United States Government Accountability Office

GAO Report to Congressional Requesters

WORKFORCE 

DEVELOPMENT 

Community Colleges 

and One-Stop Centers 

Collaborate to Meet 

21st Century 

Workforce Needs 

May 2008 

GAO-08-547 
What GAO Found

United States Government Accountability Office

Why GAO Did This Study

Highlights

Accountability Integrity Reliability

May 2008

WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT 

Community Colleges and One-Stop Centers

Collaborate to Meet 21st Century Workforce Needs

Highlights of GAO-08-547, a report to 

congressional requesters 

In the future, businesses will 

demand workers with higher-level 

skills and more education. 

Community colleges are key 

providers of career and technical 

training as well as traditional 

academic education. These 

colleges can also play important 

roles in the one-stop system 

created by the Workforce 

Investment Act (WIA), through

which a variety of federally funded

employment and training programs 

provide services. Given the 

importance of community colleges 

to workforce development, GAO 

was asked to examine (1) how

community colleges meet the

workforce training needs of their 

communities; (2) what community 

colleges do to integrate with the

nation’s one-stop system; (3) the 

conditions or practices that 

enhance or impede these efforts;

and (4) the actions the 

Departments of Labor and 

Education have taken to encourage

linkages between community 

colleges and the workforce 

investment system, including onestops. To address these objectives, 

GAO visited 20 community

colleges, surveyed one-stop centers

and their associated workforce 

investment boards, and talked to

Labor and Education officials. 

Labor and Education generally 

agreed with GAO’s findings.

The community colleges that GAO visited developed various approaches and

programs for career and technical training to meet the needs of industry sectors,

individual employers, and certain types of students and workers. Through a 

variety of outreach, relationship building, and data collection efforts, community

colleges have come to understand the specific training needs of key industries in 

their regions and use this information to keep programs current or develop new 

programs to address these needs. Community college activities include providing 

contract or customized training to the employees of specific employers; working

with small businesses; and targeting training and education programs to specific 

populations, such as disadvantaged adults, high-school students transitioning to

college, and one-stop clients. 

Many of the community colleges that GAO visited integrate with their one-stops

by operating the one-stop centers, colocating college staff at the one-stop, and

participating on workforce investment boards. Nationwide, GAO estimated that 

about 11 percent of one-stops are operated solely or jointly by a community

college, while 34 percent have community college staff colocated at the center.

Similarly, GAO estimated that, nationwide, 49 percent of local workforce 

investment boards have community college presidents represented on their 

boards. Some of the benefits of these arrangements include cost sharing and

improved communication among participating programs. Officials at the colleges

and one-stops that GAO visited reported also conducting other joint activities, 

such as strategic planning and data sharing. 

Community college and workforce officials cited state funding and leadership as

factors that help integration between community colleges and the workforce

system but identified WIA performance system measures and WIA funding issues

as impediments. Under WIA, states and local workforce areas must meet 

performance levels in their Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs that 

can be difficult to obtain when serving some populations, such as those on

Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or youth, causing disincentives for the

one-stops to serve them. In a 2004 report, GAO recommended that Labor develop 

a systematic way to account for differences in the population groups served by

states’ one-stop centers and apply it to all states when establishing their 

performance levels. Labor has not taken action on this recommendation; however, 

Labor officials stated that states may use their own adjustment models and that

the department has worked to ensure consistency in the process. 

It is uncertain whether Labor and Education’s efforts to build linkages between

community colleges and the workforce system will be successful in encouraging

community colleges to focus on workforce development. Labor’s WIRED, High

Growth, and Community Based grants aim, in part, to help community colleges 

and other workforce entities collaborate. As discussed in GAO’s recent report on

these grants, Labor’s evaluations do not fully measure their effectiveness, and 

GAO recommends that Labor take steps to do so. Labor and Education jointly

funded a $1.5 million initiative in 2006 to help build linkages between community

colleges and the workforce system. The agencies did not conduct an evaluation,

but plan to issue a report in 2008 about the participants’ challenges and successes.

To view the full product, including the scope 

and methodology, click on GAO-08-547. 

For more information, contact George A. 

Scott at (202) 512-7215 or scottg@gao.gov. 
Contents 

Letter 1

Results in Brief 3

Background 6

Community Colleges Tailor Career and Technical Training Courses 

to Meet the Workforce Development Needs of Businesses, 

Workers, and Students 13 

Community Colleges Integrate with the One-Stop System in Many 

Ways, Including Operating and Colocating with One-Stops and 

Participating on WIBs 20 

State Funding and Leadership Help Community Colleges’ 

Workforce Efforts, While WIA Performance System Measures

and WIA Funding Issues Present Challenges 23 

Labor and Education Have Focused on Community Colleges’ 

Workforce Development Efforts through Targeted Grant 

Programs and a Strategic Partnerships Initiative, but Their 

Impact Is Not Fully Known 27 

Concluding Observations 29 

Agency Comments and Our Evaluation 30 

Appendix I Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 32 

Appendix II Community Colleges Selected for Site Visits 35 

Appendix III Comments from the Department of Labor 36 

Appendix IV GAO Contact and Staff Acknowledgments 39 

Related GAO Products 40 

Tables 

Table 1: Types of Educational Programs Offered by Community 

Colleges 7

Table 2: WIA Mandatory Programs and Related Federal Agencies 8 

Page i GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Table 3: Community Colleges Selected for Site Visits 35 

Figure 

Figure 1: WIA Funding for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth 

Programs, Fiscal Years 2000 to 2007 10 

Abbreviations 

ESL English as a Second Language 

ETPL Eligible Training Provider List 

GED General Equivalency Diploma 

I-BEST Integrated Basic Education and Skills Training 

ITA Individual Training Account 

NAAL National Assessment of Adult Literacy 

TANF Temporary Assistance for Needy Families 

WIA Workforce Investment Act 

WIB workforce investment board 

WIRED Workforce Innovation and Regional Economic 

Development 

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Page ii GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
United States Government Accountability Office

Washington, DC 20548 

May 15, 2008

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy 

Chairman 

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Edward M. Kennedy 

Chairman 

The Honorable Michael B. Enzi 

Ranking Member 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Patty Murray 

Chair 

Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

United States Senate 

The Honorable Patty Murray 

Chair 

Subcommittee on Employment and Workplace Safety 

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions 

United States Senate 

The United States is moving increasingly toward a knowledge-based 

economy, requiring workers to have higher-level skills and more 

education. By 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that 

almost 54 percent of total job openings will be filled by those with some 

college education or a bachelor’s degree or higher. Furthermore, global 

competition has resulted in companies laying off workers and moving 

their operations to lower-cost locations, sometimes resulting in workers 

needing to be retrained for other occupations. The nation’s approximately 

1,200 community colleges serve over 6.5 million students—a population 

that has increased almost 24 percent since 1990. In addition to providing 

traditional academic programs, community colleges are providers of 

education and training for those seeking basic skills for entry into the 

workforce as well as those seeking to acquire new skills or upgrade 

existing ones to obtain a different job or retain current employment. 

The United States is moving increasingly toward a knowledge-based 

economy, requiring workers to have higher-level skills and more 

education. By 2014, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics forecasts that 

almost 54 percent of total job openings will be filled by those with some 

college education or a bachelor’s degree or higher. Furthermore, global 

competition has resulted in companies laying off workers and moving 

their operations to lower-cost locations, sometimes resulting in workers 

needing to be retrained for other occupations. The nation’s approximately 

1,200 community colleges serve over 6.5 million students—a population 

that has increased almost 24 percent since 1990. In addition to providing 

traditional academic programs, community colleges are providers of 

education and training for those seeking basic skills for entry into the 

workforce as well as those seeking to acquire new skills or upgrade 

existing ones to obtain a different job or retain current employment. 

In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), requiring 

states and localities to bring together federally funded employment and 

training programs into a comprehensive workforce investment system, 

called the one-stop system. This system provides a range of employment 

assistance for eligible individuals, including training. These individuals can 

obtain training services from any approved training provider, which can 

include community colleges. In addition to helping job seekers, the onestop system also establishes relationships with employers to assist them in

finding skilled workers. Four agencies—the Departments of Labor, 

Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban 

Development—fund and administer programs, which are mandatory 

In 1998, Congress passed the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), requiring 

states and localities to bring together federally funded employment and 

training programs into a comprehensive workforce investment system, 

called the one-stop system. This system provides a range of employment 

assistance for eligible individuals, including training. These individuals can 

obtain training services from any approved training provider, which can 

include community colleges. In addition to helping job seekers, the onestop system also establishes relationships with employers to assist them in

finding skilled workers. Four agencies—the Departments of Labor, 

Education, Health and Human Services, and Housing and Urban 

Development—fund and administer programs, which are mandatory 

Page 1 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
partners in the one-stop system. Labor is responsible for the largest 

number of these programs, followed by Education, and is also responsible 

for providing guidance to states and localities on delivering services 

through the one-stop system. Other federal, state, local, and private sector

programs may also serve as partners with the approval of the local

workforce board, which is the governing entity for the one-stop system 

within the local workforce investment area. 

Community colleges can also be involved in other workforce programs 

that Labor funds. Two of these programs are the High Growth Job Training 

Initiative (High Growth) and the Community-Based Job Training Grants 

(Community Based), which train workers for jobs projected to experience 

growth or require new skill sets. A third program is the Workforce 

Innovation and Regional Economic Development (WIRED) grants, which 

can include developing a pipeline of skilled workers as one part of a 

regional economic development strategy.1

As Congress moves toward reauthorization of WIA, and given the 

importance of community colleges to workforce development, the Senate

Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions requested that we 

review community colleges’ roles in workforce training and the nation’s 

workforce system. Specifically, we examined (1) how community colleges

meet the workforce training needs of their communities; (2) what 

community colleges do to integrate with the nation’s one-stop system; 

(3) the conditions or practices that enhance or impede these efforts; and 

(4) the actions Labor and Education have taken to encourage linkages 

between community colleges and the workforce investment system, 

including one-stops. 

To address these objectives, we conducted site visits at 20 community 

colleges in 6 states—Iowa, Michigan, New Jersey, North Carolina, Oregon, 

and Washington (see app. II). We selected these states or a specific 

community college in a state on the basis of expert recommendations or 

research studies that highlighted places known to be active in workforce 

development or to be engaged in innovative initiatives. We also considered 

other criteria, including recommendations from Labor; receipt of a High 

Growth, WIRED, or Community Based grant; receipt of a waiver from the 

 1

For more information, see GAO, Employment and Training Program Grants: Evaluating 

Impact and Enhancing Monitoring Would Improve Accountability, GAO-08-486

(Washington, D.C.: May 7, 2008). 

Page 2 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Eligible Training Provider List (ETPL)—which is a list of training vendors 

approved by the state and local workforce boards; colocation of the 

college and the one-stop; state unemployment rates; and geographical 

diversity. During these site visits, we conducted semistructured interviews

with community college officials, state and local workforce officials, and 

representatives of community college statewide associations. In some 

cases, we also toured the one-stop facilities that partnered with our 

selected schools. We also conducted short Web-based surveys of a 

nationally representative sample of 311 workforce investment boards 

(WIB)—the governing entity of the one-stop system within a local area—

and 334 one-stop centers that were associated with these WIBs.2

 The 

survey response rates were 82 percent and 73 percent, respectively. All 

estimates from the surveys have a margin of error of plus or minus 8 

percent, unless otherwise noted in the report. (See app. I for more detailed 

information about our scope and methodology.) We conducted 

semistructured interviews with Labor and Education officials, as well as 

representatives of employers’ associations, in addition to reviewing 

relevant research and agency regulations and guidance. We conducted this

performance audit from April 2007 through May 2008 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. 

The community colleges that we visited developed various approaches and 

programs for career and technical training to meet the needs of industry 

sectors, individual employers, and certain types of students and workers. 

Through a variety of outreach, relationship building, and data collection 

efforts, community colleges have come to understand the specific training

needs of key industries in their region and use this information to keep 

programs current or develop new ones to address these needs. The 

colleges that we visited receive input about programs and courses from 

many sources, including labor market data and analyses; advisory 

committees or skill panels, which include representatives from local 

businesses or entities representing a large business sector; and community 

Results in Brief 

 2

The sample sizes for the one-stop centers and their associated WIBs are not the same 

because some local areas contain more than one center. 

Page 3 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
organizations, such as the local chambers of commerce. For example, 

Kirkwood Community College in Iowa has established 80 advisory 

committees, representing about 1,000 businesses from its community. 

Most of the community colleges that we visited also addressed employer 

needs by providing training to the employees of specific employers 

through contract or customized training. Contract training allows a 

community college to respond quickly to an individual employer, by 

developing either a specific training course or an entire training plan. The

colleges that we visited also worked closely with small businesses in their 

communities. Some colleges that we visited had developed programs 

targeted to economically and educationally disadvantaged adults, such as 

those on Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF), to assist them 

in ensuring their successful completion of community college programs. 

Oregon, for example, was implementing statewide its career pathways 

model, which is an approach for providing education and training in a way 

that allows students to progressively move to higher-wage positions within 

an occupation as they complete more training. To build transitions 

between secondary and postsecondary education and prepare the future 

workforce, several of the colleges that we visited had dual enrollment or 

related programs with high schools. These programs allow high-school 

students to earn community college credit for either technical and 

occupational training or academic transfer programs while still in school. 

We also found that community colleges were key training providers for 

one-stop clients. Based on our survey of one-stop managers, we estimated 

that 40 percent of the one-stop clients who were enrolled in training by a 

one-stop from July 2006 through June 2007 selected a community college 

to obtain their training. 

The community colleges that we visited integrate with their one-stops 

through operating the one-stop centers, colocating college staff at the onestops, participating on the local WIB, and taking part in other joint 

activities. Community college and workforce officials explained that some 

of the benefits of these arrangements included cost savings and improved 

communication among participating programs. For example, at the onestop in Mason City, Iowa, which is operated by the North Iowa Area 

Community College, half of the manager’s salary is paid by the college. 

Based on our survey of one-stop centers, we estimated that about 11 

percent of one-stops nationwide are operated solely or jointly by a 

community college, while 34 percent have community college staff 

colocated at the center. Community college presidents and senior staff 

also participate in one-stop governance by serving on the local WIB. Many 

of the community colleges that we visited had such an arrangement; 

nationwide, we estimated that 49 percent of local WIBs have community 

Page 4 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
college presidents represented on their boards. Additional collaborative 

efforts reported by the community colleges and workforce officials that 

we visited included sharing data; conducting joint strategic planning; or 

partnering with one-stops on workforce activities, such as the crosstraining of one-stop staff. 

Community college and workforce officials cited state funding and 

leadership as two factors that help integration between community 

colleges and the workforce system, but they also identified challenges 

with WIA performance system measures and WIA funding as impediments 

to their efforts. Officials we interviewed almost universally cited state 

funding as a factor that facilitates the workforce development activities of

community colleges. Some states that we visited, such as New Jersey and 

Iowa, created state programs that provided community colleges with 

additional pools of money for training. In New Jersey, these programs 

were financed with a dedicated state payroll tax for workforce 

development, paid by both employers and workers; while in Iowa, funding 

for these programs was raised through bonds. Leadership by governors, 

college presidents, the WIB chairs, state agency staff, and one-stop 

management in bringing together community colleges and other 

workforce entities to partner on workforce development was also cited by

many of our states and schools as important to supporting community 

college workforce efforts, including integration with the one-stop system. 

Some college and workforce officials stated that the WIA performance 

system measures and WIA funding issues created impediments to their 

workforce efforts. Specifically, these officials commented that some of the 

measures for the Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs, such as 

earnings and job retention, created disincentives to serve more 

disadvantaged clients because of the difficulty in obtaining employment 

for these population groups. In serving them, the local workforce area and, 

ultimately, the state may risk not meeting their performance levels 

established by Labor and may incur financial penalties. In a 2004 report, 

GAO recommended that Labor develop a systematic adjustment model to

apply to all states that could account for different populations or 

economic conditions when establishing states’ performance measures. 

Labor has not taken action on this recommendation. However, Labor 

officials told us that states may use their own adjustment models, if they 

prefer, when negotiating their next year’s performance measures, and that 

the department has worked to ensure consistency in the negotiation 

process. Some community college and workforce officials also noted that

WIA’s funding formula has resulted in large funding fluctuations from 

year to year, thus making program planning difficult. GAO’s past work has 

identified these and other issues related to the current funding formulas 

Page 5 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
and outlined adjustments to the formulas for consideration by Congress 

when WIA is reauthorized. Other barriers noted by colleges and workforce 

officials included the lack of coordination between Education and Labor 

concerning the performance measures for their respective workforce 

programs; the lack of funding under WIA for the one-stop infrastructure, 

such as building and maintenance costs; and an overall decline in WIA 

funding in recent years. 

While Labor and Education have undertaken various activities that 

focused on building linkages between community colleges and the 

workforce, it is uncertain whether these efforts will be successful or will

encourage more colleges to build linkages with the one-stop system. 

Labor’s WIRED, High Growth, and Community Based grants were 

developed to make the workforce system more market-driven by 

encouraging collaboration between businesses and key workforce 

partners, including community colleges. However, as we discussed in our 

May 2008 report about Labor’s grant process, Labor will need to take steps

to ensure that its evaluations of these grants more fully measure the 

grants’ effectiveness. In addition, Labor and Education jointly funded and 

organized a $1.5 million initiative in 2006, called the Strategic Partnerships 

for a Competitive Workforce Initiative, to help build linkages between 

community colleges and the workforce system. The initiative supported 

teams of local workforce organizations—including community colleges 

that had received Community Based grants—to develop strategic plans for 

implementing career pathways, which is an approach that combines 

education with work to help workers move progressively to higher-skilled 

positions. Labor and Education officials stated that they viewed the 

initiative as a success based on informal feedback received from the 

participants, although the agencies are not planning future joint initiatives

due to other competing priorities. The agencies did not conduct an 

evaluation of the initiative, but Labor and Education plan to issue a report 

in 2008 that will discuss the successes and challenges experienced by the 

participants. 

According to the American Association of Community Colleges, the nation 

has about 1,200 community colleges—accredited institutions that 

primarily offer the associate, or 2-year degree, as the highest degree. 

Community colleges offer a wide array of educational programs that 

encompass traditional academic coursework as well as career and 

technical training. (See table 1.) In addition, career and technical 

education programs are offered on both a for-credit basis and a noncredit 

basis. An advantage of noncredit courses is that colleges can add or delete

Background 

Page 6 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
them more quickly than for-credit courses, thereby allowing colleges to 

respond to local training needs in a more responsive way. 

Table 1: Types of Educational Programs Offered by Community Colleges 

Type of program Description 

Academic degree or 

transfer 

Courses leading to an Associate of Arts, Associate of Science, or 

other academic degree, or courses eligible for transfer credit to an 

institution that offers baccalaureate degrees.

Career and technical

education (also

known as workforce 

or occupational

training) 

Courses leading to an Associate of Applied Science or other 

occupationally related degree, certificate, license, diploma, or

other credential. May or may not involve transferable credit.

Examples include a dental assistant certificate and a noncredit 

certified nursing assistant program. 

Below college-level 

academic (also

known as 

developmental or 

remedial education) 

Courses, including mathematics, English, and reading, that are 

required to be taken by students who lack college-level proficiency 

in those subjects before they can be accepted in a college-level 

program. 

Basic skills Other courses, including Adult Basic Education, English as a 

Second Language, and those courses preparing students for the 

General Educational Development examination. 

Source: GAO, Public Community Colleges and Technical Schools: Most Schools Use Both Credit and Noncredit Programs for

Workforce Development, GAO-05-4 (Washington, D.C.: Oct. 18, 2004). 

Community colleges also serve a diverse student body. With generally low 

tuition and unrestrictive admissions policies that emphasize open 

enrollment, these colleges serve individuals ranging from those earning 

their first educational credential to midcareer professionals seeking to 

upgrade their skills or reenter the workforce. In general, community 

college students are more likely to be from a minority group, older, and 

socioeconomically disadvantaged than those at 4-year baccalaureate

institutions. They also are more likely to be enrolled in career and 

technical education programs—about half of all community college 

students are enrolled in these programs—and attending less than full time, 

in part, because some of these students are already employed.3

While community colleges serve individuals’ education and training needs, 

they also work directly with employers to provide training to their 

 3

Thomas Bailey, Timothy Leinbach, Marc Scott, Mariana Alfonso, Gregory Kienzl, and

Benjamin Kennedy, Community College Research Center Brief No. 21, The Characteristics 

of Occupational Students in Post-Secondary Education (August 2004). 

Page 7 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
employees under a contract. Such training can be short term or it can lead 

to a credential. 

Workforce Investment Act While individuals and companies access workforce education and training

programs that are available at community colleges on their own, the 

federal government provides employment and training services that the 

public and employers may also use. In 1998, WIA created a new, 

comprehensive workforce investment system designed to change the way 

that federally funded employment and training services were delivered.4

The act’s goal was to unify a fragmented employment and training system 

to better serve both job seekers and employers. WIA replaced the Job 

Training Partnership Act with three new programs—Adult, Dislocated 

Worker, and Youth—and required that these and other employment and 

training programs be delivered through a single service system, known as 

the one-stop system. Sixteen categories of programs funded through 4 

separate agencies—deemed mandatory partners—must provide services 

through this system.5

 (See table 2.) 

Table 2: WIA Mandatory Programs and Related Federal Agencies 

Federal agency Mandatory program 

WIA Adult 

WIA Dislocated Worker 

WIA Youth 

Employment Service (Wagner-Peyser) 

Trade adjustment assistance programs 

Veterans’ employment and training programs 

Unemployment Insurance 

Job Corps 

Department of Labor 

Senior Community Service Employment Program 

 4

The authorization for WIA expired on September 30, 2003, but annual appropriations for 

WIA programs will continue through fiscal year 2008.

5

In addition to job training efforts at the federal level, many states operate their own 

employment and training programs, often funding them through employer taxes. States use 

these programs to address a variety of training needs, such as those of new and expanding 

businesses, employed or incumbent workers, and workers affected by employer layoffs or 

closures. For more information, see Regional Technology Solutions and the National 

Governors’ Association, Center for Best Practices, A Comprehensive Look at StateFunded, Employer-Focused Job Training Programs (1999). 

Page 8 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Federal agency Mandatory program 

Employment and training for migrant and 

seasonal farm workers 

Employment and training for Native Americans 

Vocational Rehabilitation Program 

Adult Education and Literacy 

Department of Education 

Vocational Education (Perkins Act) 

Department of Health and Human 

Services 

Community Services Block Grant 

Department of Housing and Urban 

Development (HUD) 

HUD-administered employment and training 

Source: GAO, Multiple Employment and Training Programs: Funding and Performance Measures for Major Programs, GAO-03-589

(Washington, D.C.: Apr. 18, 2003); and the Department of Labor. 

Note: Although WIA required 17 programs to participate in the one-stop system, the Welfare-to-Work 

Program no longer exists, reducing the total to 16 mandatory programs. 

Under WIA, almost $27 billion in grants have been provided to states for 

Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs since fiscal year 2000, as 

shown in figure 1. Between fiscal years 2000 and 2007, however, WIA 

funding declined by about 12 percent. 

Page 9 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Figure 1: WIA Funding for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth Programs, Fiscal 

Years 2000 to 2007 

Note: Data represent final amounts after rescissions and supplemental appropriations. Data for fiscal 

years 2006 and 2007 are estimated. 

The amount of money that is allocated to the states and local workforce 

areas depends on a specific formula that takes into account certain 

factors, such as local unemployment and the number of low-income 

individuals in the local population. In addition, WIA also allows 

discretionary funds to be set aside at the federal and state levels.6

 At the 

state level, this funding can be used to help dislocated workers—workers 

affected by layoffs and plant closings—through rapid response services 

 6

Labor allots 100 percent of the Adult funds and 80 percent of the Dislocated Worker funds. 

The Secretary of Labor retains the balance of the Dislocated Worker funds in a national

reserve account to be used for National Emergency Grants, demonstrations, and technical 

assistance and allots the remaining funds to the states. Upon receiving its allotments, each 

state may set aside up to 15 percent of each allotment for statewide activities and may set 

aside no more than 25 percent of the Dislocated Worker allotment to provide rapid

response services to workers affected by layoffs and plant closings. After states set aside 

funds for rapid response and for other statewide activities from the Dislocated Worker 

allotment, they allocate the remainder of the funds—at least 60 percent—to their local

workforce areas. 

Page 10 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
that provide information about financial and educational options and other

statewide activities. 

WIA provides for state and local WIBs to govern the WIA one-stop system. 

A state WIB is responsible for developing statewide policies and 

overseeing various activities carried out by the one-stop system. Local 

WIBs, in turn, are responsible for developing local workforce policies and 

overseeing the operations of the one-stop centers in their designated 

workforce area. A variety of state and local agencies, as well as 

community colleges, can be selected by the local board to assume 

responsibility for the administrative and financial operation of the onestop center.

WIA allows flexibility in the way that the mandatory partners provide 

services through the one-stop system, allowing colocation, whereby staff 

from different programs are physically located at the same location; 

electronic linkages; or referrals. While WIA requires these mandatory 

partners to provide services through the one-stop system, it does not 

provide additional funds to operate one-stop centers and support one-stop 

partnerships. Mandatory partners are expected to share the costs of 

developing and operating one-stop centers. In addition to mandatory 

partners, local WIBs have the flexibility to include other programs in the 

one-stop system, including community colleges, to better meet specific 

state and local workforce development needs. 

WIA and Community 

Colleges 

Community colleges can play important roles in the federal workforce 

programs under WIA. One potential role is to serve on the state and local 

WIBs responsible for the WIA system. Governors and the chief local 

officials select the representatives to their respective boards following the

membership criteria prescribed by WIA and its implementing regulations. 

While WIA specifies that membership of the WIBs is to include 

representatives of various types of entities, the regulations make clear that 

community college representatives should be given special consideration 

for membership. Another possible role for community colleges is to 

become a one-stop operator. Community colleges may apply to a WIB to 

become the operator of the one-stop center, overseeing its daily operation 

and services. In addition, as a key provider of both education and career 

and technical training programs in their communities, community colleges 

can meet the education and training needs of one-stop clients by working 

Page 11 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
closely with their local one-stop centers to understand these needs and 

meeting WIA requirements to become eligible training providers.7

 For 

example, community college staff at the one-stop can provide information 

on the variety of classes available at the college, such as General 

Equivalency Diploma (GED), English as a Second Language (ESL), or 

adult basic education classes; conduct formal screenings or assessments 

of clients to determine literacy levels; or determine eligibility for financial

aid options through the college. Individuals who are found eligible for 

training under WIA receive vouchers—called Individual Training Accounts 

(ITA)—to pay for training. ITAs can be used at the training provider of 

their choice, which can include community colleges.8

Department of Education 

and Community Colleges 

While community colleges are primarily state-funded, they may also 

receive federal funding from the Department of Education. Through funds 

provided under the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act and the Carl

D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act of 2006 (Perkins Act),9

states and community colleges can develop a variety of courses or 

programs that assist students, including one-stop clients, with their 

education and training programs.10

One program funded through the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act 

is the Adult Education Basic Grants to States program. Funds from this 

program help community colleges provide adult education, English 

literacy, GED preparation, and other basic skills. Approximately $564 

million was provided in fiscal year 2007 to support 3,200 programs 

 7

Local boards, in partnership with the state, compile an ETPL by identifying training

providers and programs whose performance qualifies them to receive WIA funds to train 

adults and dislocated workers. 

8

WIA requires that ITAs only be used to purchase training from programs on the ETPL. To

be eligible for training under WIA, an adult or dislocated worker must have received at 

least one core service (e.g., job assistance) and one intensive service (e.g., case

management or comprehensive assessments); be unable to retain or obtain employment 

through such services; have the skills and qualifications to successfully complete the 

training; and be unable to obtain grant assistance from other sources to pay for the 

training. Eligibility for training is determined by WIA adult or dislocated work staff at the 

one-stop center. For additional information about ITAs and training under WIA, see GAO,

Workforce Investment Act: Substantial Funds Are Used for Training, but Little Is Known 

Nationally about Training Outcomes, GAO-05-650 (Washington, D.C.: June 29, 2005). 

9

Pub. L. No. 109-270, 20 U.S.C. § 2301 et seq.

10The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act was enacted as Title II of the Workforce

Investment Act of 1998, Pub. L. No. 105-220, 20 U.S.C. § 9201 et seq. 

Page 12 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
delivering instruction through public schools, community colleges, 

libraries, and community-based organizations. Through the Perkins Act, 

Education provides grants to states to support academic, vocational, and 

technical education in high schools, community colleges, and regional 

technical centers. Approximately $1.1 billion in Perkins Act funding was 

distributed in fiscal year 2007. The Perkins Act authorizes grants to 

develop Tech Prep programs—a sequenced course of study in a technical 

field that begins in high school, extends through 2 years of postsecondary 

occupational education, and culminates in an associate degree or 

certificate. Funded at $105 million in fiscal year 2007, the Tech Prep 

program provides assistance to states to provide career and technical 

education leading to an associate degree or a 2-year certificate and 

strengthens pathways for students between secondary and postsecondary 

schools. 

In addition, Education funds student grant and loan programs under Title 

IV of the Higher Education Act of 1965, as amended, to individuals 

pursuing higher education. One example of such programs is the Pell 

Grant for low-income students. In fiscal year 2007, Education awarded 

approximately $14 billion in Pell Grants to about 5 million recipients. 

However, while one-stops and community colleges can help qualifying

low-income students apply for Pell Grants or other types of financial aid

funded by Education, students enrolled in noncredit education programs 

are usually not eligible for federal financial aid. 

To meet businesses’ current and future workforce needs, the community 

colleges that we visited keep their career and technical education 

programs up to date through a variety of data collection and outreach 

efforts. They also provide training directly to local employers through 

contract or customized training programs; work with small businesses; 

and offer programs to help specific groups of students and workers, such 

as those receiving TANF. 

Community Colleges 

Tailor Career and 

Technical Training 

Courses to Meet the 

Workforce 

Development Needs 

of Businesses, 

Workers, and 

Students 

Page 13 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
To help ensure that their programs are demand-driven, the community 

colleges that we visited use a variety of methods to continually gather and

analyze labor market information and conditions. Community colleges in

all six states that we visited cited labor market analysis as an important 

way to identify local needs and trends. In Iowa, for example, a state 

agency has produced refined analyses of the education levels and training 

needs of manufacturing workers in a particular local area and shares these 

analyses with various workforce entities, including community colleges. In

Oregon and Washington, labor market data are provided by state analysts 

who work in the field, where they can provide timely, customized 

analyses—such as projected growth occupations over a specific time 

period—in response to requests from community colleges and others. 

However, in some instances, like Kirkwood Community College in Iowa,

schools develop their own labor market analysis. Officials from Wake 

Tech Community College in North Carolina told us that they worked with 

13 local economic development agencies to collect labor market data to 

identify the region’s growth occupations for which the college could 

potentially develop and provide training.11

Labor Market Analyses, 

Advisory Committees, and 

Skill Panels Are Some 

Ways That Community 

Colleges Stay Apprised of 

Workforce Training Needs 

Many of the community colleges that we visited relied on feedback from 

employers, which provided the feedback through committees internal or 

external to the colleges to help them ensure that their programs reflect 

current workforce trends and provide training that will meet specific job 

competencies. Advisory committees, which are internal to each college, 

comprise local business men and women who meet periodically to give 

input to the colleges about their career and technical education programs. 

Kirkwood Community College, for example, has 80 advisory committees 

that encompass areas such as health, business, industrial technology, and 

transportation and safety. According to a Kirkwood official, about 1,000 

local business leaders participate in Kirkwood’s advisory committees. 

Similar to advisory committees are external committees—involving 

community colleges, business, and others—that focus on broad sectors, 

rather than individual occupations, and that were also used in at least two 

of the states that we visited. In Washington, for example, these committees 

are known as “skill panels” and focus on the needs of a particular sector 

by bringing together representatives of employers, labor, and training 

providers in that sector to discuss their workforce needs. Since 2000, for 

 11Wake Tech Community College was not one of our selected sites. However, we spoke 

with officials of other community colleges in the course of our meetings with state 

community college associations. 

Page 14 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
example, Washington has used skill panels to examine training needs in 20 

different industrial clusters, including health care, manufacturing, food 

processing, biotechnology, homeland security, information technology, 

and construction. In Michigan, these collaborative groups are called 

“regional skills alliances,” and they involve employers, community 

colleges, one-stops, and other workforce entities. 

Outreach approaches to community and business organizations or their 

representatives were other methods used by the community colleges that

we visited to keep their programs aligned with business needs. These 

approaches included serving on the boards of local employers’ 

associations, community organizations, and hospitals; seeking business 

input for formal periodic program reviews; surveying local businesses; 

using college staff as “account developers” to interact directly with local 

businesses; and obtaining information through the local one-stop’s 

business liaison. 

In addition to gathering information about local labor market trends to 

maintain their existing programs, community colleges also use this 

information to create new programs and, in some cases, to discontinue 

programs that no longer meet local needs. Several of the community 

colleges that we visited had recently created new programs—for example, 

polysomnography (sleep technician) and mechatronics (a field combining

skills from mechanics, hydraulics, and pneumatics)—based on 

information gathered through a variety of sources about local business 

needs. An official from Pitt Community College in North Carolina stated 

that the college develops two to three new programs each year, following 

a survey of selected industries in the area and identification of programs at 

other community colleges. In other instances, Pitt responded to 

insufficient local demand by discontinuing its heavy machinery program 

and by folding a separate surveying program into its construction and 

engineering programs. 

Community Colleges Work 

Directly with Businesses 

through Contract Training 

and Small Business 

Centers 

Through contract training, also known as customized training, community 

colleges can respond quickly to an individual employer’s training needs by 

developing either a specific training course or an entire training plan for 

the company’s staff. In 2004, GAO conducted a survey of community 

colleges and reported that, of the colleges responding to our survey, more 

than three quarters offered contract training to more than 1 million 

Page 15 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
trainees, or a median of 982 trainees per school.12 The community colleges

that we visited varied widely in both the number of contract trainings they 

provided and the number of businesses with which they worked: in the 

2006-2007 year, the number of contract training courses ranged from 21 to

3,691, and the number of businesses the colleges served ranged from 5 to 

155.13 The amount of money that these colleges received from contract 

training was small—typically less than 5 percent of the college’s total 

revenue—but these types of arrangements were offered to provide a full 

complement of training services to businesses. 

In some states, community colleges have taken steps to make it easier for 

businesses to access contract training at community colleges. For 

example, in Iowa, community colleges have established the One Source 

initiative. The initiative provides a single point of entry into community 

colleges’ contract training programs for employers with multiple locations

as well as for employers based out of state with multiple plants in Iowa. To 

develop the initiative, the community colleges agreed that they would use 

a common pricing structure, and that the community college or colleges 

closest to the employer would deliver the training. New Jersey has a

similar approach in which the community colleges have formed a 

statewide consortium that works with the state’s largest employer 

association to make community college training available to all businesses 

statewide, according to consortium officials. Now in its first year of 

operation, the project has committed to provide 295 courses in areas such

as basic communication and computer skills for employers statewide. As 

another example, to enhance its capabilities to provide training to 

businesses, Lansing Community College in Michigan has joined the Global 

Corporate College, in addition to other community colleges nationwide. 

The Global Corporate College creates a system for individual community 

colleges to leverage their resources by allowing members to share 

intellectual property, faculty, and curriculum, thus enabling a college to

provide training to a particular company that, without these additional 

resources, it might not be able to provide. 

 12GAO, Public Community Colleges and Technical Schools: Most Schools Use Both Credit

and Noncredit Programs for Workforce Development, GAO-05-4 (Washington, D.C.: 

Oct. 18, 2004), 13. 

13Nineteen of the 20 community colleges that we visited provided data on their contract 

training and total revenue for the 2006-2007 year. For this purpose, the colleges were 

permitted to use a 12-month reporting period convenient to them, whether that represented

a state fiscal year, federal fiscal year, program year, or academic year. 

Page 16 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Contract training opportunities may also come to community colleges by

way of the WIA one-stop system. One-stops establish their own 

relationships with employers to successfully connect job seekers with 

available employment. To meet employer workforce needs, the one-stops 

offer an array of services, including customized training for a specific 

employer, that may be provided by one-stop staff or by other training 

providers, such as community colleges.14

In several of the states that we visited, officials told us that small 

businesses play an important role as local employers, and community 

colleges work with them in several ways. For example, several of the 

colleges that we visited maintain small business centers within the 

college.

15 In some cases, such as at Linn-Benton Community College in

Oregon, the centers provided training to small businesses on various 

topics, such as how to develop a financial plan or a business plan. Also, 

the colleges provide contract training for the workers of small businesses, 

similar to their other contract training activities. In addition, some 

community colleges run small business incubators, by providing 

temporary space for new businesses to operate. For example, North 

Carolina’s Lenoir Community College has a small business incubator that

helped support an electrical contractor and a special-occasion bakery, 

according to officials. Furthermore, North Iowa Area Community College, 

which houses one of five entrepreneurial centers in the state that provides

support to small businesses, created a health insurance program to help 

start-up businesses reduce their health insurance costs. Created through 

public-private collaboration, the program provides funding for health 

insurance to qualified entrepreneurs in the region for up to their first 3 

years in business. 

Community Colleges 

Design Career and 

Technical Training to Help 

Specific Groups of 

Students and Workers 

Students may arrive at community colleges ill-equipped to enroll in 

college-level career and technical classes for many reasons, such as low 

literacy skills or language barriers. One way that the community colleges 

that we visited enhance the employability of low-skilled adults in the labor 

market and prepare them for higher-level classes is through providing 

adult basic education classes and other types of support. Some of the 

colleges that we visited provided adult basic education at the one-stop. In 

 14Using WIA funding for customized training is allowed where the employer pays not less 

than 50 percent of the cost of the training. 

15Some of these colleges receive funds through the Small Business Administration’s Small 

Business Development Center program.

Page 17 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
North Carolina and Iowa, community colleges administer basic skills 

education, such as adult literacy, ESL, and GED preparation, in contrast to 

other states where multiple agencies may share responsibility for these 

programs. In addition to basic education classes, some community 

colleges may also provide “soft skills” training—the nontechnical skills 

and traits that workers need to function in a job, such as oral 

communication skills, work ethic, and teamwork. For example, Lenoir 

Community College in North Carolina pioneered and still operates a softskills program that was subsequently adopted statewide. Prompted by 

research that shows a significant portion of low-level adult readers have a

learning disability, Michigan’s Oakland Community College staff screens 

one-stop clients for some types of learning disabilities and helps them to 

develop coping strategies. 

Another way that community colleges address both the needs of lowskilled adults and of businesses is by assessing and certifying adults’ basic 

skills in three areas: applied math, reading, and information retrieval. 

Adults who prove their proficiency in these skills receive a certificate, 

known as the Career Readiness Certificate. According to North Carolina 

officials, since the state launched its program in 2006, about 9,200 

certificates have been issued, and employers’ responses have been 

favorable. These officials believe that businesses are more confident about 

the skill levels of those they hire and that they save money by hiring 

individuals with the right skills “the first time,” and that community 

colleges view the program as another service they can offer to businesses. 

As of June 2007, 14 states had Career Readiness Certificate programs, and 

another 17 states were developing such programs or had them available 

locally. 

Many of the community colleges that we visited cited a number of 

examples of their work with career pathways, which is an approach that 

improves low-skilled adults’ access to career and technical education 

programs and is designed to improve their success in completing these 

programs. A career pathway involves providing education, training, and 

support services to workers to help them move to progressively higherskilled positions in a specific industry or occupational sector. Oregon, for 

example, has provided funding to implement its career pathway model 

statewide. Growing from an initiative that started at Portland and Mount 

Hood Community Colleges to help low-income students obtain credentials 

for higher-wage jobs, Oregon’s model will provide for program staff at the 

state level and for local coordinators at each of the state’s 17 community 

colleges; implementation is expected to be complete by late 2008. In New 

Jersey, Camden County College worked with the local one-stop and the 

Page 18 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
WIB to develop career ladders for transportation workers and food service 

aides in two Camden hospitals, which are major local employers. 

According to officials, the career ladders helped them meet a commitment 

to hire local residents from Camden, a city with a reported high-school 

dropout rate of 52 percent and with one of the highest poverty rates in the 

country. 

Building on the career-ladder model, Washington has combined basic 

skills and career and technical training—in addition to supportive services 

such as child care—in a program known as Integrated Basic Education 

and Skills Training (I-BEST). By providing basic skills and occupationspecific educators in every class and incorporating career pathways, 

I-BEST addresses individuals’ needs for both types of training. All seven of 

the community and technical colleges that we visited in Washington had 

I-BEST programs, and the federal Department of Health and Human 

Services has identified I-BEST as a promising program for transitioning 

TANF parents to work. 

Community colleges also provide training or course work to high-school 

students preparing to enter the workforce or for academic transfer. Some 

states, such as Michigan, North Carolina, and Washington, have dualenrollment programs that allow high-school students to earn community 

college credit.16 Furthermore, several community college officials, such as 

those we met with in Washington, told us their colleges participate in 

Education’s Tech Prep program, which provides funding to states to build

linkages between secondary and postsecondary schools. In addition, 

community college officials in several states told us that their colleges 

participate in other events to inform high-school students about their 

career and technical education programs, such as career fairs and 

occupational summer camps. 

Community colleges are important training providers for one-stop clients 

who receive training through WIA-funded ITAs. From our survey of onestop centers, we estimated that 40 percent of the one-stop adult clients 

who were enrolled in training by the one-stop between July 2006 and June 

2007 selected a community college as their training provider. During the 

 16In Washington, during the 2006-2007 year, about 12 percent of the students in the state’s

Running Start dual-enrollment program were in career and technical programs, such as

nursing, auto/diesel mechanics, and welding, and the majority of students were in academic 

transfer programs. North Carolina officials estimated that the percentage of all dualenrollment students pursuing career and technical education was about 32 percent. 

Page 19 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
2006-2007 year, the number of ITAs used at the community colleges that 

we visited ranged from 34 to 381, and their value averaged between $366 

and $4,566.17 The revenue that these colleges received from ITAs was small 

compared with their total tuition and contract training revenue, 

representing no more than 4 percent of the total revenue from those 

sources.18

The community colleges that we visited integrate with their one-stop 

centers through various activities. Examples of these activities include 

operating the one-stop; participating on the local WIBs; or partnering with 

the one-stop on workforce activities, such as strategic planning or data 

sharing. However, the extent to which community colleges nationwide 

conduct some of these activities varied. 

Officials at many of the colleges that we visited told us that one way they

integrate with the one-stop system is by becoming the operator for the 

center.19 An entity that operates a one-stop typically coordinates the dayto-day operation of the center; some of the colleges that we visited were 

also the fiscal agent that receives WIA funding to operate some of the 

programs accessible through the one-stop. Community college officials 

explained that the benefits of this arrangement were cost efficiencies, cost 

savings, or access to other funding opportunities. The one-stop in Mason 

City, Iowa, for example, is operated by the North Iowa Area Community 

College, where the one-stop manager is an employee of the college. As a

Community Colleges 

Integrate with the 

One-Stop System in 

Many Ways, Including 

Operating and 

Colocating with OneStops and 

Participating on WIBs 

Some Colleges Operate or 

Colocate Staff at OneStops and Participate on 

WIBs 

 17Fifteen community colleges provided us with data about the ITAs they issued during the 

2006-2007 year. These data were for the most recent 12-month period, whether that 

represented a state fiscal year, federal fiscal year, program year, or academic year. 

18Of the community colleges that we visited, 11 provided us with enough data to derive this

percentage. 

19A one-stop operator is selected by the local WIB either through a competitive process or 

under an agreement between the local WIB and a consortium of entities, which includes at

least three mandatory partners. Under certain circumstances, the local WIB or entities that 

were operators prior to WIA may also be designated as the one-stop operator. 

Page 20 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
result, the college pays half of the manager’s salary. In addition, the 

college pays part of the salaries for the Economic Development and 

Career Center directors, who are also part of the management team for the 

one-stop. We found similar arrangements in several of the colleges that we 

visited. Officials at Kirkwood Community College in Iowa, which operates 

the Cedar Rapids one-stop, stated that their positions at both the college 

and the one-stop offer a vantage point for developing funding proposals 

through the college that benefit both entities. For example, Kirkwood 

obtained funding to help students pay for continuing education classes for 

which they could not receive financial aid. WIA clients taking classes at 

Kirkwood are also eligible for this assistance, allowing them to use their 

ITAs for other types of classes. 

According to several community college and workforce officials at the 

sites that we visited, colocation of community college staff at the one-stop

was another way that the college was integrated with the one-stop system. 

Some officials with whom we spoke noted that colocation at the one-stop

helps to improve communication among the various agency programs, 

improves the delivery of services to the client, or excises duplication. 

College and workforce officials at Linn-Benton Community College in

Oregon commented that colocation is particularly important in rural areas 

because these areas tend to be resource poor and have limited mass 

transportation. These officials stated that locating workforce programs 

and support services in one place helped clients obtain services from 

agencies that typically would be spread throughout the community. A 

Passaic County Community College official in New Jersey stated that prior 

to the county’s colocation effort, community college officials did not know 

about the services and tools available to clients that were provided by 

agencies now colocated at the one-stop center.20 As a result of colocating, 

the college is sending students to some of these organizations for services 

that the college had previously provided, such as résumé writing. Based on

our survey, we estimated that about 11 percent of the one-stops are 

operated solely or jointly by a community college, while 34 percent of the

one-stops have community college staff colocated at the one-stop center.

Officials at many of the sites that we visited reported that community 

college officials sit on either the local or state WIBs, or both. Nationwide, 

 20Passaic County Community College was not one of our selected sites. However, we spoke

with officials of other community colleges in the course of our meetings with state 

community college associations. 

Page 21 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
we estimated that 49 percent of the local WIBs have community college 

presidents represented on their board, 26 percent have vice presidents, 32 

percent have deans, and 39 percent have other community college staff.21

While WIA requires that representatives from an education agency sit on 

the local WIB, it does not stipulate that the representative be from a 

community college, although the implementing regulations require that 

they be given special consideration. In Iowa, however, state law requires 

that community colleges sit on the local WIBs. An Iowa college official 

explained that having the community colleges participate on the WIB 

benefits the workforce system, because not only do the colleges provide 

leadership and program capability, but they are at “ground zero,” where 

service delivery occurs. 

Community Colleges Are 

Integrated with One-Stops 

through Many Different 

Workforce Activities 

In pursuing their workforce missions, our selected community colleges 

collaborated on a broad array of other joint tasks and activities with their 

one-stops and other workforce partners, in addition to operating and 

colocating at the one stop or participating on the WIB. Examples of these 

activities included building a new one-stop facility, producing data 

analysis, conducting strategic planning, and cross-training one-stop staff 

on their organization’s respective program services. Highlights of some of 

these examples include the following: 

• Building a one-stop together: Linn-Benton, Portland, and Passaic County 

Community Colleges worked with their one-stop and state and local 

partners to design and build the one-stop facility. In Linn-Benton, many 

partners were involved in getting the one-stop built, but the college owned 

the land on which the one-stop is located and raised the construction 

money by selling bonds. Today, the college owns the facility, and the 

partners lease the space that they occupy. 

• Sharing data: All of the states that we visited develop labor market 

information, which is shared with key workforce partners, including the 

community colleges. In some cases, workforce partners may also request 

special analyses or additional data that are more specific to their 

communities. In the states that we visited, these data are developed and 

provided by the state agency responsible for overseeing labor or 

employment service programs. Although in Iowa, for example, the North 

 21For the percentage estimates for presidents and other staff, our confidence intervals 

exceeded a margin of error of plus or minus 8 percent. Ranges for our estimates were 41 

percent to 57 percent and 30 percent to 48 percent, respectively. 

Page 22 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Iowa Area Community College pays for a refined analysis and shares it 

with the one-stop and others. 

• Strategic planning: Some of the community colleges that we visited 

conduct strategic planning efforts on workforce development with other 

workforce system agencies or organizations. For example, Oakland 

Community College in Michigan, the economic development agency, and 

the one-stop with funding from a business sponsor develop and write an 

annual report on the economic outlook for the county. A Michigan college 

official pointed to Michigan’s regional skills alliances as vehicles for 

continued strategic planning by workforce partners in a particular 

business sector. 

• Cross-training of staff: Some of the community college officials that we 

visited talked about the importance of ensuring that one-stop staff 

understand the basics about each agency’s programs and services, 

including the colleges. Some officials referred to this as the “no wrong 

door” approach, meaning that a one-stop client should be able to approach 

anyone at the center and get help or be directed to the right person. To 

accomplish this, they conduct cross-training. For example, one-stop staff 

at the center run by Portland Community College spent about 6 to 12 

months training partner staff on everyone else’s programs before the 

facility officially opened. Also, Linn-Benton Community College in Oregon

wrote a resource directory outlining all of the programs offered by the 

various agencies and conducted team-building exercises for the staff using 

the resource directory. 

State funding and leadership are some of the factors that community 

colleges and other workforce officials identified as supporting their 

workforce efforts and integration with one-stops. However, these officials 

also pointed to challenges with the WIA performance system measures 

and issues related to WIA funding. 

State Funding and 

Leadership Help

Community Colleges’ 

Workforce Efforts, 

While WIA 

Performance System 

Measures and WIA 

Funding Issues 

Present Challenges 

Page 23 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Some community college and workforce officials with whom we spoke 

cited additional training funds provided by their states as an important 

factor to supporting community colleges’ workforce development efforts. 

One example of this support is New Jersey’s Workforce Development 

Program, which makes grants available on a competitive basis to 

businesses or business consortia partnering with an educational 

institution, such as a community college. The grants fund incumbent 

worker training and are financed through a dedicated state payroll tax for 

workforce development, paid by both employers and workers. The 

employers receiving the grants provide a 50 percent match. In Iowa, 

community colleges are permitted to sell bonds to raise funds for 

incumbent worker training in new or expanding companies. Michigan is 

also considering Iowa’s approach as a way to help finance workforce 

training. In Oregon, the governor created the Employment Workforce 

Training Fund, which is paid for through WIA discretionary monies, to 

help communities pay for incumbent worker training. 

Six of the 20 community colleges that we visited were participating in a 

WIRED, High Growth, or Community Based grant. Some officials noted 

that the additional federal funding provided through these grants was 

important in launching projects or sustaining them. In total, more than $3 

million dollars in the 2006-2007 year were awarded to the schools through 

one or more of these Department of Labor grants. 

Leadership by individuals at all levels of the workforce system—state 

officials, WIBs, one-stops, and colleges—was cited by several workforce 

and community college officials at the sites that we visited as a factor 

facilitating integration of colleges into the workforce system. In New 

Jersey and Michigan, some officials commented that leadership came from

their governors in that they placed a priority on workforce and economic

development in their respective states and viewed community colleges as

key partners in workforce training. New Jersey’s governor accomplished 

this, in part, by specifically tasking the Commissioners of Higher 

Education and the Department of Labor and Workforce Development with 

bringing together community colleges and the workforce system in 

implementing his plan for economic growth in the state. Under Michigan’s

governor, the state developed a new initiative called “No Worker Left 

Behind” in which the state provides 2 years of free tuition at a community 

college for workers who are training for certificates or degrees in highdemand occupations. Some Oregon state officials pointed to the 

governor’s Workforce Policy Cabinet as an important mechanism for 

integration. Through the cabinet, established in 1991, the heads of 

agencies representing workforce programs or programs that are critical to

State Funding and 

Leadership Are Key to 

Supporting Workforce 

Development 

Page 24 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
workforce development meet regularly to discuss issues and make 

decisions. 

Community college and other workforce officials at our selected sites 

outlined some challenges in undertaking their various workforce 

initiatives and joint efforts. These challenges included barriers arising 

from meeting WIA performance system measures, the volatility created by

the WIA funding formula, and the decline in WIA funding overall. 

Some officials told us that helping certain clients connect to the workforce 

through the one-stop system is difficult due, in part, to disincentives 

created by the WIA performance system measures. For example, WIA 

holds state and local workforce areas accountable for meeting 

performance levels in their Adult, Dislocated Workers, and Youth 

programs on measures such as job placement, retention, and earnings. 

States may receive incentive funds or suffer financial sanctions, depending 

on whether they meet these levels. But youth or TANF clients, for 

example, typically have more difficulty in obtaining jobs, and generally

retain them for shorter periods of time than other types of clients, partly as

a result of transportation, child care, or substance abuse issues. These job 

seekers may also require more-intensive services and case management 

from the one-stop staff before they are ready to search for a job. In the 

case of older workers, they generally are looking for part-time work and 

accept jobs at wages that are lower than what they were previously 

making. As a result, WIA performance measures can create incentives for 

one-stops to offer services first to clients who are easier to serve and more 

likely to be successful in obtaining and retaining a job. 

GAO reported in 2004 and 2007 that many state and local officials did not 

think the negotiation process with Labor adequately considered factors 

that could affect the performance level of the state. We recommended that

Labor develop a systematic model for all states to use that could take into

account the type of population served or the economic conditions of the 

state.22 As we outlined in those reports, a model of this type could help the 

process set more uniform goals and provide a tool to states and local areas 

WIA Performance System 

Measures and Funding 

Issues Were Cited as 

Challenges 

 22For more information, see GAO, Workforce Investment Act: States and Local Areas Have 

Developed Strategies to Assess Performance, but Labor Could Do More to Help, 

GAO-04-657 (Washington, D.C.: June 1, 2004); and Workforce Investment Act: Additional 

Actions Would Further Improve the Workforce System, GAO-07-1051T (Washington, D.C.: 

June 28, 2007). 

Page 25 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
that do not have the resources to develop their own models. To date, 

Labor has not implemented this recommendation. Labor officials reported 

to us that they allow states to use their own model in negotiating their 

performance levels, which would allow states to take into account 

economic conditions, populations served, and other factors relevant to 

meeting the levels. In addition, these officials stated that Labor works to 

ensure consistency in the negotiation process for establishing state 

performance levels between the department’s regional offices, which 

conduct the negotiations, and the states, through guidance to the regions 

as well as discussions between the Assistant Secretary and Labor’s 

regional office administrators. 

Some community college and workforce officials also noted that 

Education and Labor have not aligned their performance measures across 

their respective workforce programs. One workforce official explained

that this forces local-level staff to spend time trying to align and bridge 

different reporting requirements and policies, instead of working with 

clients. The Office of Management and Budget has recommended that 

common measures be adopted by related workforce programs across 

agencies. Labor has adopted and implemented these common measures 

within some of their workforce programs. While Education has adopted 

these measures, Education officials reported to us that they have not fully

implemented all aspects of the measures due to differences between 

Education and Labor’s workforce programs concerning program 

definitions, collection timelines, and populations to be measured. 

However, Education is continuing to work on resolving these issues. 

Other WIA funding issues were also noted by some community college and 

workforce officials as barriers to workforce efforts and integration 

between colleges and one-stops. One issue they cited was the fluctuations 

in funding from year to year caused by some of the WIA allocation 

formulas. In some of the sites that we visited, officials stated that WIA 

funding was reduced by 40 percent from the previous year. GAO 

addressed this issue in two reports in 2003 and outlined options for 

Congress to consider when reauthorizing WIA that could help reduce the 

volatility in some of the WIA allocation formulas.23 However, Congress has 

not yet passed legislation that would reauthorize WIA. Other officials 

 23GAO, Workforce Investment Act: Issues Related to Allocation Formulas for Youth, 

Adults, and Dislocated Workers, GAO-03-636 (Washington, D.C.: Apr. 25, 2003); and

Workforce Investment Act: Potential Effects of Alternative Formulas on State Allocations, 

GAO-03-1043 (Washington, D.C.: Aug. 28, 2003). 

Page 26 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
stated that the lack of infrastructure funding for WIA has created problems 

with integration, particularly when organizations try to obtain or renovate 

a building to provide adequate space so that partners can colocate. Some 

college and workforce officials we interviewed cited a decline in WIA 

funding overall as a problem because it creates difficulties in planning and 

serving clients. Oregon state officials told us that they closed 8

employment service offices and laid off 80 staff because of declining 

funding, causing concerns about client access to services, particularly in 

rural parts of the state. 

In addition to other activities, Education and Labor have undertaken and

supported two key initiatives that focus on building linkages between 

community colleges and the workforce system: the WIRED, Community 

Based, and High Growth grants and the Strategic Partnerships for a 

Competitive Workforce Initiative, a joint initiative with Education. It is 

unclear whether these initiatives will be successful in building such 

linkages or encouraging more community colleges to focus on workforce 

development, due to the agencies’ inability to measure the full impact of 

these collaborative efforts. 

Since 2001, Labor has awarded about $900 million through WIRED, 

Community Based, and High Growth grants to promote a more marketdriven workforce system by increasing collaboration among businesses, 

community colleges, and other key workforce development partners. 

Unlike the WIRED and High Growth grants—which go to governors or a 

broad range of public and private organizations, respectively—the 

Community Based awards are primarily targeted to community colleges to

build their capacity to provide skilled workers for high-growth industries 

and occupations. In 2006, Labor awarded $125 million in Community 

Based grants to community colleges. However, in our May 2008 report 

about Labor’s grant process, we stated that Labor will be challenged to 

assess the impact of these grants because it did not plan well from the 

outset to identify performance goals and collect data comparable to those 

collected from other programs. As a result, we recommended that the 

department take the appropriate steps to ensure that it can fully evaluate

the grants’ impact.24

Labor and Education 

Have Focused on 

Community Colleges’ 

Workforce 

Development Efforts 

through Targeted 

Grant Programs and a 

Strategic Partnerships 

Initiative, but Their 

Impact Is Not Fully 

Known 

 24GAO-08-486. 

Page 27 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
In addition, Labor and Education jointly funded and organized a $1.5 

million initiative—the Strategic Partnerships for a Competitive 

Workforce—to help build linkages between community colleges and the 

workforce system. The initiative involved 32 teams of local workforce 

organizations selected from Community Based grantees and focused on 

building career pathways. In doing so, teams were tasked with developing 

a strategic plan for implementing an education and training approach that

would foster partnerships and coordination within the community 

between kindergarten and 12th grade, vocational schools, colleges and 

universities, community-based organizations, and employers. Under the 

Strategic Partnerships initiative, Labor and Education held four training 

institutes that covered topics related to building career pathways in 

industries, including health care and advanced manufacturing. In planning 

for the institutes, officials from Labor and Education met regularly to carry 

out tasks and responsibilities as well as to work out numerous differences 

between the agencies in terminology and approaches to the career 

pathway model. Based on the informal feedback received from training 

institute participants, Labor and Education have viewed the Strategic 

Partnerships initiative as a success, but the departments are not planning 

any other joint initiatives in the future due to budget constraints and other 

pressing priorities. Labor and Education are planning to issue a report in 

2008 highlighting the lessons learned from the initiative. 

Since September 2007, the two departments have also been working on an 

interagency agreement to conduct a multivariate analysis of the National 

Assessment of Adult Literacy (NAAL) data. NAAL is a nationally 

representative assessment of English literacy among American adults aged 

16 years and older and is conducted by the National Center for Education 

Statistics. According to officials, these data will help agency officials 

better understand the correlations among the areas of literacy, 

postsecondary education, and employment in specific industries. 

Labor and Education have also conducted other activities independent of

their joint efforts, such as conferences, online meetings, Web sites, and 

other institutes that focus on various workforce development issues, some

of which involve community colleges and the workforce development 

system. For example, Education has an initiative—the College and Career 

Transitions Initiative—that creates model career pathways and 

implements strategies to ease student transitions from secondary to 

postsecondary education into several occupation areas, including 

information technology; science, engineering, and mathematics; health 

science; education and training; and law, public safety, and security. 

Education has also created a new position—Deputy Assistant Secretary 

Page 28 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
for Community Colleges—to heighten the visibility of community colleges

and issues specific to them, such as workforce development, within the 

department. Labor has established a Web site—

http://www.workforce3one.org—that highlights information and promising 

practices on workforce issues, including the role that community colleges

play. The department also holds an annual workforce conference that has 

included sessions on community colleges and the workforce system. 

At a time when the nation is facing several workforce trends 

simultaneously, the nation’s workforce system may be tested. The nation

may soon face a labor shortage as the baby boomer generation retires, and 

economic dislocations are predicted to continue due to global 

competition, thus increasing the need to retrain and reemploy affected

workers quickly. As these trends converge, it will be increasingly 

important that the nation have a nimble, responsive workforce system and 

good information about that workforce to maintain a competitive 

economy in a global marketplace. In addition, when Congress reauthorizes 

WIA, it will be important to consider issues that we have raised in the past, 

such as the yearly funding fluctuations that result from certain of the act’s

allocation formulas. 

Through their workforce education programs, community colleges will 

continue to be an important part of a responsive workforce system—given 

their mission, affordability, and accessibility—as will federal policies and 

programs that support lifelong learning. The selected colleges we visited 

for this report are pursuing their workforce missions by working with the 

private sector in their communities and regions to serve diverse groups of 

individuals and businesses, and by participating in activities that forge 

connections to high-school students to prepare them for the workforce. 

Under WIA, community colleges are major providers of training and 

participate in other federal workforce programs. As the need grows for 

citizens to gain or upgrade their skills, an important federal policy issue is 

how to encourage more community colleges to follow the lead of those 

that are taking actions in this area. 

Labor and Education have taken some important first steps that address 

aspects of the community colleges’ role in the workforce system through 

Labor’s WIRED, High Growth, and Community Based grants and the 

jointly sponsored Strategic Partnerships initiative. Continued efforts by 

Labor and Education to build on past successes in aligning their respective 

workforce programs will help ensure that the nation will benefit from the 

full potential of community colleges that are already actively engaged in 

Concluding 

Observations 

Page 29 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
workforce development and the one-stop system and will encourage more 

community colleges to follow their examples. 

We provided a draft of this report to Labor and Education for review and 

comment. Labor provided a written response to the report (see app. III); 

Education did not. Both agencies provided technical comments, which we 

incorporated in the report where appropriate. 

Labor generally agreed with our findings and conclusions but expressed 

concern with comments from community college and state workforce 

officials who we interviewed about disincentives resulting from the WIA 

performance measures. Labor asserts that it is not the measures, per se, 

that may cause disincentives to arise in serving certain client groups, but 

the states’ performance levels (i.e., percentage of clients that must meet 

these measures). The department contends that it provides for a thorough

negotiation process with the states in setting these levels, which allows 

states to account for these groups. We believe that the performance 

measures for clients and the performance levels for states are interrelated,

in that the percentage of clients meeting the individual measures 

determines the extent to which a state meets its performance levels. In 

light of Labor’s comments, we changed the title of the relevant report 

section to convey that the disincentive relates to both individual measures 

and state performance-level measures. 

Labor also stated its position that the department’s regulations and 

guidance provide enough latitude to states for addressing extenuating 

circumstances, such as hard-to-serve populations or adverse economic 

conditions, in determining their performance levels. We continue to 

believe that the disincentive issue, as evidenced by the information 

discussed in this and prior GAO reports, continues to surface, and that our

previous recommendation that Labor develop a systematic model that 

would account for a variety of factors for all states to use could be a 

mechanism to help remedy the problem. 

We are sending copies of this report to relevant congressional committees, 

the Secretaries of Labor and Education, and other interested parties. We 

will also make copies available to others upon request. In addition, the 

report will be available at no charge on GAO’s Web site at 

http://www.gao.gov. 

Agency Comments 

and Our Evaluation 

Page 30 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
If you or your staffs have any questions about this report, please contact 

me at (202) 512-7215 or scottg@gao.gov. Contacts for our Offices of 

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

of this report. A GAO contact and other staff acknowledgments are listed 

in appendix IV. 

George A. Scott 

Director, Education, Workforce, and Income Security Issues 

Page 31 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and Methodology 

Methodology 

To describe policies in place that address the involvement of community 

colleges in the one-stop system, we selected a stratified random 

probability sample of comprehensive one-stops and their corresponding 

Workforce Investment Board (WIB), which oversees a selected one-stop, 

for a sample survey. We received a list of comprehensive one-stop centers 

in the United States, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands from the 

Department of Labor’s locator database. To determine the reliability of 

these data, we compared the list from Labor to an April 2007 GAO survey 

of states. We identified discrepancies in the number of comprehensive 

one-stop centers reported in several states. We completed follow-up with 

27 states and 2 territories to ensure that we could select a representative

sample of comprehensive one-stop centers. After completion of follow-up 

with the 27 states and 2 territories, we selected a sample from this 

corrected universe of one-stops. We determined that these data were 

sufficiently reliable to develop the universe of one-stops. There were 1,684 

one-stops in our universe. 

To minimize the burden on WIB respondents, we decided to stratify the 

universe based on the number of comprehensive one-stops we identified

as being governed by a particular WIB. Thus, comprehensive one-stops in

a relatively small WIB (i.e., a WIB with 4 or fewer comprehensive onestops) had a higher sampling rate than comprehensive one-stops in a 

larger WIB. The universe was divided into 4 strata, those with 3 or fewer, 4 

to 7, 8 to 15, and 16 or more one-stops per WIB. The universe of 

comprehensive one-stops was stratified only to ease the burden on WIB 

respondents—the stratification was not used to compare survey results. 

We surveyed 334 one-stop centers and 311 of their associated WIBs. The 

response rates for the one-stop and WIB surveys were 73 percent and 82 

percent, respectively. 

Each one-stop had a nonzero probability of being selected, and that 

probability could be computed for any case. Each selected case was 

subsequently weighted in the analysis to account statistically for all of the 

one-stops in the universe, including those that were not selected. In 

addition to the survey about the one-stop that was sent to the WIB, the 

WIB also received a survey directly related to its activities. Since the WIB

questionnaire was not specifically related to the one-stops in the survey 

(the questions were asked of the WIB in general), the two surveys were 

analyzed separately. Because each WIB had a different probability of 

selection (proportional to the number of one-stops), the statistical weights

were calculated for a replacement design of a stratified sample with an 

unequal probability of selection. 

Page 32 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology 

For both components of the survey, the one-stop and the WIB, we 

followed a probability procedure that was based on random selections; 

therefore, our sample is only one of a large number of samples that we 

might have drawn. Since each sample could have provided different 

estimates, we expressed our confidence in the precision of our particular 

sample’s results as a 95 percent confidence interval (e.g., plus or minus 9 

percentage points). This is the interval that would contain the actual 

population value for 95 percent of the samples we could have drawn. As a 

result, we are 95 percent confident that each of the confidence intervals in

this report will include the true values in the study population. All 

percentage estimates in this report have a margin of error of plus or minus 

8 percent or less, unless otherwise noted. 

In addition to margins of error due to sampling, the practical difficulties of

conducting any survey may introduce errors, commonly referred to as 

nonsampling errors. For example, difficulties concerning interpreting 

questions, sources of information that are available to respondents, or data 

entry and analysis can introduce unwanted variability into the survey 

results. We took steps in the development of both questionnaires used in

this study, in the data collection, and in the data analysis to minimize 

nonsampling errors. For example, social science survey specialists 

designed both questionnaires in collaboration with GAO staff with subject 

matter expertise. Then, the draft questionnaires were pretested at various 

stages in their development with four WIB officials to ensure that 

questions were relevant, clearly stated, and easy to comprehend. The 

questionnaires were also reviewed by an additional GAO survey specialist. 

Data analysis was conducted by a GAO data analyst working directly with

the GAO staff with subject matter expertise. When the data were analyzed, 

a second independent data analyst checked all computer programs for 

accuracy. Since these were Web-based surveys, respondents entered their 

answers directly into the electronic questionnaires. Doing so eliminated 

the need to have the data keyed into databases, thus removing an 

additional source of errors. To ensure adequate response rates, we sent 

multiple e-mails to respondents who did not complete their questionnaires 

within a reasonable time frame. In addition to sending multiple e-mails to 

survey nonrespondents, GAO contractors contacted the remaining 

nonrespondents by telephone to encourage them to respond. 

Page 33 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix I: Objectives, Scope, and 

Methodology 

We conducted this performance audit from April 2007 through May 2008 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 34 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix II: Community Colleges Selected for Appendix II: Community Colleges Selected Site Visits 

for Site Visits 

We conducted semistructured interviews with officials from 20 community 

colleges in 6 states to obtain a detailed understanding of their career and 

technical education activities, their relationships with their local one-stops

and local WIBs, and their views on how particular state and federal 

policies enhanced or impeded their workforce development efforts. (See 

table 3.) In addition to these community colleges, we met with officials of 

Anne Arundel Community College in Maryland during an early exploratory 

interview in May 2007. We conducted our site visits between June and 

November 2007. 

Table 3: Community Colleges Selected for Site Visits 

State Community college

Des Moines Area Community College 

Kirkwood Community College

Iowa 

North Iowa Area Community College 

Michigan Lansing Community College 

Oakland Community College

Camden County College 

Cumberland County College 

New Jersey 

Salem Community College 

North Carolina Lenoir Community College 

Pitt Community College 

Linn-Benton Community College 

Mt. Hood Community College

Oregon 

Portland Community College

Bates Technical College 

Bellingham Technical College

Clover Park Technical College

Pierce College District 

Skagit Valley College 

Tacoma Community College

Washington 

Whatcom Community College

Source: GAO. 

Page 35 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix III: Comments from the Department Appendix III: Comments from the of Labor 

Department of Labor 

 Page 36 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Labor 

 Page 37 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix III: Comments from the Department 

of Labor 

 Page 38 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Appendix IV: 

A

GAO Contact and Staff 

cknowledgments 

Page 39 GAO-08-547 

Appendix IV: GAO Contact and Staff 

Acknowledgments 

George A. Scott, (202) 512-7215, scottg@gao.gov

Kathy Larin, Assistant Director, and Janet Mascia, Analyst-in-Charge, 

managed the assignment. Christopher Morehouse, Kelly Bradley, and 

Linda Stokes made significant contributions in all aspects of the 

assignment and in writing the report. Jean McSween, Stuart Kaufman, and 

Lisa Mirel assisted in the survey design, implementation, and data analysis. 

Susannah Compton provided writing assistance, and Jessica Botsford 

provided legal support. 

GAO Contact 

Staff 

Acknowledgments 

Workforce Development
Related GAO Products Related GAO Products 

Employment and Training Program Grants: Evaluating Impact and 

Enhancing Monitoring Would Improve Accountability. GAO-08-486. 

Washington, D.C.: May 7, 2008. 

Workforce Investment Act: Additional Actions Would Further Improve

the Workforce System. GAO-07-1051T. Washington, D.C.: June 28, 2007.

Workforce Investment Act: Employers Found One-Stop Centers Useful in

Hiring Low-Skilled Workers; Performance Information Could Help 

Gauge Employer Involvement. GAO-07-167. Washington, D.C.: 

December 22, 2006. 

Workforce Investment Act: Substantial Funds Are Used for Training, but 

Little Is Known Nationally about Training Outcomes. GAO-05-650. 

Washington, D.C.: June 29, 2005. 

Workforce Investment Act: Labor Should Consider Alternative 

Approaches to Implement New Performance and Reporting 

Requirements. GAO-05-539. Washington, D.C.: May 27, 2005. 

Workforce Investment Act: Employers Are Aware of, Using, and Satisfied

with One-Stop Services, but More Data Could Help Labor Better Address 

Employers’ Needs. GAO-05-259. Washington, D.C.: February 18, 2005. 

Public Community Colleges and Technical Schools: Most Schools Use 

Both Credit and Noncredit Programs for Workforce Development. 

GAO-05-4. Washington, D.C.: October 18, 2004. 

Workforce Investment Act: States and Local Areas Have Developed 

Strategies to Assess Performance, but Labor Could Do More to Help.

GAO-04-657. Washington, D.C.: June 1, 2004. 

Workforce Investment Act: Potential Effects of Alternative Formulas on 

State Allocations. GAO-03-1043. Washington, D.C.: August 28, 2003. 

Workforce Investment Act: One-Stop Centers Implemented Strategies to 

Strengthen Services and Partnerships, but More Research and 

Information Sharing is Needed. GAO-03-725. Washington, D.C.: June 18,

2003. 

Workforce Investment Act: Issues Related to Allocation Formulas for 

Youth, Adults, and Dislocated Workers. GAO-03-636. Washington, D.C.: 

April 25, 2003. 

Page 40 GAO-08-547 Workforce Development
Related GAO Products 

Multiple Employment and Training Programs: Funding and 

Performance Measures for Major Programs. GAO-03-589. Washington, 

D.C.: April 18, 2003. 

Workforce Training: Employed Worker Programs Focus on Business 

Needs, but Revised Performance Measures Could Improve Access for 

Some Workers. GAO-03-353. Washington, D.C.: February 14, 2003. 

Page 41 GAO-08-547 (130654) Workforce Development
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