Workforce Investment Act

The states have been delayed in implementing steps under the Workforce Investment Act related to establishing formal agreements between partners at one-stop centers. To support the one-stop system the act requires, the states used multiple federal funding streams to report during fiscal year 2000, with the top funding sources most often coming from the Department of Labor's programs, such as the act, the Employment Service, and Unemployment Insurance. Although the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) block grant is an optional partner, links between it and the act are being forged in most states. As the states and localities have attempted to integrate their services, they report having confronted several challenges: (1) building partnerships with other agencies, as required under the act; (2) developing the infrastructure to support an integrated program, including the physical facilities and the computer systems; and (3) developing an integrated approach and responding at the same time to the requirements of individual federal programs. Despite these challenges, the states are developing integrated service delivery approaches that show promise, often focusing their efforts on resolving the issues that had been found in the fragmented employment training system.

GAO noted that: (1) while states are making progress implementing WIA, not all of them will have completed all implementation steps by July 1, 2000, when WIA takes full effect; (2) frequently delayed are the steps related to establishing formal agreements between partners at the one-stop centers; (3) to support the one-stop system required under WIA, states report using multiple federal funding streams during fiscal year 2000 with the top funding sources most often coming from Department of Labor programs, such as WIA, the Employment Service, and Unemployment Insurance; (4) although TANF is an optional partner with WIA, linkages between WIA and TANF are being forged in most states; (5) as states and localities have attempted to integrate their services under WIA, they report having confronted several challenges including: (a) the difficulties of building partnerships with other agencies, as required under WIA; (b) developing the infrastructure to support an integrated program--including both the physical facilities and the computer systems; and (c) developing an integrated approach and responding at the same time to the requirements of individual federal programs; and (6) despite these challenges, GAO found that states are developing integrated service delivery approaches that show promise, often focusing their efforts on resolving the issues that had been found in the fragmented employment training system.