Welfare to Work

JOBS Participation Rate Data Unreliable for Assessing States' Performance Gao ID: HRD-93-73 May 5, 1993

To encourage state Job Opportunities and Basic Skills Training (JOBS) programs to serve more welfare recipients, Congress mandated minimum rates of participation that states must meet each year. States failing to meet or exceed the annual rates can lose millions of dollars in federal JOBS funds. GAO found that the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) is allocating millions of dollars in federal JOBS funds on the basis of inaccurate state-reported participation rate data. These data are not comparably derived across states and should not be relied on when comparing states' performance. Much of the inaccuracy in these data is attributed to states' difficulties in collecting and processing all the required data and misinterpretation of JOBS regulations and HHS instructions. As minimum annual participation rates rise, it will become even more important that these issues are resolved. GAO believes that unless HHS simplifies its participation rate reporting requirements and increases its oversight of states' processes, states will continue to report noncomparable and inaccurate data.

GAO noted that: (1) none of the four states reviewed met all the participation rate reporting requirements; (2) complex and burdensome reporting requirements contributed to states reporting noncomparable and inaccurate participation data; (3) none of the four states' automated systems were programmed to collect or process all the required participation rate data; (4) several state and local officials cited complex JOBS regulations or the Department of Health and Human Services' (HHS) instructions as the reason they misapplied prescribed methodologies or overlooked exemptions to which states are entitled; and (5) HHS has been aware of problems in other states since 1990, but it has taken little action to ensure the completeness and accuracy of the data states report.

Recommendations

Our recommendations from this work are listed below with a Contact for more information. Status will change from "In process" to "Open," "Closed - implemented," or "Closed - not implemented" based on our follow up work.

Director: Team: Phone:


The Justia Government Accountability Office site republishes public reports retrieved from the U.S. GAO These reports should not be considered official, and do not necessarily reflect the views of Justia.