[Federal Register Volume 65, Number 33 (Thursday, February 17, 2000)]
[Notices]
[Pages 8236-8242]
From the Federal Register Online via the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]
[FR Doc No: 00-3785]



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Part II





Department of Labor





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Employment and Training Administration



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Workforce Enforcement Act Allotments and Wagner-Peyser Act Preliminary 
Planning Estimates for Program Year (PY) 2000; Notice

  Federal Register / Vol. 65, No. 33 / Thursday, February 17, 2000 / 
Notices  

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DEPARTMENT OF LABOR

Employment and Training Administration


Workforce Investment Act Allotments and Wagner-Peyser Act 
Preliminary Planning Estimates for Program Year (PY) 2000

AGENCY: Employment and Training Administration, Labor.

ACTION: Notice.

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SUMMARY: This notice announces States' Workforce Investment Act (WIA) 
allotments for Program Year (PY) 2000 (July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001) for 
WIA title I Youth, Adults and Dislocated Worker programs; and 
preliminary planning estimates for public employment service activities 
under the Wagner-Peyser Act for PY 2000. This is the first year in 
which allotments are made to States and outlying areas under WIA. The 
allotments for States are based on formulas defined in the Act. The 
allotments for the outlying areas are based on a discretionary formula 
as authorized under WIA Title I. Comments are invited upon the formula 
used to allot funds to the outlying areas, only. This formula is 
described in detail in the section on Youth allotments.

DATES: Comments must be received by March 20, 2000.

ADDRESSES: Submit written comments to the Employment and Training 
Administration, Office of Financial and Administrative Management, 200 
Constitution Ave, NW, Room N-4702, Washington, DC 20210, Attention: Ms. 
Sherryl Bailey, 202-219-7979, 202-219-6564 (fax), e-mail: 
[email protected].

FOR FURTHER INFORMATION CONTACT: For WIA Title I allotments, contact: 
Youth Activities Allotments: Lorenzo Harrison at 202-219-6236; Adult 
and Dislocated Worker Employment and Training Activities Allotments: 
John Beverly at 202-219-7694; and Wagner-Peyser preliminary planning 
estimates: Timothy Sullivan at 202-219-5257. (These are not toll-free 
numbers.) Information may also be found at the website--http://usworkforce.org.

SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION: The Department of Labor (DOL or Department) 
is announcing Workforce Investment Act (WIA) allotments for Program 
Year (PY) 2000 (July 1, 2000-June 30, 2001) for WIA title I Youth 
Activities, Adults and Dislocated Workers Activities; and, in 
accordance with Section 6(b)(5) of the Wagner-Peyser Act, preliminary 
planning estimates for public employment service (ES) activities under 
the Wagner-Peyser Act for PY 2000. This document provides information 
on the amount of funds available during PY 2000 to States with an 
approved WIA title I and Wagner-Peyser 5-Year Strategic Plan and 
information regarding allotments to the outlying areas. The allotments 
and estimates are based on the appropriations for DOL for Fiscal Year 
(FY) 2000.
    Attached is a listing of the allotments for PY 2000 for programs 
under WIA title I Youth Activities, Adults and Dislocated Workers 
Employment and Training Activities; and preliminary planning estimates 
for public employment service activities under the Wagner-Peyser Act. 
The PY 2000 allotments for Youth, Adults and Dislocated Workers 
Employment and Training Programs, and the Wagner-Peyser Act preliminary 
planning estimates, are based on the funds appropriated by the Omnibus 
Consolidated Appropriations Act of 2000, Public Law 106-113, for FY 
2000.
    The Wagner-Peyser preliminary estimates are based on averages for 
the most current 12 months ending September 1999 for each State's share 
of the civilian labor force and unemployment. Final Wagner-Peyser Act 
planning estimates will be published in the Federal Register.

Youth Activities Allotments

    PY 2000 Youth Activities funds under WIA total $1,250,965,000 
(including $250 million for Youth Opportunity grants). Attachment I 
contains a breakdown of the $1,000,965,000 in WIA title I Youth 
Activities program allotments by State for PY 2000 and provides a 
comparison of these allotments to the sum of the PY 1999 JTPA Title II-
B Summer Youth and JTPA Title II-C Youth Training allotments for all 
States, outlying areas, Puerto Rico and the District of Columbia. 
Before determining the amount available for States, the total available 
for the outlying areas was reserved at 0.25 percent of the full amount 
appropriated for Youth Activities, in accordance with WIA provisions, 
resulting in $3,127,413, an increase of $1,332,752 or 74 percent 
increase over PY 1999 JTPA Title II-B Summer Youth and JTPA Title II-C 
Youth Training amounts. From the total funds for outlying areas for the 
WIA Youth Activities program, WIA section 127(b)(1)(B) requires that 
competitive grants be awarded to Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth 
of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Freely Associated States, and 
further provides that the amount for such grants is not to exceed the 
amount reserved for the Freely Associated States for the JTPA II-B 
Summer Youth and the JTPA II-C Youth Training for PY 1997. WIA has 
corresponding requirements for competitive grants for the Adult 
Activities and Dislocated Worker Activities programs. To ensure that 
all outlying areas, those listed above as well as the Virgin Islands, 
would not lose funds from PY 1999 in total for the Youth Activities, 
Adult Activities, and Dislocated Worker Activities programs combined, 
the Secretary determined that a total of one million dollars would be 
reserved for the required competitive grants for all three programs for 
PY 2000. For the WIA Youth Activities program, the amount of 
competitive grants was set at $222,535, the maximum allowed by WIA 
which is the amount of JTPA PY 1997 total Youth allotments for the 
Freely Associated States. The distribution of the remaining WIA Youth 
Activities non-competitive funds to all outlying areas, including the 
Virgin Islands, is not specified by WIA, but is at the Secretary's 
discretion. In order to be consistent with the spirit of WIA, the 
methodology used is similar to that used in JTPA for the outlying areas 
allotments, which generally followed the concepts used for the State 
formula. Based on this principle, the remaining non-competitive funds 
were distributed among the areas by formula based on relative share of 
number of unemployed, a 90 percent hold-harmless of the prior year 
share, a $75,000 minimum (all similar to the JTPA methodology), and the 
addition of a 130 percent stop gain of the prior year share (new 
addition by WIA for the State formula). The prior year share was based 
on the sum of the PY 1999 JTPA II-B Summer Youth and JTPA II-C Youth 
Training programs for each area. Data for all outlying areas was 
updated to 1995 data. This data was obtained from the Bureau of the 
Census for American Samoa, Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Republic of Palau, and the U. 
S. Virgin Islands, based on mid-decade surveys for those areas 
conducted with the assistance of the Bureau. For Guam, data from a 
similar survey was not available from the Bureau, so data from the Guam 
June 1995 labor force survey was used. For the Republic of the Marshall 
Islands, where 1995 unemployment data was not available, 1988 survey 
data in combination with 1995 population estimates were used as the 
basis of the formula.
    The total amount available for Native Americans is 1.5 percent of 
the total amount for Youth Activities excluding

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Youth Opportunity Grants, in accordance with WIA section 127. This 
total is $15,014,475, down $825,367, or 5.2 percent from the PY 1999 
JTPA Summer Youth level for Native Americans.
    After determining the amount for the outlying areas and Native 
Americans, the amount available for allotment to the States for PY 2000 
is $982,823,112, less than PY 1999 by $507,385, or a decrease of 0.05 
percent. Since this amount was below the required $1 billion threshold 
specified in Section 127(b)(1)(C)(iv)(IV), the WIA funding minimum 
provisions were not triggered in, and, instead, as required by WIA, the 
minimum allotments were calculated using the JTPA Section 262(a)(3) (as 
amended by section 701 of the Job Training Reform Amendments of 1992) 
minimums of 90 percent hold-harmless of the prior year allotment 
percentage and 0.25 percent State minimum floor were used. Also, as 
required by WIA, a new provision applying a 130 percent stop-gain of 
the prior year allotment percentage was used. The three formula factors 
required in WIA are the same as in JTPA and use the following data for 
the PY 2000 allotments:
    (1) The number of unemployed for areas of substantial unemployment 
(ASU's) are averages for the 12-month period, July 1998 through 
preliminary June 1999;
    (2) The number of excess unemployed individuals or the ASU excess 
(depending on which is higher) are averages for the same 12-month 
period used for ASU unemployed data; and
    (3) The number of economically disadvantaged youth (age 16 to 21, 
excluding college students and military) are from the 1990 Census.

Adult Employment and Training Activities Allotments

    The total Adult Employment and Training Activities appropriation is 
$950,000,000, a reduction of $5 million, or 0.5 percent from PY 1999. 
Attachment II shows the PY 2000 Adult Employment and Training 
Activities allotments and comparison to PY 1999 JTPA Adult allotments 
by State.
    Similarly to the Youth Activities program, the total available for 
the outlying areas was reserved at 0.25 percent of the full amount 
appropriated for Adults, or $2,375,000, a decrease of $156,611 and 6 
percent from PY 1999. The Adult Activities program portion of the one 
million dollar total for competitive grants for all three programs 
(described above in Youth Activities) required for the outlying areas 
(Guam, American Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana 
Islands, and the Freely Associated States) was set at $290,896. This 
amount is less than the maximum allowed by WIA (PY 1997 Adult 
allotments for the Freely Associated States). The amount represents a 
12.25 percent share of the total Adult Activities program funds for all 
outlying areas and is calculated to be the same share as for the 
Dislocated Worker Activities program, after subtracting the Youth 
Activities program portion from the one million dollar total described 
above. The remaining non-competitive WIA title I Adult Activities funds 
for grants to all outlying areas, including the Virgin Islands, for 
which the methodology is at the Secretary's discretion (described in 
the Youth Activities section), were distributed among the areas by the 
same principles, formula and data as used for outlying areas for Youth 
Activities.
    After determining the amount for the outlying areas, the amount 
available for allotments to the States is $947,625,000, less than PY 
1999 by $4.8 million, or 0.5 percent. Like the Youth Activities 
program, the WIA minimum provisions were not triggered in for the PY 
2000 allotments because the total amount available for the States was 
below the $960 million threshold required for Adults in section 
132(b)(1)(B)(iv)(IV). Instead, as required by WIA, the minimum 
allotments were calculated using the JTPA section 262(a)(3) (as amended 
by section 701 of the Job Training Reform Amendments of 1992) minimums 
of 90 percent hold-harmless of the prior year allotment percentage and 
0.25 percent State minimum floor. Also, similarly to the Youth 
Activities program, a new provision applying a 130 percent stop-gain of 
the prior year allotment percentage was used. The three formula factors 
use the same data as used for the Youth Activities formula, except that 
data for the number of economically disadvantaged adults (age 22 to 72, 
excluding college students and military) from the 1990 Census was used.

Dislocated Worker Employment and Training Activities Allotments

    The total Dislocated Worker appropriation is $1,589,025,000, an 
increase of $185.5 million, or 13.2 percent from the PY 1999 level. The 
total appropriation includes 80 percent allotted by formula to the 
States, while 20 percent is retained for National Emergency Grants, 
technical assistance and training, demonstration projects, and for the 
outlying areas Dislocated Worker allotments. Attachment III shows the 
PY 2000 Dislocated Worker Activities fund allotments by State.
    Similarly to the Youth and Adults programs, the total available for 
the outlying areas was reserved at 0.25 percent of the full amount 
appropriated for Dislocated Workers Activities, resulting in an 
increase of $983,946, or 32.9 percent, for the areas from PY 1999. The 
Dislocated Worker Activities program portion of the one million dollar 
total for competitive grants for all three programs (described above in 
Youth Activities) required for the outlying areas (Guam, American 
Samoa, the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands, and the Freely 
Associated States) was set at $486,569. This amount is less than the 
maximum allowed by WIA (PY 1997 Dislocated Worker allotments for the 
Freely Associated States). The amount represents a 12.25 percent share 
of the total Dislocated Worker Activities program funds for all 
outlying areas and is calculated to be the same share as for the Adult 
Activities program, after subtracting the Youth Activities program 
portion from the one million dollar total described above. The 
remaining non-competitive WIA Title I Dislocated Worker Activities 
funds for grants to all outlying areas, including the Virgin Islands, 
for which the methodology is at the Secretary's discretion (described 
in the Youth Activities section), were distributed among the areas by 
the same principles and methodology used in JTPA, i.e., based on the 
same pro rata share as the areas received for the PY 2000 WIA Adult 
Activities program.
    The amount available for allotments to the States is eighty percent 
of the Dislocated Workers appropriation, or $1,271,220,000, a gain of 
13.1 percent over PY 1999. Since the Dislocated Worker Activities 
formula has no floor amount or hold-harmless provisions, funding 
changes for States directly reflect the impact of changes in number of 
unemployed. The three formula factors required in WIA are the same as 
in the JTPA Dislocated Workers formula and use the following data for 
the PY 2000 allotments:
    (1) The number of unemployed are averages for the 12-month period, 
October 1998 through September 1999;
    (2) The number of excess unemployed are averages for the 12-month 
period, October 1998 through September 1999; and
    (3) The number of long-term unemployed are averages for calendar 
year 1998.

Wagner-Peyser Act Preliminary Planning Estimates

    The public employment service program involves a Federal-State

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partnership between the U.S. Employment Service and the State 
Employment Security Agencies. Under the Wagner-Peyser Act, funds are 
allotted to each State to administer a labor exchange program 
responding to the needs of the State's employers and workers through a 
system of local employment services offices. State funding for the 
Employment Service remains at the same level as for PY 1999. Attachment 
IV shows the Wagner-Peyser Act preliminary planning estimates for PY 
2000. These preliminary planning estimates have been produced using the 
formula set forth at Section 6 of the Wagner-Peyser Act, 29 U.S.C. 49e. 
They are based on monthly averages for each State's share of the 
civilian labor force (CLF) and unemployment for the 12 months ending 
September 1999. Final planning estimates will be published in the 
Federal Register, based on Calendar Year 1999 data, as required by the 
Wagner-Peyser Act.
    State planning estimates reflect $18,000,000 or 2.363 percent of 
the total amount appropriated which is being withheld from distribution 
to States to finance postage costs associated with the conduct of 
Wagner-Peyser Act labor exchange services for PY 2000.
    The Secretary of Labor is required to set-aside up to three percent 
of the total available funds to assure that each State will have 
sufficient resources to maintain statewide employment service (ES) 
activities, as required under Section 6(b)(4) of the Wagner-Peyser Act. 
In accordance with this provision, $22,312,050, the three percent set-
aside funds are included in the total planning estimate. The set-aside 
funds are distributed in two steps to States which have lost in 
relative share of resources from the previous year. In Step 1, States 
which have a CLF below one million and are also below the median CLF 
density are maintained at 100 percent of their relative share of prior 
year resources. All remaining set-aside funds are distributed on a pro-
rata basis in Step 2 to all other States losing in relative share from 
the prior year but did not meet the size and density criteria for Step 
1.
    Under Wagner-Peyser Act section 7, ten percent of the total sums 
allotted to each State shall be reserved for use by the Governor to 
provide performance incentives for public ES offices; services for 
groups with special needs; and for the extra costs of exemplary models 
for delivering job services.

Additional Resources

    For those States with remaining funds in their One-Stop Career 
Center implementation grants, those funds may be used for WIA 
implementation activities including the development of labor market 
information tools such as America's Job Bank.

    Signed at Washington, DC, this 11th day of February, 2000.
Raymond L. Bramucci,
Assistant Secretary of Labor for Employment and Training.
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[FR Doc. 00-3785 Filed 2-16-00; 8:45 am]
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