CLASP Releases Summary of Key Opportunities in
Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
In July 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)—passed by an overwhelming bipartisan majority in Congress—was signed into law by President Obama. WIOA is the first update to the nation’s core workforce training programs in the 16 years since passage of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). A lot has changed since 1998—and our workforce system hasn’t kept up. Low-skilled and low-income workers face more barriers than ever to securing an education and getting a good job.
The new law recognizes the need for a new playbook and reauthorizes the nation’s employment, training, adult education, and vocational rehabilitation programs created under WIA. WIOA improves connections to employment and training opportunities that lead to economic prosperity for workers and their families.
A new WIOA summary from the Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success at CLASPdetails provisions that strengthen existing workforce development and adult education programs in four primary ways that can benefit adults and youth with barriers to economic success. The new law:
- Increases the focus on serving the most vulnerable workers—low-income adults and youth who have limited skills, lack work experience, and face other barriers to economic success;
- Expands education and training options to help participants access good jobs and advance in their careers;
- Helps disadvantaged and unemployed adults and youth earn while they learn through support services and effective employment-based activities; and
- Aligns planning and accountability policies across core programs to support more unified approaches to serving low-income, low-skilled individuals.
These developments create an opportunity for leaders and advocates in states and local communities to rethink, reshape, and expand workforce systems, policies, and practices that are grounded in research and experience to improve the education and employability of low-income people. A great deal of work remains to implement WIOA. Federal regulations must be written, new planning and accountability processes must be put in place, and new performance metrics must be defined.
In the end, it’s state and local decision makers and their private sector and community partners who will determine what the real impact of the law will be on economic success for low-income people. CLASP is eager to partner with states and communities to help them leverage opportunities created by WIOA.
Read CLASP’S WIOA summary>>
Access other resources on WIOA and workforce development >>