The document summarizes the progression of employment and training policy in the United States, specifically the establishment of the One-Stop system through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998. It mandates that 16 employment and training programs provide services through the One-Stop system. Each state has one or more local workforce investment boards that make key policy decisions and oversee the local One-Stop centers. While the One-Stop system aims to consolidate services, it faces challenges around funding, developing linkages between programs, and governance. Assessments of its effectiveness are limited and renewal of the Act is still needed to address questions around investment, stakeholder participation, balancing flexibility and accountability, and adapting to changing conditions.

1. The One-Stop System in the
United States
Conference on Shaping the Future of the
European Social Fund (ESF)
June 23, 2010
Dianne Blank
Assistant Director
U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO)

2. Progression of employment and training
policy in the U.S.
• Key policy themes
• Less focus on—
• Income eligibility as the gateway to services
• Job training as the primary means for getting a job
• More focus on—
• Personal responsibility
• Reducing duplication of effort, but through service
coordination
• State and local flexibility in decisionmaking
• Involving the private sector
• Workforce Investment Act of 1998 mandated use of one-stop
service delivery system.
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3. Sixteen employment and training programs
must provide services thru one-stop system
Source: Workforce Investment Act
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4. Structure of one-stop system
• Each state must have one or more local areas
• Governed by state and local workforce investment boards (WIBs)
• Boards make key policy decisions and provide oversight
• Private sector chairs board and must be in majority
• Each local area must have one or more comprehensive one-stop
center
• One-stop centers have no funding for infrastructure-- programs
share cost
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5. Local flexibility is key to WIA’s program
design
• States and local areas decide many aspects
• Where to place their one-stop center(s)
• What programs are on-site or available remotely
• How infrastructure costs will be shared
• How to organize services and who provides them
• This flexibility allows for tailoring services to meet local needs and
facilitates innovation
• Consistency across one-stop centers not important
• But, compliance with individual program requirements must be
ensured
• Reporting requirements
• Oversight activities
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6. Consolidating services through the one-stop
has brought challenges
• Lack of infrastructure funding
• Most states rely on one or two programs
• Funding cuts have sometimes meant fewer centers
• Some centers have supplemented funding
• Developing linkages between programs
• Services increasingly available, but more emphasis on
electronic linkages or referral
• Linkages between key programs never developed in some
states
• Creating effective governance structure
• Engaging private sector proved challenging
• Workforce boards tend to be large and unwieldy
• Federal agencies other than Labor have been slow to engage
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7. What do we know about how well the WIA one-
stop system is working?
• Two ways to assess
• Performance measurement
• Rigorous evaluations
• WIA’s performance measurement system
• Outcomes are compared to performance goals and result in
incentive funding or financial sanctions
• Uses data already available from unemployment records
• But, WIA’s performance system has shortcomings and does
not provide for assessing one-stop performance
• WIA required a rigorous evaluation, but Labor was slow to act
• Results not available until 2015
• Limited to 3 WIA-funded programs
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8. The future of WIA
• WIA was due to be renewed in 2003, but efforts thus far have
stalled
• When action is taken, some key questions deserve attention
• How can we ensure policymakers have the information they
need to make decisions about where to invest scarce
resources?
• How might the key players at all levels be brought to the table
to participate as stakeholders and investors?
• How can we balance flexibility and accountability to achieve the
goals of WIA?
• What can be done to make the system more nimble and able to
adapt to changing economic and budgetary conditions?
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9. For more information
Contacts
Andrew Sherrill, Director
Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues
202-512-7252
sherrilla@gao.gov
Dianne Blank, Assistant Director
Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues
202-512-5654
blankd@gao.gov
Laura Heald, Assistant Director
Education, Workforce and Income Security Issues
202-512-8701
healdl@gao.gov
To access our reports, visit www.gao.gov
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