WORKFORCE 

INNOVATION AND 

OPPORTUNITY ACT

Selected States' 

Planning Approaches 

for Serving Job 

Seekers and 

Employers

Accessible Version

Report to the Ranking Member, 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor 

and Pensions, U.S. Senate

November 2016

GAO-17-31

United States Government Accountability Office
United States Government Accountability Office

Highlights of GAO-17-31, a report to the 

Ranking Member, Committee on Health, 

Education, Labor and Pensions, U.S. Senate

November 2016

WORKFORCE INNOVATION AND 

OPPORTUNITY ACT

Selected States' Planning Approaches for Serving 

Job Seekers and Employers

What GAO Found

Officials in five selected states reported using three main approaches to develop 

plans for implementing career pathways, sector partnerships, and regional 

planning strategies under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). 

GAO selected states that had various levels of experience with these strategies. 

Specifically, as a condition of receiving funding, federal agencies require state 

plans under WIOA to include career pathways strategies, which align education, 

job training, and support services to help job seekers obtain employment. These

plans must also include sector partnership strategies, which help employers in 

an industry address shared goals and hiring needs. In addition, states are 

required to establish regions, which may be made up of multiple local workforce 

areas. According to the Department of Labor (DOL), these regions are intended 

in part to align workforce activities with regional economies. To address these

requirements, officials in each of the five states reported:

· Building on prior experience to enhance career pathways, sector 

partnerships, or both strategies. For example, Pennsylvania’s state plan 

proposes building on over 10 years of experience with sector partnerships by 

increasing technical assistance for them and exploring the development of a 

certification program for these partnerships.

· Increasing the involvement of stakeholders, which uncovered ways to 

enhance services in most selected states. For example, Ohio officials said

they involved the state agency that oversees employment services for

individuals with disabilities and advocates for these individuals in planning 

efforts for the first time, which led them to provide training on disability 

awareness for staff at all local workforce centers.

· Using multiple sources of labor market information, which helped 

better align career pathways strategies with employer needs in some

selected states. For example, Colorado officials said they asked employers 

to review projected worker shortages in the medical industry over the next 10 

years, and employers said they would need more workers over a shorter 

period of time. Officials used this information to focus their career pathways 

strategies on preparing individuals to eventually fill the jobs that were 

projected to have worker shortages.

Officials in four of the states GAO selected reported facing challenges 

establishing regions due to local areas’ concerns, which they addressed by 

revising regional boundaries or increasing the number of regions and by 

providing incentives for regional collaboration or innovation. In three states, 

officials said they revised their regions in response to local concerns. For 

example, California officials said they redrew regional boundaries after a local 

area requested that it be assigned to a different region based on commuting 

patterns, among other factors. In addition, to encourage regional collaboration or

innovation, officials in four states reported providing financial incentives. For 

example, a Kentucky official said the state is using a private grant to fund 

regional efforts to develop career pathways and sector partnership strategies.

Additionally, DOL and Department of Education (Education) officials told us that

they plan to support states with related technical assistance.

View GAO-17-31. For more information, 

contact Andrew Sherrill at (202) 512-7215 or 

sherrilla@gao.gov.

Why GAO Did This Study

Enacted in 2014, WIOA aims, in part,

to increase coordination among federal 

workforce development programs, 

which are administered primarily by 

DOL and Education. GAO was asked 

to review selected states’ approaches 

for addressing certain WIOA provisions

in their state workforce plans. 

GAO examined 1) approaches 

selected states have taken to develop 

plans for implementing career 

pathways, sector partnerships, and 

regional planning strategies, and 2) 

related planning challenges these 

states have encountered and how they

have addressed them.

GAO reviewed relevant federal laws, 

regulations, and guidance. GAO also 

conducted case studies in five states 

(California, Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, 

and Pennsylvania). GAO selected 

these states based on input from 

national associations about their level 

of experience with career pathways, 

sector partnerships, and regional 

planning strategies, and GAO’s review 

of relevant reports. In these states, 

GAO interviewed state workforce 

board officials and agency officials who 

were involved in developing the state 

plan. The information GAO obtained

provides in-depth examples but is not 

generalizable to all states. GAO also

reviewed state plans and other 

relevant documentation. In addition, 

GAO interviewed DOL and Education 

officials.

What GAO Recommends

GAO is not making recommendations 

in this report. DOL and Education 

provided technical comments on a 

draft of this report, which GAO 

incorporated as appropriate.
Letter 1

Page i GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Background 3

Selected States Reported Building on Experience, Increasing 

Stakeholder Involvement, and Using Multiple Sources of Labor 

Market Information as Approaches to Develop Flexible Plans 8

Selected States Reported Addressing Challenges in Designating 

Regions and Creating Incentives for Regional Collaboration 16

Agency Comments 19

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 20

Appendix II: Changes to Colorado’s Regions after the Department of Labor Reviewed the Initial State Plan 22

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 24

Appendix IV: Accessible Data 25

Data Tables 25

Related GAO Products 26

Tables

Table 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Core 

Programs 5

Table 2: Other Partner Programs Included in the Combined 

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Plans 

for Four Selected States 11

Data Table for Figure 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

(WIOA) Timeline 25

Figures

Figure 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 

Timeline 4

Figure 2: Changes to the Configuration of Workforce Innovation 

and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Planning Regions in 

Colorado 23

Contents
Page ii GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Abbreviations

CCMEP Comprehensive Case Management and Employment

Program

Education Department of Education

DOL Department of Labor

ETA Employment and Training Administration

LMI Labor market information

OCTAE Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education

RSA Rehabilitation Services Administration

TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

WIA Workforce Investment Act of 1998

WIOA Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

This is a work of the U.S. government and is not subject to copyright protection in the 

United States. The published product may be reproduced and distributed in its entirety 

without further permission from GAO. However, because this work may contain 

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necessary if you wish to reproduce this material separately.
Page 1 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

441 G St. N.W.

Washington, DC 20548

November 15, 2016

The Honorable Patty Murray

Ranking Member

Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions

United States Senate

Dear Senator Murray:

Enacted in July 2014, the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 

(WIOA) brought changes to the programs that serve as a foundation for 

the nation’s employment and job training system. These programs, 

administered primarily by the Departments of Labor (DOL) and Education 

(Education), provide a combination of education and training services that 

help job seekers obtain employment and advance in the labor market. 

Such services include job search assistance, career counseling, 

occupational skills training, classroom training, and on-the-job training. 

WIOA emphasizes the alignment and integration of these programs. In 

addition, WIOA emphasizes that employers are also customers of the 

workforce system, and includes provisions that involve them in helping 

the system provide the skilled workers they need.

Among other changes, WIOA requires greater coordination of strategic 

planning, services, and performance measurement. Specifically, WIOA 

includes new requirements for state workforce development plans.1 State 

workforce development boards—whose members include the governor, 

representatives from the business and labor communities, and various 

state officials—are required to assist in creating these plans, which “unify”

workforce strategies across six programs designated as core by the law.2

In addition, WIOA requires that states develop career pathways strategies 

to help job seekers obtain employment or education, sector partnership 

strategies to engage employers in the workforce system, and regional 

 

1Throughout this report, for ease of reporting we refer to requirements imposed on states 

and various state and local entities. These requirements, however, are generally only 

imposed as a condition of the state or entity receiving funding under WIOA.

2WIOA designated six programs as core. Four of these programs are administered by 

DOL: Title I Adult, Title I Dislocated Worker, Title I Youth, and Wagner-Peyser 

Employment Services. Two of these programs are administered by Education: Adult 

Education and Family Literacy Act, and State Vocational Rehabilitation Services 

(Vocational Rehabilitation). 

Letter
planning strategies to coordinate local services.

Page 2 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

3 States were required to 

submit their first state plans under WIOA to DOL and Education by April 

1, 2016, in order to be considered timely.

In light of these developments, you asked us to review states’ planning 

approaches for addressing new WIOA requirements. Specifically, this 

report examines: (1) the approaches selected states have taken to 

develop plans for implementing WIOA provisions related to career 

pathways, sector partnerships, and regional planning, and (2) the related 

planning challenges, if any, these states have encountered and how they 

have addressed them.

To address both objectives, we reviewed relevant federal laws, 

regulations, and guidance. To conduct case studies, we selected five 

states (California, Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), which 

were among those identified by national associations as 1) having 

substantial experience developing and implementing career pathways, 

sector partnerships, or regional planning prior to WIOA, and/or 2) making 

significant changes to implement any of these strategies under WIOA. To 

select states that had various levels of experience with these three 

strategies, we considered the input we received from national 

associations and reviewed relevant reports. In the selected states, we 

interviewed officials including the executive leadership of the state 

workforce development board, state board members, and state agency 

officials—such as officials from the state workforce, human services, or 

education agency—who were involved in developing the state plan. The 

information we obtained from state officials provides in-depth examples 

but is not generalizable to all states. In addition, we reviewed the plans 

that these states submitted to DOL and Education by April 2016 and other 

relevant documentation, such as documents summarizing the state 

planning process and state guidance for local workforce areas. After 

reviewing and analyzing information from the states, we asked the state 

officials we interviewed to review relevant portions of the draft report for 

 

3Career pathways strategies align and integrate education, job training, counseling, and 

support services to help individuals obtain postsecondary education credentials and 

employment in in-demand occupations. WIOA defines in-demand occupations as those 

that currently have or are projected to have enough positions in an industry sector to have 

a significant impact on the state, regional, or local economy. Sector partnership strategies 

organize multiple employers and key stakeholders in a particular industry into a working 

group that focuses on the shared goals and human resources needs of that industry. 

Regional planning strategies allow for strategic planning across local boundaries for the 

purposes of coordinating services and administrative cost-sharing, among other activities.
accuracy. Furthermore, we interviewed DOL and Education officials. See 

appendix I for more information on our objectives, scope, and 

methodology.

We conducted this performance audit from September 2015 to November 

2016 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Page 3 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

WIOA required federal and state officials to build a new framework for the 

workforce system over the two years following its enactment. This 

framework included the federal regulations implementing the law, and 

state plans outlining each state’s overall strategy for workforce 

development and how that strategy will meet identified skill needs for job 

seekers and employers. All states submitted their first plans under WIOA 

to DOL and Education by April 1, 2016, and the federal agencies issued 

final regulations in June 2016.4 Although final regulations were not issued 

by the time states submitted their plans, the federal agencies had 

previously issued proposed regulations and guidance, and had provided 

technical assistance to states.5 According to DOL and Education officials, 

they approved all of the state plans with conditions that each state 

needed to address to meet requirements. In July 2016, these plans and 

the common performance measures for the six core programs took 

 

4While the agencies announced the final regulations in June 2016, the regulations were 

not promulgated in the Federal Register until August 19, 2016. See 81 Fed. Reg. 55,526, 

55,562, 55,630, 55,792, and 56,072.

5This guidance included Required Elements for Submission of the Unified or Combined 

State Plan and Plan Modifications under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, 

Feb. 18, 2016, Office of Management and Budget Control Number 1205-0522. Technical 

assistance includes information provided on the DOL websites www.doleta.gov/wioa and 

www.ion.workforcegps.org, and corresponding websites maintained by Education and the 

Department of Health and Human Services.

Background

Timeframes for WIOA 

Implementation
effect.

Page 4 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

6

(See fig.1.) WIOA requires that states submit unified state plans to 

DOL every four years and revisit these plans every two years, submitting 

their planned modifications to the relevant federal agencies for approval.

Figure 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Timeline

aWhile the agencies announced the final regulations in June 2016, the regulations were not 

promulgated in the Federal Register until August 19, 2016. See 81 Fed. Reg. 55,526, 55,562, 55,630, 

55,792, and 56,072.

Among other changes, WIOA requires that state workforce development 

boards, consisting of the governor, representatives from business and 

labor communities, and various state officials, assist in the development 

of “unified” state plans covering six core programs.7 The six programs are 

administered by DOL and Education (see table 1).

 

6For more information on the common performance measures under WIOA, see GAO, 

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Information on Planned Changes to State 

Performance Reporting and Related Challenges, GAO-16-287 (Washington, D.C.: March 

7, 2016). For other related GAO reports, see Related GAO Products.

7Under WIOA, in addition to assisting in the development of state plans, state boards are 

also responsible for assisting in the development and continuous improvement of the 

state’s workforce system, assisting in the development and updating of comprehensive 

state performance accountability measures, and assisting in the identification and 

dissemination of best practices, among other responsibilities.

Requirements for WIOA 

State Plans
Table 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Core Programs 

Page 5 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Administered by the Department of Labor (DOL):a

Title I Adult Provides training and services, such as occupational skills training, career counseling, and job 

searches, to adults age 18 and older

Title I Dislocated Worker Provides the same services as the Title I Adult program for those who, generally, among other 

criteria, anticipate being or have been terminated or laid-off or who were self-employed

Title I Youth Provides various services, including educational supports, occupational skills training, 

counseling, and paid and unpaid work experiences, generally to low-income youths who are 

facing one or more barriers to employment

Wagner-Peyser Employment 

Services

Provides employment services, including job searches and placement assistance, and referrals 

to employers

Administered by the Department of Education (Education):b

Adult Education and Family Literacy 

Act

Generally assists adults in becoming literate or achieving proficiency in English, obtaining the 

knowledge and skills necessary for employment and self-sufficiency and to assist in their 

children’s educational development, and completing a secondary school education

State Vocational Rehabilitation 

Services (Vocational Rehabilitation)

Provides services such as counseling, job training, and job search assistance to eligible 

individuals with disabilities, particularly individuals with significant disabilities, and students 

transitioning from special education, to assist them in obtaining competitive integrated 

employment

Sources: GAO analysis of relevant federal law and information from Education officials. | GAO-17-31

aDOL’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) administers these programs and oversees 

their implementation, which is carried out by state workforce agencies and local workforce 

development boards. The local board selects the entities that will operate American Job Centers 

(formerly called one-stop centers) to provide services.

bEducation’s Office of Career, Technical, and Adult Education (OCTAE) provides grants to states for 

the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act program, and the states, in turn, distribute most of the 

federal funds to local adult education providers. The local provider network includes local educational 

agencies, community colleges, community-based organizations, and volunteer literacy organizations. 

Education’s Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA) provides grants to states to administer the 

Vocational Rehabilitation program. Twenty-four of the 56 states and outlying areas have separate 

agencies serving blind or visually impaired individuals in addition to agencies that serve all other 

individuals with disabilities. In addition, states vary in terms of the organizational positioning of the 

program, with the program being housed in education, workforce, social service, or disability program 

agencies; independent Vocational Rehabilitation agencies; or elsewhere.

States were required to submit either unified or combined plans for 

implementing WIOA. Unified plans include planning for the six core 

programs. Such plans were optional under the prior authorizing law, the 

Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA). Combined plans include 
planning for the six core programs, as well as planning for one or more 

additional programs and activities.

Page 6 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

8

In these plans, states are required to include career pathways strategies, 

which help job seekers obtain employment or education, and sector 

partnership strategies, which engage employers in the workforce system.9

States are also required to identify regions that will implement regional 

planning strategies to coordinate local services, among other activities.

· Career pathways strategies align and integrate education, job 

training, counseling, and support services to help individuals obtain 

postsecondary education credentials and employment in in-demand 

occupations. WIOA defines in-demand occupations as those that 

currently have or are projected to have enough positions in an 

industry sector to have a significant impact on the state, regional, or 

local economy.

· Industry or sector partnership strategies organize multiple 

employers and key stakeholders, such as education and training 

programs, in a particular industry into a working group that focuses on 

the shared goals and human resources needs of that industry.

· Regional planning strategies allow for strategic planning across 

local workforce area boundaries for the purposes of coordinating 

services and administrative cost-sharing, among other activities.10

 

8We refer to these additional programs and activities as “other partner programs”

throughout this report. The other partner programs are: career and technical education 

programs under the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006, 

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families, employment and training programs under the 

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, work programs under the Food and Nutrition 

Act of 2008, Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers, Jobs for Veterans State Grants, 

Unemployment Insurance, Senior Community Service Employment Program, employment 

and training activities carried out by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, 

employment and training activities carried out under the Community Services Block Grant 

Act, and Reintegration of Ex-Offenders.

9WIOA requires state boards to assist the governor in developing strategies to support the 

use of career pathways and the development or expansion of sector partnerships. Federal 

agencies require state plans to describe the strategies a state will implement, including 

career pathways and sector partnerships, to achieve its strategic vision and goals.

10Similar to WIA, WIOA requires that each state have one or more local workforce 

development areas, each governed by a local workforce development board. Under 

WIOA, local boards’ responsibilities include developing a local workforce plan, analyzing 

regional labor market conditions, engaging regional employers, developing and 

implementing career pathways, identifying and promoting other proven and promising 

workforce development strategies, and conducting oversight for certain activities. 
Career pathways and sector partnership strategies are often 

interconnected. In order to design career pathways programs that train 

workers for jobs that employers need to fill, these programs need input 

from employers, which can be gained through sector partnerships. DOL 

has noted that one of the key elements of developing a comprehensive 

career pathways system is to identify industry sectors and engage 

employers.

Page 7 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

11

With respect to the requirement that states establish regions, DOL 

regulations state that the purpose of these regions is to align workforce 

development activities and resources with larger regional economic 

development areas and available resources to provide coordinated and

efficient services to both job seekers and employers. This is a change 

from WIA, which permitted but did not require regional planning. Under 

WIOA, states must designate local workforce areas, draw regional 

boundaries, and assign local areas to these regions.12 In practice, states 

need to designate local areas before they can assign them to regions. If 

local areas dispute their local area designations, they may appeal them to 

the state board, and if the state board denies the appeal, they may appeal 

to DOL. In assigning local areas to regions, states are required to consult 

local officials and consider labor market and economic development 

areas. After states establish regions, local boards are to work together to 

develop regional plans that incorporate local plans for each local area in 

the region, collect and analyze regional labor market data, develop 

regional sector partnerships, and coordinate the sharing of administrative 

costs, among other responsibilities.13

In our previous work on leading strategic planning practices, we have 

noted the importance of stakeholder involvement, assessing the 

environment, and aligning activities, processes, and resources to meet 

goals and objectives during the early phases of strategic planning.14

 

11DOL, Career Pathways Toolkit: A Guide for System Development, Sept. 3, 2015.

12Regions may consist of one or more local areas.

13If a region consists of a single local area, it is not subject to regional planning 

requirements.

14Later phases, which occur after programs have been implemented, include measuring 

performance and using performance information to later refine program activities and 

report on outcomes. For more information, see GAO, Executive Guide: Effectively 

Implementing the Government Performance and Results Act, GAO/GGD-96-118 

(Washington, D.C.: June 1996).

Strategic Planning 

Approaches
Under WIOA, states are required to address all of these aspects of 

strategic planning:

· Involving stakeholders. WIOA requires that state boards have 

diverse membership, which helps involve relevant stakeholders in the 

planning process.

Page 8 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

15 WIOA also features a “sunshine provision” to 

disclose board proceedings and information regarding the state plan. 

In addition, as previously noted, states must consult local officials 

when establishing regions.

· Assessing the environment. The state plan must assess the current 

environment in which employment and training programs operate by 

including analyses of state economic conditions and labor market 

information, among others.

· Aligning activities and resources. The state plan must include a 

strategy for aligning the core programs, other state or local partner 

programs, and other resources available to the state to achieve its 

strategic vision and goals.

The five states we selected as case studies reported using three main 

approaches to develop plans for implementing WIOA provisions related to 

career pathways, sector partnerships, and regional planning. Specifically, 

states 1) built on their prior experience with career pathways and sector 

partnerships, which officials viewed as interconnected, 2) increased the 

involvement of stakeholders in the planning process compared to past 

efforts, and 3) used multiple sources of labor market information (LMI) to 

identify employer needs and draw the boundaries of the new regions 

required under WIOA. Officials in each of the five states told us that they 

intended their state plans to provide a high-level vision that allows regions 

and local areas the flexibility to develop workforce strategies that respond 

to specific regional and local needs.

 

15There was also a requirement for diverse board membership under WIA. 

Selected States 

Reported Building on 

Experience, 

Increasing 

Stakeholder 

Involvement, and 

Using Multiple 

Sources of Labor 

Market Information as 

Approaches to 

Develop Flexible 

Plans
Each of the five selected states had experience with career pathways, 

sector partnerships, or both prior to the enactment of WIOA, and officials 

in these states told us that WIOA provided an opportunity to enhance the 

strategies they already had in place. In contrast, each of the states had 

less prior experience with regional planning. Colorado officials said they 

began implementing sector partnerships in 2005 and have incorporated 

lessons learned over time, including ensuring that these partnerships are 

led by the business community. Under WIOA, Colorado officials plan to 

expand and enhance their network of business-led sector partnerships. 

They also plan to use these partnerships to help design career pathways 

programs by identifying the knowledge, skills, and abilities that employers 

are seeking for in-demand jobs. Similarly, Pennsylvania’s state plan 

proposes building on over 10 years of experience with sector partnerships 

by increasing technical assistance and seeking additional funding for 

these partnerships, and exploring the development of a certification 

program for such partnerships. In Ohio, officials also said they plan to 

further develop their existing sector partnership efforts, including 

identifying and disseminating best practices from six pilot partnerships 

that they funded with grants in 2014. They also plan to implement two 

new career pathways initiatives: an initiative to encourage greater 

enrollment of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) 

participants in employment and training services, and a new wage

pathway model that provides an alternative to the traditional career 

pathway model.

Page 9 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

16 According to Ohio officials, this wage pathway model 

provides low-income, low-skill youth who are not yet ready to enter a 

career pathway program with on-the-job skills training and supportive 

services to help them make a successful transition to a career pathway 

program and obtain an in-demand occupation.

Officials in four of the five states said their previous state plans under WIA 

served as the foundation for their WIOA plans because the new law 

supported their existing strategies. For example, California officials said 

that WIOA’s shift in emphasis from matching job seekers with open 

positions to helping job seekers increase their skills and education aligns 

with the state board’s efforts to promote these goals in California over the 

 

16According to Ohio officials, they developed the Comprehensive Case Management and 

Employment Program (CCMEP) to create a streamlined service flow for youth and young 

adults (ages 16-24), which includes adopting common performance metrics to encourage 

greater co-enrollment of TANF participants in employment and training services. CCMEP 

aims to break generational poverty by providing participants with intensive case 

management, career guidance, supportive services, labor market information, and 

education and skills training for in-demand jobs.

All Five States Reported 

Building on Prior 

Experience to Expand 

Their Efforts under WIOA
last five years. Similarly, Ohio officials told us that some of their efforts to 

reform their workforce system over the last several years have 

emphasized the development and expansion of career pathways and 

sector partnerships, which aligns with WIOA’s emphasis on these 

strategies.

In contrast to career pathways and sector partnerships, officials in only 

three of the five states reported they had some prior experience with 

regional planning. In California, Colorado, and Ohio, officials said they 

had some type of regional structure in place prior to the enactment of 

WIOA, while officials in Kentucky and Pennsylvania said they were 

relatively new to regional planning. Overall, officials in each of the five 

states said they had less prior experience with regional planning than with 

career pathways or sector partnership strategies, and told us that they 

have made or will make major changes to implement new regional 

requirements under WIOA.

In each of the five selected states, officials reported involving a wide 

range of stakeholders in enhancing or developing career pathways, 

sector partnerships, or regional planning strategies, and sought their input 

in various ways. For example, officials said they included stakeholders 

such as state agencies overseeing core programs, state agencies 

overseeing other partner programs, local workforce boards, community 

colleges, business and industry representatives, labor organizations, and 

community-based organizations. According to officials, state workforce 

boards sought input from stakeholders in various ways, such as 

organizing cross-program or issue area planning committees or 

discussion groups, holding statewide or regional meetings, and 

conducting focus groups or surveys.

Compared to past planning efforts, each of the five states reported that 

they have increased stakeholder involvement in WIOA planning by 

engaging existing stakeholders to a greater extent, and four of the five 

states also reported involving new stakeholders. Each of the five states 

included the six core programs in their plans, as required by WIOA, and 

four states developed combined plans that also included other partner 

programs (see table 2).

Page 10 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

17 According to state officials, some of these core 

or other partner programs were involved in previous workforce planning 

 

17Although California submitted a unified plan, officials noted that they involved some 

state agencies overseeing non-core programs—such as TANF—in the planning process 

for the first time, as an initial step in expanding partnerships beyond the core programs.

Most Selected States 

Reported That Greater 

Stakeholder Involvement 

Increased Awareness 

across Programs or 

Uncovered Opportunities 

to Enhance Services
efforts but had greater involvement in the WIOA planning process, while 

others were new stakeholders under WIOA. For example, officials in two 

states said they involved the state agency overseeing the Vocational 

Rehabilitation program to a greater extent under WIOA, and officials in 

the other three states said that the WIOA planning process was the first 

time they involved this agency in workforce planning efforts.

Page 11 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

18

Table 2: Other Partner Programs Included in the Combined Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Plans for Four 

Selected States

Program Colorado Kentucky Ohio Pennsylvania

Career and technical education programs under the Carl D. 

Perkins Career and Technical Education Act of 2006

No No Yes Yes

Employment and training activities under the Community 

Services Block Grant Act

No No No Yes

Jobs for Veterans State Grants Yes Yes Yes Yes

Reintegration of Ex-Offenders No No No Yes

Senior Community Service Employment Program Yes No Yes Yes

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Yes No No Yes

Trade Adjustment Assistance for Workers Yes Yes No Yes

Unemployment Insurance No Yes No No

Sources: Interviews with state workforce board officials in Colorado, Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania, and the state plans these states submitted to the Departments of Labor and Education by April 

2016. | GAO-17-31

Notes:

“Other partner programs” refers to programs in addition to the required core programs: Title I Adult, 

Title I Dislocated Worker, Title I Youth, Wagner-Peyser Employment Services, Adult Education and 

Family Literacy Act, and State Vocational Rehabilitation Services (Vocational Rehabilitation).

While GAO’s review also included California, California submitted a unified state plan and is therefore 

not included in this table. None of the four states listed above included the following “other partner 

programs” in their state plan: employment and training programs under the Supplemental Nutrition 

Assistance Program; work programs under the Food and Nutrition Act of 2008; and employment and 

training activities carried out by the Department of Housing and Urban Development.

Beyond the core and other partner programs included in the state plan, 

officials in four of the five states reported involving other new 

stakeholders in WIOA planning. While they varied by state, these new 

stakeholders included state agencies such as Kentucky Adult Education 

and the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation in California, as 

well as organizations representing particular interests, such as a local 

chapter of the National Skills Coalition in Colorado and an initiative 

 

18As previously noted, the Vocational Rehabilitation program is one of the six core 

programs under WIOA.
supporting better jobs for individuals with disabilities in Ohio.

Page 12 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

19 In addition, 

these new stakeholders included new members of the state workforce 

development board. For example, in Colorado, officials said they sought 

new board members with expertise in a variety of areas, including youth 

and disability issues. In Kentucky, officials told us they focused on 

identifying new members who could represent the interests of the 

business community, and that these new members have helped to design 

career pathways by sharing their knowledge about the skills and 

certifications needed for in-demand jobs.

Officials in two of the five states reported that this increased involvement 

from stakeholders enhanced awareness about the roles and services of 

other related programs. For example, California officials said that through 

the WIOA planning process, state agencies have exchanged detailed 

information about their programs, including eligibility requirements, the 

types of services they provide, and how they deliver these services. In 

Colorado, officials similarly reported that greater stakeholder involvement 

led to increased awareness across programs and cross-training of staff. 

Specifically, officials said they cross-trained more than 1,000 staff from a 

variety of programs on the eligibility requirements for and services 

provided by other programs to which they refer job seekers, including the 

core and other partner programs in the state plan, as well as the 

unemployment insurance program and career and technical education 

programs, among others.

In addition, officials in four of the five states—California, Colorado, 

Kentucky, and Ohio—reported that involving new stakeholders in the 

planning process uncovered opportunities to better serve individuals with 

barriers to employment. In Ohio, officials said they involved the state 

agency that oversees the Vocational Rehabilitation program and 

advocates for individuals with disabilities in planning efforts for the first 

time, which helped identify opportunities to better serve these individuals 

through the workforce system. For example, these officials said that 

including these stakeholders led them to train staff at all of their one-stop 

centers on disability awareness. In addition, a Colorado official told us 

that involving new stakeholders in the planning process led workforce 

programs to assess their efforts to conduct outreach and provide services 

to homeless individuals.

 

19The National Skills Coalition is a non-profit, non-partisan 501(c)(3) organization that 

seeks to increase the skills of America’s workers through organizing, advocacy, and 

communications to advance state and federal policies that support this goal.
Overall, officials in each of the five states reported that the WIOA 

planning process reinforced important lessons from past planning efforts 

about when and how to obtain stakeholder input. For example, Kentucky 

officials noted the importance of having all stakeholders—including the 

business community—provide input into the planning process from the 

very beginning. Similarly, Colorado officials said they used a transparent 

planning process that involved county commissioners, local workforce 

boards, and the business community to ensure buy-in and support for the 

state plan.

Each of the five selected states consulted multiple sources of labor 

market information (LMI), which helped officials in some states better 

align career pathways strategies with employer needs, and helped 

officials in all five states draw regional boundaries and assign local 

workforce areas to those proposed regions. Specifically, each of the five 

states reported they supplemented the traditional LMI provided by the 

state LMI office with real-time LMI,

Page 13 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

20 and three of them—Colorado, 

Kentucky, and Ohio—reported validating this information with employers 

to confirm its accuracy as they developed their state plans.21 In these 

three states, officials said that validating this information with employers 

helped better align their career pathways strategies with employers’

needs. In Colorado, officials said one example is that when they asked 

employers to review projections that the state would experience a 

shortage of workers in the medical industry over the next 10 years, 

employers said they actually would need more workers over a shorter 

time period. Officials then used this information to focus their career 

pathways strategies on preparing individuals to fill the jobs projected to 

have worker shortages by identifying entry-level jobs that could eventually 

lead to these higher-level jobs. In Ohio, officials said they surveyed 

 

20Traditional LMI includes data systematically collected from employer surveys, 

administrative sources such as wage records, and interviews with employers. In contrast, 

real-time LMI aggregates and analyzes online job postings to provide “real-time”

information about the hiring and skill needs of employers. In 2013, prior to WIOA’s 

enactment, we reported that some local workforce areas were using real-time LMI to help 

guide their training efforts. See GAO, Workforce Investment Act: Local Areas Face 

Challenges Helping Employers Fill Some Types of Skilled Jobs, GAO-14-19 (Washington, 

D.C.: Dec. 2, 2013).

21California officials told us that they did not validate LMI with employers during the state 

planning process due to the size and diversity of the state’s economy, but they expect 

regions and local workforce areas to validate LMI with employers as part of their planning 

efforts.

Some Selected States 

Reported That 

Supplementing Traditional 

Labor Market Information 

Better Aligned Strategies 

with Employer Needs and 

Helped Define Regions
employers to identify their most urgent workforce needs and incorporated 

this information into a searchable online database of in-demand jobs that 

guided their planning. According to officials, this information from 

employers helped better align career pathways strategies with employers’

needs for workers with certain credentials or certificates.

In each of the five selected states, officials told us they also used multiple 

sources of LMI to help draw the proposed boundaries of the new regions 

required under WIOA. Specifically, officials in each of the states said they 

considered labor market and economic development areas, as required 

by WIOA, in addition to a variety of other factors. These factors included 

the locations of key industries, commuting patterns, local workforce areas’

existing partnerships across local area boundaries, and where population 

centers were located.

Officials in each of the five states told us that they intend their state plans 

to provide a high-level vision that allows regions and local areas the 

flexibility to develop workforce strategies that respond to specific regional 

and local needs. For example, Colorado officials said they intend their 

state plan to provide a framework for regional and local entities as they 

develop career pathways strategies that are driven by the needs of 

regional industries. The state plan references Colorado’s step-by-step 

guide for building regional career pathways systems, including goals, 

outcomes, and the roles of different partners. Similarly, California officials 

described their plan as a broad conceptual framework for building 

regional and local partnerships rather than an operations manual. The 

plan requires regions to develop customized “regional sector pathway”

programs, which are career pathways programs that help job seekers 

attain postsecondary credentials that are valued by employers and 

aligned with regional workforce needs.

To implement their state plans, officials in each of the five states said they 

have developed, are developing, or plan to develop guidance for regional 

and local planning, including guidance on implementing career pathways 

and sector partnerships. For example, in September 2016, California 

issued guidance for developing regional and local plans which sets the 

state’s policy direction for these plans and clarifies the purpose of the 

Page 14 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

All Five States Reported 

They Intend Their State 

Plans to Provide a HighLevel Vision that Allows 

Flexibility in Responding to 

Regional and Local Needs
regional plan as compared to the local plan.

Page 15 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

22 According to the guidance, 

the primary purpose of regional plans is to develop regional sector 

pathway programs, while the primary purpose of local plans is to facilitate 

job seekers’ access to local services that lead to regional sector pathway 

programs. The state plans to provide additional guidance and technical 

assistance materials about model regional and local partnerships, 

including best practices, as local officials develop and implement these 

plans. In two states, officials told us that regional and local plans were 

due by June 2016, and in the other three states, officials said they expect 

regions and local areas to submit these plans by spring 2017.23

Furthermore, officials in all five states said they expect regional or local 

plans to address how funding could be shared across programs to 

implement career pathways and sector partnership strategies, although 

they acknowledged that these decisions will involve further discussions 

between state and local partners. Officials in three states said they did not 

address cost-sharing issues in their state plans because they believed 

that the state plan was not the right vehicle for addressing these issues or 

because they did not have sufficient time to make these decisions prior to 

the submission deadline.24

 

22State of California Employment Development Department and California Workforce 

Development Board, Directive: Regional and Local Planning Guidance for PY 2017 –

2020, WSD16-07 (Sept. 16, 2016). 

23In Colorado, officials told us that initial regional and local plans were due in May 2016, 

and the state board had approved all of these plans as of August 2016. In Pennsylvania, 

state workforce system guidance required regions and local areas to submit one-year

transitional plans by June 2016, and indicated that these plans should serve as the 

foundation for more robust multi-year regional and local plans in the future.

24WIOA requires regions to establish arrangements for sharing administrative costs, and 

similar to the previous law, requires local boards and one-stop center partner programs to 

enter into memoranda of understanding that describe how infrastructure costs for one-stop 

centers will be shared among programs.
Officials in the selected states reported facing challenges establishing 

regions, which they addressed by revising their regional boundaries or 

increasing the number of regions and by providing incentives for future 

regional collaboration or innovation. As previously noted, a change under 

WIOA is that states are required to establish regions, which may be made 

up of multiple local workforce areas that are to work together to develop 

regional workforce plans.

Page 16 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

25 According to DOL, the purpose of these 

regions is to align workforce development activities and resources with 

larger regional economic development areas and available resources in 

order to provide coordinated and efficient services to both job seekers 

and employers.26 In addition, DOL stated that regional partnerships better 

support the implementation of sector partnership and career pathways 

strategies, and may also lower costs and increase the effectiveness of 

service delivery through greater coordination. As previously noted, 

officials in each of the five selected states reported that they have made 

or will make major changes to implement these new regional 

requirements under WIOA, even though three of the states had some 

prior experience with regional planning.

To draw proposed regional boundaries and assign local workforce areas 

to these regions, officials in the five selected states said they reviewed 

multiple sources of LMI and also consulted with local officials. For 

example, California officials told us that they developed a draft regional 

map in consultation with local workforce boards and state workforce 

associations. Officials in Colorado and Ohio said they considered dividing 

some local workforce areas into multiple regions in order to reflect 

regional labor markets or existing economic development regions. 

Colorado proposed this approach in its initial state plan. Specifically, 

Colorado officials told us they proposed dividing a large local area that 

covers most of the state into four different regions to align with regional 

economies. However, state officials said that when DOL conducted an 

early review of their state plan during the public comment period before 

they officially submitted it, DOL officials advised them that they could not 

divide a single local area into multiple regions. (For Colorado’s initial and 

final regional maps, see appendix II.) DOL’s final regulations also reflect 

this interpretation of WIOA in that they require regions to consist of one or 

 

25As previously noted, regions may consist of one or more local areas. If a region consists 

of a single local area, it is not subject to regional planning requirements.

2620 C.F.R. § 679.200 (effective Oct. 18, 2016).

Selected States 

Reported Addressing 

Challenges in 

Designating Regions 

and Creating 

Incentives for 

Regional 

Collaboration
more local areas.

Page 17 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

27 DOL officials explained that if local areas were divided 

into multiple regions, they would be required to participate in multiple 

regional planning efforts, which could be burdensome. Given that local 

areas cannot be split between regions, officials noted the importance of

drawing local area boundaries in order to align them with regional 

economies, although they acknowledged that this can be challenging due 

to historical and political factors. For example, some local officials may be 

reluctant to change local area boundaries that have been in place for 

many years.

Despite their efforts to consult local officials when developing proposed 

regions, officials in four states said they faced challenges due to local 

workforce areas’ concerns about becoming part of a region, including 

questions about funding and the possibility that regional priorities could 

differ from local priorities. As a result, in three states officials told us they 

revised regional boundaries or increased the number of regions in 

response to feedback or appeals from local areas. For example, in 

California, after the state board received and granted appeals from two 

local areas, officials told us they made minor changes to regional 

boundaries.28 Officials said that one local area requested it be assigned to 

a different region due to commuting patterns and its existing relationships 

with community colleges. Similarly, Colorado officials said that successful 

state-level appeals from two local areas led them to revise regional 

boundaries and create two new regions.29 In addition, Ohio officials told 

us their initial draft plan included five regions but they ultimately 

designated 10 regions after a local area successfully appealed its local 

area designation to DOL, and the federal agencies issued final 

regulations, both of which affected the overall regional configuration.30

 

2720 C.F.R. § 679.210(d) (effective Oct. 18, 2016).

28California’s final regional designation includes 14 regions.

29While the Colorado state board made these changes to the regions in response to 

appeals from local areas, the board made other changes to the regions in response to 

DOL’s feedback on an early draft of the state plan, as shown in appendix II.

30As previously noted, in practice, states need to designate local areas before they can 

assign them to regions. In Ohio, one local area appealed its local area designation to the 

state workforce board, and then to DOL after the state board denied its appeal. After DOL 

granted this appeal and the federal agencies issued final regulations, Ohio officials 

identified 10 regions, five of which contain multiple local workforce areas, and five of which 

contain single local areas. According to DOL officials, local areas in two additional states 

that were not selected for this review also appealed their local area designations to DOL.
In three of the five states, the next step in their regional planning process 

is for regions and local areas to develop workforce plans.

Page 18 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

31 DOL and 

Education officials said they are aware that states have faced challenges 

designating regions, and plan to provide states with technical assistance 

on implementing other WIOA regional planning requirements.32 In 

addition, the agencies have developed the Innovation and Opportunity 

Network, an online community of practice through which they can 

facilitate technical assistance, information sharing, and training to help 

states, regions, and local areas implement WIOA.

To help ensure that regional planning efforts continue to progress, 

officials in four of the five states reported that their states are providing 

incentives for collaboration or innovation at the regional level.33 For 

example, California officials said the state is using a portion of the 

governor’s discretionary WIOA funding to support the SlingShot initiative, 

which aims to build the regional coordination and leadership necessary 

for effective regional planning.34 This initiative supports collaborative 

efforts by a broad range of stakeholders within a region to identify and 

then work to solve employment challenges.35 California is also using 

discretionary funding to support the Workforce Accelerator Fund initiative, 

which aims to better align existing programs to accelerate employment 

outcomes for populations with barriers to employment. In Kentucky, 

 

31As previously noted, officials in Colorado told us that initial regional and local plans were 

due in May 2016. Pennsylvania state workforce system guidance required regions and 

local areas to submit one-year transitional plans by June 2016.

32DOL and Education also plan to provide states with technical assistance on a wide 

range of other WIOA implementation issues, including performance requirements and 

indicators, the competitive procurement of one-stop operators, and funding one-stop 

infrastructure costs, among others. As of July 2016, agency officials said that they were in 

the process of prioritizing several of these efforts based on the most immediate needs of 

WIOA stakeholders over the coming years.

33Officials in the fifth state told us that while their state provided financial support for the 

regional planning process as a form of technical assistance, they do not consider this 

support to be an incentive for collaboration or innovation.

34WIOA requires the governor of each state to reserve not more than 15 percent of certain 

Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth funds for statewide workforce investment activities. 

For the purposes of this report, we refer to this funding as the governor’s discretionary 

WIOA funding.

35California officials said that under this initiative, regions received $20,000 in a matching 

grant to plan strategies for sector partnerships and career pathways. Officials told us that 

after regional plans are approved by the state board, regions can then qualify for $1 

million to implement these strategies.
officials said the state is supporting regional collaboration and innovation 

by using the governor’s discretionary funding to encourage the 

development of regional sector partnerships. In addition, a Kentucky 

official said the state is also using a private grant to fund regional efforts 

to develop career pathways and sector partnership strategies and ensure 

that they help job seekers obtain credentials that are valued by 

employers.

We provided a draft of this report to the Department of Education and the 

Department of Labor for review and comment. Both departments provided 

technical comments, which we incorporated as appropriate.

We are sending copies of this report to the appropriate congressional 

committees, the Secretary of Labor, the Secretary of Education, and other 

interested parties. In addition, the report is available at no charge on the 

GAO website at http://www.gao.gov.

If you or your staff have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-7215 or sherrilla@gao.gov. Contact points for our Offices 

of Congressional Relations and Public Affairs may be found on the last 

page of this report. GAO staff who made major contributions to this report 

are listed in appendix III.

Sincerely yours,

Andrew Sherrill

Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues

Page 19 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Agency Comments
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

We examined 1) the approaches selected states have taken to develop 

plans for implementing Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) 

provisions related to career pathways, sector partnerships, and regional 

planning, and 2) the related planning challenges, if any, these states have 

encountered and how they have addressed them. To address both 

objectives, we reviewed relevant federal laws, regulations, and guidance; 

conducted case studies in five states; and interviewed federal Department 

of Labor (DOL) and Department of Education (Education) officials.

To conduct case studies, we selected five states (California, Colorado, 

Kentucky, Ohio, and Pennsylvania), which were among those identified 

by national associations as 1) having substantial experience developing 

and implementing career pathways, sector partnerships, or regional 

planning prior to WIOA, and/or 2) making significant changes to 

implement any of these strategies under WIOA. Specifically, we asked 

four national associations that represent or have researched the state 

entities involved in WIOA strategic planning—the National Association of 

Workforce Boards, National Association of State Workforce Agencies, 

National Governors Association, and National Skills Coalition—to identify 

states that met one or both of our selection criteria. Associations could 

recommend states in any of the following six categories:

· experienced with career pathways strategies;

· experienced with sector partnership strategies;

· experienced with regional planning strategies;

· making significant changes to implement career pathways strategies;

· making significant changes to implement sector partnership 

strategies; or

· making significant changes to implement regional planning strategies.

To select states that had various levels of experience with these three 

strategies, we considered input from national associations and reviewed 

relevant reports. Specifically, we considered the number of 

recommendations that individual states received, and maximized 

representation across the categories in which the states were 

recommended. We also considered the number of associations that 

recommended an individual state. In addition, we reviewed information 

from two National Skills Coalition reports on sector partnerships and state 

plans. All five selected states were mentioned in at least one of these 

reports.

Page 20 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology

In the selected states, we interviewed officials including the executive 

leadership of the state workforce development board, state board 

members, and state agency officials—such as officials from the state 

workforce, human services, or education agency—who were involved in 

developing the state plan. The information we obtained from state officials 

provides in-depth examples but is not generalizable to all states.

In order to gather further information on their planned strategies and 

corroborate information from interviews, we reviewed the plans submitted 

by these five states to DOL and Education and other relevant 

documentation, such as documents summarizing the state planning 

process, state board meeting minutes and agendas, state guidance for 

local workforce areas, and other reports or materials produced by the 

state board. After reviewing and analyzing information from the states, we 

asked the state officials we interviewed to review relevant portions of the 

draft report for accuracy.

We conducted this performance audit from September 2015 to November 

2016 in accordance with generally accepted government auditing 

standards. Those standards require that we plan and perform the audit to 

obtain sufficient, appropriate evidence to provide a reasonable basis for 

our findings and conclusions based on our audit objectives. We believe 

that the evidence obtained provides a reasonable basis for our findings 

and conclusions based on our audit objectives.

Page 21 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
Appendix II: Changes to Colorado’s Regions 

after the Department of Labor Reviewed the 

Initial State Plan

According to Colorado state workforce board officials, they proposed 

dividing a large local workforce area that covers most of the state into four 

different regions to align with regional economies. However, officials said 

that when the Department of Labor (DOL) conducted an early review of 

their state plan during the public comment period, before they officially 

submitted it, DOL officials advised them that they could not divide a single 

local area into multiple regions (see fig. 2). DOL’s final regulations also 

reflect this interpretation of WIOA in that they require regions to consist of 

one or more local areas.

Page 22 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

1

 

1

20 C.F.R. § 679.210(d) (effective Oct. 18, 2016).

Appendix II: Changes to Colorado’s Regions 

after the Department of Labor Reviewed the 

Initial State Plan
Appendix II: Changes to Colorado’s Regions 

after the Department of Labor Reviewed the 

Initial State Plan

Figure 2: Changes to the Configuration of Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Planning Regions in Colorado

Page 23 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Note: According to Colorado officials, DOL conducted an early review of their initial state plan during 

the public comment period before they officially submitted it. Officials also noted that they refer to the 

regions in their state as “planning regions.”
Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

Andrew Sherrill, Director, (202) 512-7215 or sherrilla@gao.gov

In addition to the contact named above, Danielle Giese (Assistant 

Director), Caitlin Croake (Analyst-in-Charge), Jennifer Cook, Adam 

Gomez, Drew Nelson, and Paul Wright, along with Susan Aschoff, Holly 

Dye, Suellen Foth, Alex Galuten, Farrah Graham, Thomas James, Bill 

MacBlane, Dan Meyer, Chris Morehouse, Mimi Nguyen, Michelle Sager, 

and Almeta Spencer made significant contributions to this report.

Page 24 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

Appendix III: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments

GAO Contact

Staff 

Acknowledgments
Appendix IV: Accessible Data

Data Table for Figure 1: Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Timeline

Page 25 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

July 

2014

April 2015 July 2015 January 

2016

April 2016 June 2016 July 2016

WIOA 

enacted

The 

Departments

of Labor 

(DOL) and 

Education 

(Education) 

issue 

proposed 

regulations

DOL and 

Education 

issue a 

proposed 

performance 

reporting 

template

Deadline 

to issue 

final 

regulations

Deadline 

for states 

to submit

WIOA 

plans to 

DOL and 

Education 

(extended 

from

March)

DOL and 

Education 

issue final 

regulationsa

State plans 

and 

common 

performance 

measures 

take effect

Source: GAO analysis of relevant federal law, Federal Register notices, joint guidance issued by DOL, Education, and other federal 

agencies, and information from DOL and Education officials and DOL’s website. | GAO-17-31

Appendix IV: Accessible Data

Data Tables
Related GAO Products

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Information on Planned 

Changes to State Reporting and Related Challenges. GAO-16-287. 

Washington, D.C.: March 7, 2016.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Performance Reporting and 

Related Challenges. GAO-15-764R. Washington, D.C.: Sept. 23, 2015.

Workforce Investment Act: Local Areas Face Challenges Helping 

Employers Fill Some Types of Skilled Jobs. GAO-14-19. Washington, 

D.C.: Dec. 2, 2013.

Workforce Investment Act: Innovative Collaborations between Workforce 

Boards and Employers Helped Meet Local Needs. GAO-12-97. 

Washington, D.C.: Jan. 19, 2012.

Page 26 GAO-17-31 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act

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