Evaluation of Waivers Granted Under WIA

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA), administered by the U.S. Department of Labor, “provides funding to states and local areas to deliver a variety of services to adults, dislocated workers, and youth…Because the need for services is not uniform across states and local areas, states are able to apply for waivers of WIA and its regulations. These waivers may affect the allocation of resources, administration of programs, or types of employment and training services available to various groups.” (p.v). “Drawing from the two previous study reports and additional analysis, this final report summarizes the findings from all phases of data collection under the study…[This report] presents the broad analysis from phase one…and [supplemented] those finding with detailed waiver implementation information collected from the site visits to local areas in 12 states during phase two” (p.8). In addition, this report presented “findings on the process for requesting and implementing waivers, motivations for requesting waivers, detailed information about each waiver of interest, and lessons learned from the waiver process” (p.8). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff).

Site staff interviewed noted administrative and implementation successes and challenges: Successes: • “Each state and local area was able to point to specific benefits of the individual waivers, and several themes emerged about the overall success of WIA waiver administration and implementation. Respondents indicated that the locally focused waiver process enhanced communication between states and local areas” (p.xxiii). • “Implementing the waivers also provided local areas with the ability to serve more clients, become more efficient, strengthen connections with employers, and serve youth in meaningful ways” (p.xxiii). • “Overall, local areas felt that the waivers enhanced their ability to use a ‘demand-driven’ service strategy, tailored to the needs of their customers” (p.xxiii). Challenges: • “Administrative challenges, such as lengthy waiver application processes, understanding what waivers are acceptable, and which waivers DOL is most likely to award” (p.xxiii). • Implementation challenges include difficulty recruiting businesses, continuity of waivers, and budget constraints (p.xxiii). Several lessons from sites on the waiver process emerged: • “Streamline the waiver request process and waiver-related paperwork requirements” (p.xxiv). • “Share information and guidance on waivers and their potential uses” (p.xxiv). • “Approve waivers for longer periods of time” (p.xxiv). • “Change guidance on the [incumbent-worker training] IWT waivers to eliminate layoff aversion” (p.xxiv). • “Adopt certain waivers (like [Adult-Dislocated Work Transfer] A-DWT and [Individual Training Accounts] ITA) as standard practice” (p.xxiv). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2012
• Author(s): Rowe, Gretchen; English, Brittany; Pickens-Jewell, Cassandra; et al.
• Organizational Author(s): Mathematica Policy Research
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Justin Venneri
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies