On September 20, the House Education and Workforce Subcommittee on Higher Education and Workforce Development held a hearing titled “Strengthening WIOA: Improving Outcomes for Jobseekers, Employers and Taxpayers.” This hearing examined the issues at play at the heart of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) as lawmakers work on reauthorizing the legislation.
Those testifying were Mr. Scott Sanders, president and CEO of the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA); Ms. Rya Conrad-Bradshaw, vice president of corporate markets at the Cengage Group; Mr. Rick Beasley, executive director of the South Florida Workforce Investment Board; and Mr. Mason Bishop, nonresident fellow at the American Enterprise Institute.
Subcommittee Chair Burgess Owens (R-UT) opened the hearing by identifying many issues in the economy that need reform. “In July of 2014, the United State had 4.8 million unfilled jobs. In July of this year, there were 8.8 million unfilled jobs, an increase of four million. Further, the labor force participation rate has not improved a bit since WIOA was enacted.”
The witnesses stated that the law often stymies innovation among states and other organizations, dissuades employers from participating because of bureaucratic red tape and does not do enough to reach and encourage individuals to use the training services. “We are trying to operate in an iPhone economy with programs that were created and modeled from the New Deal and Great Society — and continue to do so,” said Bishop. “We must modernize this program and provide the governance and service delivery improvements and flexibility that will allow innovation and new ideas.”
Several of the speakers also noted the need to provide more performance data on the programs and to make the information more accessible and less confusing for potential program participants and employers. Conrad-Bradshaw cited a Harvard study that finds there are more than 7,000 eligible training providers encompassing about 75,000 eligible programs in more than 700 occupational fields nationwide.
Notably, Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the full committee, used his time to talk about short-term Pell. In a question directed to Beasley, Scott asked, “If they had access to a Pell Grant, they’d be able to train a lot more people in your programs, is that right?” Beasley responded by saying that if Pell covered the training costs, his organization would use the other resources for support services to help individuals complete their programs.
A recording of the hearing can be found here.
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