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WIA Fact of the Day
March 17, 2005
Question:
How will the President's Job Training Reform and program consolidation through WIA reauthorization enable Governors and local officials to more effectively help individuals with disabilities find employment and advance in careers?
Answer:
On February 1, 2001, President Bush announced his New Freedom Initiative, an effort to eliminate barriers to equality that many Americans with disabilities face. A key component of the initiative is Integrating Americans with Disabilities into the Workforce. This includes expanding educational and employment opportunities and promoting full access to community life for people with disabilities. This initiative remains a priority for the Administration.
The President's proposal for job training reform calls for the creation of the WIA Plus Consolidated Grant program (WIA Plus). In addition to the consolidation of the WIA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs and Employment Services, the WIA Plus program will provide States the option of consolidating certain other Federal job training and employment programs that are currently administered by the Departments of Labor, Education and Agriculture. This includes Vocational Rehabilitation administered by Education.
If enacted, the President's proposal would improve the delivery of employment and training services to individuals with disabilities and to all job seekers. For too long, states and localities have been hindered by archaic rules that make it difficult to respond quickly to changes in the economy and the needs of workers for training and employment services. The different sets of laws and regulations that occur with the current silos of Federal workforce funding too often stand in the way of customers being able to access the services they need to find and keep good jobs.
Individuals with disabilities stand to benefit from a system that will focus on helping them gain the skills and support they need to take advantage of all the 21st century economy has to offer. Currently, individuals with disabilities are much less likely to have a job. According to the Census Bureau's March 2004 Current Population Survey, only 22.2% of individuals with a work disability are employed, compared to 75.8% of people with no disability. In addition, the average yearly earnings for people with a work disability are $22,801, in comparison to $37,272 for individuals without a disability.
In conversations with thousands of business executives nationwide about their workforce needs, the Department of Labor has continuously heard that businesses want to hire individuals with disabilities and look to the workforce system to support their efforts in making that connection. A consolidated approach to workforce investment, driven by the workforce needs in state and local economies, offers the opportunity to develop and implement new and creative solutions to ensure businesses make that connection and individuals with disabilities have the greatest opportunities to get the skills and services they need for good jobs with good pay and career pathways in the 21st century economy.
Towards this end, the Department of Labor, in collaboration with the Social Security Administration, launched the Disability Program Navigator Initiative in 2002. The Navigator initiative helps individuals with disabilities "navigate" the full array of employment and training services and opportunities available to them through the One-Stop Career Center system to ensure the best employment outcomes for those served. This initiative and other efforts have strengthened the capacity of the workforce investment system to serve individuals with disabilities. In fact, various Employment and Training Administration programs served more than 123,889 people with disabilities in the quarter ending 12/31/2004. However, more steps need to be taken.
WIA Plus can result in better services to these individuals because it allows states and localities to create the workforce investment system that best meets the needs of their economies. This means that individuals with disabilities will be trained for jobs that are in-demand and require highly skilled-workers.
WIA Plus provides key safeguards to ensure continued levels of service, with required annual yearly improvements in the future. Key policies, such as the "order of selection criteria" currently in place for Vocational Rehabilitation, will be preserved.
To further ensure that individuals with disabilities are fully served through the workforce system, it is the Administration's intent to develop and implement incentives that promote serving individuals with disabilities.
The benefits of the President's Job Training Reform Proposal to the disability community are clear:
They would become part of the customer base of the workforce development system most directly connected to and accessed by employers;
They would have access to the full array of educational and job training services, employment, and supportive services available from ALL consolidated funding streams;
They would be assured of continued levels of service and the potential for increased numbers served with freed up resources;
They would benefit from additional resources for job training, which is critical in an economy where 80% of the fastest growing jobs require post secondary education;
In a demand-driven, fully integrated workforce system, they will have opportunities and access to good jobs and career pathways in high growth, high demand industries.
For more information on the President's Job Training Reform Proposal, please visit
www.doleta.gov
. If you have specific questions regarding the Proposal, please e-mail them to
WIAreform.questions@dol.gov
.
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Created: October 23, 2006
Updated: January 13, 2009
