About a third of the vocational training expenditure is provided by national labor unions and business organizations under sole source contracts with Labor. Job Corps also reported that 48 percent of those who left the program completed vocational training. Labor’s Initiatives Enhance the Appropriateness and Relevancy of Vocational Training

Labor has several activities to improve Job Corps’ employer and community linkages to ensure that vocational training is appropriate for local labor markets and relevant to employers’ needs. National Initiatives Recognize Need for Employer Involvement

Since 1984, Labor has used industry advisory groups to review vocational course curricula to ensure that course content is relevant to the job market. The Industry Advisory Group recommends to Labor changes to Job Corps’ vocational training curricula, materials, and equipment. In program year 1995, Labor introduced a school-to-work initiative at three Job Corps centers combining center-based training with actual worksite experience related to it. Regional Job Corps Initiatives Expand Employer Relations

In addition to national efforts, three of Labor’s regional offices have developed their own initiatives to improve linkages between Job Corps centers and employers. Speakers discuss local employment opportunities and donate funds to benefit Job Corps participants. Two Job Corps Program Measures Are Misleading and Overstate Program Success

Two performance indicators that Labor uses to evaluate Job Corps’ success are misleading, overstating the extent to which vocational training is completed and job placements are training-related. Labor reports that nationwide about 48 percent of all program participants complete their vocational training and that about 62 percent of the jobs obtained by program participants are related to the training they received. However, we found that nationally only about 14 percent of the program participants satisfied all their vocational training requirements and that about 41 percent of the reported training-related job placements at the five centers we visited were questionable. We found that only about 14 percent of the program year 1996 participants actually completed all the required tasks of their vocational training programs. At these centers, about 51 percent of the 3,500 participants were considered to be vocational completers. In addition, Labor officials stated that a main reason it contracts on a sole source basis is that the contractors maintain an extensive nationwide placement network. Therefore, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor more accurately define and report information on the extent to which program participants complete vocational training and develop a more accurate system of reporting training-related jobs and effectively monitor its implementation. In addition, because Labor has not presented adequate justification for its long-standing practice of contracting on a sole source basis with nine national labor and business organizations for vocational training, we recommend that the Secretary of Labor properly justify its use of noncompetitive procedures if it is to continue to award contracts for vocational training services. Labor has been unable to determine the extent to which national training contractors are responsible for placing participants and thus for their reported better performance.
Why GAO Did This Study

Pursuant to a congressional request, GAO reviewed Job Corps' vocational training component to describe the program's contracting policies and to assess contractor performance, focusing on: (1) how Job Corps ensures that vocational training is appropriate and relevant to employers' needs and the extent to which participants are completing vocational training and obtaining training-related jobs; and (2) Job Corps' process for contracting with vocational training providers.

What GAO Found

GAO noted that: (1) the Department of Labor has several activities to foster Job Corps' employer and community linkages to ensure the appropriateness of its vocational training to local labor markets and its relevance to employers' needs; (2) Labor has industry advisory groups that regularly review vocational course curricula to ensure their relevance to today's job market; (3) Labor has also introduced a school-to-work initiative designed to link Job Corps with local employers combining center-based training with actual worksite experience at more than half the Job Corps centers; (4) complementing these national efforts, three of Labor's regional offices have developed their own initiatives to improve linkages between Job Corps and local labor markets; (5) despite Labor's efforts to increase the effectiveness of its vocational training through employer and community linkages, Job Corps data on the extent to which participants complete vocational training and obtain training-related jobs are misleading and overstate the program's results; (6) although Job Corps reported that 48 percent of its program year 1996 participants completed their vocational training, GAO found that only 14 percent of the program participants actually completed all the requirements of their vocational training curricula; (7) the rest of the participants whom Job Corps considered to be vocational completers had performed only some of the duties and tasks of a specific vocational training program; (8) Labor also reported that 62 percent of the participants nationwide who obtained employment found jobs that matched the vocational training received in Job Corps; (9) at the five centers GAO visited, however, the validity of about 41 percent of the job placements reported by Labor to be training-related was questionable; (10) in looking at how training providers are selected, GAO found that about a third of Job Corps' vocational training has been provided under sole source contracts awarded to national labor and business organizations for more than 30 years, but in GAO's opinion, Labor has not adequately justified procuring these training services noncompetitively; (11) a principal reason Labor has cited for awarding these contracts on a sole source basis is that these organizations maintain an extensive nationwide placement network and are better able than nonnational organizations to place Job Corps participants who complete their training; and (12) Labor has provided no data, however, to show the extent to which these sole source contractors actually place Job Corps participants nationwide.