Trailerbodybuilders 4187 Wioa Webinar 0
Trailerbodybuilders 4187 Wioa Webinar 0
Trailerbodybuilders 4187 Wioa Webinar 0
Trailerbodybuilders 4187 Wioa Webinar 0
Trailerbodybuilders 4187 Wioa Webinar 0

Addressing the labor shortage

Nov. 5, 2015
Under the new Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, American Apprenticeship Initiative and TechHire come to forefront

ON July 1, the first legislative reform of the public workforce system in more than 15 years went into effect.

The United States said goodbye to the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) of 1998 and hello to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

WIOA, which amends three separate federal laws, was passed with significant bipartisan support in Congress.

WIOA improves the workforce system in part by strengthening the network of 2500 American Job Centers to deliver more comprehensive services to workers, job seekers, and employers. It strives for a more job-driven approach to training and skills development by building closer ties among key workforce partners—business leaders, workforce boards, labor unions, community colleges and non-profits, and state and local officials.

In a WIOA webinar presented by Lincoln Electric, Workforce Institute president Bob Visdos said apprenticeships are a key element of the change.

“The thing that is very interesting to me is the importance of the apprenticeship,” he said. “It’s becoming an increasing priority. WIOA is bringing it to the forefront. The Department of Labor is bringing it to the forefront. The President wants to double the number of apprentices in the United States over the course of the next several years.”

WIOA is leading to other Department of Labor apprenticeship initiatives including the American Apprenticeship Initiative and TechHire.

“In the Traditional Apprenticeship Model, programs are typically 2000 hours in length, with a minimum of 144 hours of related-technical instruction (RTI) that is reinforced through work-based hands-on learning,” he said. “In the Competency-Based Model, the approach requires the apprentice to demonstrate competency in the defined subject areas and requires on-the-job training. In the Hybrid Apprenticeship Model, the apprentice is required to complete a minimum number of on-the-job training and related-technical instruction hours and demonstrate competency in the defined subject areas.”

Goals for the American Apprenticeship Grants include the following:

• Supports the expansion of quality and innovative American Apprenticeship programs into high-growth occupations and industries, particularly those for which employers are using H-1B visas to hire foreign workers, and the related activities necessary to support such programs. Industries include, but are not limited to, information technology and advanced manufacturing.

• Creates career pathways that encompass American Apprenticeship and align with other post-secondary educational offerings.

• Uses strategies to significantly increase apprenticeship opportunities for job seekers and workers (particularly for women and other underrepresented populations in apprenticeship, including young men and women of color, people with disabilities; low-skilled populations; and veterans, including transitioning service members).

He said AAG funds projects that create career pathways that encompass American Apprenticeship and align with other post-secondary educational offerings and leverages and develops public policies that increase demand for American Apprenticeship and support sustainability.

With the advent of WIOA, the needs of businesses and workers drive workforce solutions, and local boards are accountable to communities in which they are located; One-Stop Centers (or American Job Centers) provide excellent customer service to jobseekers and employers and focus on continuous improvement; and the workforce system supports strong regional economies and plays an active role  in community and workforce development.

Some of the highlights:

• Strengthens the governing bodies that establish state, regional and local workforce investment priorities. WIOA streamlines membership of business-led, state and local workforce development boards. The Act emphasizes the role of boards in coordinating and aligning workforce programs and adds functions to develop strategies to meet worker and employer needs.

• Helps employers find workers with the necessary skills. WIOA emphasizes engaging employers across the workforce system to align training with needed skills and match employers with qualified workers. The Act adds flexibility at the local level to provide incumbent worker training and transitional jobs as allowable activities and promotes work-based training, for example by increasing on-the-job training reimbursement rates to 75%. The law also emphasizes training that leads to industry-recognized post-secondary credentials.

• Aligns goals and increases accountability and information for job seekers and the public. WIOA aligns the performance indicators for core programs, and adds new ones related to services to employers and postsecondary credential attainment. Performance goals must reflect economic conditions and participant characteristics. It makes available data on training providers’ performance outcomes and requires third-party evaluations of programs.

• Fosters regional collaboration to meet the needs of regional economies. WIOA requires states to identify economic regions within their state, and local areas are to coordinate planning and service delivery on a regional basis.

• Targets workforce services to better serve job seekers. WIOA promotes the use of career pathways and sector partnerships to increase employment in in-demand industries and occupations. To help local economies target the needs of job seekers, WIOA allows 100% funds transfer between the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs. WIOA adds basic skills deficient as a priority category for Adult services. WIOA also focuses Youth program services to out-of-school youth. The Act strengthens services for unemployment insurance claimants. It also merges WIA core and intensive services into a new category of career services, clarifying there is no required sequence of services. The Act allows governors to reserve up to 15 percent of formula funds for activities such as innovative programs. ♦

About the Author

Rick Weber | Associate Editor

Rick Weber has been an associate editor for Trailer/Body Builders since February 2000. A national award-winning sportswriter, he covered the Miami Dolphins for the Fort Myers News-Press following service with publications in California and Australia. He is a graduate of Penn State University.