As Congress begins deliberations about a legislative reauthorization of the 2014 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the U.S. House Subcommittee on Higher Education & Workforce Development held a May 11, 2023 hearing titled Examining America’s Workforce Challenges: Looking for Ways to Improve Skills Development.
Witnesses offering testimony included corporate leaders, a former head of the Employment and Training Administration within the Department of Labor (DOL), as well as a labor statistician. While each witness brought a different perspective to the hearing, they all agreed that WIOA needs significant legislative updates to be relevant to both the 21st Century, as well as the realities of the current labor market. Of unanimous agreement was that the labor reporting methods need overhaul to better reflect real time jobs data, and that federal dollars can be better targeted to federal grant programs.
Initially signed into law in July, 2014 by then President Barack Obama, WIOA is the signature federal umbrella for workforce legislation. Having lapsed in 2020, Congress has just begun holding hearings aimed at a hopeful reauthorization of the legislation. Click here to watch a recording of the hearing, as well as here to access information about it.
