With regards to focusing on urgent, common needs, almost all of the  collaborations grew out of efforts to address urgent workforce needs of  multiple employers in a specific sector, such as health care,  manufacturing, or agriculture, rather than focusing on individual  employers (see table 1). Another factor that facilitated collaboration was the use of leveraged  resources. In all cases, boards and their partners provided employer-responsive  services to actively involve employers and keep them engaged in the  collaborative process. In other initiatives, boards and partners gained  employers’ confidence in the collaboration by tailoring services such as  jobseeker assessment and screening services to address specific  employers’ needs. Finally, partners remained engaged in these collaborative efforts because  they continued to produce a range of results for employers, jobseekers  and workers, and the workforce system and other partners, such as  education and training providers. Workforce Boards Overcame Some Challenges to Address Diverse Employer Needs and Developed Their Own Measures to Track Employer Engagement

While these boards were successful in their efforts, they cited some  challenges to collaboration that they needed to overcome. Some boards  were challenged to develop comprehensive strategies to address diverse  employer needs with WIA funds. WIA prioritizes funding for intensive  services and training for low-income individuals when funding for adult  employment and training activities is limited. The director of one board  said that pursuing comprehensive strategies for an entire economic  sector can be challenging, because WIA funds are typically used for  lower-skilled workers, and employers in the region wanted to attract a mix  of lower- and higher-skilled workers. Additionally, some  boards’ staff said that while their initiatives sought to meet employer  needs for skill upgrades among their existing workers, WIA funds can be  used to train current workers only in limited circumstances, and the  boards used other funding sources to do so. In addition, staff from most, but not all, boards also said that WIA  performance measures do not directly reflect their efforts to engage  employers. Many of these boards used their own measures to assess  their services to employers, such as the number of new employers served  each year, the hiring rate for jobseekers they refer to employers, the  interview-to-hire ratio from initiative jobseeker referrals, the retention rate  of initiative-referred hires, the number of businesses returning for  services, and employer satisfaction. Labor Has Taken Steps to Support Local Collaborative Efforts and Address Some Challenges but Has Not Made Information on Leveraging Resources Readily Available

In order to support local collaborations like these, Labor has conducted  webinars and issued guidance on pertinent topics, and has also  collaborated with other federal agencies in efforts that could help support  local collaboration. While Labor has taken some steps to support local collaborations, it has  not made information it has collected on effective practices for leveraging  resources easily accessible, even though many of the boards we  reviewed cited leveraging resources as a key to facilitating collaboration. this information has not been compiled and  In conclusion, at a time when the nation continues to face high  unemployment, it is particularly important to consider ways to better  connect the workforce investment system with employers to meet local  labor market needs. The 14 local initiatives that we reviewed illustrate  how workforce boards collaborated with partners to help employers meet  their needs and yielded results: critical skill needs were met, individuals  obtained or upgraded their skills, and the local system of workforce  programs was reinvigorated by increased employer participation.
Why GAO Did This Study

This testimony discusses collaboration between workforce boards, employers, and others. As the United States continues to face high unemployment in the wake of the recent recession, federally funded workforce programs can play an important role in bridging gaps between the skills present in the workforce and the skills needed for available jobs. However, there is growing recognition that these programs need to better collaborate with employers to align services and training with employers needs. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) envisioned such collaboration by focusing on employers as well as jobseekers, establishing a dual customer approach. To create a single, comprehensive workforce investment system, WIA required that 16 programs administered by four federal agenciesthe Departments of Labor (Labor), Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban Developmentprovide access to their services through local one-stop centers, where jobseekers, workers, and employers can find assistance at a single location. In addition, WIA sought to align federally funded workforce programs more closely with local labor market needs by establishing local workforce investment boards to develop policy and oversee service delivery for local areas within a state and required that local business representatives constitute the majority membership on these boards. Today, about 600 local workforce boards oversee the service delivery efforts of about 1,800 one-stop centers that provide access to all required programs.
Despite the vision of collaboration between local employers and the workforce investment system, we and others have found that collaboration can be challenging. For example, in previous reports, we found that some employers have limited interaction with or knowledge of this system and that employers who do use the one-stop centers mainly do so to fill their needs for low-skilled workers. This testimony is based on our report, which was released yesterday, entitled Workforce Investment Act: Innovative Collaborations between Workforce Boards and Employers Helped Meet Local Needs.

What GAO Found

Workforce board officials and their partners in the 14 initiatives cited a range of factors that facilitated building innovative collaborations. Almost all of the collaborations grew out of efforts to address urgent workforce needs of multiple employers in a specific sector, rather than focusing on individual employers. The partners in these initiatives made extra effort to engage employers so they could tailor services such as jobseeker assessment, screening, and training to address specific employer needs. In all the initiatives, partners remained engaged in these collaborations because they continued to produce a wide range of reported results, such as an increased supply of skilled labor, job placements, reduced employer recruitment and turnover costs, and averted layoffs. While these boards were successful in their efforts, they cited some challenges to collaboration that they needed to overcome. Some boards were challenged to develop comprehensive strategies to address diverse employer needs with WIA funds. For example, some boards staff said that while their initiatives sought to meet employer needs for higher-skilled workers through skill upgrades, WIA funds can be used to train current workers only in limited circumstances, and the boards used other funding sources to do so. Staff from most, but not all, boards also said that WIA performance measures do not reflect their efforts to engage employers, and many boards used their own measures to assess their services to employers. Labor has taken various steps to support local collaborations, such as conducting webinars and issuing guidance on pertinent topics, and contributing to a new federal grant program to facilitate innovative regional collaborations. Yet, while many boards cited leveraging resources as a key to facilitating collaboration, Labor has not compiled pertinent information on effective practices for leveraging resources and made it easy to access.