HOT HOT HOT RED HOT Keeping Tarrant County Working

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1 HOT HOT HOT RED HOT Keeping Tarrant County Working June 10, 2015 Workforce Development Board Meeting It s Heeeeere! Most provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act take effect July 1, 2015, just three short weeks away. The Department of Labor is expecting that initial implementation and transitional activities have already begun. While some provisions do not go into effect until PY 2016 (July 1, 2016), such as the unified plans and the performance accountability system, we are preparing now for the ultimate implementation of these provisions. The Notice of Proposed Rule Making has been issued and open for comments. The final regulations are expected to be issued in January, Beyond complying with the requirements of the new law, WIOA offers an opportunity to continue to modernize the workforce system and create a customer-centered system: where the needs of business and workers drive workforce solutions; where One-Stop Career Centers provide excellent customer service to all jobseekers and businesses; and where the workforce system supports strong regional economies. To realize this vision, workforce system leaders are asked to step back and re-envision how they conduct business and restructure activities accordingly. A number of initiatives that will drive our system to full implementation are underway in committees of the Workforce Solutions for Tarrant County Board and will be reported out in today s meeting. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act s Focus on Adults and Youth with the greatest Barriers to Economic Success i The new law recognizes the need for a new playbook and reauthorizes the nation s employment, training, adult education, and vocational rehabilitation programs created under WIA. WIOA improves connections to employment and training opportunities that lead to economic prosperity for workers and their families. It strengthens existing workforce development and adult education programs in four ways that can benefit adults and youth with barriers to economic success. The law: I. Increases the focus on serving the most vulnerable workers low-income adults and youth who have limited skills, lack work experience, and face other barriers to economic success; II. Expands education and training options to help participants access good jobs and advance in their careers;

2 III. Helps disadvantaged and unemployed adults and youth earn while they learn through support services and effective employment-based activities; and IV. Aligns planning and accountability policies across core programs to support more unified approaches to serving low-income, low-skilled individuals. These positive policy developments create an opportunity for leaders and advocates in states and local communities to rethink, reshape, and expand workforce systems, policies, and practices that are grounded in research and experience to improve the education and employability of low-income people. To bring these opportunities to fruition, policymakers, advocates, and practitioners must seize the opportunities available through WIOA; the changes won t happen automatically. WIOA both establishes new activities and requirements and codifies federal guidance and regulations that already exist. Taken together, these changes create an opportunity to leverage systemic change across the currently disconnected education and training systems. WIOA better enables states and local communities to seed and propel cross-systems approaches to tackle unemployment, low literacy, and low educational attainment among disconnected youth and low-skilled, low-income adults and parents. This summary of key provisions (attached) focuses on opportunities to improve services in select WIOA core programs. i Excerpted from: New Opportunities to Improve Economic and Career Success for Low-Income Youth and Adults, Key Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), Center for Postsecondary and Economic Success at CLASP, September 2014 National Unemployment Rate 5.5% in May Nationally employment increased by 280,000 in May, the civilian labor force rose by 397,000 and the unemployment rate ticked up to 5.5 percent, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics reported last Friday. Job gains occurred in professional and business services, leisure and hospitality, and health care. Mining employment continued to decline. The number of long-term unemployed (those jobless for 27 weeks or more) held at 2.5 million in May and accounted for 28.6 percent of the unemployed. Over the past 12 months, the number of long-term unemployed is down by 849,000. The number of persons employed part time for economic reasons (sometimes referred to as involuntary part-time workers) was about unchanged at 6.7 million in May and has shown little movement in recent months. In May, 1.9 million persons were marginally attached to the labor force, down by 68,000 from a year earlier. Among the marginally attached, there were 563,000 discouraged workers in May, down by 134,000 from a year earlier. Texas Unemployment Remains Steady at 4.2% in April Texas has added an estimated 287,000 seasonally adjusted jobs over the past year including a modest gain in April with the addition of 1,200 positions during the month. The state has experienced job gains in three of the first four months of The state unemployment rate

3 remained steady at 4.2 percent in April, down a full percentage point from 5.2 percent a year ago. Texas continues to trend well below the national unemployment rate of 5.4 percent. Job gains for April were led by the Leisure and Hospitality industry, which added 6,900 positions. The Information industry enjoyed its largest monthly gain for the industry since June 2000 with the addition of 3,400 jobs in April. Other Services gained 2,800 jobs during the month followed by Trade, Transportation and Utilities, which expanded by 2,100 positions. Local Employment in April 2015 Area Labor Force Employment Unemployment UE Rate April 2015 April 2014 Tarrant Co. 1,001, ,626 37, % 4.7% Fort Worth 392, ,485 14, % 4.7% Arlington 205, ,009 7, % 4.5% Locally, unemployment rates are a full percentage point below the rates one year ago and a full 1.8% below the current national rate

4 Key Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 4

5 Key Provisions of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 5