United States Government Publishing Office publisher pbl distributor dst United States Government Accountability Office author aut Government Organization text government publication eng GAOREPORTS Legislative Agency Publications gao legislative 2010-08-12 U.S. Government Printing Office 2005-05-27 monographic deposited born digital 64 p. GA 1.13:GAO-05-539 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539 P0b002ee18038bda3 f:d05539 DGPO 2010-08-12 2011-03-28 GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539 machine generated eng fdlp REPORT GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539 GAO-05-539 Data collection Employment assistance programs Federal/state relations Performance measures Program evaluation Reporting requirements Surveys Other Written Product A25321 In a period of significant budget constraints, it is more vital than ever for federal programs to have good performance information. The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 took a significant step in that direction by introducing greater accountability for employment and training programs than prior programs. WIA established performance measures to look at a broad array of participant outcomes such as job placement and retention, earnings, skill gains, and customer satisfaction. WIA also required 17 programs, funded by four different agencies, to centralize service delivery through a one-stop center system. More recently, as part of efforts to link program performance to the budget, the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) introduced common performance measures--similar to some of the WIA measures--for most federally funded job training programs that share similar goals. The U.S. Department of Labor's (Labor) Employment and Training Administration (ETA) further defined the common measures for all programs it oversees and proposed a new, standardized reporting format, known as the ETA Management Information and Longitudinal Evaluation (EMILE) reporting system to facilitate reporting them. However, state workforce agencies and others raised substantial concerns about the timing and scope of the EMILE reporting system. Despite delaying EMILE, Labor recently took steps to move ahead with reporting changes for the common measures, requiring states to implement these changes by July 1, 2005. Given the importance of these issues and their potential impact on the quality of the performance data, Congress asked us to examine (1) states' concerns about implementing Labor's proposed EMILE reporting system and (2) the effect that the implementation of common measures and other new reporting changes might have on states' ability to collect data and report on WIA's performance. https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539/html/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539.htm https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539/pdf/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539.pdf GAO-05-539 https://www.govinfo.gov/app/details/GAOREPORTS-GAO-05-539 Other Written Product GAO-05-539; Workforce Investment Act: Labor Should Consider Alternative Approaches to Implement New Performance and Reporting Requirements; Data collection Employment assistance programs Federal/state relations Performance measures Program evaluation Reporting requirements Surveys