The Runner With The Broken Neck

“America cannot lead in the 21^st Century unless we have the best educated,most competitive workforce in the world.” President Barack Obama,April 24,2009

Congress writes a variety of federal legislation with the intention of regularly revising it (i.e.,reauthorizing) in response to ongoing societal changes. That is to say,as time progresses and our national needs change,some of our laws are designed to change with us. Without such change,it’s easy to conceive how stagnant laws might hinder national,communal or even individual development and growth.

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA),for example,passed by Congress in 1998,was intended to be revised every few years in order to maintain its effectiveness,and was scheduled for reauthorization in 2003. However,that reauthorization never took place,and WIA now operates on a “continued” basis,meaning that the last three sessions of Congress have simply renewed the legislation under generally the same terms which it was initially passed rather than passing an amended reauthorization of the legislation in order to make it more effectively meet our current needs.

WIA provides funds that established and now maintain the primary,centralized federal workforce development program,which is designed to assist people in finding and keeping employment. It provides workforce development services,serving the employment and training needs of all individuals seeking employment,including young professionals,people with disabilities,dislocated workers,low-income adults,and in our current economic environment,more middle-class working Americans than ever before.

Despite being intended for reauthorization in 2003,WIA nonetheless still operates on a federal,state and even local level on a ‘continued’ basis with no increased revision to its funding to accommodate additional individuals,nor important infrastructural improvements,such as modernized technology with which to competitively train them. In fact,funding for WIA,including inflation,budgetary cuts and growth in service needs,has been on a steady decline since 2001. The current economic downturn,escalation in state deficits leading to additional state cuts in educational funding,and rising unemployment typify the need for a modernized federal workforce system that can provide workers with the necessary training and employers with the highly skilled employees they need. It is readily apparent that the “20^th Century WIA” is incapable of meeting these challenges,and it is arguable that WIA in its current incarnation has become a barrier to workforce development innovation in the United States.

How then would a reauthorized WIA improve the educational and job opportunities available to those jobseekers in need of a modernized federal workforce development program? What impact would an amended,“21^st Century WIA” have on President Obama’s goal to ‘lead in the 21^st Century’?

A reauthorized WIA would incorporate amendments to modernize the federal workforce development program and expand the number and varieties of employment and training opportunities to those young professionals,people with disabilities,dislocated workers,low-income adults,and middle-class working Americans in need of the federal program’s services. Only by funding the expansion and improvement of the services already available will jobseekers most benefit from a reauthorization.

WIA should retain its current,successful,federally funded and locally managed One-Stop delivery system infrastructure,but rather than a focus on system infrastructure as a pathway to future success,the new focus should be upon the delivery of improved and modified services. However,without discounting the importance of the delivery of modernized services,it should also be noted that the federal infrastructure of WIA could be improved by the collaboration of multiple agencies to provide those services,such as the Departments of Labor,Education and Health and Human Services. Such collaboration would only help to streamline federal programs to work effectively and cooperatively at the local level. For example,the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration believes that all jobseekers should have access at One-Stops to any federal education and training program,as well as community college courses,which are not currently available under the current incarnation of WIA.

Additionally,under a new WIA,the revised purpose of One-Stops could be expanded to create a greater impact to the jobseekers of their communities – especially to those in low-income and minority communities. While the primary purpose of WIA should ultimately be to help jobseekers find and retain employment,One-Stops could also strive to simultaneously increase postsecondary success,strengthen families and communities,and even increase civic and community participation,all of which will lead to the further development of social structure and jobs – particularly in the presence of continued and expanded career pathway programs tied to community business sectors.

Many simple support services could also improve the delivery of services by One-Stops (whether completely federally-subsidized or not),to increase the training of jobseekers and concurrently the availability of skilled workers to employees. These include,among many other things,personal and academic counseling at all levels of the program from entry to postsecondary education and/or a career;expansion of services such as child care,transportation,and mentoring;more highly trained teachers and counselors;and individualized support case management for the life cycle of service receipt at a One-Stop.

The increase and improvement of technology available at One-Stops would also significantly increase the opportunities available to jobseekers. The global marketplace demands competitive knowledge of technology,and training on computers of the same level of ‘newness’ as the market standard is therefore extremely important to prepare jobseekers to compete for available jobs. Furthermore,technology skills are learned through repetition,and for communities where personal computers are a luxury not available in the household,such technology becomes an essential tool that might be available for regular use and training only at a One-Stop.

The above-enumerated examples are only a few of the various improvements and modifications that would greatly expand the employment and training opportunities to those young professionals,people with disabilities,dislocated workers,low-income adults,and middle-class working Americans in need of the federal program’s services under a reauthorized WIA. While maintaining the infrastructural framework of the current WIA system is important,more crucial still is the expansion and improvement of the delivery of services available through the system and the collaboration of federal agencies to effectively provide such services to the jobseeker. A reauthorization of WIA could allow the American workforce to take a substantial step in the direction of competing in the 21^st Century – and perhaps even leading – as a highly educated,global market workforce.