E&W Blog

 

Subcommittee Chairman Burgess Owens (R-UT) began the hearing by underscoring the vital importance of reforming WIOA to fill in-demand jobs. Chairman Owens stated that, “Employers are seeking high quality workers to fill the nearly 8 million open jobs in the U.S. while we also have 6.8 million people unemployed, many without the skills needed for these available jobs.”
 

Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) highlighted how complexities in the existing law impose needless red tape on local workforce development boards and hampers innovation. Nicholas Moore, Director of the Office of Education and Workforce Transformation, told Rep. Onder that, “We have to combine policy, technology, and process to make the system more efficient. Number one, we’ve got to make it easier to cross-train … If you’re a veteran that comes in with a joint service transcript, you should easily, in one stop…have one case manager serving one customer to give them the sort of golden ticket to employment and their next stop on their training.”

More accountability could also strengthen WIOA. That’s why Rep. Glenn Grothman (R-WI) asked Dr. Stephen Moret, President and CEO of the Strada Education Foundation, about improving program outcomes without adding more needless bureaucracy. “I do think, if we can empower those [workforce development] boards with more data about employment outcomes, it would help them make better informed decisions. That’s a big opportunity…If you look at the training-aligned job outcomes, it’s based on very incomplete information,” Moret said. Currently, performance data is not always available for the tens of thousands of programs participating in WIOA, making it difficult for jobseekers to choose programs most likely to help them succeed.

 

Similarly, Rep. Marc Harris (R-NC) stated, “It’s important for students to know ahead of time what to expect from a program. One reform... is to require training providers like industry and community colleges to provide transparent information about the credentials they create.”  All three witnesses emphasized this as a key point to high-quality information that allows learners to make the best decisions on which programs to engage with. Too often the current workforce development system emphasizes bureaucratic compliance over providing people with the skills they need to thrive in the workforce.

Chairman Walberg (R-MI) asked Molly Dodge, Senior Vice President of Workforce and Careers at Ivy Tech Community College, about the benefits of short-term certificates. Dodge told Chairman Walberg that, “This is really critical work because we know that a certificate is often aligned to an entry-level role at one of these industries. The goal we have at Ivy Tech is to help a student make that transition into these industries, into a good technician role, and then—as their career goals evolve over time—allow them to work with that employer to send them back to Ivy Tech… to upskill that technician into a more senior-level role.”

 

Chair Emerita Virginia Foxx (R-NC) asked Dodge about the role community colleges play in preparing Americans for the workforce. Dodge replied, “Community colleges, our mission – it’s in our name – is to serve our community. And at Ivy Tech, over 90 percent of our graduates stay in local communities in the state of Indiana. So we are a critical economic development driver in the state of Indiana… We also engage industry in meaningful and deep ways ensuring that we understand the skills gaps that they are facing [in] hard-to-fill, entry-level roles.”

The bottom line? Workforce development programs provide workers with necessary skills to thrive in the American workforce. Republicans are committed to passing legislation, like A Stronger Workforce for America Act, to bolster WIOA this Congress, improve these programs, and give all Americans more opportunities.