Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act

To provide for the conduct of demonstration projects to test the effectiveness of subsidized employment for TANF recipients. 1. Short title This Act may be cited as the Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act 2. Demonstration projects to support subsidized employment for TANF recipients Section 403 of the Social Security Act ( 42 U.S.C. 603 (c) Subsidized employment demonstration projects (1) In general The Secretary shall make grants to States to conduct demonstration projects designed to implement and evaluate strategies that provide wage subsidies to enable low-income individuals to enter into and retain employment. (2) Application requirements The Secretary shall require each State that applies for a grant under this subsection to do the following: (A) Describe how wage subsidies will be provided (such as whether paid directly to the employer or the individual), the duration of the subsidies, the amount of the subsidies, the structure of the subsidies, and how employers will be recruited to participate in the subsidized employment program. (B) Describe how the State expects those participating in subsidized employment to be able to retain employment after the subsidy ends. (C) Describe how the State will coordinate subsidized employment funded under this subsection with other efforts to help low-income individuals enter work as conducted by the State. (3) Use of funds (A) In general A State to which a grant is made under this subsection may use the grant to subsidize the wages of an eligible recipient for a period not exceeding 12 months, and only to the extent that the total of the funds paid under this project and any other Federal funds so used with respect to the recipient does not exceed 50 percent of the amount of the wages received by the recipient during the period. (B) Eligible recipient For purposes of subparagraph (A), an eligible recipient is an adult recipient of assistance under the State program funded under this part or any other State program funded with qualified State expenditures (as defined in section 409(a)(7)(B)(i)) (or a noncustodial parent of a minor child who is receiving such assistance)— (i) who, at the time the subsidy begins, is unemployed; or (ii) whose income, at that time, is less than 200 percent of the poverty line (as defined by the Office of Management and Budget, and revised annually in accordance with section 673(2) of the Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1981 ( 42 U.S.C. 9902(2) (4) Nondisplacement A State to which a grant is made under this subsection shall ensure that no participant in a subsidized employment program funded in whole or in part under this subsection is employed or assigned to a job under the program when any other individual is on layoff from the same or any substantially equivalent job. (5) Reports As a condition of receiving funds under this subsection for a fiscal year, a State shall submit to the Secretary, within 12 months after the end of the fiscal year, a report that— (A) specifies, for each month of the fiscal year, the number of individuals whose employment is subsidized with these funds; (B) describes the structure of the State activities to use the funds to subsidize employment, including the amount and duration of the subsidies provided; (C) specifies the percentage of eligible recipients who received a subsidy who are in unsubsidized employment during the 2nd quarter after the subsidy ended; (D) specifies the percentage of eligible recipients who received a subsidy who are in unsubsidized employment during the 4th quarter after the subsidy ended; and (E) specifies the median earnings of eligible recipients who received a subsidy who are in unsubsidized employment during the 2nd quarter after the subsidy ended. (6) Evaluation The Secretary, in consultation with each State conducting a demonstration project, shall conduct a high-quality impact evaluation to determine the effects of the demonstration project, including on individual skill levels and earnings and employment retention, and may reserve funds made available under this subsection to conduct the evaluation in accordance with the following: (A) Evaluator qualifications The Secretary may not enter into a contract with an evaluator unless the evaluator has demonstrated experience in conducting rigorous evaluations of program effectiveness including, where available and appropriate, well-implemented randomized controlled trials. (B) Methodologies to be used The evaluation of a demonstration project shall use experimental designs using random assignment or other reliable, evidence-based research methodologies that allow for the strongest possible causal inferences when random assignment is not feasible. (C) Recommendations The evaluation of a demonstration project shall include recommendations relating to updated goals for the advancement and improvement of the program and a description of specific challenges encountered in the program and recommended solutions. (D) Public disclosure The Secretary shall publish the results of the evaluation on the website of the Department of Health and Human Services in a location easily accessible by the public. (7) Funding Of the amounts made available to carry out subsection (b) for fiscal year 2021, the Secretary shall reserve $100,000,000 to carry out this subsection. (8) Availability of funds Funds provided to a State under this subsection in a fiscal year shall be expended by the State in the fiscal year or in the succeeding 2 fiscal years. . 3. Effective date The amendment made by this Act shall take effect on October 1, 2020.

Summary: Accelerating Individuals into the Workforce Act This bill requires the Administration for Children and Families (ACF) to make grants to states for demonstration projects that provide wage subsidies to enable low-income individuals to enter and retain employment. States may use grant funds to subsidize an individual's wages for up to 12 months. The subsidy may be up to 50% of an individual's wages. Individuals are eligible for subsidized wages if they (1) are recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families or similar state assistance or a noncustodial parent of a child receiving such assistance, and (2) are unemployed when the subsidy begins or have an income below 200% of the poverty line. States must ensure that participants in subsidized job programs do not displace current workers. The ACF must reserve funding to carry out this bill from amounts in the Contingency Fund for State Welfare Programs.