Precedent / History / Operation

Workforce Boards were preceded by Private Industry Councils (PICs) which had a narrower function than the Boards. PICs were first created in 1978 under the Private Sector Initiative Program to increase private sector involvement in federal job training programs. Four years later, they became the key local governing bodies under the Job Training Partnership Act of 1982.

Later legislation relating to the training and placement of welfare recipients, federal funding of vocational education, and programs for dislocated workers invested PICs with additional oversight responsibilities. In 1998 the entire federal approach to workforce development was reformed under the Workforce Investment Act. In the process PICs were eliminated and Workforce Boards authorized.

Source: National Association of Workforce Boards

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) provides increased flexibility for state and local officials to establish broad-based labor market systems using federal job training funds for adults, dislocated workers and youth. The law mandates coordination among a range of federal job training programs, including the Employment Service, adult education and literacy programs, welfare-to-work, vocational education and vocational rehabilitation.

WIA’s goal is to provide workforce development services to employers and workers through a universally accessible, information-driven, one-stop career center system.

How One Stops Serve Their Customers

A Study by the AFL-CIO Working for America Institute. Statistical trends indicate that publicly run One Stops, as well as One Stops that had public services as a principal provider, are the most effective partially because:

•Good Placement: Public employment service is more likely to support placement in higher wage jobs that lead to self-sufficiency. For-profit firms have a disincentive to support living wage jobs because potential placement and training may be more costly.

•Emphasis on Training: Lack of profit motive means the public employment service is less likely to adopt a “work first, train later approach.”

•Fair and Equal Treatment: Public service unlike private must serve all participants equally.

•Quality Customized Assistance: The public service by law must provide quality assistance along multiple tiers from self-help service to fully staff-assisted service.

•Lower Staff Turnover: Public service employees in general have lower turnover, in part because of better wages, benefits and a voice in the workplace.

•Ease of Access: Public agencies require that the location is easy to get to and physical structure facilitates people with disabilities.

•Accountability: Public services are open to all. Records, finances and the like are transparent by law. A for-profit vendor is ultimately accountable to its directors and/or shareholders, and accountability may be realized only by contract cancellation.

To learn more, make an appointment to visit our newest Career Center in Rockledge for a view of best practices in workforce development and support.