlog was completely eliminated in 2018.
Question. Since June 2017, how many short-term contracts have been
awarded, including bridge contracts, sole sources awards, or indefinite
delivery/indefinite quantity (IDIQ) contingency awards? Please provide
the number of each type of contract.
Answer. Since June 2017, ETA has awarded six short-term IDIQ Task
Orders and 14 short-term sole source/bridge contracts for Job Corps
center operations.
Question. What is the Department's rationale for the issuance of
IDIQ contracts, as opposed to short-term noncompetitive bridge
contracts?
Answer. The Department's goal is to comply with the Competition in
Contracting Act of 1984 by maximizing competition to the fullest extent
practicable. The Department has worked to minimize the use of short-
term ``noncompetitive'' bridge contracts by competitively awarding 12
IDIQ contracts in late 2016 that could, in turn, be used to compete
short-term task orders during exigency situations.
Question. Have IDIQ contracts ever been awarded at a lower funding
level than the incumbent operator's contract and, if so, how does the
Department ensure such funding reductions do not negatively impact
student outcomes?
Answer. An Independent Government Cost Estimate is always developed
for the short-term period of performance of any proposed task order. A
competitive short-term task order (issued against the contractor's IDIQ
contract) is then awarded to the offeror, whose proposal represents the
best overall value to the government after considering all price/cost
and non-price/cost related factors. Prior to award, offerors' cost
proposals are evaluated to ensure that their proposed costs are
realistic for the work to be performed and do not present a risk to
performance that would negatively impact student outcomes.
compliance initiatives
Question. The Department has launched several compliance-related
initiatives, including the establishment of new websites and an Office
of Compliance Initiatives.
How is the Department measuring the return on these investments and
the economic impact?
Answer. The Office of Compliance Initiatives (OCI) is fulfilling
its mission of collaborating and partnering with DOL agencies to
protect the wages, safety and health, health benefits, retirement
security, and union democracy for American workers. OCI's four
strategic goals include (1) enhancing and expanding stakeholder
outreach and engagement; (2) identifying and implementing innovative
best practices to link with enforcement strategies; (3) fostering and
institutionalizing a culture of compliance assistance as a complement
to enforcement; and (4) conducting data analysis and developing
behavioral insights to facilitate compliance. This effort builds upon
and creates opportunities for the important compliance work DOL
agencies have accomplished to date.
DOL agencies track a number of compliance assistance measures and
outputs. OCI is coordinating with DOL agencies to refine their metrics
to ensure the efficacy of DOL's compliance assistance activities.
Question. Since launching the compliance initiatives what have been
the outcomes for workers, employers, and perhaps even the economy?
Answer. Since OCI launched in August 2018, DOL agencies have rolled
out, expanded, or enhanced their compliance assistance offerings. These
tools and resources run the gamut and include Office of Federal
Contract Compliance Programs' (OFCCP) ombud \3\ service for external
stakeholders to share concerns and provide feedback and recommendations
to improve the administration of the agency, and Wage and Hour
Division's animated videos to facilitate compliance with the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA). For example, Employer.gov and Worker.gov are new
companion tools to DOL's existing Employment Laws Assistance for
Workers and Small Businesses (elaws) Advisors tool. The three tools
serve the needs of different types of users seeking assistance
navigating various Federal employment laws. Collectively, Employer.gov
and Worker.gov received over 140 thousand page views since OCI's
inception. Elaws Advisors were viewed over six million times since
OCI's launch.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\3\ https://www.dol.gov/ofccp/regs/compliance/directives/Dir2018-
09-ESQA508c.pdf.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
A number of DOL agencies have introduced voluntary compliance
programs designed to educate employers and workers about their
obligations and rights under the laws DOL administers. For example,
Wage and Hour Division's Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID)
pilot program facilitates resolution of potential overtime and minimum
wage violations under the FLSA. The primary goals of the PAID program
are identifying and correcting non-compliant practices so employees
receive 100 percent of their back wages due in a fraction of time of a
typical investigation. To that end, the PAID program requires employers
to review their pay practices, accept compliance assistance, and
correct the practices that led to the errors. This is a win for
employees, a win for employers, and a win for taxpayers.
Another example is the OFCCP's Voluntary Enterprise-wide Review
Program (VERP). This program is designed to enable OFCCP to blend its
compliance evaluation and compliance assistance activities to work with
high-performing contractors toward a mutual goal of sustained,
enterprise-wide compliance, outside of OFCCP's neutral establishment-
based scheduling process. VERP will provide meaningful cost-saving
compliance incentives to Federal contractor participants and a path for
companies who are close to excellence but want individualized
compliance assistance from OFCCP to reach the top level. This will
allow DOL to focus its enforcement resources on willful violators and
other bad actors. VERP is in development consistent with the VERP
Directive issued on February 13, 2019.
WHD and OFCCP will evaluate the effectiveness of these pilot
programs, including their impact on enforcement activity, before
determining next steps, including whether any changes to the programs
are warranted.
youthbuild
Question. The YouthBuild program has more than 200 sites in 46
States, and the program experiences strong bipartisan support. The
fiscal year 2020 budget request notes YouthBuild program's pre-
apprenticeship component and efforts to expand training to include
locally in-demand industries, known as the Construction Plus model.
To better understand this trend, please provide data for 2016,
2017, and 2018 outlining how many grant applications were submitted to
the Department, the percentage of applications for Construction Plus
models, and the percentage of awards granted for Construction Plus
models. Please also include the percentage of rural applicants and
awardees for 2016, 2017, and 2018.
Answer. YouthBuild applicants responded positively to the
Department's focus on local in-demand industries. For the fiscal year
2018 YouthBuild competition, the Department reviewed 204 applications.
Of those applications, 158 applications (78 percent) were Construction
Plus models. Of the 81 awards in 2018, 65 applications (80 percent)
were Construction Plus models. A total of 38 applications received in
fiscal year 2018 were from rural applicants, which resulted in 21 rural
awards (26 percent of all YouthBuild awards). The Department reviewed
173 applications in 2016 and 186 applications in 2017. Additional
information regarding fiscal year 2016 and fiscal year 2017 applicants
will take additional time to gather and report. The Department would be
happy to follow up with your staff later this summer with that
information.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Cindy Hyde-Smith
workforce opportunity grants for appalachian and delta regions
Question. It is important we continue to make investments in our
workforce by supporting special skills training for individuals to fill
vacant jobs in rural communities. I am pleased that Congress has
provided funding to assist with career and training services for our
rural workforce. I understand the Department has been working closely
with Delta Regional Authority and Appalachian Regional Commission to
develop a grant program around this initiative.
Please provide the Committee an update on these efforts. What is
the Department doing to boost community engagement and awareness of
this grant program?
Answer. The Department's Employment and Training Administration
(ETA) continues to work collaboratively with the Delta Regional
Authority (DRA) and Appalachian Regional Commission (ARC) to develop
funding opportunities for entities in these regions. ETA, ARC, and DRA
signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) detailing our cooperative
efforts and allowing for the transfer of technical assistance funds to
support those efforts. The agencies published a jointly-drafted Funding
Opportunity Announcement titled, ``Workforce Opportunity for Rural
Communities (WORC): A Grant Initiative for the Appalachian and Delta
Regions'' on May 15, 2019, with a closing date of July 15, 2019, and
plan to award grants by September 30, 2019.\4\ The funding is required
to be awarded to entities in these regions based on the appropriations
language included in the fiscal year 2018 appropriation. ETA, DRA and
ARC are all actively publicizing the grant opportunity with
stakeholders through email distribution lists, website updates, social
media, and webinars for potential applicants and plan to award grants
by September 30, 2019. In addition, with funds transferred to ARC and
DRA through the MOU, ARC and DRA are providing in-person technical
assistance and pre-application workshops to potential applicants.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/search-
grants.html?keywords=Workforce%20
Opportunity%20for%20Rural%20Communities%20(WORC)%3A%20A%20Grant%20Initia
tive%20for%20the%20Appalachian%20and%20Delta.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
gulfport job corp center
Question. The Department has been working to rebuild the Gulfport
Job Corps Center for many, many years. The rebuilding of this Center
was important to my predecessor, and I will continue to work toward its
completion to benefit my constituents in South Mississippi. I commend
the Department for prioritizing this project in recent years and
appreciate the monthly progress updates. I understand the Department
has been working on the design phase since September 2018, and the
design completion date is expected in April 2020.
Please explain to the Committee why the design phase is so lengthy.
Answer. The design phase for a project of this magnitude and
technical complexity can typically take 1 year. However, the design
phase for this project was extended to approximately 18 months due to
the historic preservation process and the resulting Memorandum of
Agreement (MOA) signed by the Department and the Advisory Council on
Historic Preservation, to which the City of Gulfport is an invited
signatory. Significant public review and involvement is required by the
MOA at two major design phases, and the periods of time allowed for
public comment and potential implementation for resulting modifications
to the design is approximately four to 6 months. These additional
review periods account for the difference in time between the typical
design period and the design period for this project.
Question. How long do you expect the construction phase will be?
Should my constituents expect a prolonged construction process?
Answer. The construction phase is expected to take approximately 19
months. Technical complications related to temporarily supporting the
existing facfade during demolition and then permanently attaching the
facfade to the new buildings lengthen the typical construction period
by at least 6 months.
h-2a and h-b visa filing systems
Question. The H-2A and H-2B seasonal worker programs are vital for
the success of many American farmers and business owners. My
constituents rely on the timely processing of seasonal worker
applications. Failure to fill the positions often result in shortened
seasons, cancelled contracts, and even closed businesses. Over a number
of years, the Appropriations Committee has invested significant funding
to upgrade the Department's processing system. However, the filing
system experienced technical issues this January during peak filing
season.
What is the Department doing to correct ongoing technical issues
and ensure the timely processing of applications?
Answer. Under the leadership of the Office of the Chief Information
Officer, the Department is well underway with efforts to implement a
new electronic filing and case management system that will replace the
legacy iCERT System. This modernized solution--the Foreign Labor
Application Gateway System (FLAG)--leverages proven enterprise, cloud-
based technology that can quickly scale up or down to meet peak filing
demands. Both the H-2A and H-2B programs have been a primary focus in
the rollout of the FLAG System (https://flag.dol.gov), which will
foster efficiencies in the processing of employer applications and
create a streamlined user experience. In addition, the Department is
working to upgrade and eliminate legacy technology infrastructure by
modernizing functions that currently rely on outdated technologies to
create processing efficiencies, reduce maintenance costs, and minimize
security risks. In June 2019, the Department implemented the FLAG
System for employers seeking temporary labor certification to employ H-
2B workers beginning in fiscal year 2020, with further staggered
rollouts for other temporary programs, including H-2A, through the end
of calendar year 2019.
Furthermore, the Department has taken rapid action on occasions
where technical issues have been encountered, such as in January 2019.
On January 1, 2019, the volume of users who accessed the system to file
an H-2B temporary labor certification was thirty times the number of
users that accessed the system on January 1, 2018, overwhelming the
system and triggering a multi-day service disruption in the iCERT
system. In response to the system disruption, the Department
immediately assembled a team to expeditiously restore service. Once
service was restored on January 7, 2019, the Department processed all
applications based on the date and time received into the system, in
accordance with H-2B processing procedures in effect at that time, as
announced on June 1, 2018. The Department's goal is to issue H-2B
temporary labor certifications covering enough jobs to fill the semi-
annual cap as efficiently as possible. Despite the delays caused by the
technical issues and service disruption, the Department was still able
to issue certifications for enough worker positions to fill the second
half of the fiscal year 2019 visa cap by February 12, which represents
a 9-day reduction in processing time over the same mark for fiscal year
2018. As a result, employers received certifications with ample time to
complete the remainder of the H-2B visa process and have their H-2B
workers available on their requested start date of need.
Question. What can Congress and the Department do to facilitate a
less complex and more efficient and effective seasonal worker system?
Answer. Congress can best facilitate a more efficient and effective
system by supporting the Administration's two legislative proposals in
the fiscal year 2020 Budget, which would establish cost-based fees for
employers filing Foreign Labor Certification (FLC) applications and
increase the existing American Competitiveness and Workforce
Improvement Act (ACWIA) fee collected by the Department of Homeland
Security for H-1B applications. These proposals would link the supply
of FLC case processing resources to the demand for labor
certifications, reduce the risk of processing delays, enhance fraud
protection, and eventually eliminate the need for FLC appropriations.
water industry registered apprenticeship programs--b
Question. Water and wastewater utilities are important to the
economic development and health of our rural communities. With the
current workforce nearing retirement, skilled workers are vital to
maintaining our water infrastructure, especially in rural areas. I have
heard from constituents who are concerned with the lack of skilled
labor to meet the needs of the industry.
What is the Department doing to support industry Registered
Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) that support this water utilities need,
especially in rural areas?
Answer. The Department is committed to expanding apprenticeship
opportunities across a broad range of sectors and occupations,
particularly in those industries where a shortage of skilled workers
threatens the long-term safety and economic growth of rural
communities. Over the next decade, the water sector is expected to lose
between 30 to 50 percent \5\ of its workforce to retirement. The
establishment and growth of quality apprenticeship programs in the
water and wastewater utilities industries can provide an effective
workforce strategy for addressing the emerging skills gap in these
critical fields.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\5\ GAO Report 18-102, ``Water and Wastewater Workforce: Recruiting
Approaches Helped Industry Hire Operators, but Additional EPA Guidance
Could Help Identify Future Needs,''
January 2018, p. 17.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through its National Guidelines Standards of apprenticeship, the
Department has assisted stakeholders and industry associations in
developing nationally-recognized education and training standards for
specific water utility occupations. On November 14, 2017, at a signing
ceremony at the Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C., the
National Rural Water Association (NRWA) formally announced an
apprenticeship program for rural water utilities (the ``WaterPro
Apprenticeship Program'') with the Department's Office of
Apprenticeship (OA). Bulletin 2017-47 publicized the WaterPro
apprenticeship program, which establishes a set of National Guideline
Standards of apprenticeship that are tailored to the specific
occupational requirements of water systems operations specialists and
wastewater system operations specialists. As a leading provider of
training for rural water and wastewater systems, NRWA is currently
collaborating with State and local leaders to accelerate the
development of RAPs covering these critical occupations.
At present, a total of 17 NRWA state affiliates have successful
RAPs that conform to these NRWA National Guideline Standards, and
registration applications from NRWA affiliates in 12 additional states
are currently in process. Nationally, 140 active apprentices are
enrolled in the NRWA-sponsored apprenticeship program. Local NRWA-
affiliated program sponsors include Pentair, Inc. (based in Aurora,
Illinois) and the West Virginia American Water Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Committee (based in Charleston, West Virginia). The
groundbreaking NRWA RAPs directly address the concerns raised by GAO
Report 18-102 (January 2018) about the current and growing nationwide
shortage of well-trained drinking water and wastewater management
professionals. For more information concerning the NRWA national
apprenticeship program, please visit the following links:
--https://nrwa.org/initiatives/apprenticeship-program
--https://nrwa.org/2017/11/nrwa-partners-with-department-of-labor-on-
apprenticeship-program/
In the fall of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
awarded a $6 million grant to the NRWA for further development of its
national apprenticeship program. With this new funding from USDA, NRWA
will have additional means to help States develop RAPs for water and
wastewater system operations specialists.
In addition, in May 2019, the Department released a funding
opportunity through the Apprenticeship Expansion and Modernization Fund
to support the development of innovative tools and strategies that,
while relatively untested, hold promise to transform Registered
Apprenticeship and support the expansion of RAPs throughout the Nation.
This opportunity allows applicants to propose innovative projects that
best meet the specific challenges and needs in their area, their
industry, or the local population. Vendor proposals are in development
and may include projects that support workforce development in rural
areas.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Patty Murray
most hazardous workplace hazards
Question. You highlighted in your testimony the 32,000 inspections
conducted by OSHA. However, you failed to acknowledge that within this
level OSHA has shifted its enforcement priorities away from those that
OSHA acknowledges are ``resource-intensive enforcement activity . . .
focused on some of the most hazardous work place hazards.'' Ergonomics
is one of those hazards, yet such inspections have dropped by almost 70
percent over the past 2 years, even though musculoskeletal disorders
are a leading work-related illness reported by the Bureau of Labor
Statistics.
Why has OSHA reduced inspections of the most hazardous workplace
hazards?
Answer. Ergonomic inspections are primarily based on complaints,
and vary from year to year. While the number of ergonomic related
inspections has declined over the last 5 years, OSHA believes that
number will increase as a result of its Site Specific Targeting Program
(SST), which was launched in the first quarter of fiscal year 2018.
Under SST, OSHA uses employer provided injury and illness data to
direct enforcement resources to those workplaces with the highest rates
of injury and illness. With more than one third of the non-fatal
incidents reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics related to
ergonomics, OSHA expects the SST to find more ergonomic violations.
federal enforcement staffing levels
Question. Mr. Secretary, OSHA's Federal Enforcement staffing level
is down by 191, or 13 percent, since 2016. I understand some hiring
actions are in process, but OSHA needs to do more to get its staffing
up and quickly. Please provide an update on OSHA's actions to hire,
train, and deploy compliance safety and health officers.
What is OSHA's plan for maintaining its enforcement workforce and
ensuring that vacancies are filled in a timely way?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
has taken several steps to increase its Federal Enforcement staffing
levels. Beginning in 2017, the agency received approval to fill all
funded Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHO) positions. All
vacancies are being recruited for, and OSHA is in the process of on-
boarding the inspectors. The agency begins the recruitment process as
soon as a vacancy occurs, or an upcoming retirement is announced. OSHA
advertises and recruits individuals to fill all current vacancies, and
the new inspectors then begin the on-boarding process. The recruitment
and on-boarding process can take from three to 6 months, which includes
the time necessary for advertisement, application, screening and
interviews, and completing the required clearance of applicants under
consideration, such as security and CSHO physicals. OSHA has also begun
recruiting for a larger number of positions than available vacancies to
ensure there is a continuous pool of CSHO applicants for selection when
future vacancies occur.
workplace violence
Question. It's been more than 3 years since the Government
Accountability Office (GAO) made recommendations that would help reduce
the risk of workplace violence for approximately 15 million healthcare
workers in the United States. I, along with Representatives Bobby
Scott, Joe Courtney and Frederica Wilson, requested GAO undertake this
work. I am concerned about the pace of OSHA's actions to implement
these recommendations. OSHA updated its voluntary guidelines on
preventing workplace violence in healthcare and social services and its
enforcement procedures for addressing workplace violence under OSHA's
general duty clause. However, OSHA has yet to issue its report that
will help compliance officers develop citations in workplace violence
cases. And, it is still considering information from its December 2016
Request for Information (RFI).
When will OSHA implement this report?
Answer. On January 10, 2017, the Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) issued the enforcement directive ``Enforcement
Procedures and Scheduling for Occupational Exposure to Workplace
Violence.'' This directive provides detailed guidance and procedures
for compliance officers when conducting inspections and issuing
citations related to workplace violence.
Question. When will OSHA act on the information it has received
from the RFI?
Answer. OSHA is in the process of analyzing the information it has
gathered from petitioners for a standard, participants of the
stakeholder meeting, comments received in response to its Request for
Information (RFI), and experts. OSHA will use this information to
develop regulatory alternatives and cost and benefit analyses required
to initiate the SBREFA process in Fall 2019. The enforcement directive
can be found at https://www.osha.gov/enforcement/directives/cpl-02-01-
058.
Question. When will OSHA convene a SBREFA panel so that it can
finally issue a workplace violence standard, and what is delaying that
process?
Answer. There is not a delay. OSHA is in the process of analyzing
the information it has gathered from petitioners for a standard,
participants of the stakeholder meeting, comments received in response
to the RFI, and experts. OSHA will use this information to develop
regulatory alternatives and cost and benefit analyses required to
initiate the small business review process required by the Small
Business Regulatory Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA). OSHA anticipates
initiating the SBREFA process in Fall 2019.
Question. For each of the past 5 years, how many citations under
the General Duty clause has OSHA issued related to workplace violence
in healthcare settings?
Answer. The following table provides the number of citations under
the General Duty clause for workplace violence by fiscal year:
------------------------------------------------------------------------
2014 2015 2016 2017 2018
------------------------------------------------------------------------
4 6 7 9 5
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Question. Additionally, what is the Department doing more generally
to address harassment and violence in workplaces across the Nation?
Answer. OSHA regional and area office staff provide guidance to
employers and employees concerning workplace violence. Each region has
a workplace violence coordinator who can respond to questions
concerning workplace violence and provide guidance to employers on
developing policies and procedures to protect workers from violence.
Similarly, these workplace violence coordinators support area office
staff who respond to employee and employer questions about workplace
safety. Employee training concerning workplace violence has been
provided through Susan Harwood training grants, and those training
materials are available on the OSHA website. In addition, workplace
violence prevention is a current topic in the fiscal year 2019 Susan
Harwood Grants funding opportunity announcement.
highest-impact and highest-risk workplaces
Question. The OSHA Congressional Budget Justification states that
OSHA plans to begin ``shifting the focus to the highest-impact and most
complex inspections at the highest-risk workplaces.''
Please describe in more detail these plans, including how OSHA will
identify the highest-impact and highest-risk workplaces.
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
revising its enforcement weighting system. The updated system will
include a greater emphasis on the impact of inspections, rather than
the current system's emphasis on the resources expended in an
inspection. With this revision, OSHA can emphasize inspections that are
not resource intensive, but save more lives and reduce exposure to
hazards. These inspections include those addressing fall and trenching
hazards.
Question. Further, what additional steps will OSHA take to
publicize and promote its inspection findings and citations so that the
regulated community understand that OSHA will vigorously enforce
employer obligations under the Occupational Safety and Health Act?
Answer. OSHA makes use of a variety of tools to disseminate
information on inspection findings, citations, and the importance of
enforcement. OSHA's website has several resources that provide
enforcement information, including data on annual inspection activity;
a map of enforcement cases with initial penalties of $40,000 or more,
and a search tool that allows users to access OSHA inspection data by
establishment name, North American Industry Classification System code,
or inspection number. The agency also maintains a webpage that provides
data on work-related fatalities that occurred under Federal OSHA and
State Plan jurisdiction. The page is updated regularly, as data become
available. Additionally, any page on the OSHA website can be auto-
translated into Spanish with the simple click of a button.
Information about enforcement cases and programs is also shared
through OSHA's twice-monthly QuickTakes newsletter, which reaches more
than 257,000 subscribers; the agency's Twitter feed; and a trade media
email list through which news releases are distributed. The importance
of strong, fair, and full enforcement is also shared in speeches and
presentations by OSHA leadership and staff to a wide variety of
audiences.
OSHA continuously looks for opportunities to improve its website
and outreach tools, and make information--including enforcement
information--more accessible, understandable, and usable.
osha reporting
Question. Last year's Committee report instructed ``OSHA to resume
timely and public reporting on its website of fatalities that occur at
workplaces, regardless if a citation is issued.'' This directive has
not been followed.
Why is OSHA not in compliance?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
in compliance with this directive. Since October 2017, OSHA has
published on its website a list of all inspections initiated in
response to a workplace fatality that occurred on or after January 1,
2017. The list includes all fatality inspections under Federal OSHA or
State Plan jurisdiction regardless of whether citations were issued.
The list can be reached from anywhere on the agency's website through
the ``Fatality Reports'' link under the main ``Data'' menu. The
fatality reports page is updated approximately every two weeks to allow
OSHA staff time to manually review each fatality report description and
ensure that it does not include personally identifiable information. In
order to provide the most accurate information possible about the
hazards related to a fatality, inspection data is added to the fatality
reports page after OSHA concludes the inspection.
Question. Why is OSHA opposed to recognizing those workers that
have been killed on the job and the impact unsafe working conditions
have on individuals and families?
Answer. OSHA takes every workplace fatality seriously. As a result,
the agency maintains a dedicated page on its website listing all
inspections that were conducted in response to a workplace fatality
that occurred on or after January 1, 2017. The list includes a
description of the hazard that led to each fatality, as well as an
indicator of whether OSHA issued any citations related to the fatality.
OSHA believes this publicly available data source is an important tool
to better understand the impact that workplace hazards can have on
individuals and their families. The hyperlink to the fatality data is:
https://www.osha.gov/dep/fatcat/dep_fatcat.html.
improving timeliness and accuracy of prevailing wage rates
Question. I am glad that you have stated clearly your support for
the application of Davis Bacon wage protections to any infrastructure
package that Congress considers. As you are aware, the Department of
Labor Inspector General issued a report in March of this year that
found the ``Wage and Hour Division needs better strategies to improve
the timeliness and accuracy of prevailing wage rates'' and made eight
recommendations to improve the overall quality and accuracy of
prevailing wage rates.
Please describe planned actions and associated timelines to address
each of the report's recommendations.
Answer. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) submitted a comprehensive
response to the Department of Labor Office of Inspector General (OIG)
report and its eight specific recommendations. In that response, WHD
generally agreed with OIG's recommendations and committed to numerous
actions that are intended to effectively and efficiently implement
OIG's recommended improvements to the Davis-Bacon Act wage
determinations program. WHD subsequently submitted its official 60-day
response to OIG's final report on May 31, 2019. The response included
detailed information regarding WHD's planned actions and associated
timelines to address each of the report's eight recommendations. WHD
has already taken some steps to address OIG's recommendations. Further,
WHD is convening a cross-functional task force to reassess
comprehensively WHD's wage determination process and to determine the
best way to implement each of OIG's recommendations.
payroll audit independent determination (paid) pilot program
Question. Mr. Secretary, as you are aware, I am concerned that the
Wage and Hour Division's Payroll Audit Independent Determination (PAID)
pilot program is nothing more than amnesty for employers engaged in
wage theft. In response to a question I asked last year about your
evaluation of the PAID pilot program, it was stated that ``At the end
of the pilot period, WHD will review lessons learned . . . and use a
balanced approach in assessing all aspects of this pilot phase of the
program, including quantitative and qualitative measures, as well as
feedback from employees, employers, and WHD staff.''
Given that PAID was announced as an approximately six month
program, that was subsequently extended for another 6 months, please
provide the reasons for the subsequent extension, lessons learned, the
data and information collected from the qualitative and quantitative
measures, and feedback from employees, employers and WHD staff that are
informing current and future implementation of this pilot program.
Answer. The Wage and Hour Division's (WHD) Payroll Audit
Independent Determination (PAID) pilot program facilitates resolution
of potential overtime and minimum wage violations under the Fair Labor
Standards Act (FLSA). The primary goals of the PAID program are
identifying and correcting non-compliant practices so employees receive
100 percent of their back wages due in a fraction of time of a typical
investigation. To that end, the PAID program requires employers to
review their pay practices, accept compliance assistance, and correct
the practices that led to the errors. This is a win for employees, a
win for employers, and a win for taxpayers.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's Voluntary
Protection Program and the Employee Benefits Security Administration's
Voluntary Fiduciary Correction Program are similar to PAID. These long-
standing programs encourage correction of possible violations of the
law and expand worker protection.
Questions regarding program outcomes will be addressed in a report
in response to S. Rept. 115-289--language which accompanied the Senate
Appropriations Committee-passed version of Labor, Health and Human
Services, Education, and Related Agencies Appropriation Act, 2019. The
language directed the Wage and Hour Division (WHD) to submit a report
to the Committee no later than 12 months after the date of the act
detailing the outcomes of the PAID pilot program.
Until that report becomes available, early testimonials from
employees and employers alike indicate that the results are
overwhelmingly positive. The program's goal is to get back wages into
the hands of employees more quickly, and that is what has been
happening. Providing this platform for well-intentioned employers to
resolve violations frees the Division to commit more resources to
investigating the more egregious, willful violators, affecting even
more employees and bringing those violators into compliance moving
forward. Under this program, the Department expects more employers to
proactively conduct audits that otherwise may not occur. As a result,
more employees will be paid the back wages they have rightfully earned.
At the conclusion of the pilot phase in September 2018, most PAID
cases remained open, but cases with back wages due appeared to require
fewer investigator hours than full investigations. Since then, WHD has
worked to implement PAID consistent with existing protocols and
procedures for compliance actions, which has allowed district offices
to incorporate the program into enforcement and compliance assistance
tools already in place. WHD has continued collecting and assessing
administrative enforcement data throughout the program's implementation
and will be addressed in a report in response to S. Rept. 115-289, no
later than 12 months after the date of the Act.
modernized compliance assistance
Question. The budget proposal for the Wage and Hour Division
includes an increase of 7 FTE and $1,068,000 ``to implement modernized
compliance assistance that will enable the agency to develop and
deliver employer-focused resources and tools.''
Please describe the assistance, associated staffing levels, and
budgetary resources you are providing to workers on recognizing when
and how they are being victimized by their employers?
Answer. The Wage and Hour Division (WHD) uses a multi-pronged
approach to meet its mission of promoting and achieving compliance:
investigations in high-violation industries, engagement and education
of private and public stakeholders, and the use of communications tools
and compliance assistance. In addition, WHD takes an evidence-based
approach to ensure that it prioritizes providing compliance assistance
and using enforcement resources in areas where the agency is most
likely to uncover violations. This process, informed by data, research,
and evaluation, allows the agency to make the most of its limited
resources. WHD set a record in fiscal year 2018 recovering $304 million
for workers, as well as setting a record in fiscal year 2018 with more
than 3,600 outreach events. WHD staff are generalists and focus on the
multi-pronged approach to achieving compliance with the laws we
enforce.
WHD continues to conduct extensive outreach to employee
organizations, and that outreach focuses not only on workers' rights,
but also on explaining how to get in touch, confidentially with the
Department if they have questions, or if they want to file a complaint.
Our website offers clear information on how to reach us, as well as on
how to file a complaint. Our compliance assistance materials include a
wide range of plain language materials explaining worker's rights, and
WHD publishes hundreds of press releases each year identifying
employers found in violation through our investigations. Those press
releases explain the nature of the violations so that employees of
other employers may recognize if the same practices are affecting them,
and reach out to WHD for confidential assistance.
whd continuous business process improvements
Question. The Wage and Hour Division budget also refers to learning
from other government enforcement agencies that will be leveraged to
design a system that will support continuous business process
improvements at the Division.
Please describe the evidence and learning that support these
changes and the specific plans and investments needed for the agency to
implement this transformation.
Answer. The Wage and Hour Division's (WHD) existing applications
are nearly 20 years old. They are difficult and costly to maintain. As
a result, WHD is leveraging the Department's Case Management Platform,
an Appian-based Business Process Management System to modernize its
suite of applications. This system provides the flexibility to adapt
quickly to policy and process changes that naturally evolve over time.
These investments in technology and capacity-building will sustain the
agency's strong performance results and is expected to have an outsized
impact on long-term organizational effectiveness and efficiency.
Additionally, this year, WHD spearheaded an effort to stand up an
Appian Business Users Forum to facilitate sharing of information and
best practices across agencies. WHD will continue to collaborate across
agencies to ensure success of the program. The agency is working
closely with the Department's Chief Information Office to modernization
efforts to promote, reuse, and leverage lessons learned from other
Appian development efforts.
In modernizing its suite of applications, WHD will decouple legacy
data structures from programmatically siloed software and allow for the
establishment of an enterprise data management and analytics platform.
The resulting technical architecture will enable WHD to manage data as
a valuable, strategic business asset, thereby evolving the treatment of
data as just administrative outputs. A dynamic, user-centric system is
expected to significantly increase operational efficiencies, reduce
costs, and allow for greater innovation in meeting the mission.
Investigators and programmatic staff can dedicate more time towards
higher value work while agency leadership can focus resources where
data and evidence show WHD can have the greatest impact.
women's bureau budget cuts
Question. I am greatly concerned about the significant reduction of
$10.225 million for the Women's Bureau. This would cause the number of
policy and research deliverables to fall from 16 in fiscal year 2018 to
7 under the fiscal year 2020 budget request. It would slash by 60
percent the number of staff working at the Women's bureau. This would
diminish the bureau's work on the full range of issues facing women
seeking entry to the workforce and in addressing other challenges of
working women, such as equal pay for equal work.
Don't you agree that we should be creating greater opportunities
for women?
Answer. Women are nearly fifty percent of the workforce and the
President's fiscal year 2020 budget and previous budget requests
reflect the importance of women in the workforce.
The Women's Bureau serves an important role at the Department of
Labor, promoting and advancing the interests of working women by
convening stakeholders, advising on policy change, and starting
conversations around topics that are critical to women, their families,
and our Nation's prosperity. Success for the Women's Bureau is achieved
when the issues it champions move beyond the Bureau, because that means
the problems and opportunities identified through its work are being
addressed.
Next year, the Women's Bureau will celebrate its Centennial year,
which provides an opportunity to reflect on how far women have come
over the past 100 years. Over the past century, the Women's Bureau has
successfully advocated for workplace safety standards, family leave
benefits, and pay equality protections.
The Women's Bureau has recently taken a number of actions to
advance women's workplace policies and influence the current state of
women in the workforce. Since the beginning of 2017, the Women's Bureau
has:
--Partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services to help
increase working families' access to affordable, quality child
care;
--Worked with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the
Treasury Department to grow opportunities for women in
entrepreneurship;
--Coordinated with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
to increase opportunities for women to access and thrive in
apprenticeship programs;
--Joined the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), the
Department of Defense, and others to address employment
opportunities and reducing occupational licensing barriers for
military spouses, 92 percent of whom are women; and
--Supported the Trump Administration's commitment to address the
opioid crisis with a focus on helping women who have been
impacted by the opioid crisis.
None of these efforts will be negatively affected by the fiscal
year 2020 budget. Instead, the Department will more effectively support
and advance the mission of the Women's Bureau by focusing the Bureau's
resources on conducting research and collaborating with agencies and
departments across the government. In the coming year, the Women's
Bureau will collaborate with ETA and VETS to support grant work on
State licensing and promoting employment for military spouses; with the
White House to identify innovative solutions to childcare; and with SBA
to expand opportunities for women to thrive in entrepreneurship.
As mentioned previously, the Women's Bureau provides research and
analysis on the issues of interest to working women. Following a
request by members of the Senate, the Women's Bureau commissioned a
study, which is still in the early stages of analysis, to produce an
independent, more precise and current estimate of the gender wage gap.
The commissioned work will update a study on the gender wage gap issued
by the Department in 2009. The 2009 study, which was funded by the
Department and produced by the CONSAD Research Corporation,
systematically reviewed then-available research on gender differentials
in earnings and used data from the Current Population Survey to
identify factors (including education, occupation, industry, work
experience, and career interruptions) that contributed to the gender
wage gap.
In addition to the CONSAD update research study, the Women's Bureau
is partnering with the Census Bureau to link administrative and survey
data to produce a more precise and current estimate of the gender wage
gap. The study will include an in-depth examination of variables such
as industry, occupation, education and work experience that contribute
to the gender wage gap. Findings from both projects are expected by the
end of the 2019 calendar year.
While recognizing that many factors go into determining wages,
data-driven information concerning the wage gap provides a baseline for
women planning careers to learn about prospective occupations, and as a
comparison point for women already in the labor force to evaluate their
wages. The Women's Bureau has an interactive visualization tool
available on the Women's Bureau website, which shows average wages for
women and men in more than 300 occupations.
ETA also supports programs to provide workforce development
services for female workers. For example, the Women's Bureau is
collaborating with the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) to recruit and
retain women in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs as
potential pathways for women to non-traditional occupations that may
have higher average salaries. Through WIOA, ETA supports programs that
provide workforce development services for individuals with barriers to
employment, including over two million women workers in Program Year
2017. In addition, WIOA emphasizes providing services and placing women
in non-traditional occupations, such as apprenticeships, that may have
higher average salaries.
Question. Won't this diminished workforce and the significant
reduction of policy and research deliverables mean fewer opportunities
for women?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
ilab budget cuts
Question. Mr. Secretary, in the foreword to your Department's 2018
List of Goods Produced by Child Labor or Forced Labor, you wrote:
``these reports show us that we need to accelerate progress toward
ending child labor, forced labor, human trafficking, and modern
slavery. This is vital if we are to make trade fair for all.''
How will you accelerate progress on these critical issues when your
budget proposes a 79 percent reduction for the key agency of the
Department involved in this work?
Answer. With these resources ILAB will continue to pursue the
Administration's priority of combatting child labor, forced labor,
human trafficking, modern slavery, and other important humanitarian
issues. United States trading partners receive an unfair subsidy when
they fail to comply with their trade-related labor commitments,
including not doing enough to prevent and address cases of forced labor
and child labor. This puts workers and businesses in the United States
at a competitive disadvantage. ILAB will use its expertise to address
these issues and ensure that U.S. workers and businesses are able to
compete on a fair global playing field.
ILAB will continue to monitor and enforce the labor provisions of
free trade agreements and trade preference programs. The Department's
approach will include prioritizing proactive monitoring of labor
conditions in key countries; reviewing trade complaints; using ILAB
experts to provide targeted direct technical support to trading
partners to improve laws and enforcement; and aggressively engaging
with trade partners that are deemed to be out of compliance.
ILAB will provide direct technical support to our trading partners
to improve laws and enforcement and will use its existing technical
assistance portfolio to combat forced labor and child labor and improve
labor enforcement and working conditions around the world. At the same
time, we are asking our trading partners to invest more of their own
resources to enforce their labor laws and fund initiatives to combat
child labor, forced labor, and modern slavery. ILAB will also increase
its impact by strengthening partnerships with other U.S. government
agencies, such as the Office of the U.S. Trade Representative, the
Department of State, and Department of Homeland Security, as well as
with private sector stakeholders to prevent the importation of goods
made with forced labor and child labor and make trade more fair for
workers and businesses in the United States.
dol's work with the department of education
Question. The Department of Education budget includes $60 million
to support State efforts to create pre-apprenticeship programs that
increase the number of adults who are able to meet the basic entrance
requirements of apprenticeship programs.
What plans does the Department have to work with the Department of
Education on this program?
Answer. The Department of Labor is working with the Department of
Education and plans to release a Training and Employment Guidance
Letter that will define a pre-apprenticeship program, describe the pre-
apprenticeship program pathways that may connect to apprenticeship
programs, and ensure alignment with current Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA) guidance. This upcoming guidance will help
inform the Department of Education on how pre-apprenticeship programs
could serve as a pathway to apprenticeships.
Question. Is it the Department of Labor's understanding that the
purpose of such pre-apprenticeship programs is to enable participants
to qualify for and participate in existing registered apprenticeship
programs?
Answer. In addition to defining a pre-apprenticeship program,
describing the pre-apprenticeship program pathways that may connect to
apprenticeship programs, and ensuring alignment with current Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) guidance, the above-mentioned
Training and Employment Guidance Letter will also explain how quality
pre-apprenticeship programs can play a valuable role in providing work-
based learning to prepare adults for an entry-level Registered
Apprenticeship Program.
Question. If not, why would this initiative ignore the existing
infrastructure around such high-quality registered apprenticeship
programs and instead propose pathways into duplicative, lower quality
programs?
Answer. The Department strongly encourages the development of pre-
apprenticeship programs to better prepare individual to enter
apprenticeship programs that lead to skilled jobs that pay family-
sustaining wages.
While alignment of pre-apprenticeship programs to Registered
Apprenticeship Programs remains a best practice, advancement to
employment opportunities and other advanced training opportunities that
result in portable, industry-recognized credentials are also viable
pathways, particularly in fields where apprenticeships are still
emerging (including, IT, cyber security, financial services, healthcare
and manufacturing).
Accordingly, the Department is considering actions to update
guidance in order to expand pre-apprentices' opportunities to gain a
foothold in the successful apprenticeship model.
msha's combined enforcement budget activity
Question. The budget request for the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) proposes a single enforcement budget activity,
combining Coal Mine Safety and Health with Metal and Nonmetal Mine
Safety and Health.
Please explain the basis for the Department's determination that
such a consolidation is needed and would bolster, rather than diminish,
MSHA's ability to enforce the Mine Safety and Health Act. Please also
describe how the enforcement consolidation will be implemented,
monitored, and evaluated in ensuring that inspections at different
types of mines will consistently adhere to MSHA policies and
procedures. The Congressional Budget Justification also states that
``The merger will consist of two program areas, while still
accommodating situations unique to certain types of mines.'' Please
elaborate on MSHA's thinking about the merger and such accommodations.
Answer. The Mine Safety and Health Administration's (MSHA) ``One
MSHA'' initiative began by creating the unified position of
Administrator, Mine Safety & Health over all of Enforcement. MSHA then
evaluated all mines for distance from MSHA offices, and identified 90
mines where it made sense to train a coal inspector to inspect a metal/
nonmetal mine, or vice versa. The Mine Academy in Beckley, WV
established and revised our curriculum, with input from the National
Council of Field Labor Locals (NCFLL). MSHA provided up to 56 hours of
classroom training for those inspectors, plus up to 24 hours on-the-job
training with a seasoned inspector or manager.
During the 6 months beginning last October, inspectors for those 90
mines spent 41 percent less time driving than previously. This saves
taxpayer dollars on vehicles, fuel, food and lodging. But ultimately
this is about more effectively achieving MSHA's core mission: instead
of spending time driving in a car, our inspectors can spend more time
on site interacting with miners and observing safety conditions.
Based on the success of phase one, starting July 1st MSHA will add
117 more mines. Understand that MSHA will retain specialists in their
current roles to cover specific mining conditions, such as ventilation
experts inspecting underground coal mines prone to hazardous conditions
like combustible coal dust and methane inundation.
In keeping MSHA's promise to House and Senate Appropriations
Committees, MSHA's Office of Accountability will audit crossover mine
inspections to ensure that enforcement personnel adhered to MSHA's
policies and procedures.
dol's chief evaluation office
Question. Earlier this year, the President signed into law a bill I
co-wrote with former Speaker Paul Ryan called the ``Foundations for
Evidence-Based Policymaking Act of 2018'' (Public Law 115-435).
Given the Department of Labor already has in place a Chief
Evaluation Officer and produces a regular evaluation plan--please
describe any changes to that position or process that will occur
following enactment of Public Law 115-435?
Answer. As noted in the question, the Department has in place
already several key provisions of the new legislation. Per Section
101(a) of Title 1, the Department's Chief Evaluation Officer position
is a career official with demonstrated methodological and subject-
matter expertise. This office is staffed with highly-skilled evaluation
professionals who ensure robust and meaningful coordination with the
Department's evaluation program. The Department has an evaluation
policy and learning agenda/annual evaluation plan, which ground
evaluation in a broader portfolio of evidence-building that includes
analytical, statistical, and research activities.
These key foundational practices will be augmented by updates to
the Department's evaluation plan and planning process to ensure full
compliance with the law. The following are key updates to the current
planning process: to demarcate the ``significant'' studies in the
evaluation portfolio and their anticipated research questions, to
describe the key information collections and acquisitions, and to align
the plan with any other requirements as specified in yet-to-be-released
guidance. The Department will also modify the planning process timeline
to align with the reporting cycle of its performance plan.
Question. In addition, please describe the steps the Department is
taking to prioritize implementation of the bill's other key provisions,
including those related to tapping senior leaders to fulfill the law's
goals (e.g., the Chief Data Officer and the Statistical Officer--in
addition to the Chief Evaluation Officer), improving coordination of
data within the Department, and ultimately improving accessibility of
Labor data?
Answer. On March 12, 2019, a Secretary's Order \6,7\ was signed,
creating a Chief Data Officer (CDO) and the Department of Labor's Data
Board in the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy. The Data
Board, led by the CDO, will serve as the Department's enterprise
oversight body for the development of coordinated Department-wide
positions on data strategy, data management, standards management, and
implementation of the data responsibilities under the new legislation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ https://www.Federalregister.gov/d/2019-05720 (signed 03/12/
2019, published 03/26/2019).
\7\ https://www.dol.gov/newsroom/releases/osec/osec20190313,
published 03/13/2019.
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Question. The Department did not include a request for additional
resources to support implementation; how does the Department intend to
ensure the capacity exists to implement this new law?
Answer. Given that the Department has existing infrastructure and
resources to leverage for implementation, the current priority is on
adapting established roles and processes. Additionally, the Department
will use the interim evidence capacity assessment planning process to
strategically assess, align, and potentially augment internal assets to
ensure full implementation of the new law.
Question. What is the Department's timeline for designating the
senior leaders?
Answer. Public Law115-435 requires the Department designate the
evaluation, data, and statistical officer within 180 days of enactment.
The Department has named an acting CDO who is organizing the newly
formalized data board and developing plans and structures to implement
the legislation and Secretary's Order. The Department is working to
designate a Statistical Officer by the end of fiscal year 2019.
Question. Finally, how does the Department see the interagency
Chief Data Officer Council and the Advisory Committee on Data for
Evidence Building as helping to improve the sharing of and access to
data for purposes of evidence building?
Answer. The Department sees these interagency committees as
critical for advancing evidence building, particularly in an era of
limited budgets and the need for rapid insights. The interagency
committees identified by the statute could fill an important gap in
identifying efficient, streamlined, and cost-effective solutions for
data sharing to answer mission critical questions.
dol's policies and rationales
Question. Secretary Acosta, you have repeatedly criticized the use
of sub-regulatory guidance by the Department and other administrative
agencies as using ``administrative fiat'' to make significant policy
changes. You have said that any change in substantive law should be
made by Congress or through notice and comment rulemaking. At the
hearing, you reiterated this Administration's position that full
rulemaking is the better approach, and stated that the Department is
developing its own internal mechanism to decide whether something is
appropriate as a guidance document or as a rulemaking.
Please provide a detailed explanation for this new internal
mechanism, including a statement of the Department's official policy
and rationale for developing and implementing the policy.
Answer. The Department of Labor believes that the best practice is
generally to use the Administrative Procedure Act's (APA) prescribed
rulemaking process, allowing for the American public's input and
ability to access and challenge new policies or interpretations of the
law. The Department is concerned that in the past, sub-regulatory
guidance has been issued, without notice and comment, with the purpose
or effect of binding outside parties. The Department is also concerned
that American workers and employers may not know when an agency issues
sub-regulatory guidance, which could expose them to potential
enforcement actions under requirements about which they may not be
aware. At the same time, sub-regulatory guidance can, in certain
limited fact-specific circumstances, serve as a useful tool for
conveying the Department's interpretation of the law to the regulated
community or for educating American employers and workers about rights
and obligations that flow from the law.
The Department is committed to ensuring that the APA's rulemaking
requirements are consistently followed, while utilizing sub-regulatory
guidance judiciously and where appropriate under the law. The
Department is working on developing a standard internal mechanism to
appropriately assess guidance to determine whether it should go through
a rulemaking or be issued as guidance.
job corps funding
Question. I am deeply concerned by your proposal to gut funding for
the Job Corps --our Nation's flagship youth employment program, which
has had strong bipartisan support for more than half a century. Despite
your proposed cuts, the Appropriations Committee has protected funding
for the program with the expectation that it would continue to offer
the same number of training opportunities. Yet several centers have
closed and overall training slots are declining. I understand that you
are proceeding with amendments to the USDA-DOL agreement, which could
equate to closing 20 percent of Job Corps centers, without
congressional approval.
The Department has stated its intention to ``unwind'' the agreement
between USDA and Job Corps that allows for the operation of CCCs. Have
the Departments begun this process? Please provide a copy of the
current agreement, the updated agreement, and the current budget of the
USDA Forest Service Job Corps. Please also provide a fulsome
explanation of the Department's legal authority for transferring
operation of the CCCs from USDA to DOL, and for closing the CCCs
without congressional approval.
Answer. On May 24, 2019, the Department of Agriculture (USDA)
announced that it was withdrawing from operating Job Corps Civilian
Conservation Centers (CCCs) and transferring operations of those
centers to DOL. As a result, DOL reviewed the portfolio of CCCs and
proposed deactivation of nine CCCs and its intent to enter into
procurement or partnership as to the remaining 15 centers. USDA has
reconsidered and no longer intends to transfer these centers to DOL.
Therefore, DOL announced on June 24, 2019, that it is withdrawing its
previously published Federal Register notice proposing the deactivation
of nine CCCs.
The Department will provide a copy of the Interagency Agreement,
executed in 2008, by the Department and the USDA to the Committee.
Question. What are your plans for the 24 currently operating Job
Corps Civilian Conservation Centers, including the three in my home
State of Washington, and those training slots?
Answer. The USDA will continue to operate the 24 Job Corps CCCs,
including the three in your home State of Washington. DOL, working with
USDA, will explore ways to improve the performance of the CCCs and
results they achieve for the students. There are no plans to reduce
student training slots at the CCCs
Question. If they close, will the training slots that Congress has
funded be shifted to other Job Corps centers?
Answer. The 24 CCCs will remain open and operated by the USDA
Forest Service. The Federal Register Notice proposing deactivation of
nine CCCs was withdrawn. There are no plans to reduce student training
slots at these CCCs.
Question. If they close, please explain how the Department will
handle students enrolled at those centers. Will they be transferred to
another Center, or will they be separated from the Job Corps program
altogether?
Answer. The Federal Register Notice proposing to deactivate nine
CCCs has been withdrawn. As a result, given these CCCs are not closing,
there is no need to transfer or reassign students.
Question. If they close, what will happen to the USDA Forest
Service employees who operate and staff the centers?
Answer. Given USDA no longer intends to transfer the 24 CCCs to
DOL, USDA's Forest Service employees will continue to serve students
enrolled at these locations.
Question. If they close, how will DOL or USDA address the loss of
Forest Service Job Corps camp crews who are trained to assist during
national emergencies, including those caused by wildfires, floods,
hurricanes, and tornadoes?
Answer. We expect that USDA Forest Service will continue to support
activities in response to national emergencies. It is important to note
that community service assistance in national emergencies is an
important aspect of the Job Corps experience. Annually, Job Corps
students are engaged in a wide range of these kinds of volunteer
activities across the country.
Question. Will you attempt to enable private operators to run them?
What land-use permitting and additional costs will be required of
private operators to run these facilities on Federal lands?
Answer. As a result of the USDA decision, a land-use permit will
not be necessary.
use of job corp centers to shelter migrants
Question. Has the Department considered--or engaged with the
Department of Homeland Security, any other Federal agency, or any
private entity regarding--using Job Corps Center facilities to house or
shelter migrants?
Answer. The Department has had an agreement with the Department of
Health and Human Services (HHS), which allows HHS to use a former Job
Corps facility in Homestead, Florida, for their Administration for
Children and Families' Unaccompanied Youth program.
job corps staffing levels
Question. Job Corps operational slots have steadily declined since
the start of this Administration despite Congress having provided
stable funding levels. Job Corps' on-board strength remains around 80
percent compared to a historical average in the high 90s, even during
economic expansions.
Given Job Corps' low on-board strength, how much, if any, surplus
operational funding does ETA anticipate Job Corps having in PY 2018 and
PY 2019?
Answer. The Department does not anticipate any surplus operational
funding in Program Year (PY) 2018 or PY 2019.
Job Corps recently increased its oversight and accountability over
the implementation and adequacy of required Outreach and Public
Education Plans created by outreach and admissions providers. These
plans include, among other elements, outreach strategies to achieve and
maintain center capacity; plans to ensure coordination of efforts
between contractors and centers; and a description of the public
education and outreach methods that the contractor will develop. By
increasing accountability, the Job Corps program has increased overall
enrollment during the past year. Job Corps continues to monitor follow-
up activities associated with potential applicants expressing interest
in the program by conducting weekly teleconferences with outreach and
admissions providers to review potential applicant and new applicant
information in detail.
Currently, Job Corps is using a digital media campaign to increase
Job Corps' On-Board Strength (OBS) at many of its largest centers. This
campaign includes using a digital outreach strategy for each of the
targeted centers and requires frequent coordination among regional Job
Corps staff, a media consultant, outreach and admissions providers, and
center operators. Regular meetings are used to review and analyze OBS-
related data, identify and resolve barriers to increasing student
enrollment and retention, and provide feedback on center-specific media
outreach.
Job Corps is transitioning stand-alone outreach and admissions
activities into center operations contracts. By consolidating these
activities into the center operations contract, Job Corps center
operators assume a more direct responsibility for ensuring that their
centers are operating at full capacity
Before the end of the year, Job Corps will finalize its new
methodology for creating the Geographic Assignment Plan (GAP). This new
plan, referred to as the National Enrollee Assignment Plan (NEAP), will
apply a standard formula to all Job Corps centers to determine the
number of new students each center must enroll to maintain full
capacity. Historically, Job Corps used a fixed national average of
students it anticipated would leave the program each year to help
calculate the arrival goals for each admissions provider. The new NEAP
approach utilizes center-specific separation rates to set contract
arrival goals. Centers with higher separation rates will have higher
arrival goals in order to align with actual recruitment needs. These
revised goals will be included in each admissions provider's contract
to ensure that Job Corps centers are closer to full capacity.
As part of its new NEAP strategy, Job Corps is reestablishing its
defined recruitment areas so that they align with each State's Local
Workforce Development Areas (LWDA). As a result of aligning recruitment
efforts with LWDAs, Job Corps' outreach and admissions providers will
have the opportunity to work in collaboration with partners in the
workforce system, including receiving and providing referrals for
individuals who express interest in the Job Corps program or are in
need of other workforce development assistance.
Finally, in 2019, Job Corps plans to launch a new student
enrollment services system to identify and minimize delays and
bottlenecks in the enrollment and center assignment processes. The new
system will also improve the quality of career counseling provided,
resulting in better matching of enrollee interests and/or aptitudes
with a skills instruction program. The net results should be improved
enrollments, student arrivals, and retention.
Each month, approximately 18,000 youth express some interest in Job
Corps' education and skills instruction program. This interest is
primarily expressed through Job Corps' website. Prospective applicant
information is provided directly to outreach and admissions contractors
for follow-up. To capitalize on this interest and increase enrollment
in the program, Job Corps is currently developing a new student
enrollment services system, which will include a new information
technology (IT) platform.
The IT upgrades in the new enrollment services system will be
designed to ensure that the eligible at-risk youth in the enrollment
pipeline are promptly processed and enrolled. The new enrollment
services system will seek to leverage technology to improve
efficiencies in the system by monitoring the processing of applicants,
and quickly resolving delays and bottlenecks, which will reduce
application processing times. Job Corps' expanded use of technology
will also create greater transparency by making application and
enrollment data available in real time to those involved in the
outreach, admissions, and center assignment processes. These changes
will also provide tech-savvy youth easy access to Job Corps'
application and a better user experience during the enrollment process.
Finally, the new enrollment services system will provide meaningful
career counseling during the admissions process. This will allow Job
Corps to better manage enrollee expectations and better match enrollee
interests and aptitudes with a skills instruction program. All of these
efforts will support improved student recruitment and retention,
resulting in full utilization of Job Corps centers.
Question. What will this funding be redirected towards?
Answer. The Department does not anticipate any surplus operational
funding in Program Year (PY) 2018 or fiscal year 2019.
Question. Please provide a detailed spend plan for the PY 2018
operational funds.
Answer. Below is the PY 2018 Job Corps Operational Funds Spend
Plan.
PY 2018 OPERATIONAL FUNDS SPEND PLAN
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Contractor Operated Job Corps Centers.......... $1,152,040,482.82
Regional Grant Demonstration Projects.......... $17,336,914.00
USDA Transfer.................................. $145,810,489.00
National Administrative Support and Contracts.. $286,345,558.52
------------------------
TOTAL SPEND PLAN:.......................... $1,601,533,444.34
------------------------
TOTAL APPROPRIATION:....................... $1,603,325,000.00
------------------------
TOTAL PLANNED REMAINING BALANCE:........... $1,791,555.66
------------------------------------------------------------------------
job corps financial reporting
Question. The OIG has stated that ETA has recently allowed Job
Corps funding to expire.
WIOA requires ETA to submit periodic financial reports; have these
plans been submitted?
Answer. Pursuant to section 161(a) of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, the Department submitted three such reports to
Congress: first and second quarters of Program Year (PY) 2014 (July 1,
2014 to December 31, 2014), third and fourth quarters of PY 2014
(January 1, 2015 to June 30, 2015), and the first and second quarters
of PY 2015 (July 1, 2015 to December 31, 2015). No additional reports
were provided due to the following reasons:
--The OIG recommendations referenced in section 161(a)(1)(A) were
closed out as of March 24, 2015.
--There has not been a budgetary shortfall as referenced in section
161(a)(1)(B).
--There has not been any instances of contract expenditures in excess
of the amounts provided for under the contract as referenced in
section 161(a)(1)(C).
Question. What controls do you have in place to ensure that all the
funding Congress has appropriated for Job Corps is being spent on Job
Corps' students and mission prior to expiration?
Answer. The Department is committed to using funds appropriated by
Congress for the Job Corps program effectively and efficiently. Job
Corps currently incrementally funds 98 contract centers all with
varying contract periods, which requires additional monitoring and
oversight to account for the status of funds. The Department has
improved financial controls to more timely account for spending and
maximize the use of available funds. Several initiatives were recently
implemented to strengthen financial controls of Job Corps funding:
--Job Corps established standard procedures to ensure timely and
accurate monitoring of the status of funds. These procedures
established new levels of detail in the current financial
system of record, which has allowed Job Corps to monitor and
report on current year obligations and expenditures in real-
time across multiple fiscal, program and contract years.
--Job Corps validates unexpended funds on a quarterly basis to
determine if funds are available.
--Job Corps' program officials meet regularly with financial and
procurement staff to discuss the status of funds and to ensure
any unobligated balances are being used to serve the program's
mission.
job corps geographic assignment plan
Question. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act requires the
Department to produce a geographic assignment plan for Job Corps every
2 years.
Please share the current geographic assignment plan.
Answer. Before the end of the year, Job Corps will finalize its new
methodology for creating the Geographic Assignment Plan (GAP). This new
plan, referred to as the National Enrollee Assignment Plan (NEAP), will
be Job Corps' first comprehensive assignment plan and will replace the
GAPs developed by each Job Corps Regional Office. The NEAP will apply a
standard formula to all Job Corps centers to determine the number of
new students each center must enroll to maintain full capacity.
Historically, Job Corps used a fixed national average of students it
anticipated would leave the program each year to help calculate the
arrival goals for each admissions provider. The new NEAP approach
utilizes center-specific separation rates to set contract arrival
goals. Centers with higher separation rates will have higher arrival
goals in order to align with actual recruitment needs. These revised
goals will be included in each admissions provider's contract to help
ensure that Job Corps centers achieve and maintain full capacity.
As part of its new NEAP strategy, Job Corps is reestablishing its
defined recruitment areas so that they align with each State's Local
Workforce Development Areas (LWDA). As a result of aligning recruitment
efforts with LWDAs, Job Corps' outreach and admissions providers will
have the opportunity to work in collaboration with partners in the
workforce system, including receiving and providing referrals for
individuals who express interest in the Job Corps program or are in
need of other workforce development assistance.
Once complete, additional information regarding the NEAP will be
provided to the Committee.
job corps marketing
Question. How does DOL measure the efficacy and effectiveness of
its national marketing efforts?
Answer. Job Corps continues to refine the measures used to
determine whether its marketing is effective. Marketing is handled by a
contract marketing firm and is primarily digital (i.e., online) in
nature. Digital platforms used include Facebook, Google, Instagram, and
YouTube. However, print materials are also widely distributed.
Currently, Job Corps initially measures the efficacy and
effectiveness of its national marketing by tracking the number of
people who indicate initial interest in the Job Corps program (i.e.,
prospects). Prospects come into the system for tracking purposes via
the recruitment website or by telephone via 800-733-JOBS. Effectiveness
is also measured by the number of landing page `clicks' Job Corps
advertisements generate, the number of online enrollment interest forms
`clicks' generated, the number of interest forms submitted and, when
known, the number of applications submitted resulting from contact with
one or more of our digital platforms. Job Corps has used focus groups
and surveys to determine what advertising is most effective with its
target audience. Accordingly, Job Corps develops its outreach in
consideration of this information. Each month, approximately 18,000
youth express some interest in Job Corps' education and skills
instruction program.
A comparison of the results of Job Corps' national marketing
efforts from calendar year 2017 to 2018 shows a 36 percent increase in
the number of individuals `clicking' on the enrollment interest form
and an increase in females expressing interest.
job corps construction rehabilitation projects
Question. WIOA requires the Department to annually submit a list of
construction and rehabilitation projects at Job Corps centers.
Please provide a full accounting of the construction and
rehabilitation projects for PY 2017 and 2018.
Answer. The Department's Construction, Rehabilitation and
Acquisition resources are available for Federal obligation for 3 years.
Resources appropriated for PY 2017 and PY 2018 are not fully obligated
yet. In fiscal year 2018, the Department obligated $70.4 million in
Construction, Rehabilitation, and Acquisition funds. This included
resources that were appropriated in fiscal year 2016, fiscal year 2017,
fiscal year 2018, and fiscal year 2019.
In fiscal year 2017, the Department obligated $123.5 million in
Construction, Rehabilitation and Acquisition funds. This includes
resources that were appropriated in fiscal year 2014, fiscal year 2015,
fiscal year 2016, and fiscal year 2017.
See the embedded PDF file below for the amounts spent and types of
construction and rehabilitation projects during fiscal years 2017 and
2018.
job corps center statuses
Question. What is the status of the Kicking Horse Job Corps Center
in Montana?
Answer. In March 2019, CSKT, as the lessor of the property on which
the Kicking Horse Job Corps Center (KHJCC) operates, invoked its right
to cancel the land-use lease with the Department. At the time of the
lease termination notice, KHJCC and the Department were engaged in
discussion about the center's performance and the Department's options
in light of that performance. Cancellation of the land-use lease by
CSKT requires the Department to vacate the premises within 180 days of
the notice, which will effectively end Job Corps center operations at
that location. ETA, in consultation with legal counsel, is currently
considering options for the appropriate path forward for the KHJCC.
Question. What is the status of the Centennial Job Corps Civilian
Conservation Center in Idaho?
Answer. In May 2019, the Centennial Job Corps Center began
transitioning into a demonstration project operated by the State of
Idaho. The State of Idaho began to occupy the Centennial center in July
2019. All Centennial Job Corps students either completed their training
prior to the transition beginning or were transferred to other Job
Corps centers nearby that also offer the students' trades.
Question. When do you anticipate the Arecibo Job Corps Center in
Puerto Rico will be reopened?
Answer. The Arecibo Job Corps Center in Garrochales, Puerto Rico,
was damaged by Hurricane Maria in September 2017. Rehabilitation of the
center was initiated in June 2018, and the center is anticipated to
reopen by February 2020.
Question. When do you anticipate the Atlanta Job Corps Center will
be reopened?
Answer. On June 22, 2017, the Department awarded a contract to 4K
Global-ACC Joint Venture, LLC (4K Global), to construct a new Job Corps
center in South Fulton, an incorporated area near Atlanta, Georgia. The
new center will be built to accommodate 472 students, primarily from
the Atlanta area. Early during the course of construction, the
Department identified serious concerns regarding 4K Global's
performance, and it communicated those concerns to 4K Global in
accordance with the contract's terms and conditions. The construction
concerns are being addressed through an agreement between the
Department and 4K Global. This agreement established increased quality
assurance measures, including requiring third party inspections of some
of the construction work previously completed. The Department reached
an agreement with the third-party inspector, that is, the U.S. Army
Corps of Engineers, on July 18, 2019. The contractor, 4K Global cannot
resume construction in some areas until the inspector deems the prior
work sound. The impact of the delays and inspections on the completion
date is undetermined.
Question. What is the status of the reconstruction of the Gulfport
Job Corps Center?
Answer. The Department remains committed to, and continues to
prioritize, the construction of the Gulfport Job Corps Center. The
Department also continues to submit the required 30-day update reports
to Congress and to stakeholders on the progress of the Gulfport center
construction. As recently reported, the Architect/Engineering (A/E)
firm, Eley Guild Hardy Architects, submitted the schematic design for
the Gulfport Job Corps Center Redevelopment Project to DOL, as
scheduled, on March 22, 2019. The Department reviewed and accepted
various Value Engineering (VE) changes to the schematic design. The VE
discussions have focused on alternatives for materials and other
project elements to identify opportunities for cost savings, which has
thus far identified approximately $5 million in cost-saving design
changes, all of which have been evaluated with respect to both cost and
quality, and deemed appropriate for implementation. The Department will
memorialize these changes in a document to be sent to the A/E firm.
Subsequent to preparation of changes to the schematic design documents
by the A/E firm, the Department will schedule a public meeting.
The revised statement of work for a consultant to conduct the
Historic American Building Survey (HABS), interview the high school
alumni, and design the lobby exhibit was posted on the FedBizOpps web
site (www.fbo.gov) on March 19, 2019. The deadline for offers was May
1, 2019. DOL received and reviewed seven proposals, and held a
reconciliation meeting with its selection team to discuss the proposals
and continue with the selection process. The design phase is scheduled
to conclude in April 2020. The construction phase is estimated to take
an additional 19 months.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Richard J. Durbin
job training services for at-risk youth
Question. Chicago has experienced a heartbreaking wave of gun
violence--in many cases, the areas in the city with the highest
unemployment rates are the same as those with the highest rates of
violence. I've spoken with you several times about the importance of
Federal support for programs that help reduce violence and create
economic opportunity in areas like Chicago, where youth disconnection
is extremely chronic and concentrated. In the Chicago metro area, more
than 24 percent of Black youth and more than 11 percent of Latino youth
ages 16-24 both out of school and out of work. I am very concerned that
this Administration has repeatedly spoken of eliminating certain
workforce development programs. This year's budget proposes a 10
percent decrease in funding for the Department of Labor overall.
Federal programs play a role in creating economic opportunity for
youth, and we should be working to build up these programs, not reduce
and eliminate them.
Do you agree that Federal funding plays a critical role in creating
job training and employment opportunities for at-risk youth in
underserved communities? If yes, how do you justify consistently
requesting cuts to programs that help train at-risk youth and other
vulnerable populations?
Answer. Federal funding plays a critical role in creating
employment opportunities for at-risk youth in underserved communities,
but Federal investment alone is not sufficient. The fiscal year 2020
Budget requests the same level as the fiscal year 2019 enacted level
for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Youth formula
program, which serves primarily out-of-school youth. The Department
also serves at-risk youth under Reentry Employment Opportunities,
YouthBuild, and Job Corps. YouthBuild currently has five active grants
within the Chicago metropolitan area that provide training, through a
pre-apprenticeship model, for in-demand industries, including
construction, information technology, healthcare, and logistics. In
Chicago, the Reentry Employment Opportunities (REO) program has one
project that focuses on serving at-risk and offender youth. Further,
the fiscal year 2020 Budget prioritizes evidence-based strategies, such
as apprenticeship, which serve youth in Chicago and throughout the U.S.
Question. In Chicago, Community Based Organizations have developed
training programs that offer a combination of job skills training,
wage-paid work, and support services such as counseling for at-risk
youth. What steps has your Department taken to support organizations
that provide these types of transitional jobs services?
Answer. The WIOA formula youth program is designed specifically to
provide all three of these activities for youth, and requires local
areas to spend a minimum of 20 percent of their youth funds on work
experience, which is one of the program's ten elements. Older youth can
also be served through the WIOA Adult program, where local areas can
use up to 10 percent of funds to support transitional work experience.
In addition, YouthBuild awards grants to community-based organizations
and requires hands-on work experience in a real-world employer setting
for all industry training provided, while providing supportive
services, and stipends and wages. The WIOA Youth program, REO program,
and Job Corps also engage employers to provide these meaningful work
experience opportunities for at-risk youth. The Department works with
industry groups, companies, non-profit organizations, unions, and joint
labor-management organizations to develop workforce development
programs, such as pre-apprenticeship, apprenticeship, and career
pathways that allow young people to earn and learn simultaneously,
leading to family-sustaining jobs.
The Department provides support to States to administer the Work
Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) and the Federal Bonding Program (FPB).
WOTC provides a tax credit to employers that hire formerly-incarcerated
youth and young adults. FPB just launched a demonstration project to
expand the use of Federal bonds across the country through the use of
bonds to employers that hire formerly-incarcerated individuals,
including youth and young adults.
women's bureau budget cuts
Question. From Alzheimer's disease, to the chronic care needs of an
aging parent, or the emotional or physical health need of a child, tens
of millions of Americans are pressed into service to care for their
loved ones. The average family caregiver spends $7,000 of their own
money every year to provide care to loved ones, with an average
commitment of 24 hours per week. And millions more serve as
professional home care aides, child care workers, and early childhood
educators--providing important forms of care for Americans from birth
to death. More needs to be done to support our Nation's caregivers and
recognize the heroic job that they perform every day. More than 60
percent of caregivers are women, and the Women's Bureau plays an
important role in improving workplace practices for women who currently
lack adequate flexibility, benefits, and supports such as equal pay,
paid family leave, and childcare. I am very concerned that the fiscal
year 2020 budget request would cut funding for the Women's Bureau by 74
percent.
Even without these budget cuts, the Federal Government is
dedicating far too few resources to policies that meet the challenges
faced by the caregiving workforce. Did you approve the proposed cuts to
the Women's Bureau budget?
Answer. Women are nearly fifty percent of the workforce and the
President's fiscal year 2020 budget and previous budget requests
reflect the importance of women in the workforce.
The Women's Bureau serves an important role at the Department of
Labor, promoting and advancing the interests of working women by
convening stakeholders, advising on policy change, and starting
conversations around topics that are critical to women, their families,
and our Nation's prosperity. Success for the Women's Bureau is achieved
when the issues it champions move beyond the Bureau, because that means
the problems and opportunities identified through its work are being
addressed.
Next year, the Women's Bureau will celebrate its Centennial year,
which provides an opportunity to reflect on how far women have come
over the past 100 years. Over the past century, the Women's Bureau has
successfully advocated for workplace safety standards, family leave
benefits, and pay equality protections.
The Women's Bureau has recently taken a number of actions to
advance women's workplace policies and influence the current state of
women in the workforce. Since the beginning of 2017, the Women's Bureau
has:
--Partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services to help
increase working families' access to affordable, quality child
care;
--Worked with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the
Treasury Department to grow opportunities for women in
entrepreneurship;
--Coordinated with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
to increase opportunities for women to access and thrive in
apprenticeship programs;
--Joined the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), the
Department of Defense, and others to address employment
opportunities and reducing occupational licensing barriers for
military spouses, 92 percent of whom are women; and
--Supported the Trump Administration's commitment to address the
opioid crisis with a focus on helping women who have been
impacted by the opioid crisis.
None of these efforts will be negatively affected by the fiscal
year 2020 budget. Instead, the Department will more effectively support
and advance the mission of the Women's Bureau by focusing the Bureau's
resources on conducting research and collaborating with agencies and
departments across the government. In the coming year, the Women's
Bureau will collaborate with ETA and VETS to support grant work on
State licensing and promoting employment for military spouses; with the
White House to identify innovative solutions to childcare; and with SBA
to expand opportunities for women to thrive in entrepreneurship.
As mentioned previously, the Women's Bureau provides research and
analysis on the issues of interest to working women. Following a
request by members of the Senate, the Women's Bureau commissioned a
study, which is still in the early stages of analysis, to produce an
independent, more precise and current estimate of the gender wage gap.
The commissioned work will update a study on the gender wage gap issued
by the Department in 2009. The 2009 study, which was funded by the
Department and produced by the CONSAD Research Corporation,
systematically reviewed then-available research on gender differentials
in earnings and used data from the Current Population Survey to
identify factors (including education, occupation, industry, work
experience, and career interruptions) that contributed to the gender
wage gap.
In addition to the CONSAD update research study, the Women's Bureau
is partnering with the Census Bureau to link administrative and survey
data to produce a more precise and current estimate of the gender wage
gap. The study will include an in-depth examination of variables such
as industry, occupation, education and work experience that contribute
to the gender wage gap. Findings from both projects are expected by the
end of the 2019 calendar year.
While recognizing that many factors go into determining wages,
data-driven information concerning the wage gap provides a baseline for
women planning careers to learn about prospective occupations, and as a
comparison point for women already in the labor force to evaluate their
wages. The Women's Bureau has an interactive visualization tool
available on the Women's Bureau website, which shows average wages for
women and men in more than 300 occupations.
ETA also supports programs to provide workforce development
services for female workers. For example, the Women's Bureau is
collaborating with the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) to recruit and
retain women in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs as
potential pathways for women to non-traditional occupations that may
have higher average salaries. Through WIOA, ETA supports programs that
provide workforce development services for individuals with barriers to
employment, including over two million women workers in Program Year
2017. In addition, WIOA emphasizes providing services and placing women
in non-traditional occupations, such as apprenticeships, that may have
higher average salaries.
Question. How do cuts to the Women's Bureau help improve working
conditions and opportunities for employment for women, especially our
Nation's caregiving workforce?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
addressing the impact of automation
Question. In your testimony, you note that the ``dedication,
ingenuity, and innovation of our American workforce . . . is
unparalleled''. I agree. And that is why I'm committed to finding ways
the Federal Government can be an engaged partner in providing American
workers with the tools they need to upskill and prepare for jobs of the
future. A 2017 study from Ball State University estimated that between
50 and 60 percent of jobs in my home State of Illinois could be at risk
of becoming automated. And low-income workers and women are at greater
risk of being impacted by these changes in the nature of work.
Has the Department taken steps to better understand the impact of
automation--and best retraining practices--on specific populations such
as women, minorities, or low-income workers?
Answer. The Department is actively taking steps to better
understand the impact of automation on the American workforce.
Specifically, the Department is exploring additional ways to use
existing or new data collection efforts to identify and track the
workforce effects of advanced technologies. In fiscal year 2020, the
Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) plans to complete several
relevant work products, including: a literature review that summarizes
and synthesizes economic theory on the interaction between labor and
capital in the workplace and how this is affected by new technologies;
an analysis that identifies how the key constructs are currently
captured by domestic and international statistical agencies and ways to
supplement the data that BLS currently collects; and a final report
that recommends data collection options to fill those gaps as well as
methodologies for leveraging existing BLS data to the fullest extent.
Once finalized, BLS plans to report this work to Congress as well as
make information publicly available on the DOL website. Through this
comprehensive approach, BLS will be able to fully consider the complex
nature of how technology might interact with labor from both an
economic measurement and survey methodology perspective.
The Department's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will
also leverage the work of BLS in considering whether and how to adjust
the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) survey or products. O*NET
will continue to provide information to the general public and
researchers through the O*NET database and supporting websites, which
offer a variety of occupational characteristics and requirements data.
For example, the tasks and detailed work activities of occupations
listed on O*NET have been used to assess the impact of automation.
O*NET also updates the tools and technology skills of occupations more
frequently--twice yearly--than the entire occupation profile.
Question. Is the Department coordinating with other Federal
agencies, especially other agencies that support job training efforts,
to comprehensively address the potential workforce effects of advanced
technologies?
Answer. The Department is working with the White House's Office of
Science and Technology Policy, which is supporting the Administration's
efforts to help Americans adjust to economic changes, including those
stemming from automation. BLS has already begun exploring the potential
impact of advanced technologies and is coordinating with the Census
Bureau on research activities in this area. The Department is also
supporting the Department of Commerce's Network for Manufacturing
Innovation Program (Manufacturing USA), which includes work on advanced
robotics, by proactively sharing informational resources, websites, and
other information developed by BLS.
Further, the Department has and continues to collaborate with the
Department of Transportation (DOT) to assess economic changes in the
trucking industry. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018
(Public Law 115-141), Congress provided funding to DOT to conduct a
comprehensive analysis of the impact of Advanced Driver Assist Systems
and Highly Automated Vehicles technologies on drivers and operators of
commercial motor vehicle, including the potential for any labor
displacement. Further, the Department and DOT organized multiple
stakeholder outreach events with industry, labor, technologists, and
users in order to gather and share information regarding the potential
effects of the adoption of advanced technologies. The Department and
DOT held a stakeholder meeting on March 20, 2019, and plan to hold
another one in calendar year 2019. The Department and DOT anticipate
the comprehensive analysis and recommendations to address potential
displacement will be available in summer 2019.
increasing enrollment in job corps centers
Question. According to data from the Aspen Institute, there are
approximately 4.6 million disconnected youth in America--youth ages 16-
24 who do not have a job and are not in school. Youth of color, youth
with disabilities, youth living in poverty and young mothers are more
likely to be part of this group. Given the number of youth in need of
high quality job training, there is no reason a program like Job Corps
should be underenrolled. I find it concerning that the Department of
Labor has not undertaken significant proactive measures, including
increasing the number of Admissions Counselors, using effective marking
strategies that target youth on social media and more effectively
leveraging its Centers and operators, in order to better reach youth.
It is my understanding, for instance, that media outreach has been
highly restricted for months, including banning positive newspaper and
television interviews with staff and students, limiting Job Corps
Centers' ability to gain positive press that can lead to enrollment.
What proactive steps is the Department now undertaking to ensure
Job Corps Centers are fully enrolled in the near term?
Answer. Job Corps recently increased its oversight and
accountability over the implementation and adequacy of required
Outreach and Public Education Plans created by outreach and admissions
providers. These plans include, among other elements, outreach
strategies to achieve and maintain center capacity; plans to ensure
coordination of efforts between contractors and centers; and a
description of the public education and outreach methods that the
contractor will develop. By increasing accountability, the Job Corps
program has increased enrollment during the past year. Job Corps
continues to monitor follow-up activities associated with potential
applicants expressing interest in the program by conducting weekly
teleconferences with outreach and admissions providers to review
potential applicant and new applicant information in detail.
Currently, Job Corps is using a digital media campaign to increase
Job Corps' On-Board-Strength (OBS) at many of its largest centers. This
campaign includes using a digital outreach strategy for each of the
targeted centers and requires frequent coordination among regional Job
Corps staff, a media consultant, outreach and admissions providers, and
center operators. Regular meetings are used to review and analyze OBS-
related data, identify and resolve barriers to increasing student
enrollment and retention, and provide feedback on center-specific media
outreach.
Job Corps is transitioning stand-alone outreach and admissions
activities into center operations contracts. By consolidating these
activities into the center operations contract, Job Corps center
operators assume a more direct responsibility for ensuring that their
centers are operating at full capacity.
Before the end of the year, Job Corps will finalize its new
methodology for creating the Geographic Assignment Plan (GAP). This new
plan, referred to as the National Enrollee Assignment Plan (NEAP), will
apply a standard formula to all Job Corps centers to determine the
number of new students each center must enroll to maintain full
capacity. Historically, Job Corps used a fixed national average of
students it anticipated would leave the program each year to help
calculate the arrival goals for each admissions provider. The new NEAP
approach utilizes center-specific separation rates to set contract
arrival goals. Centers with higher separation rates will have higher
arrival goals in order to align with actual recruitment needs. These
revised goals will be included in each admissions provider's contract
to ensure that Job Corps centers are closer to full capacity.
As part of its new NEAP strategy, Job Corps is reestablishing its
defined recruitment areas so that they align with each State's Local
Workforce Development Areas (LWDA). As a result of aligning recruitment
efforts with LWDAs, Job Corps' outreach and admissions providers will
have the opportunity to work in collaboration with partners in the
workforce system, including receiving and providing referrals for
individuals who express interest in the Job Corps program or are in
need of other workforce development assistance.
Finally, in 2019, Job Corps plans to launch a new student
enrollment services system to identify and minimize delays and
bottlenecks in the enrollment and center assignment processes. The new
system will also improve the career counseling that occurs resulting in
better matching of enrollee interests and/or aptitudes with a skills
instruction program. The net results should be improved enrollments and
student arrivals, and retention.
Each month, approximately 18,000 youth express some interest in Job
Corps' education and skills instruction program. This interest is
primarily expressed through Job Corps' website. Prospective applicant
information is provided directly to outreach and admissions contractors
for follow-up. To capitalize on this interest and increase enrollment
in the program, Job Corps is currently developing a new student
enrollment services system and a new information technology (IT)
platform will be developed accordingly.
The IT upgrades in the new enrollment services system will be
designed to ensure that the eligible at-risk youth in the enrollment
pipeline are promptly processed and enrolled. The new enrollment
services system will seek to leverage technology to improve
efficiencies in the system by monitoring the processing of applicants,
and quickly resolving delays and bottlenecks, which will reduce
application processing times. Job Corps' expanded use of technology
will also create greater transparency by making application and
enrollment data available in real time to those involved in the
outreach, admissions, and center assignment processes. These changes
will also provide tech-savvy youth easy access to Job Corps'
application and a better user experience during the enrollment process.
Finally, the new enrollment services system will provide meaningful
career counseling during the admissions process. This will allow Job
Corps to better manage enrollee expectations and better match enrollee
interests and aptitudes with a skills instruction program. All of these
efforts will support student recruitment and retention, as well as
result in full utilization of Job Corps centers.
water industry registered apprenticeship programs
Question. The Illinois rural water utilities industry must fill
open positions left behind by the aging water industry workforce.
According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, it is expected that
employment in Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant System
Operations will decline by 3 percent between 2016 and 2026. The water
and wastewater utilities industry is in need of a pipeline of skilled
workers to help ensure clean and safe water for the public and to
maintain the water infrastructure necessary to keep service areas
economically viable. This is especially important in rural America,
where 92 percent of systems serve communities of 10,000 or less. Water
and wastewater utilities are the backbone of economic development. It
is crucial that this industry not fall behind because of a lack of
qualified employees.
Has the Department considered prioritizing funding for water
industry registered apprenticeship programs? If so, how does the
Department plan to use Federal funds to enhance water industry
apprenticeship programs?
Answer. On May 3, 2019, the Department announced apprenticeship
expansion funding to States via Training and Employment Guidance Letter
17-18. Through an allotment process, the funding is available to all
States, and allows the flexibility for efforts targeted in rural areas.
States, in coordination with industry partners, are encouraged to
identify the most pressing workforce areas where apprenticeship
expansion strategies will make the greatest impact. More specifically,
funds are to be aligned with sectors identified as priorities in the
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) and in broader economic
development plans. In order for investments to be successful, industry
must be a key driver.
To provide support for industry, States, and other key
stakeholders, the Department developed National Guideline Standards of
Apprenticeship with the National Rural Water Association (NRWA) for
water utility jobs and will continue to support the industry's need for
any future apprenticeship program expansion.
In the fall of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
awarded a $6 million grant to the NRWA for further development of its
national apprenticeship program. With this new funding from USDA, NRWA
will have additional means to help States develop Registered
Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) for water and wastewater system
operations specialists.
In addition, in May 2019, the Department released a funding
opportunity through the Apprenticeship Expansion and Modernization Fund
to support the development of innovative tools and strategies that,
while relatively untested, hold promise to transform Registered
Apprenticeship and support the expansion of RAPs throughout the Nation.
This opportunity allows applicants to propose innovative projects that
best meet the specific challenges and needs in their area, their
industry, or the local population. Vendor proposals are in development
and may include projects that support workforce development in rural
areas.
Question. Has the Department consulted with stakeholders and rural
communities to address staffing issues within the water and waste water
utilities industry?
Answer. The Department is committed to expanding apprenticeship
opportunities across a broad range of sectors and occupations,
particularly in those industries where a shortage of skilled workers
threatens the long-term safety and economic growth of rural
communities. Over the next decade, the water sector is expected to lose
between 30 to 50 percent \8\ of its workforce to retirement. The
establishment and growth of quality apprenticeship programs in the
water and wastewater utilities industries can provide an effective
workforce strategy for addressing the emerging skills gap in these
critical fields.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\8\ GAO Report 18-102, ``Water and Wastewater Workforce: Recruiting
Approaches Helped Industry Hire Operators, but Additional EPA Guidance
Could Help Identify Future Needs,''
January 2018, p. 17.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Through its National Guidelines Standards of apprenticeship, the
Department has assisted stakeholders and industry associations in
developing nationally-recognized education and training standards for
specific water utility occupations. On November 14, 2017, at a signing
ceremony at the Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C., the
National Rural Water Association (NRWA) formally announced an
apprenticeship program for rural water utilities (the ``WaterPro
Apprenticeship Program'') with the Department's Office of
Apprenticeship (OA). Bulletin 2017-47 publicized the WaterPro
apprenticeship program, which establishes a set of National Guideline
Standards of apprenticeship that are tailored to the specific
occupational requirements of water system operations specialists and
wastewater system operations specialists. As a leading provider of
training for rural water and wastewater systems, NRWA is currently
collaborating with State and local leaders to accelerate the
development of RAPs covering these critical occupations.
At present, a total of 17 NRWA State affiliates have successful
RAPs that conform to these NRWA National Guideline Standards, and
registration applications from NRWA affiliates in 12 additional States
are currently in process. Nationally, 140 active apprentices are
enrolled in the NRWA-sponsored apprenticeship program. Local NRWA-
affiliated program sponsors include Pentair, Inc. (based in Aurora,
Illinois) and the West Virginia American Water Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Committee (based in Charleston, West Virginia). The
groundbreaking NRWA RAPs directly address the concerns raised by GAO
Report 18-102 (January 2018) about the current and growing nationwide
shortage of well-trained drinking water and wastewater management
professionals. For more information concerning the NRWA national
apprenticeship program, please visit the following links:
--https://nrwa.org/initiatives/apprenticeship-program
--https://nrwa.org/2017/11/nrwa-partners-with-department-of-labor-on-
apprenticeship-program/
In the fall of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
awarded a $6 million grant to the NRWA for further development of its
national apprenticeship program. With this new funding from USDA, NRWA
will have additional means to help States develop RAPs for water and
wastewater system operations specialists.
The Department recently attended the NRWA annual meeting in Fort
Worth, Texas and met with key stake holders attending the conference in
our efforts to promote to the industry the benefits to the
apprenticeship system. This included open discussion with various
stakeholders on what they as an industry see as their biggest
challenges and how the apprenticeship system can work to help eliminate
those issues. Departmental staff members across the country continue to
meet with local employers to assist in getting their individual
programs registered.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Jack Reed
addressing the impact of automation
Question. The fiscal year 2018 Omnibus provided funding for the
Department of Transportation to conduct a study with the Department of
Labor to better understand the consequences of automation for middle-
class workers, whose jobs involve driving. The study is now overdue.
When will it be submitted? What steps does the Department plan to
take to address potential displacement in driving-related occupations?
Answer. The Department has and continues to collaborate with the
Department of Transportation (DOT) to assess economic changes in the
trucking industry. In the Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2018
(Public Law 115-141), Congress provided funding to DOT to conduct a
comprehensive analysis of the impact of Advanced Driver Assist Systems
and Highly Automated Vehicles technologies on drivers and operators of
commercial motor vehicle, including the potential for any labor
displacement. Further, the Department and DOT organized multiple
stakeholder outreach events with industry, labor, technologists, and
users in order to gather and share information regarding the potential
effects of the adoption of advanced technologies. The Department and
DOT held a stakeholder meeting on March 20, 2019, and plan to hold
another one in calendar year 2019. The Department and DOT anticipate
the comprehensive analysis and recommendations to address potential
displacement will be available in summer 2019.
In a March 7, 2019, report ``Automated Trucking: Federal Agencies
Should Take Additional Steps to Prepare for Potential Workforce
Effects,'' the Government Accountability Office recommended that: ``The
Secretary of Labor should consult with the Secretary of Transportation
to share information with key stakeholders on the potential effects of
automated trucking on the workforce as the technology evolves. These
stakeholders could include representatives of other relevant Federal
agencies, technology developers, the trucking industry, organizations
that represent truck drivers, truck driver training schools, State
workforce agencies, and local workforce development boards.''
Question. What specific outreach is the Department making to
industry and labor organization stakeholders on this issue? How will
the Department sustain its outreach?
Answer. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) extensively
reviewed the Department's outreach, and summarized some of those
efforts in its March 7, 2019, report. As noted by GAO, the Department
and DOT organized multiple stakeholder outreach events with industry,
labor, technologists, and users in order to gather and share
information regarding the potential effects of the adoption of advanced
technologies. Building on these efforts, the Department and DOT held a
stakeholder meeting on March 20, 2019, which included multiple industry
and labor organizations, and plan to hold another one in calendar year
2019.
GAO also noted in the same report that it does ``not have
information to identify the number of long-haul truck drivers, whose
jobs may be the most likely to be affected by automation. Specifically,
the occupational code DOL uses to classify heavy and tractor-trailer
truck drivers captures drivers who operate any type of heavy truck.
Along with long-haul drivers, this code includes other drivers whose
jobs may be harder to automate, such as tow truck operators.''
Question. What steps is the Department taking to develop data that
will better identify and track occupations that will be affected by
automation?
Answer. The Department is actively taking steps to better
understand the impact of automation on the American workforce.
Specifically, the Department is exploring additional ways to use
existing or new data collection efforts to identify and track the
workforce effects of advanced technologies. In fiscal year 2020, the
Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) plans to complete several
relevant work products, including: a literature review that summarizes
and synthesizes economic theory on the interaction between labor and
capital in the workplace and how this is affected by new technologies;
an analysis that identifies how the key constructs are currently
captured by domestic and international statistical agencies and ways to
supplement the data that BLS currently collects; and a final report
that recommends data collection options to fill those gaps as well as
methodologies for leveraging existing BLS data to the fullest extent.
Once finalized, BLS plans to report this work to Congress as well as
make information publicly available on the DOL website. Through this
comprehensive approach, BLS will be able to fully consider the complex
nature of how technology might interact with labor from both an
economic measurement and survey methodology perspective.
The Department's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) will
also leverage the work of BLS in considering whether and how to adjust
the Occupational Information Network (O*NET) survey or products. O*NET
will continue to provide information to the general public and
researchers through the O*NET database and supporting websites, which
offer a variety of occupational characteristics and requirements data.
For example, the tasks and detailed work activities of occupations
listed on O*NET have been used to assess the impact of automation.
O*NET also updates the tools and technology skills of occupations more
frequently--twice yearly--than the entire occupation profile.
Question. Has the Department reviewed this report and what steps is
it taking to address the issues raised in this report in its policies
and programs?
Answer. The Department is aware of the report, which was published
on April 25, 2019. The Department will take information provided by
interested stakeholders, such as the OECD, into consideration as it
continues to support the Administration's efforts to help Americans
adjust to economic changes, including those stemming from automation.
job corp pilot programs
Question. Please provide a list of all stakeholders that the
Department consulted in developing the proposal for pilot programs.
Answer. The Job Corps Job ChalleNGe Demonstration Project will
serve Job Corps eligible youth, providing them access to a high school
diploma or equivalency as well as skills instruction. The Department
engaged the Department of Defense, National Guard Bureau and others in
the Department of Defense, and State officials about collaborating to
serve at-risk youth through the National Guard in the various States
interested in participating in such a Job ChalleNGe demonstration
project.
The Department has engaged governors and other State officials by
exploring their interest in participating in a State-operated Job Corps
demonstration project. A State-operated Job Corps program involves
engagement of State officials who have expressed interest in
alternative approaches to serving Job Corps eligible youth. The
demonstrations, such as the Idaho JOBCorps project at the Centennial
Job Corps Center, explore whether providing flexibility to States to
develop and implement customized, State-based approaches to serving Job
Corps eligible students is an effective model. Once fully operational,
the Idaho demonstration project will serve more students than the
number served by the center when it was operated as a traditional Job
Corps center. Moreover, the majority of these students will be from the
State of Idaho.
In addition, in May, the Department announced the Job Corps
Scholars Program, designed to serve Job Corps eligible youth by
providing extensive counseling and employment related services through
existing educational institutions rather than a traditional Job Corps
center facility. In addition to engaging the Department of Education
about the program, Job Corps sought public comments through a Notice of
Intent in order to engage as many stakeholders as possible. The comment
period closed on July 3, and DOL is now in the process of reviewing the
comments, after which we will make any necessary revisions and publish
the funding opportunity announcement and begin accepting grant
applications.
Question. How will the pilot program serve Job Corps-eligible
students who do not have a high school diploma?
Answer. Per WIOA, Job Corps has a wide range of eligibility
criteria which include individuals with one or more of the below
criteria, in addition to meeting the basic age requirement and being
low income (unless a veteran has military income from the 6-month
period prior to applying to Job Corps that makes them not low income).
These include:
--Basic skills deficient;
--A school dropout;
--A homeless individual (as defined in section 41403(6) of the
Violence Against Women Act of 1994 (42 U.S.C. 14043e--2(6))), a
homeless child or youth (as defined in section 725(2) of the
McKinney-Vento Homeless Assistance Act (42 U.S.C. 11434a(2))),
a runaway, an individual in foster care, or an individual who
was in foster care and has aged out of the foster care system;
--A parent; or
--An individual who requires additional education, career and
technical education or training, or workforce preparation
skills to be able to obtain and retain employment that leads to
economic self-sufficiency.
For the most recently completed program year, June 30, 2018, nearly
40 percent of Job Corps' students had a high school diploma or
equivalency when they entered the program. The Idaho JOBCorps Program,
a State-operated demonstration project at the Centennial Job Corps
Center Job Corps, will also serve Job Corps eligible youth without a
high school diploma or equivalency. Through their Basic Skills
Education program, the College of Western Idaho offers services for
those seeking a GED certificate.
The Job Corps Scholars Program demonstration requires each Job
Corps eligible students participating in the program to meet the
admissions requirements of his or her participating community college
or university. In some cases, that may mean already having a high
school diploma. However, in other cases, admission may be based on an
entrance exam. Students completing the Job Corps Scholars Program may
seek employment upon completing the program, pursue an associate or 4-
year college degree, or join the military.
The Job ChalleNGe program, proposed as a demonstration project,
will serve students without high school diplomas because it requires
the recruitment of Job Corps eligible youth from among the participants
of the National Guard Youth ChalleNGe program. Youth ChalleNGe is a
program for 16 to 18 year olds who failed to complete traditional high
school. Job ChalleNGe places these young adults on the path to
employment through occupational skills training, educational
credentialing, counseling, and job placement.
Question. How will the projects serve the full age-range of Jobs
Corps-eligible students?
Answer. Job Corps' statutory age eligibility is not less than age
16 and not more than age 24 on the date of enrollment. The Idaho
JOBCorps program and the Job Corps Scholars program will serve the full
age range of Job Corps eligible youth. The National Guard Youth
ChalleNGe program serves individuals 16 to 18 years old who have not
completed high school graduation requirements. It is anticipated that
the age of most Job ChalleNGe participants will be 17 to 19 years old
Question. Will the pilot programs have to comply with all Job Corps
policies and requirements?
Answer. Under Section 156(a) of the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act (WIOA), the Secretary may carry out experimental,
research, or demonstration projects relating to the Job Corps program.
The Secretary may waive any provisions that would prevent the
Department from carrying out the projects if the Department informs the
Committee on Education and the Workforce of the House of
Representatives and the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions of the Senate. This notice must be in writing, and provided no
less than 90 days in advance of issuing any waiver.
The Department announced and provided the required waiver
notifications for the State-Operated Job Corps Demonstration Projects
and the National Guard Job ChalleNGe Demonstration Projects in December
2018. To provide the flexibility necessary to deliver skills
instruction and education services to Job Corps eligible youth in a new
and innovative manner, the Department waived provisions of WIOA for
these demonstration projects while retaining the statutory provisions
associated with program eligibility and the youth performance
indicators. However, for the Job ChalleNGe Project, the Department also
waived two of the six youth performance indicators. The two youth
measures waived were measureable skill gains and effectiveness in
serving employers. Given the age of the participants and training
received in the Youth ChalleNGe program, these two youth measures were
not well tailored to the population served.
In May 2019, the Department announced and provided the required
waiver notification for the Job Corps Scholars Program, a new
demonstration project to provide at-risk youth with job skills
instruction, educational opportunities, and individualized employment
counseling. With this demonstration, the Department is retaining the
statutory provisions associated with Job Corps program eligibility and
the six youth performance indicators. The Department is currently
seeking public comments on the Job Corps Scholars model on grants.gov.
job corp staffing and enrollment
Question. What steps is the Department taking to ensure that
outreach and enrollment activities are effective in reaching potential
students and families?
Answer. Job Corps recently increased its oversight and
accountability over the implementation and adequacy of required
Outreach and Public Education Plans created by outreach and admissions
providers. These plans include, among other elements, outreach
strategies to achieve and maintain center capacity; plans to ensure
coordination of efforts between contractors and centers; and a
description of the public education and outreach methods that the
contractor will develop. By increasing accountability, the Job Corps
program has increased enrollment during the past year. Job Corps
continues to monitor follow-up activities associated with potential
applicants expressing interest in the program by conducting weekly
teleconferences with outreach and admissions providers to review
potential applicant and new applicant information in detail.
Currently, Job Corps is using a digital media campaign to increase
Job Corps' On-Board Strength (OBS) at many of its largest centers. This
campaign includes using a digital outreach strategy for each of the
targeted centers and requires frequent coordination among regional Job
Corps staff, a media consultant, outreach and admissions providers, and
center operators. Regular meetings are used to review and analyze OBS-
related data, identify and resolve barriers to increasing student
enrollment and retention, and provide feedback on center-specific media
outreach.
Job Corps is transitioning stand-alone outreach and admissions
activities into center operations contracts. By consolidating these
activities into the center operations contract, Job Corps center
operators assume a more direct responsibility for ensuring that their
centers are operating at full capacity.
Before the end of the year, Job Corps will finalize its new
methodology for creating the Geographic Assignment Plan (GAP). This new
plan, referred to as the National Enrollee Assignment Plan (NEAP), will
apply a standard formula to all Job Corps centers to determine the
number of new students each center must enroll to maintain full
capacity. Historically, Job Corps used a fixed national average of
students it anticipated would leave the program each year to help
calculate the arrival goals for each admissions provider. The new NEAP
approach utilizes center-specific separation rates to set contract
arrival goals. Centers with higher separation rates will have higher
arrival goals in order to align with actual recruitment needs. These
revised goals will be included in each admissions provider's contract
to ensure that Job Corps centers are closer to full capacity.
As part of its new NEAP strategy, Job Corps is reestablishing its
defined recruitment areas so that they align with each State's Local
Workforce Development Areas (LWDA). As a result of aligning recruitment
efforts with LWDAs, Job Corps' outreach and admissions providers will
have the opportunity to work in collaboration with partners in the
workforce system, including receiving and providing referrals for
individuals who express interest in the Job Corps program or are in
need of other workforce development assistance.
Finally, in 2019, Job Corps plans to launch a new student
enrollment services system to identify and minimize delays and
bottlenecks in the enrollment and center assignment processes. The new
system will also improve the quality of career counseling provided,
resulting in better matching of enrollee interests and/or aptitudes
with a skills instruction program. The net results should be improved
enrollments, student arrivals, and retention.
Each month, approximately 18,000 youth express some interest in Job
Corps' education and skills instruction program. This interest is
primarily expressed through Job Corps' website. Prospective applicant
information is provided directly to outreach and admissions contractors
for follow-up. To capitalize on this interest and increase enrollment
in the program, Job Corps is currently developing a new student
enrollment services system, which will include a new information
technology (IT) platform.
The IT upgrades in the new enrollment services system will be
designed to ensure that the eligible at-risk youth in the enrollment
pipeline are promptly processed and enrolled. The new enrollment
services system will seek to leverage technology to improve
efficiencies in the system by monitoring the processing of applicants,
and quickly resolving delays and bottlenecks, which will reduce
application processing times. Job Corps' expanded use of technology
will also create greater transparency by making application and
enrollment data available in real time to those involved in the
outreach, admissions, and center assignment processes. These changes
will also provide tech-savvy youth easy access to Job Corps'
application and a better user experience during the enrollment process.
Finally, the new enrollment services system will provide meaningful
career counseling during the admissions process. This will allow Job
Corps to better manage enrollee expectations and better match enrollee
interests and aptitudes with a skills instruction program. All of these
efforts will support improved student recruitment and retention,
resulting in full utilization of Job Corps centers.
Question. How will the Department ensure that all Job Corps Centers
are operating at full on-board strength?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
professional development and training for job corp staff
Question. What are the areas of greatest need for professional
development and staff training at Job Corps Centers?
Answer. Pursuant to contract terms, each Job Corps center operator
is responsible for hiring and retaining qualified personnel to provide
the services required by the contract. As such, individual center
operators can best answer the need for professional development and
staff training.
Question. What resources are available under current contracts to
provide professional development and staff training?
Answer. It is the operator's responsibility to provide and pay for
staff training. Job Corps supplements the training provided by center
operators by providing training specific to the operation of Job Corps
centers. Job Corps has provided both in-person and web-based training
to center staff, generally at no cost to center operators. For example,
as the Department implements the transition to firm fixed price
contracting, training costs will be incorporated into the contractor's
bid. This gives contractors more flexibility and responsibility for
knowing and/or projecting training needs and cost.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Jeanne Shaheen
job corps programs
Question. In my conversations with Granite Staters all across New
Hampshire, I often hear about the workforce challenges facing our State
and the importance of investing in programs that equip the next
generation with the necessary tools to succeed in our evolving economy.
That is why I have advocated for the Job Corps program since my
time as Governor. And I was proud that a center finally came to New
Hampshire in 2015. The Center, which is located in Manchester, serves
350 students annually. In the current program year, the Manchester
Center has placed over 85 percent of its graduates in full-time jobs or
advanced education.
The Center serves individuals like Manny Lopez, who arrived at New
Hampshire Job Corps with the goal of achieving his Advanced
Manufacturing Associates Degree. After working closely with the Center,
Manny was encouraged to apply to Manchester Community College's
Robotics program, where he participated in a Robotics Challenge hosted
by DEKA Research, a technology company founded by the highly-successful
innovator, Dean Kamen, based in Manchester. To no surprise, Manny was
on the winning team! After his graduation from New Hampshire Job Corps,
Manny applied for a coveted position at DEKA research. Just two weeks
later, Manny was offered a full-time, well-paid and highly-competitive
position with the company.
This story is one of many. That is why I am disappointed to see
that similar to last year's budget request, the President is again
proposing to cut funding for the Job Corps program by more than $700
million.
Has the Department fully considered the success of the Job Corps
program in preparing students to enter 21st century occupations when
advocating for these significant funding cuts?
Answer. The Department of Labor is committed to helping young
individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds receive high-quality
vocational and academic instruction opportunities. The Department has
concerns about the program, irrespective of the funding level, and is
proceeding based on those concerns with reforms to the program that we
believe will improve outcomes for youth and make the program more
effective and efficient. For example, the Department is using its pilot
project authority to work with governors who are interested in
establishing pilot projects throughout the United States. As our
demonstration projects mature, we will assess them to determine whether
they will offer more effective models for serving at-risk youth as
compared to the Department's traditional Job Corps program model. The
Department will also determine whether these alternate approaches are
more cost effective than the traditional program model. The Department
will consider scaling efficiencies identified by demonstration projects
in order to improve the delivery of Job Corps services.
Overall, the Department is conducting a center by center
programmatic assessment of performance, surveying physical facilities,
assessing programmatic sustainability, and considering the workforce
development needs in each State and area served by a Job Corps center.
Using this deliberate approach, the Department will determine how to
allocate the program's fiscal year 2020 resources, including whether to
close some centers. It is the Department's expectation that through
concentration of Job Corps activities in a more limited set of higher
performing centers, we will provide Job Corps participants with higher
quality services that lead to better outcomes. The Department always
prioritizes the needs of current Job Corps participants when
deactivating or consolidating a center, allowing them to complete their
Job Corps training either at their current center or at a higher
performing center. Further, the Department will maintain as many
student slots as possible by increasing Job Corps capacity at remaining
centers. This approach maximizes the impact of Job Corps'
appropriation, allowing us to continue to serve at risk youth from all
fifty States and territories without compromising program
effectiveness.
Question. Despite attempts from the Administration to weaken the
Job Corps program, what steps is the Department currently taking to
utilize the funds appropriated by Congress to prioritize the program
and help it reach its maximum student capacity?
Answer. Job Corps recently increased its oversight and
accountability over the implementation and adequacy of required
Outreach and Public Education Plans created by outreach and admissions
providers. These plans include, among other elements, outreach
strategies to achieve and maintain center capacity; plans to ensure
coordination of efforts between contractors and centers; and a
description of the public education and outreach methods that the
contractor will develop. By increasing accountability, the Job Corps
program has increased enrollment during the past year. Job Corps
continues to monitor follow-up activities associated with potential
applicants expressing interest in the program by conducting weekly
teleconferences with outreach and admissions providers to review
potential applicant and new applicant information in detail.
Currently, Job Corps is using a digital media campaign to increase
Job Corps' On-Board-Strength (OBS) at many of its largest centers. This
campaign includes using a digital outreach strategy for each of the
targeted centers and requires frequent coordination among regional Job
Corps staff, a media consultant, outreach and admissions providers, and
center operators. Regular meetings are used to review and analyze OBS-
related data, identify and resolve barriers to increasing student
enrollment and retention, and provide feedback on center-specific media
outreach.
Job Corps is transitioning stand-alone outreach and admissions
activities into center operations contracts. By consolidating these
activities into the center operations contract, Job Corps center
operators assume a more direct responsibility for ensuring that their
centers are operating at full capacity.
Before the end of the year, Job Corps will finalize its new
methodology for creating the Geographic Assignment Plan (GAP). This new
plan, referred to as the National Enrollee Assignment Plan (NEAP), will
apply a standard formula to all Job Corps centers to determine the
number of new students each center must enroll to maintain full
capacity. Historically, Job Corps used a fixed national average of
students it anticipated would leave the program each year to help
calculate the arrival goals for each admissions provider. The new NEAP
approach utilizes center-specific separation rates to set contract
arrival goals. Centers with higher separation rates will have higher
arrival goals in order to align with actual recruitment needs. These
revised goals will be included in each admissions provider's contract
to ensure that Job Corps centers are closer to full capacity.
As part of its new NEAP strategy, Job Corps is reestablishing its
defined recruitment areas so that they align with each state's Local
Workforce Development Areas (LWDA). As a result of aligning recruitment
efforts with LWDAs, Job Corps' outreach and admissions providers will
have the opportunity to work in collaboration with partners in the
workforce system, including receiving and providing referrals for
individuals who express interest in the Job Corps program or are in
need of other workforce development assistance.
Finally, in 2019, Job Corps plans to launch a new student
enrollment services system to identify and minimize delays and
bottlenecks in the enrollment and center assignment processes. The new
system will also improve the quality of career counseling provided,
resulting in better matching of enrollee interests and/or aptitudes
with a skills instruction program. The net results should be improved
enrollments, student arrivals, and retention.
Each month, approximately 18,000 youth express some interest in Job
Corps' education and skills instruction program. This interest is
primarily expressed through Job Corps' website. Prospective applicant
information is provided directly to outreach and admissions contractors
for follow-up. To capitalize on this interest and increase enrollment
in the program, Job Corps is currently developing a new student
enrollment services system, which will include a new information
technology (IT) platform.
The IT upgrades in the new enrollment services system will be
designed to ensure that the eligible at-risk youth in the enrollment
pipeline are promptly processed and enrolled. The new enrollment
services system will seek to leverage technology to improve
efficiencies in the system by monitoring the processing of applicants,
and quickly resolving delays and bottlenecks, which will reduce
application processing times. Job Corps' expanded use of technology
will also create greater transparency by making application and
enrollment data available in real time to those involved in the
outreach, admissions, and center assignment processes. These changes
will also provide tech-savvy youth easy access to Job Corps'
application and a better user experience during the enrollment process.
Finally, the new enrollment services system will provide meaningful
career counseling during the admissions process. This will allow Job
Corps to better manage enrollee expectations and better match enrollee
interests and aptitudes with a skills instruction program. All of these
efforts will support improved student recruitment and retention,
resulting in full utilization of Job Corps centers.
workforce innovation and opportunity act
Question. The widening skills gap has made it harder for employers
to find qualified, skilled workers to fill job openings. I often hear
from business leaders in New Hampshire who have job openings and would
like to expand, but they can't find enough employees with the right
qualifications. I also hear from unemployed workers who need help
getting the necessary training to compete in this evolving job market.
That is why I have consistently advocated for additional resources
for State job training programs funded through the bipartisan Workforce
Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). In New Hampshire and across the
country, these important programs prepare individuals for work and help
them improve their prospects in the labor market. However, these
programs have been starved for investment and are still funded below
authorized levels. Since 2001, WIOA funding has been cut by 40 percent.
These cuts mean fewer businesses are served and fewer workers earn the
skills they need to enter good jobs.
In years past, the Administration has proposed drastic cuts to
these programs and while I am pleased that the President's budget
request for this upcoming fiscal year does not follow-suit, I believe
that more needs to be done to meet the needs of both workers and
businesses.
Can you speak to the important role that Labor Department programs,
like those authorized under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity
Act, play in improving employment rates and economic output in my State
and many others?
Answer. The Department is committed to investing in programs that
work for our job seekers and businesses, including some of those
authorized by the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). The
fiscal year 2020 Budget prioritizes evidence-based strategies, such as
apprenticeship, which improve employment outcomes and economic output,
and proposes eliminating programs that are ineffective, unproven, or
duplicative. The fiscal year 2020 Budget also proposes additional
flexibility in the WIOA programs to ensure that State and local
governments are empowered to make decisions that best suit their States
and meet the needs of local employers and job seekers.
WIOA establishes performance accountability indicators and
performance reporting requirements to assess the effectiveness of
States and local areas in achieving positive outcomes for individuals
served by the workforce development and education systems' six core
programs. States collect performance information and report on
participant characteristics, services received, and outcomes achieved
for the following measures: employment in the 2nd quarter after exit;
employment in the 4th quarter after exit; median earnings of program
completers in the 2nd quarter after exit; and credential attainment
rate, which are outcome measures; measurable skill gains, which is a
progress measure; and the effectiveness in serving employers.
The WIOA programs operate on a Program Year (PY) basis (July 1-June
30). PY 2018 (July 1, 2018--June 30, 2019) is the third year State
grantees will have reported performance information under the WIOA
performance accountability provisions; the PY 2018 performance
information will be reported in October 2019. WIOA annual report
summaries are available at www.doleta.gov/performance/results.
Question. What additional steps is the Department taking to ensure
that State agencies, local areas and business have the resources they
need to address workforce needs?
Answer. The Department is committed to working with States and
local governments to ensure the American workforce is the greatest in
the world. The fiscal year 2020 Budget prioritizes investments in
effective programs that help to align workforce development efforts
with market demands. States and local areas know their communities best
and are best positioned to develop services and strategies for these
workers to help them be able to find a job and continue participating
in the workforce. The Department will continue to work with States to
identify and reduce barriers to provide maximum flexibility to the
States so States can ensure the best services to our Nation's job
seekers and businesses.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Brian Schatz
women's bureau budget cuts
Question. This administration has claimed to support proposals that
empower working women, such as paid family leave. Yet, the fiscal year
2020 budget calls for a 73 percent decrease in funding for the Women's
Bureau at the Department of Labor.
Why does the budget cut funding for the Women's Bureau by nearly 75
percent, and how does this cut reflect on the administration's
commitment to working women?
Answer. Women are nearly fifty percent of the workforce and the
President's fiscal year 2020 budget and previous budget requests
reflect the importance of women in the workforce.
The Women's Bureau serves an important role at the Department of
Labor, promoting and advancing the interests of working women by
convening stakeholders, advising on policy change, and starting
conversations around topics that are critical to women, their families,
and our Nation's prosperity. Success for the Women's Bureau is achieved
when the issues it champions move beyond the Bureau, because that means
the problems and opportunities identified through its work are being
addressed.
Next year, the Women's Bureau will celebrate its Centennial year,
which provides an opportunity to reflect on how far women have come
over the past 100 years. Over the past century, the Women's Bureau has
successfully advocated for workplace safety standards, family leave
benefits, and pay equality protections.
The Women's Bureau has recently taken a number of actions to
advance women's workplace policies and influence the current state of
women in the workforce. Since the beginning of 2017, the Women's Bureau
has:
--Partnered with the Department of Health and Human Services to help
increase working families' access to affordable, quality child
care;
--Worked with the Small Business Administration (SBA) and the
Treasury Department to grow opportunities for women in
entrepreneurship;
--Coordinated with the Employment and Training Administration (ETA)
to increase opportunities for women to access and thrive in
apprenticeship programs;
--Joined the Veterans' Employment and Training Service (VETS), the
Department of Defense, and others to address employment
opportunities and reducing occupational licensing barriers for
military spouses, 92 percent of whom are women; and
--Supported the Trump Administration's commitment to address the
opioid crisis with a focus on helping women who have been
impacted by the opioid crisis.
None of these efforts will be negatively affected by the fiscal
year 2020 budget. Instead, the Department will more effectively support
and advance the mission of the Women's Bureau by focusing the Bureau's
resources on conducting research and collaborating with agencies and
departments across the government. In the coming year, the Women's
Bureau will collaborate with ETA and VETS to support grant work on
State licensing and promoting employment for military spouses; with the
White House to identify innovative solutions to childcare; and with SBA
to expand opportunities for women to thrive in entrepreneurship.
As mentioned previously, the Women's Bureau provides research and
analysis on the issues of interest to working women. Following a
request by members of the Senate, the Women's Bureau commissioned a
study, which is still in the early stages of analysis, to produce an
independent, more precise and current estimate of the gender wage gap.
The commissioned work will update a study on the gender wage gap issued
by the Department in 2009. The 2009 study, which was funded by the
Department and produced by the CONSAD Research Corporation,
systematically reviewed then-available research on gender differentials
in earnings and used data from the Current Population Survey to
identify factors (including education, occupation, industry, work
experience, and career interruptions) that contributed to the gender
wage gap.
In addition to the CONSAD update research study, the Women's Bureau
is partnering with the Census Bureau to link administrative and survey
data to produce a more precise and current estimate of the gender wage
gap. The study will include an in-depth examination of variables such
as industry, occupation, education and work experience that contribute
to the gender wage gap. Findings from both projects are expected by the
end of the 2019 calendar year.
While recognizing that many factors go into determining wages,
data-driven information concerning the wage gap provides a baseline for
women planning careers to learn about prospective occupations, and as a
comparison point for women already in the labor force to evaluate their
wages. The Women's Bureau has an interactive visualization tool
available on the Women's Bureau website, which shows average wages for
women and men in more than 300 occupations.
ETA also supports programs to provide workforce development
services for female workers. For example, the Women's Bureau is
collaborating with the Office of Apprenticeship (OA) to recruit and
retain women in pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs as
potential pathways for women to non-traditional occupations that may
have higher average salaries. Through WIOA, ETA supports programs that
provide workforce development services for individuals with barriers to
employment, including over two million women workers in Program Year
2017. In addition, WIOA emphasizes providing services and placing women
in non-traditional occupations, such as apprenticeships, that may have
higher average salaries.
Question. Given the proposed increase in the Office of Labor-
Management Standards, why choose to invest in a program aimed at
tearing down the labor movement rather than one focused on empowering
women in the workplace?
Answer. The Department's budget proposes additional investments in
all worker protection agencies including for Federal enforcement by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration and for the Wage and Hour
Division (WHD). In fiscal year 2018, WHD recovered a record
$304,000,000 in back wages owed to more than 1,300,000 workers.
Question. What role does the Department see for the Women's Bureau
with a budget of $3,525,000?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
worker safety and health training programs
Question. Each day in this country, 275 workers die due to job
related injuries and illnesses, and nearly 10,000 workers are injured
on the job. Yet, the President's budget cuts key worker safety and
health training programs, the number of inspectors at OSHA are at their
lowest levels ever, and 400 more people died on the job in 2017 than
compared to the average year under the last administration. In
addition, the use of quick inspections under this administration has
increased while inspections for high-penalty cases are down 50 percent
from 2016.
What is the Department doing to rectify this situation and to
protect American workers?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration's (OSHA)
balanced approach to inspect and provide compliance assistant has made
workplaces safer. Injury and illness rates decreased to 2.8 cases per
100 workers in 2017, the latest year of data available. This equates to
nearly 45,800 fewer injury and illness cases in 2017 as compared to
2016. Workplace fatalities have also declined with 3.5 fatalities per
100,000 full-time equivalent (FTE) workers in 2017, as compared to 3.6
per 100,000 FTE in 2016--resulting in 43 fewer fatalities in 2017. OSHA
aggressively targets high hazard industries and activities through
enforcement actions as well as compliance assistance activities.
OSHA has taken several steps to increase its Federal Enforcement
staffing levels. The agency is seeking to fill all funded Compliance
Safety and Health Officers (CSHO) positions. All vacancies are being
recruited for, and OSHA is in the process of on-boarding the
inspectors. The agency begins the recruitment process as soon as a
vacancy occurs, or an upcoming retirement is announced. OSHA advertises
and recruits individuals to fill all current vacancies and the new
inspectors then begin the on-boarding process. The recruitment and on-
boarding process can take from three to 6 months, which includes the
time necessary for advertisement, application, screening and
interviews, and completing the required clearance of applicants under
consideration, such as security and CSHO physicals. OSHA has also begun
recruiting for a larger number of positions than available vacancies to
ensure there is a continuous pool of CSHO applicants for selection when
future vacancies occur.
OSHA bases its programmed inspection targeting, i.e., emphasis
programs, on available inspection data and injury and illness data from
the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Additional data may be available at the
local level, as well. OSHA analyzes this data to identify industries
and processes with the most serious injuries and illnesses. Two
examples of national initiatives to address these hazards are the
National Safety Stand-Down to Prevent Falls and the Agency Priority
Goal (APG) to prevent fatal incidents in trenches. Both are based on
data showing high fatal incident rates in the construction industry.
The Fall Stand-Down is the largest compliance assistance effort
conducted by OSHA. More than one million employees participate in these
events each year across the country that focus on the importance of
preventing employee deaths from falls. The APG for excavations and
trenching was established in 2018 to address an increase in fatal
injuries of workers in the construction sector. OSHA utilized targeted
enforcement and consultation in a balanced manner to reduce these
incidents. These initiatives demonstrate OSHA's two-pronged approach of
enforcement and compliance assistance to target leading causes of
injuries and fatalities to reduce injury, illness, and fatality rates.
OSHA has a variety of programs and tools available that provide
training, outreach, and assistance to employers and employees. These
include Alliances, Strategic Partnerships, On-site Consultation, and
numerous targeted outreach events, such as the Fall Stand Down in
Construction, which provide information on workplace safety and health
to the public. The training programs include the Outreach Training
Program, the OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center Program,
and OSHA's cooperative programs. Training and outreach programs
delivered directly by the agency can more efficiently provide the same
type of information to a broader audience than is delivered through the
Harwood training grants.
OSHA's Outreach Training Program and OTI Education Centers are in
full operation for fiscal year 2019 and the Administration continues
its support of the programs in its fiscal year 2020 budget request. In
fiscal year 2018, OSHA trained more than 1,000,000 workers and
potential workers through the Outreach Training Program, which reaches
at-risk worker populations, including individuals with limited English
proficiency. In the same timeframe, the OTI Education Centers trained
more than 55,000 workers through a nationwide network of OSHA-
authorized training centers that educate participants on the
recognition, prevention, and elimination of occupational hazards.
OSHA also offers training to workers through its Compliance
Assistance Specialists located in various area offices across the
country; through its use of both formal and informal alliances and
partnerships with trade associations, labor organizations, and other
groups; and through training provided by OSHA's On-Site Consultation
Program in all 50 States and several U.S. Territories.
The President's fiscal year 2020 Budget for OSHA includes an
overall request of $557,533,000, an increase of $300,000 for the agency
from the fiscal year 2019 appropriation. Specifically, the Budget
proposes additional resources for the following budget activities:
$3,780,000 for Federal Enforcement, $1,124,000 for Whistleblower
Programs, $433,000 for Federal Compliance Assistance, and $5,500,000
for Safety and Health Statistics.
Question. Given the effectiveness of the program, why did the
Department choose to eliminate the Harwood Training Grants?
Answer. OSHA has a variety of programs and tools available that
provide training, outreach, and assistance to employers and employees.
These include Alliances, Strategic Partnerships, On-site Consultation,
and numerous targeted outreach events, such as the Fall Stand Down in
Construction, which provide information on workplace safety and health
to the public. The training programs include the Outreach Training
Program, the OSHA Training Institute (OTI) Education Center Program,
and OSHA's cooperative programs. Training and outreach programs
delivered directly by the agency can more efficiently provide the same
type of information to a broader audience than is delivered through the
Harwood training grants.
OSHA's Outreach Training Program and OTI Education Centers are in
full operation for fiscal year 2019 and the Administration continues
its support of the programs in its fiscal year 2020 budget request. In
fiscal year 2018, OSHA trained more than 1,000,000 workers and
potential workers through the Outreach Training Program, which reaches
at-risk worker populations, including individuals with limited English
proficiency. In the same timeframe, the OTI Education Centers trained
more than 55,000 workers through a nationwide network of OSHA-
authorized training centers that educate participants on the
recognition, prevention, and elimination of occupational hazards.
OSHA also offers training to workers through its Compliance
Assistance Specialists located in various area offices across the
country; through its use of both formal and informal alliances and
partnerships with trade associations, labor organizations, and other
groups; and through training provided by OSHA's On-Site Consultation
Program in all 50 States and several U.S. Territories.
Question. Why prioritize quick, random inspections over ones
undertaken due to serious allegations or workplace injuries?
Answer. OSHA's priority system for conducting inspections is
designed to provide the maximum feasible protection to working men and
women. OSHA's Field Operation Manual (FOM), outlines those priorities
in Chapter 2, Section IV as shown below:
Priority................................... Category
First...................................... Imminent Danger
Second..................................... Fatality/Catastrophe*
Third...................................... Complaints/Referrals
Fourth..................................... Programmed Inspections
*OSHA Area Offices determine the inspection priority of a catastrophe
using the Memorandum entitled, ``Interim Enforcement Procedures for
New Reporting Requirements under 29 C.F.R. 1904.39'', dated December
24, 2014, or unless superseded by future agency-approved
correspondence.
The higher priority inspections are unprogrammed inspections, and
tend to focus on specific areas or hazards, which does not always
result in a comprehensive scope inspection. However, OSHA is required
to respond to unprogrammed activity, which generally arises from
serious workplace injuries/illnesses or allegations.
Question. How can you explain the decrease in inspections related
to high-penalty cases, heat concerns, and workplace violence?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
revising its enforcement weighting system. The updated system will
include a greater emphasis on the impact of inspections, rather than
the current system's emphasis on the resources expended in an
inspection. With this revision, OSHA can emphasize inspections that are
not resource intensive, but save more lives and reduce exposure to
hazards. These inspections include those addressing fall and trenching
hazards.
Regarding the number of heat related inspections, OSHA conducted 81
in fiscal year 2015, 233 in fiscal year 2016, 106 in fiscal year 2017,
and 130 in fiscal year 2018. Since the majority of these inspections
are unprogrammed (i.e., complaints) the number of inspections will vary
per year.
Regarding the number of workplace violence related inspections,
OSHA conducted a total of 31 in fiscal year 2015, 72 in fiscal year
2016, 58 in fiscal year 2017 and 49 in fiscal year 2018.
labor organizations
Question. The fiscal year 2020 budget includes cuts to many of the
Department's programs, but one area that the administration seems keen
to invest in is the auditing of labor organizations. This is emphasized
by the fact that while the union membership rate in the private sector
is 6.4 percent, the budget calls for larger increases in funding to
police labor organizations than to police private companies alleged of
wage and hour or workplace safety violations.
Can we expect to see the Department prioritizing the enforcement of
labor organizations over that of private employers in the future?
Answer. The Department of Labor (the Department) is charged with
protecting workers in all aspects of their employment and will continue
to vigorously enforce the law. The Department has thus requested
increases for all of the worker protection agencies. Worker protection
includes ensuring that private sector and Federal unions operate
democratically, transparently, and with financial integrity.
Enforcement of the Labor-Management Reporting and Disclosure Act
(LMRDA) suffered disproportionate funding reductions over the past 10
years, despite the increase in union held assets from $2,800,000,000 in
2008 to $30,000,000,000 in 2018. These cuts greatly reduced the Office
of Labor-Management Standards's (OLMS) enforcement presence, leaving at
risk union workers' rights under the LMRDA, particularly with respect
to financial integrity. In fiscal year 2008, OLMS had 191 investigators
on board at the end of the year. By the end of fiscal year 2018, this
number was at 103, a 46 percent reduction. The number of criminal
investigations completed during this time period decreased by 43
percent (from 393 in 2008 to 223 in 2018). The number of audits
completed during this time decreased by 73 percent (from 791 in 2008 to
215 in 2018).
The recent, modest increases in OLMS's appropriation were not
adequate to keep pace with inflationary costs, further eroding the
deterrent effect of a proactive audit and enforcement program. The
LMRDA requires that union assets and receipts be used solely for union
member benefits. However, the decrease in the number of investigators
has limited OLMS's ability to investigate all cases of suspected fraud
and it has not had the resources to audit union funds held at the
international union level since 2010.
Question. How did the Department come to the conclusion that it was
more worthwhile to restart the International Compliance Audit Program
(I-CAP) rather than invest in workplace safety or wage and hour
enforcement?
Answer. The Department's budget proposes additional investments in
all worker protection agencies including for Federal enforcement by the
Occupational Safety and Health Administration and for the Wage and Hour
Division (WHD). In fiscal year 2018, WHD recovered a record
$304,000,000 in back wages owed to more than 1,300,000 workers.
The Department specifically proposes to restart the International
Compliance Audit Program (I-CAP) because the financial environment of
international unions is far more complex than that of local and
intermediate unions and because international unions have a
significantly higher level of assets, receipts, disbursements, etc.
These important audits safeguard union members' assets held at the
international level of union governance by detecting embezzlements and
other criminal and civil violations of the law. From fiscal year 2004
through fiscal year 2010, OLMS completed 35 audits under I-CAP,
completing approximately seven each year with a contingent of
approximately 12 staff on board. These audits uncovered 304 reporting
violations, 109 recordkeeping violations, 126 internal control
weaknesses, and 22 bonding violations. They also uncovered criminal
violations that resulted in indictments and convictions.
The inability of OLMS to audit international unions places their
assets at risk. It provides union officers and others with the
opportunity to commit fraud and embezzlement undetected, thus
increasing financial risk to these international unions.
The funding increase requested for OLMS would not be directed
solely to conducting I-CAP audits. The request also restores resources
to OLMS' core enforcement, which budget reductions and inflation have
eroded, and includes $2,500,000 for the Department's worker protection
information technology modernization efforts.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Tammy Baldwin
industry-recognized apprenticeship programs
Question. On July 27th, 2018, the Department of Labor issued TEN 3-
18: Creating Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs to Expand
Opportunity in America, which outlines the process that will allow
trade associations and other non-governmental entities to self-certify
apprenticeship programs.
In February 2019 a number of my colleagues and I sent a letter to
you asking you to explain and show written documentation for The
Department's rationale for creation of the IRAP program. And, recently
I have had a number of conversations with Wisconsin apprenticeship
stakeholders, including business owners, who don't understand the
Department's move away from the registered apprenticeship system they
have used for years--a system they understand how to navigate and
comply with, and has an 80 year track record of success.
Can you provide this committee any specific evidence that the
proposed Industry Recognized Apprenticeship program model is needed?
Answer. The apprenticeship model, meaning earning while learning,
has worked well in many American industries and the Department is
working to open opportunities for apprenticeships to expand in new
sectors of our economy. With 7.4 million open jobs and job creators
searching for skilled job seekers, apprenticeship expansion will
continue to close the skills gap and strengthen the greatest workforce
in the world--the American workforce.
To this point, the Department and State Apprenticeship Agencies
(SAAs) have primarily implemented the National Apprenticeship Act by
registering individual apprenticeship programs and apprentices.
However, while the registered apprenticeship model has been highly
successful in preparing workers for jobs in the traditional trades,
such as construction, this approach has not easily scaled in high-
growth sectors such as advanced manufacturing, IT/cybersecurity, and
healthcare. In addition, participation in Registered Apprenticeship
Programs relative to the U.S. workforce overall lags behind
corresponding participation in other leading economies.
Currently, registered apprenticeships provide occupational training
to only approximately 0.3 percent of the American workforce. In
contrast, other developed countries, such as Germany and Switzerland,
have more successfully integrated apprenticeships into their education
systems and workforces, leveraging the full potential of apprenticeship
programs to lower unemployment rates and contribute to economic
success.\9\ If apprenticeships are to accelerate and flourish in
emerging and high-growth sectors, the United States will need to create
a new pathway to apprenticeship development that better fits the needs
of industry.
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\9\ Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion, ``Final Report to: The
President of the United States,'' May 10, 2018, https://www.dol.gov/
apprenticeship/docs/task-force-apprenticeship-expansion-report.pdf.
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On June 15, 2017, President Trump signed Executive Order 13801
charging the Secretary of Labor to consider establishing guidelines or
requirements that qualified entities should or must follow to ensure
that apprenticeship programs they recognize meet quality standards. The
Executive Order created a Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion that
included representatives of companies, labor, educational institutions,
trade associations, and public officials and invited them to offer
their recommendations on how to best expand the apprenticeship model in
America. The Task Force recommendations were transmitted to the
President on May 10, 2018, and the Department continues to take steps
to effectuate the Executive Order.
On June 24, 2019, the Department issued a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking (NPRM) titled Apprenticeship Programs, Labor Standards for
Registration, Amendment of Regulations. This proposed rule reflects key
recommendations contained in the final report of the Task Force, which
noted that the establishment of industry-recognized apprenticeships
could provide high-quality apprenticeship programs and opportunities in
a market-driven system.
Under the proposed rule, entities such as trade, industry, and
employer groups or associations, educational institutions, State and
local government entities, non-profit organizations, unions, or a
consortium or partnership of these entities could become a Standards
Recognition Entity (SRE) that sets standards for training, structure,
and curricula for industry recognized apprenticeship programs (IRAPs)
in relevant industries or occupational areas. The SREs would be
recognized through the U.S. Department of Labor to ensure that its
requirements are met, resulting in strong oversight of IRAPs. This is a
similar relationship to the one that exists between the U.S. Department
of Education and higher education accrediting bodies. The Department
would ensure that SREs have the capacity and quality-assurance
processes and procedures needed to monitor IRAPs and recognize that
IRAPs are high quality. The Department's criteria for high-quality
IRAPs include paid work, work-based learning, mentorship, education and
instruction, industry-recognized credentials, safety and supervision,
and adhering to equal employment opportunity obligations.
Question. How are proposed IRAPs consistent with the National
Apprenticeship Act provision that states: ``The Secretary of Labor is
authorized and directed to formulate . . . labor standards necessary to
safeguard the welfare of apprentices?''
Answer. As with all American workers, apprentices in IRAPs would
enjoy the full range of workplace protections with respect to wages,
occupational safety, and equal employment opportunity that are required
by law. The welfare of apprentices is of the utmost importance to the
Department and the NPRM contains several provisions to that effect,
including protections requiring a safe working environment consistent
with Federal, State, and local laws; payment of at least the applicable
Federal, State, or local minimum wage; and equal employment opportunity
protections, that will keep the workplace free from harassment,
intimidation, and retaliation.
Specifically, in Section 29.22, ``Responsibilities and Requirements
of Standards Recognition Entities,'' the Department addresses safety
(Sec. 29.22(a)(4)(v)), wages (Sec. 29.22(a)(4)(vii)), and equal
employment opportunity (Sec. 29.22(a)(4)(viii). Under the proposed
rule, the Department would also require that SREs have policies and
procedures related to harassment, intimidation, and retaliation to
facilitate IRAPs' adherence to applicable law (Sec. 29.22(k)).The
proposal allows SREs to recognize and maintain recognition of only
those apprenticeship programs that conform to such requirements
(Sec. 29.22(a)(4)).
The proposed rule would also require a SRE to validate IRAPs'
compliance with such requirements when it provides the Department with
notice it has recognized an IRAP (Sec. 29.22(b)). Additionally, Section
29.26, ``Complaints against Standards Recognition Entities'' authorizes
apprentices to submit a complaint to the Administrator of the Office of
Apprenticeship should they believe a SRE has failed to comply with the
requirements of the proposed rule.
This approach is fully consistent with the language of the National
Apprenticeship Act of 1937, which charges the Secretary of Labor with
``formulat[ing] and promot[ing] the furtherance of labor standards
necessary to safeguard the welfare of apprentices.''
As this is an open rulemaking, if you have any additional questions
or items for consideration, the Department encourages you to submit
these as comments in the rulemaking record so that they may be
addressed in any final rule.
Question. What protections are provided for apprentices in the IRAP
System?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
Question. Does the Department have any vision or plans on how to
best support and expand the highly effective RA system?
Answer. Starting with the President's Executive Order on Expanding
Apprenticeships in America, the Administration has made clear that
streamlining and expanding the Registered Apprenticeship Program is a
priority. Moreover, the Secretary of Labor released a memorandum to
Federal agencies in June 2017, asking ``that each Agency head support
the Administration's apprenticeship initiative by removing obstacles to
apprenticeship growth that may be present in current regulations or
practices.'' Subsequently, the Taskforce on Apprenticeship Expansion's
report to the President provided a clear indication that Registered
Apprenticeship needs reform ``to modernize the system and encourage
greater employer and industry sector involvement.''
The Department has begun to take actions to streamline RAPs by
revising its National Program Standards (NPS) approval criteria to
enable more high-quality apprenticeship programs with national scope to
qualify. Despite an increase in the number of apprenticeship programs
with NPS recognition, these programs have often encountered additional,
unnecessary layers of regulation. The Department clarified that
sponsors that meet certain criteria to register NPS with the Department
need not also register their programs on a State-by-State basis.
In response to the concerns expressed by many sponsors of RAPs that
the paperwork for registration has been unduly burdensome to complete,
the Department is actively taking steps to reduce and streamline the
paperwork required of program sponsors for registration.
In addition to these efforts, the Department has continued to
invest in RAPs through State grants, cooperative agreements, and
contracts that expand Registered Apprenticeship opportunities. As a
result, since January 2017, there are more than 526,000 new
apprentices. These results represent a 20-year high mark for the
Registered Apprenticeship System, increasing the number of active
apprentices by 56 percent since 2013.
state apprenticeship council alliance
Question. I have heard from apprenticeship stakeholders in my State
that the Federal Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship has essentially
disbanded. In its absence, and the move by this Administration away
from the Registered Apprenticeship Program, 18 different State
Apprenticeship Councils have created The State Apprenticeship Council
Alliance (SACA). These State Apprenticeship Councils include members
from North Carolina, Kansas, Kentucky, Maine, Minnesota, Nevada,
Louisiana, Wisconsin and others.
(SACA States: Arizona, Connecticut, District of Columbia, Kansas,
Kentucky, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, Minnesota,
Montana, Nevada, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Rhode Island,
Vermont, & Wisconsin)
The purpose of SACA is to advocate for the national Registered
Apprenticeship system, promote policies that support Registered
Apprenticeship system and programs, and elevate the key leadership role
of State Apprenticeship Councils.
Mr. Acosta, what is the current status of the Federal Advisory
Committee on Apprenticeship and does the Department have plans to
reconvene this committee?
Answer. The Executive Order on Expanding Apprenticeships in America
directed the Secretary of Labor to establish a Task Force on
Apprenticeship Expansion (Task Force), bringing together industry and
workforce leaders to consider how to promote apprenticeships in sectors
where they are insufficient. On May 10, 2018, the Task Force
transmitted its final report to President Trump, which included 26
recommendations for expanding high-quality apprenticeships that lead to
family-sustaining careers. Among other recommendations, the report
included recommendations on modernizing RAPs and indicated that
Industry-Recognized Apprenticeship Programs (IRAPs) could provide a new
and flexible alternative to supplement--but not supplant--the
Registered Apprenticeship Program. In response to the recommendations
of the Task Force, the Department has issued a Notice of Proposed
Rulemaking on IRAPs that will make such apprenticeships more flexible
and responsive to market needs.
The Advisory Committee on Apprenticeship (ACA) is a discretionary
committee under FACA and its charter expired on December 16, 2018. The
Department continues to implement the recommendations from the Task
Force and is committed to expanding the apprenticeship model, including
into non-traditional industries in order to rapidly scale the number of
apprenticeships in America.
Question. Will the Department commit to working with the State
Apprenticeship Council Alliance to expand and promote apprenticeship
training programs within their member States?
Answer. Absolutely. The Department would be happy to meet with the
State Apprenticeship Council Alliance to explore how to work together
to expand and promote apprenticeships in America and how to eliminate
the bureaucratic hurdles at the State and local levels.
election of board of directors
Question. Secretary Acosta, in your message accompanying the
Department's strategic plan, you note that ``our Nation's greatest
resource is the American workforce.'' That is why I have introduced
legislation to require that American workers elect one-third of their
board of directors. Research has shown that worker representation
increases investment, lowers income inequality, and improves
profitability.
Do you believe workers should have the opportunity to elect their
own representatives to corporate boards?
Answer. The Department appreciates your interest in the important
issue of corporate governance. The Administration has not taken a
position on S. 915.
workplace violence
Question. Workplace violence is a serious and growing problem that
has reached epidemic proportions. Violence is now the third leading
cause of workplace deaths. Healthcare and social service workers--
nurses, nursing assistants and emergency response workers--suffer more
than 70 percent of all work-related assaults. And, women face the
greatest risks--two of every three workplace violence events are
suffered by women.
In 2016, OSHA accepted a petition from unions for OSHA to develop a
standard to protect healthcare and social service workers from
workplace violence. But under the Trump administration, there's been
virtually no action or progress on the workplace violence rule. The
latest DOL regulatory agenda from last Fall stated that OSHA would
start a small business review of a draft proposed workplace violence
rule this March, after first saying the review would begin in January.
Does DOL consider Workplace Violence to be a serious safety and
health problem and are you committed to develop and issue a workplace
violence standard to protect healthcare and social service workers?
Answer. The Department clearly recognizes the importance of
preventing workplace violence in all workplaces--including the
healthcare and social assistance sectors--and it has a long history of
commitment to protecting healthcare employees from work-related
physical harm and threats of physical harm. The Department is committed
to continuing to gather data to inform a potential standard to protect
healthcare and social assistance workers.
Question. If so, what is DOLs schedule for issuing the workplace
violence rule?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) is
in the process of analyzing the information it has gathered from
petitioners for a standard, participants of the stakeholder meeting,
comments received in response to its Request for Information, and
experts. OSHA will use this information to develop regulatory
alternatives and cost and benefit analyses required to initiate the
small business review process required by the Small Business Regulatory
Enforcement Fairness Act (SBREFA). OSHA anticipates initiating the
SBREFA process in Fall 2019.
Question. When will DOL complete a small business review of the
draft proposed rule?
Answer. OSHA anticipates initiating the SBREFA process in the fall
of this year. OSHA expects to complete the small business review about
4 months after initiation.
Question. Can you give us a date when DOL plans to issue a final
workplace violence standard?
Answer. The schedule for issuing proposed and final rules depends
upon the input received and recommendations that arise from the SBREFA
process, as well as the nature of comments received in response to
issuing the proposed rule.
employee stock ownership plans
Question. Employee Stock Ownership Plans provide an opportunity for
workers to own a part of the very business they work for, and these
empowering arrangements drive economic growth, create jobs, and provide
meaningful retirement savings for the employee-owners. Congress has, on
a bipartisan basis, gone to great lengths to encourage ESOPs, but the
Department of Labor's overly aggressive enforcement tactics are putting
employee ownership at risk. The Department has never issued guidance on
key issues such as valuation and, instead, has elected to regulate
through litigation. That is causing very real problems for employee-
owned companies.
Do I have your commitment that you will take immediate steps to
begin working with the ESOP community to provide guidance to the ESOP
community and stop trying to regulate through litigation?
Answer. Employee Stock Ownership Plans (ESOPs) provide retirement
benefits and give workers a direct stake in their companies. The
Department fully supports this model. However, when ESOP fiduciaries
allow an ESOP to overpay for employer stock, or sell employer stock at
a discount, they endanger retirement benefits and undermine the
Employee Retirement Income Security Act (ERISA). When this happens, the
Department has an obligation to enforce the law.
The Department pursues corrective action through voluntary
compliance and refers cases for litigation only when there are material
and substantive violations that remain uncorrected. The Department
processed 2,974 civil ESOP investigations from fiscal year 2003 to
fiscal year 2018. During that same period, the Department filed
litigation in just 69 ESOP cases. This translates to an average of four
(4) lawsuits per year. Further, the number of investigations opened has
dropped from an average of 188 cases per year between 2003 and 2017, to
18 last year.
The Department bases enforcement actions and lawsuits on well-
established principles that are set forth in numerous published
decisions. ERISA says that trustees must discharge their duties with
prudence and undivided loyalty to the ESOP's participants. When relying
on an appraiser to set the stock's fair market value, the trustees must
(1) investigate the appraiser's qualifications; (2) provide the
appraiser complete, current, and accurate information; and (3) make
certain that reliance on the appraiser's opinion is reasonably
justified under the circumstances. Reliance on the appraiser is
justified when the fiduciary (i) reads the report and supporting
documents; (ii) understands the report; (iii) identifies, questions,
and tests the underlying assumptions; (iv) verifies that the
conclusions are consistent with the data and analyses; (v) verifies
that the appraisal is internally consistent and makes sense; and (vi)
if necessary, obtains additional expert assistance to evaluate the
transaction and appraisal.
Since 2015, the Department's ESOP litigation has returned more than
$69 million to ESOP plans, and, ultimately, participating employees and
their families.
In addition to the principles established through case law, the
Department has provided guidance to the ESOP community through well-
publicized process agreements. The Department has continually
emphasized the importance of the fiduciary's process and the need for a
prudent, critical, and thorough review of every ESOP transaction. As a
result, the Department has entered into several additional process
agreements in which the Department has reiterated its position. The
Department makes these process agreements publicly available through
its website, and they are also widely disseminated in the ESOP
community.
The Department remains committed to assuring meaningful retirement
savings for the participants of ESOPs, and will continue to work with
the ESOP community to develop additional guidance where it is feasible
and appropriate to do so.
line speed waivers for poultry plants
Question. According to OSHA, poultry workers are nearly twice as
likely to suffer from serious injuries as other workers in private
industry, and more than six times as likely to have a work-related
illness. In 2014, the USDA Food Safety and Inspection Service published
a new rule on poultry inspection. In that final rule, the USDA did not
increase line speeds in poultry plants because of the potential to
further endanger workers in an already dangerous industry. Within the
rule DOL said that the agency needs to consider the impact on worker
safety before increasing line speeds. I understand that 6 or 7 poultry
plants have been granted waivers by the FSIS from this rule and allowed
to increase line speeds with little to no public comment or
consideration.
Did USDA request OSHA's input or ask your Department to conduct any
evaluation, or gather any data from these 6-7 plants on worker safety
prior to the waivers being issued?
Answer. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) did not request
the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) conduct any
evaluations or collect data from poultry plants.
Question. Did USDA ask you to provide the OSHA records, or injury
reports for the plants that were granted waivers?
Answer. USDA did not ask OSHA to provide records or injury reports
for poultry processing.
swine slaughter safety inspection rule
Question. Last spring, the USDA proposed a new swine slaughter
inspection rule that would remove any caps on line speed in hog
slaughter plants. There have been many concerns raised about this
rule--including what an increase in line speeds means for workers in
these plants. Meatpacking is one of the most dangerous industries, with
worker injury rates more than two times the national average and
illness rates more than 16 times. OSHA's own guidelines for the
meatpacking industry makes it clear that due to the forceful nature of
these jobs an increase in the pace of work in these plants will
increase injuries.
Over 80,000 comments were received by USDA on this proposed rule,
almost all opposed to the rule. In the rule, USDA states that the
agency would need to conduct an evaluation of the impact of increased
line speeds on worker safety, and the agency said they conducted such
an evaluation--but did not put in the record for the public to view or
comment on. Recently the agency said it is not USDA's problem if their
rule increases worker injuries, because worker safety is under the
jurisdiction of OSHA.
Please share with the committee any evaluation DOL did regarding
worker safety and line speeds related to this proposed new swine
slaughter inspection rule.
Answer. The Department did not conduct an independent evaluation of
the impact of the proposed swine slaughter inspection rule on worker
safety and health.
Question. Did DOL review the USDA evaluation of the impact on
worker safety if line speed were increased in hog slaughter plants? Can
you share with this committee any evaluation, or comments DOL made to
USDA on such an evaluation?
Answer. The Department did provide comments to the Office of
Management and Budget (OMB) on the U.S. Department of Agriculture's
(USDA) Modernization of Swine Slaughter Inspection proposed rule, when,
pursuant to Executive Order 12866, OMB's Office of Information and
Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) was coordinating Executive Branch review of
the draft regulation prior to publication in the Federal Register. The
Department's comments were reflected in USDA's February 2018 Notice of
Proposed Rulemaking.
The requested comment documents--which record the agencies'
deliberative, pre-decisional exchange about the draft proposed rule--
constitute part of the Executive Branch's deliberative process in the
development of a regulatory action, and are not released outside of the
Executive Branch.
Question. Do you think DOL has an obligation to raise serious
worker safety concerns to USDA when the final rule comes to DOL for
review?
Answer. The Department takes its obligation to ensure that
employers provide safe and healthful workplaces very seriously.
Question. Do you think it is ok that USDA can increase line speeds
and thereby increase injuries among the 90,000 hog slaughter workers
without input from DOL?
Answer. The Department takes its obligation to ensure that
employers provide safe and healthful workplaces very seriously.
osha inspector vacancies
Question. Since the beginning of the Trump administration, there
has been a decrease in the number of OSHA inspectors from 815 to 752
inspectors as of the beginning of this year. This is the lowest number
of OSHA inspectors since the early 1970's when OSHA began. During this
time, the workforce has nearly doubled and new safety and health
problems have emerged.
In DOL's budget request for fiscal year 2018 and 2019, DOL
requested additional resources for OSHA enforcement. But at the same
time, many of the already authorized and funded inspector positions at
OSHA remain vacant.
Why after more than 2 years in office are there so many vacant
inspector positions, why have so few of these positions been filled?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA)
has taken several steps to increase its Federal Enforcement staffing
levels. Beginning in 2017, the agency received approval to fill all
funded Compliance Safety and Health Officers (CSHO) positions. All
vacancies are being recruited for, and OSHA is in the process of on-
boarding the inspectors. The agency begins the recruitment process as
soon as a vacancy occurs, or an upcoming retirement is announced. OSHA
advertises and recruits individuals to fill all current vacancies, and
the new inspectors then begin the on-boarding process. The recruitment
and on-boarding process can take from three to 6 months, which includes
the time necessary for advertisement, application, screening and
interviews, and completing the required clearance of applicants under
consideration, such as security and CSHO physicals. OSHA has also begun
recruiting for a larger number of positions than available vacancies to
ensure there is a continuous pool of CSHO applicants for selection when
future vacancies occur.
Question. Will you commit to fill these vacant inspector positions
by June 30th this year?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
improve tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses
Question. In 2016 OSHA issued a regulation to Improve Tracking of
Workplace Injuries and Illnesses. The purpose of the rule was to
provide OSHA, employers, workers, public health officials and
researchers with real-time injury and illness information from
individual workplaces that could be used to help identify hazardous
workplaces, and groups of workers at high risk of injury. The rule
didn't require employers to keep any new records, but simply to report
injury data they are already required to submit to OSHA in a new
updated electronic format. And OSHA planned to share this data in a
format that protected individual worker's privacy.
Some industry groups strongly opposed the rule because they don't
want their workplace injury and illness data to be made public. So
instead of fully implementing this important rule, DOL first refused to
make any of the summary injury data collected public. Second, the
administration moved to revoke the requirements for large employers to
report their detailed injury data to OSHA, which means that OSHA and
the safety and health community will not be readily able to get
information on the types of injuries occurring in hazardous workplaces
or the groups of workers at high-risk of injury. It's a disservice to
workers and safety specialists committed to making the workplace safer
that DOL has weakened this important rule.
Will DOL commit to fully defend the remaining provisions of the
2016 injury tracking rule--both the requirements for employers to
report summary injury data and the provisions that strengthen anti-
retaliation protections for workers who report workplace injuries?
Answer. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration will
fully defend the final injury and illness recordkeeping rule, which
became effective on February 25, 2019.
______
Questions Submitted by Senator Joe Manchin, III
the american miners act--miners pensions
Question. Secretary Acosta, as I am sure you know, the UMWA 1974
Pension fund provides retirement benefits to over 86,000 miners
including 26,000 in West Virginia. The average pension is $600 per
month, modest by most standards, but still critical to the 87,000
beneficiaries who depend on it. In the past 2 years, contributions into
the Plan have dropped by more than $100 million, leaving less than $25
million per year still coming into it. If nothing changes, the Plan
will be insolvent as soon as 2022. It will happen even sooner if any
more coal companies file for bankruptcy. If this plan collapses,
beneficiaries and their dependents would revert to the Pension Benefit
Guaranty Corporation, destroying PBGC leaving taxpayers on the hook to
foot the bill instead of the companies that made these promises in the
first place. The time to act is now--the longer we wait to solve this
problem the more expensive and more difficult it becomes. This is one
of the reasons why I introduced the American Miners Act earlier this
year. The American Miners Act would ensure that crucial benefits would
be protected for our miners and beneficiaries.
Secretary Acosta, is the Department of Labor actively working on
solutions to this problem?
Answer. It is critical to address the security of our pension
system and the Department is committed to working with Congress and
stakeholders to ensure the stability of the multiemployer plan system--
promoting retirement security is part of the Department's mission and
is simply good public policy. America's retired coal miners, and other
workers in multiemployer plans, have worked hard for their pensions
they reasonably expect upon retirement. The Department's 2020 Budget
includes a proposal to keep PBGC solvent for the next 20 years by
reforming the premiums levied on multiemployer plans. The proposal
would add a premium based on plan underfunding, similar to the premium
assessed on single-employer plans, in order to charge according to the
risk plans pose to PBGC rather than their number of participants. The
Department, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation (PBGC), and the
Departments of Treasury and Commerce, are committed to working with
Congress and stakeholders to address the security of multiemployer
pension plans, including the UMWA 1974 Pension Plan.
Question. Would you commit to working with me to finding a solution
by the end of the year?
Answer. The Department, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation
(PBGC), and the Departments of Treasury and Commerce, are committed to
working with Congress and stakeholders to address the security of
multiemployer pension plans, including the UMWA 1974 Pension Plan.
the american miners act--black lung disability trust fund
Question. Black lung is a terrible disease and it is only getting
worse. After many years of dedication to providing our Nation with
energy, America's coal miners continue to face the devastation of black
lung disease caused by inhaling coal mine dust. We are seeing more and
more cases of black lung--particularly in younger miners who have spent
less time working in the mines. Today, more than 25,000 coal miners and
their dependents rely on the Black Lung Disability Trust Fund to pay
for critical medical treatments and basic expenses. Due to decreases in
the coal excise tax, this already indebted Trust Fund could face
borrowing costs of more than $15 billion by 2050.
Secretary Acosta, what is your plan to ensure that these benefits
are protected and that our coal miners continue to get the help that
they need?
Answer. Because the Department of the Treasury is required by
statute to provide repayable advances to the Black Lung Disability
Trust Fund (Trust Fund) if needed, there is no risk that entitled
beneficiaries will not receive their Federal black lung benefits.
However, under present circumstances, the Trust Fund's debt will
continue to increase without intervention. Any changes to the Trust
Fund's financing would require legislative action, and the Department
is ready to work with Congress to develop a solution and ensure the
long-term viability of the Trust Fund.
clean start act and offender job reentry programs
Question. As the opioid epidemic continues to take its toll, there
are more and more men and women who face severely limited job
opportunities after serving their time for crimes committed as a result
of addiction. To help fix this problem, I introduced a bill called the
Clean Start Act last Congress that seeks to help former addicts with
criminal records seal those records if they complete a comprehensive
addiction treatment program and show that they have turned their lives
around. Last year, West Virginia enacted its own version of the Clean
Start Act and I look forward to seeing it implemented.
How do you plan on helping former offenders re-join the workforce
and once again become responsible taxpayers?
Answer. The Department is committed to helping individuals involved
in the criminal justice system, including ex-offenders recovering from
opioid and other substance use disorders, obtain employment in family-
sustaining jobs. On April 1, 2019, the Department hosted an event--
Strengthening America's Workforce--to discuss paths for Americans
transitioning from the justice system into the workforce and to
encourage more organizations to apply for the Department's reentry
grants. The Reentry Employment Opportunity's Reentry Project grants are
designed to develop or expand programs to improve employment
opportunities for adults ages 18-24 who have been incarcerated in the
youth or adult criminal justice system, and adults ages 25 or older,
released from prison or jail within 2 years of enrollment.
Additionally, through the Nation's network of American Job Centers, the
Department informs employers about the skills and abilities of this
population and advances strategies to address the barriers to
reemployment. Lastly, through the Federal Bonding Program (FBP), the
Department provides fidelity bonds to employers to help reduce the
risks of hiring individuals whose criminal backgrounds, including
individuals with a history of opioid and other drug misuse, pose
barriers to securing employment. The Department also recently announced
a pilot project to support the expansion of fidelity bonds in six
States, which are participating in a demonstration designed to combat
the opioid crisis. These States (Alaska, Maryland, New Hampshire,
Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, and Washington) now have the opportunity to
pilot expanded use of the FBP to decrease employment barriers for
recovering opioid users and others in substance abuse recovery.
Question. What programs and initiatives, in your experience, will
be most effective in assisting former offenders rejoin the workforce?
Answer. Providing former offenders with the opportunities to gain
the skills necessary to compete in the workplace is a major part of
successful reentry. The Department requires that all Reentry Project
grantees provide occupational training in in-demand industries that
leads to industry-recognized credentials, including supporting
Registered Apprenticeship pathways for returning offenders. This
approach is beneficial to employers and participants, resulting in an
increase in employment for program participants. Additionally, the
Department provides assistance through the FBP. Fidelity bonds issued
through the FBP serve as a job placement tool. Employers receive the
bonds free of charge as incentive to hire hard-to-place job applicants.
The bond insurance was designed to reimburse the employer for any loss
due to employee theft of money or property. Individuals may be covered
from $5,000 to $25,000, at a cost of $100 per bond paid by the State
with Federal funds. Individuals are covered for the first 6 months of
employment. If necessary, bonds may be issued to cover an additional 6
months. Another promising approach is the use of Registered
Apprenticeships behind bars. Many State Departments of Corrections have
sponsored Registered Apprenticeship programs, including Washington and
Iowa. The Department has also partnered with the Bureau of Prisons to
create an apprenticeship program that offers a standardized pathway for
inmates to gain skills in over 100 trades in 98 Federal institutions.
Staff prepare inmates for reentry by offering trade-specific skill
development partnered with work opportunities, which will translate
into employment opportunities upon release from incarceration.
cuts to job corps
Question. The President's Budget would cut $700 million in funding
for Job Corps. This program is the Nation's largest career technical
training and educational program for youth and approximately 95 percent
of Job Corps students successfully attain industry-recognized
certifications. Job Corps has a zero-tolerance policy against violence
and drugs. Secretary Acosta, I am deeply concerned about the
availability of job training and employment opportunities, especially
for young adults who are not always being well prepared in our
education system. I have heard from employers across my State that they
have jobs, but they don't have the workers with the skills needed to do
those jobs.
Secretary Acosta, this reduction will obviously have a major impact
on the number of individuals who are able to receive desperately needed
job training.
What will happen to those individuals and the employers who need
workers? What will happen to the young West Virginians who are ready,
willing and able to be learn a new skill or trade but have few or no
options because of these proposed budget cuts?
Answer. The Department of Labor is committed to helping young
individuals from disadvantaged backgrounds receive high-quality
vocational and academic instruction opportunities. The Department has
concerns about the program, irrespective of the funding level, and is
proceeding based on those concerns with reforms to the program that we
believe will improve outcomes for youth and make the program more
effective and efficient. For example, the Department is using its pilot
project authority to work with governors who are interested in
establishing pilot projects throughout the United States. As our
demonstration projects mature, we will assess them to determine whether
they offer more effective models for serving at-risk youth as compared
to the Department's traditional Job Corps program model. The Department
will also determine whether these alternate approaches are more cost
effective than the traditional program model. The Department will
consider scaling efficiencies identified by demonstration projects in
order to improve the delivery of Job Corps services.
Overall, the Department is conducting a center by center
programmatic assessment of performance, surveying physical facilities,
assessing programmatic sustainability, and considering the workforce
development needs in each State and area served by a Job Corps center.
Using this deliberate approach, the Department will determine how to
allocate the program's fiscal year 2020 resources, including whether to
close some centers. It is the Department's expectation that through
concentration of Job Corps activities in a more limited set of higher
performing centers, we will provide Job Corps participants with higher
quality services that lead to better outcomes. The Department always
prioritizes the needs of current Job Corps participants when
deactivating or consolidating a center, allowing them to complete their
Job Corps training either at their current center or at a higher
performing center. Further, the Department will maintain as many
student slots as possible by increasing Job Corps capacity at remaining
centers. This approach maximizes the impact of Job Corps'
appropriation, allowing us to continue to serve at risk youth from all
fifty states and territories without compromising program
effectiveness.
mine safety and health administration silica standard
Question. Worker exposure to silica is a major health and safety
problem that causes disabling lung disease. In 2016, after decades of
effort the unions won a stronger Occupational Safety and Health
Administration (OSHA) silica standard that cut permissible exposures in
half. After OSHA issued its standard, the Mine Safety and Health
Administration (MSHA) was moving to lower the silica standard for
mining. However, the Trump administration has sidelined a new MSHA
silica standard and is refusing to act. Meanwhile, there has been an
epidemic of progressive massive fibrosis seen in coal miners in
Appalachia, including miners in West Virginia. The most likely cause of
this epidemic is exposure to silica from high quartz levels in the rock
in the coal mines in this area. Still MSHA has refused to move forward.
MSHA needs to move forward immediately to tighten the silica standard
for miners like those that OSHA has for other workers.
Secretary Acosta, will you direct MSHA to move forward and issue a
stronger silica standard for miners?
Answer. MSHA continues to aggressively sample the mine environment
and enforce existing standards to ensure that operators have effective
controls in place that continuously protect miners' health from
exposure to respirable dust and silica (quartz). Quartz samples
increased 335 percent between 2013 and 2018, and MSHA is encouraged by
mine operators' compliance with the respirable coal dust rule, and
control of coal miners' exposure to quartz. Since August 2016, for
example, MSHA samples indicate average quartz exposure of about 25
percent of the limit. Whereas over 16 percent of quartz samples
exceeded the standard in 2008, by 2018 only 1.2 percent of quartz
samples exceeded the standard.
When quartz samples exceed the standard, MSHA leadership personally
reviews and discusses each exceedance with senior staff. Field staff
issue citations where appropriate and require corrective actions (such
as revising ventilation and dust control plans and improving
engineering controls). Enforcement staff follows up to ensure that the
mine applies needed controls to avoid future exceedances.
MSHA is currently reviewing the health effects and risk from
miners' exposures to quartz and considering appropriate next steps that
include an examination of permissible exposure limits. To that end, in
the Spring 2019 Unified Agenda, MSHA announced its intent to issue a
request for information to identify ways to protect miners from
exposure to quartz, including an examination of an appropriately
reduced permissible exposure limit, potential protective technologies,
and/or technical and educational assistance.
overtime coverage for workers
Question. Earlier this year, your Department of Labor proposed a
rule that revises the overtime rule from the previously promulgated
rule issued by the Obama Administration. Differing from the Obama era
regulation providing automatic overtime coverage for workers making
less than $47,476 your proposed rule would provide coverage for workers
making less than $35,308. Studies show that a guarantee for overtime
coverage only to those who make less than your number ($35,308) means
that in year one, 2.8 million fewer workers will receive protection
under the overtime laws, and that number grows to 4.3 million by year
ten.
Can you explain your department's analysis on why you think this
decrease was reasonable?
Answer. As part of the rulemaking process, the Administrative
Procedure Act generally requires that agencies publish a notice of
proposed rulemaking (NPRM) in the Federal Register. The agency then
provides a public comment period and, after considering the comments
received, develops a final rule. The comment period for the Overtime
NPRM ended on May 21, 2019, and the Department received 59,348 comment
submissions representing 116,298 comments, some of which may be
duplicates. The Department is currently reviewing the comments received
as part of developing the final rule.
Shortly before the 2016 final rule's effective date, it was
enjoined by the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
In a subsequent opinion invalidating the rule, the court held that the
rule's $913 per week standard salary level went beyond the salary
level's traditional purpose of setting a ``floor'' to screen out
obviously nonexempt employees, and would exclude from exemption too
many workers who perform executive, administrative, or professional
capacity duties. An appeal of that decision to the Fifth Circuit is
being held in abeyance pending the completion of this rulemaking. In
the NPRM, the Department has reconsidered the $913 per week standard
salary level set in the 2016 final rule in light of ongoing litigation,
public comments received in response to a July 26, 2017, Request for
Information (RFI), and feedback received at public listening sessions
the Department held around the country to receive additional public
input on issues related to the salary level test. The Department agrees
with the vast majority of RFI commenters that the standard salary level
needs to exceed the currently-enforced amount of $455 per week to more
effectively serve its purpose.
In the NPRM, the Department proposed to formally rescind the 2016
final rule and to simply update the 2004 standard salary level by
applying the 2004 final rule's methodology to current data. The 2004
final rule set the standard salary level at approximately the 20th
percentile of earnings of full-time salaried workers in the lowest-wage
census region (then and now the South) and in the retail sector. The
Department's proposed rule would do the same, restoring the
effectiveness of the salary level test without unduly disrupting
employers' operations or causing other adverse economic effects.
Question. Would you reinstate the Obama era overtime regulations?
Answer. Please see the response to the prior question.
disabled workers discrimination
Question. The Rehabilitation Act (Public Law 93-112) prohibits
employment discrimination against individuals with disabilities in the
Federal sector. Schedule A is a specific hiring authority with the goal
of increasing opportunities at Federal Government agencies for workers
with intellectual, physical, and psychiatric disabilities. Schedule A
hiring authority includes a 2 year probationary period during which
Schedule A workers are held to the same performance standards as all
other employees. Schedule A also includes people with ``targeted
disabilities'' as a subset of the larger disability category. The
Federal Government has recognized that qualified individuals with
certain disabilities, particularly manifest disabilities, face
significant barriers to employment, above and beyond the barriers faced
by people with the broader range of disabilities. The American
Federation of Government Employees, a union representing employees at
DOL headquarters and around the country, has noted a number of Schedule
A employees at your agency are removed immediately prior to the end of
their 2 year probationary period. During the 35 day government shutdown
the Department removed a blind lawyer, who worked as a legal assistant
for DOL, during her probationary period despite failing to ``make
electronic and information technology accessible'' to disabled workers
under Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. DOL failed to report to
the EEOC the rate of involuntary removals for 2016 or 2017, as required
in their Management Directive 715 reports that provide transparency on
the recruiting, hiring, and retention of disabled workers.
Can you please provide to the Committee the last 3 years of
Management Directive 715 Reports and specifically identify in each of
those reports any deficiencies, barriers, or triggers for disabled and
targeted disabled and how the agency addressed those issues?
Answer. Attached are the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Management Directive
715 Reports. Within the 2015 report, pages 32-33 (Part I) provide the
requested information (see Attachment 1); within the 2016 report, pages
30-33 (Part I) provide the requested information (see Attachment 2);
and within the 2017 report, pages 29-31 (Part I) provide the requested
information (see Attachment 3). The Department of Labor's (the
Department) Human Resources Center, with support from the Department,
has addressed identified barriers and/or triggers with the following
example initiatives:
--Outreach to organizations with a high concentration of individuals
with disabilities such as Gallaudet University and Disabled
Veterans groups;
--Partnerships with the Maryland Division of Rehabilitation Services
(DORS) and the Virginia Department for Aging and Rehabilitative
Services (DARS);
--Working actively with the Department's Disability Action Group
(Affinity Group) to support recruitment, retention, and
professional development strategies for employees with
disabilities;
--Training on Schedule A hiring authorities;
--Training on and adherence to Section 508 accessible communication
requirements; and
--Internal recognition of National Disability Employment Awareness
Month (NDEAM).
The Committee has received the 2015, 2016, and 2017 Management
Directive 715 Reports as requested.
The 2018 Management Directive 715 Report will be submitted to the
Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) by May 31, 2019.
Question. Can you also please identify why DOL did not send the
EEOC data on involuntary removals broken by disability/targeted
disability/non-disability status for years 2016 and 2017?
Answer. The Department has provided this data. It was included
within the Workforce Data Tables for each fiscal year. The MD-715
reports and workforce data tables were submitted, as required, to the
EEOC via their Federal Sector EEO Portal (FEDSEP) (see Attachment 4);
specifically:
--Within the fiscal year 2016 Workforce Data Tables, the data is
provided in Data Table B14 (See Page 75 of Attachment 5);
--Within the fiscal year 2017 Workforce Data Tables, the data is
provided in Data Table B14 (Page 63 of Attachment 6).
Please note that there was a clerical error on the 2017 Data Table
B14, where the voluntary and involuntary separation numbers were
transposed. DOL sent a letter to the EEOC clarifying the data reflected
in that table (see Attachment 7).
water industry workforce
Question. One of the main concerns for West Virginia rural water
utilities is filling jobs left behind by the aging water industry
workforce. Your Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics projects that
employment of Drinking Water and Wastewater Treatment Plant and System
Operators is expected to decline by 3% \10\ between 2016 and 2026. The
projected percent change in employment for all occupations is 7 percent
growth. Water and wastewater utilities are the backbone of economic
development, responsible for the public's health protection and
stewards of safe drinking water delivery. Water and wastewater
utilities need a pipeline of skilled workers to help ensure clean and
safe water for the public and to maintain the water infrastructure
necessary to keep service areas economically viable (especially in
rural America where 92 percent of systems serve communities of 10,000
or less). An apprenticeship program for community water supplies create
jobs could address the Nation's crumbling water infrastructure.
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\10\ https://www.bls.gov/ooh/production/water-and-wastewater-
treatment-plant-and-system-operators.htm.
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Would your Department prioritize apprenticeship program funding for
rural water utilities? More generally, what is the best way to train
the water industry's workforce for the next generation?
Answer. The Department is committed to expanding apprenticeship
opportunities across a broad range of sectors and occupations,
particularly in those industries where a shortage of skilled workers
threatens the long-term safety and economic growth of rural
communities. Over the next decade, the water sector is expected to lose
between 30 to 50 percent \11\ of its workforce to retirement. The
establishment and growth of quality apprenticeship programs in the
water and wastewater utilities industries can provide an effective
workforce strategy for addressing the emerging skills gap in these
critical fields.
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\11\ GAO Report 18-102, ``Water and Wastewater Workforce:
Recruiting Approaches Helped Industry Hire Operators, but Additional
EPA Guidance Could Help Identify Future Needs,''
January 2018, p. 17.
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Through its National Guidelines Standards of apprenticeship, the
Department has assisted stakeholders and industry associations in
developing nationally-recognized education and training standards for
specific water utility occupations. On November 14, 2017, at a signing
ceremony at the Department's headquarters in Washington, D.C., the
National Rural Water Association (NRWA) formally announced an
apprenticeship program for rural water utilities (the ``WaterPro
Apprenticeship Program'') with the Department's Office of
Apprenticeship (OA). Bulletin 2017-47 publicized the WaterPro
apprenticeship program, which establishes a set of National Guideline
Standards of apprenticeship that are tailored to the specific
occupational requirements of water system operations specialists and
wastewater system operations specialists. As a leading provider of
training for rural water and wastewater systems, NRWA is currently
collaborating with State and local leaders to accelerate the
development of Registered Apprenticeship Programs (RAPs) covering these
critical occupations.
At present, a total of 17 NRWA State affiliates have successful
RAPs that conform to these NRWA National Guideline Standards, and
registration applications from NRWA affiliates in 12 additional States
are currently in process. Nationally, 140 active apprentices are
enrolled in the NRWA-sponsored apprenticeship program. Local NRWA-
affiliated program sponsors include Pentair, Inc. (based in Aurora,
Illinois) and the West Virginia American Water Joint Apprenticeship and
Training Committee (based in Charleston, West Virginia). The
groundbreaking NRWA RAPs directly address the concerns raised by GAO
Report 18-102 (January 2018) about the current and growing nationwide
shortage of well-trained drinking water and wastewater management
professionals. For more information concerning the NRWA national
apprenticeship program, please visit the following links:
--https://nrwa.org/initiatives/apprenticeship-program
--https://nrwa.org/2017/11/nrwa-partners-with-department-of-labor-on-
apprenticeship-program/
In the fall of 2018, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA)
awarded a $6 million grant to the NRWA for further development of its
national apprenticeship program. With this new funding from USDA, NRWA
will have additional means to help States develop RAPs for water and
wastewater system operations specialists.
In addition, in May 2019, the Department released a funding
opportunity through the Apprenticeship Expansion and Modernization Fund
to support the development of innovative tools and strategies that,
while relatively untested, hold promise to transform Registered
Apprenticeship and support the expansion of RAPs throughout the Nation.
This opportunity allows applicants to propose innovative projects that
best meet the specific challenges and needs in their area, their
industry, or the local population. Vendor proposals are in development
and may include projects that support workforce development in rural
areas.
SUBCOMMITTEE RECESS
Senator Blunt. The subcommittee stands in recess.
[Whereupon, at 11:03 a.m., Thursday, May 2, the
subcommittee was recessed, to reconvene subject to the call of
the Chair.]