States and Localities Have Embraced WIA’s Flexibility to Develop Promising Approaches to Serving Job Seekers and Employers

States and localities have found ways to use the flexibility in WIA to  develop creative new ways to serve job seekers and employers. In  particular, a group of 14 one-stops, identified as exemplary by government  officials and workforce development experts for our study of promising  one-stop approaches, has developed strategies for streamlining services  for job seekers, engaging and serving employers, and building a solid one- stop infrastructure. In  addition, to engage employers and provide them needed services, all of the  centers used strategies that included dedicating specialized staff to work  with employers or industries, tailoring services to meet specific employers’  needs, or working with employers through intermediaries, such as  Chambers of Commerce or economic development entities. Finally, to  provide the infrastructure needed to support better services for job  seekers and employers, many of the one-stops we visited found innovative  ways to develop and strengthen program partnerships and to raise  additional funds beyond those provided under WIA. Selected One-Stops Used Strategies to Streamline Services for Job Seekers

All of the one-stop centers in our recent study focused their efforts on  streamlining services for job seekers by ensuring that job seekers could  readily access needed services, educating program staff about all of the  one-stop services available to job seekers, or consolidating case  management and intake procedures. First, the  performance measurement system is flawed—the need to meet certain  performance measures may be causing one-stops to deny services to some  clients who may be most in need of them; there is no measure that  assesses overall one-stop performance; and the data used to measure  outcomes are outdated by the time they are available and are, therefore,  not useful in day-to-day program management. Second, funding issues  continue to plague the system. The funding formulas used to allocate  funds to states and local areas do not reflect current program design and  has caused wide fluctuations in funding levels from year to year. In  addition, WIA provided no separate funding source to support one-stop  infrastructure and developing equitable cost sharing agreements has not  always been successful, largely because of the limitations in the way funds  for some of the mandatory programs can be spent. Third, the current  provision for certifying training providers as eligible is considered overly  burdensome by many providers and may reduce training options for job  seekers as providers have withdrawn from the WIA system. Finally, state  officials have told us that they need more help from Labor in the form of  clearer guidance and instructions and greater opportunities to share  promising practices in managing and providing services through their one- stop centers.
Why GAO Did This Study

This testimony highlights findings from today's report on strategies that exemplary one-stop centers have implemented to strengthen and integrate services for customers and to build a solid one-stop infrastructure. It also shares findings and recommendations from our past work on challenges that states and localities have experienced as they implement WIA, which may be helpful as WIA is reauthorized.

What GAO Found

The workforce development system envisioned under WIA represents a fundamental shift from prior systems, and barely 3 years have passed since it was fully implemented. States and localities have found ways to use the flexibility in WIA to develop creative new approaches to providing services through their one-stop systems. In particular, a group of 14 one-stops, identified as exemplary by government officials and workforce development experts, developed promising strategies in several key areas. To streamline services for job seekers, they ensured that job seekers could readily access needed services, made sure that staff were knowledgeable about all of the one-stop services available, or consolidated case management and intake procedures. To engage and serve employers, the centers dedicated specialized staff to work with employers or industries, tailored services to meet specific employers' needs, or worked with employers through intermediaries. To build a solid one-stop infrastructure, the centers found innovative ways to develop and strengthen program partnerships and to raise additional funds beyond those provided under WIA. Our work on WIA implementation over the past 3 years has identified a number of issues that should be considered during WIA reauthorization. First, the performance measurement system is flawed--the need to meet certain performance measures may be causing one-stops to deny services to some clients who may most need them; there is no measure that assesses overall one-stop performance; and the outcome data are outdated by the time they are available and are not useful in day-to-day program management. Second, funding issues continue to plague officials. The funding formula used to allocate funds to states and local areas does not reflect current program design and often causes unwarranted fluctuations in funding levels from year to year. In addition, WIA provided no separate funding source to support one-stop infrastructure, and developing equitable cost sharing agreements has not always been successful. Third, many training providers consider the current process for certifying their eligibility to be overly burdensome, resulting in reduced training options for job seekers as providers have declined to serve WIA-funded clients. Finally, state officials have told us that they need more help from Labor in the form of clearer guidance and greater opportunities to share promising practices in managing and providing services through their one-stop centers.