United States Department of Labor

The Workforce System

ODEP works to ensure meaningful access to employment and training programs and services for people with disabilities through public systems as well as private organizations and employers. Recognizing the need for a national policy to promote a more inclusive workforce, ODEP works collaboratively with a wide range of stakeholders to promote capacity building and systematic changes that increase the employment and economic status of youth, adults and mature individuals with disabilities. This collaborative work promotes the development of policy based on validated practices to promote a workforce system that is highly coordinated, broadly effective for the widest possible range of career-seeking customers, and a meaningful source of diverse human resource talent for businesses.

As part of these efforts, ODEP works closely with DOL's workforce development system, funded by the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) and delivered through the nationwide network of One-Stop Career Centers. Also called "One-Stops," these are community centers that provide employment, education and training services all in one place, offering a wealth of information and assistance for job seekers and employers. The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA), which became effective July 1, 2000, established the One-Stop Career Center system.

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) Resources/One-Stop Career Center Information

• TEN on Increasing the Public Workforce Development System's Participation in the Ticket to Work (TTW) Program for Disability Beneficiaries
• Workforce Investment Act
  • Large Print Version
• Plain English Version
• Final Regulations
• Large Print Version
• White Paper: Implementing the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (updated 2009)
• Adult Services provided under WIA
• Youth Services provided under WIA
• Workforce Investment Act Section 188 Checklist — Helps ensure nondiscrimination and equal opportunity to persons with disabilities participating in programs and activities operated by WIA grant recipients that are part of the One-Stop Career Center system.
• America's Service Locator — Provides locations for One-Stop Career Centers across the nation. Information is also available by calling (toll-free) 1-877-US2-JOBS (1-877-872-5627) or 1-877-TTY-JOBS (1-877-887-5627) (TTY).

ODEP Technical Assistance Initiatives and Resources

• Disability Employment Initiative (DEI) — Aims to improve education, training and employment opportunities and outcomes for youth and adults with disabilities who are unemployed, underemployed and/or receiving Social Security disability benefits. ODEP jointly funds and administers the DEI with DOL's Employment and Training Administration (ETA).
• System Change Definitions in the Workforce System — ODEP's Customized Employment Demonstration Program underwent an external evaluation that reviewed systems change. This document provides the definitions that were used, such as capacity, coordination, customization (consumer choice and employer support), development/adaptation/evaluation of new practices, dissemination of effective practices, and sustainability.
• Technical Employment Notice (TEN) on Strategies to Meet One-Stop Career Centers’ Business and Job-Seeker Customer Needs for Employment-Related Transportation Services — A jointly issued TEN from the Employment and Training Administration and the Office of Disability Employment Policy to provide successful strategies to the public workforce system for connecting individuals with transportation to jobs and training and to help businesses access a diverse workforce.
• National Technical Assistance and Research Center (NTAR) Leadership Center — Research, analysis and demonstration initiatives to increase employment and training opportunities for adults with disabilities through policy development focused on public and private workforce systems. Publications include:
  • The Great Recession and Serving Dislocated Workers with Disabilities: Perspectives from One-Stop Career Centers and Rapid Response Coordinators — Recognizing the scope of long-term unemployment and the consequences it exerts, the National Technical Assistance and Research (NTAR) Leadership Center researchers sought to gain a better understanding of the extent to which people with disabilities who had lost their jobs were seeking services from the public workforce system, and to identify strategies, if any, being used at the state and local levels to help these workers reconnect with the labor market.
    
  • Moving TANF Recipients to Work: Examples of State Strategies — This brief examines activities to help move recipients of Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) who have a disability to employment. It looks at the opportunities and challenges to state governments in crafting supports and services, as well as offers a glimpse of some strategies and approaches being used by state TANF agencies to help recipients with a disability secure and maintain employment.
    
  • The Interaction of Workforce Development Programs and Unemployment Compensation by Individuals with Disabilities in Washington State — This report offers a brief description of the UI program, as well as the rules that govern eligibility in the state of Washington; a description of the data, including data sources, data fields, and time periods for which the data were available; presents the results from the data analysis (the heart of the report); discusses key findings; and suggests areas for future research.
    
• State Leaders' Innovation Institute Summary Report: Leading the Way: The First Year of the State Leaders Innovation Institute — Summary report from the State Leaders Innovation Institute (SLII), which promoted systems change to improve employment outcomes for adults with disabilities by encouraging close connections between disability employment agencies and actors and the workforce and economic development systems in three states.
• Final Report of the State Leaders Innovation Institute — The NTAR Leadership Center launched the State Leaders Innovation Institute (SLII), a pilot project designed to improve inter-agency coordination on policy, program, and service delivery for people with disabilities in 2008. For the pilot, the NTAR Leadership Center selected three states (Connecticut, Maryland, and Minnesota) interested in pursuing cross-agency policy changes and developing new practices to foster a more integrated "to work" system for adults with disabilities. This final report offers sections on state profiles, challenges, opportunities, other lessons learned, and reflections on what the federal government can do to encourage and support state systems change efforts and state leaders."
• Using Braided Funding Strategies to Advance Employer Hiring Initiatives that Include People with Disabilities — The NTAR Leadership Center published this report to help local policymakers and administrators better understand the relationship between model programs for hiring people with disabilities and braided funding strategies. This report profiles four employer-responsive models that have gained increasing national attention. Braiding funding, for purposes of this report, means the access to and coordination of multiple sources of funding to provide services and supports needed by people with disabilities to obtain and retain a job."
• Using Medicaid Funding to Support the Employment of People with Disabilities: A Federal Framework — State Medicaid agencies fund a multitude of supports and services for individuals with disabilities. As national public policy has recognized and emphasized the ability of individuals with disabilities to work, states have begun to integrate employment supports into the continuum of long-term care in Medicaid. This NTAR Leadership Center brief discusses the federal legislative and regulatory framework for funding employment supports in Medicaid, and highlights examples of state innovations and best practices for using Medicaid to promote positive employment outcomes.
• States As Model Employers (SAME): Strategies for Moving People with Disabilities into Careers in State Government — Brief that examines the practices several states are using to become "model employers," including strategies being implemented to expand the recruitment and hiring of people with disabilities within state government agencies.
• Integrating Job Opportunities for People with Disabilities into State and Regional Economic and Workforce Development Strategies — Brief that offers background on recent trends in economic and workforce development strategies and highlights two regions that have been piloting initiatives to include opportunities for people with disabilities in their regional activities.
• Ready and Able — Case study analysis of 13 diverse examples of employer-workforce intermediary partnerships with a track record of helping employer recruit, hire, train and retain employees with disabilities. Note for JAWS users: Please change Adobe settings to "Read Currently Visible Pages" for headings and links lists.
• Complete Report (PDF)
• Executive Summary (PDF)
• Introduction (PDF)
• Chapter 1: Challenging the Conventional Wisdom: National Employer Collaborations (PDF)
• Chapter 2: Winning Together: A Sector Strategy Model (PDF)
• Chapter 3: Preferred Solutions: How Job Brokers for People with Disabilities Meet Employer Needs (PDF)
• Chapter 4: Career Tracks: Placing Skilled College Students and Graduate with Disabilities through Partnerships between Employers, Colleges and Universities, and Intermediaries (PDF)
• Chapter 5: Bridging Workforce Gaps: Hiring People with Disabilities through Local and Regional Collaboratives (PDF)
• Chapter 6: Catalysts: Business-Affiliated Organizations Leading Disability and Employment Partnerships (PDF)
• Conclusion (PDF)
• Endnotes (PDF)
• Reader's Guide to Terms and Governmental Systems Used in this Report (PDF)
• Appendix: List of Interviews (PDF)
• National Center on Workforce & Disability/Adult — The National Center on Workforce and Disability/Adult (NCWD/A) was a national training provider for the One-Stop system through ODEP from 2002-2007. It provides training, technical assistance, policy analysis and information to improve access for all in the workforce development system. Publications include:
  • Universal Design Toolkit for Workforce Development Systems
  • One-Stop Career Centers: Serving People with Disabilities
  • Strategies and Practices for Effectively Serving All One-Stop Customers: A Framework for Systems Change
  • One-Stop Career Centers and the New Ticket to Work and Self-Sufficiency Program: Access for All in Workforce Development
  • Access for All: A Resource Manual for Meeting the Needs of One-Stop Customers with Disabilities
  • Customized Employment - Practical Solutions for Employment Success, Vol. I
  • Applying Practical Solutions for Employment Success, Vol. II
  • Job Seekers with Disabilities at One-Stop Career Centers: An Examination of Registration for Wagner-Peyser Funded Employment Services from 2002 to 2007
  • Recruitment and Retention of Older Workers: Considerations for Employers
  • Recruitment and Retention of Older Workers: Application to People with Disabilities
  • A Preliminary Analysis of the Relationship Between the Workforce Investment Act and the Federal Disability Policy Framework
  • A Description of the Workforce Investment Act from a Disability Policy Perspective
  • Self-Determination: A Fundamental Ingredient of Employment Suppor

Workforce System Policy Briefs

• Section-by-Section Analysis (From a Disability Perspective) of S. 1021, the Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2005
• Side-by-Side Comparison (From a Disability Perspective) Between the Senate Bill (S. 1021) and the House Bill (H.R. 27) Reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)
• Analysis of Workforce Investment Act: Unified Planning Guidance Notice From a Disability Perspective
• Analysis of the Planning Guidance for Submission of Two Years of the Strategic Five-Year State Plan for Title I of WIA From a Disability Policy Perspective
• The Job Training Improvement Act of 2005, As Passed by the U.S. House of Representatives" A Section-by-Section Analysis From a Disability Perspective
• Case Studies of Local Boards and One-Stop Centers: Underutilization of One-Stops by People with Significant Disabilities
• Creative Involvement of Community-Based Disability Organizations. Case Studies of Local Boards and One-Stop Centers - Issue #11
• Case Studies of Local Boards and One-Stop Centers: Levels of Involvement of State VR Agencies with Other One-Stop Partners
• Case Studies of Local Boards and One-Stop Centers: Tackling Fiscal Issues
• Case Studies of Local Boards and One-Stop Centers: Strategies for Maximizing Staff Competence When Supporting Job Seekers with Disabilities
• Analysis of WIA Section 188 Methods of Administration Plans From A Disability Policy Perspective
• Section-by-Section Analysis (From a Disability Perspective) of H.R. 1261, the Workforce Reinvestment and Adult Education Act Amendments of 2003
• Section-by-Section Analysis (From a Disability Policy Perspective) of S. 1627, The Workforce Investment Act Amendments of 2003
• The Applicability of the ADA to Personal Assistance Services in the Workplace
• WIA Targeting the States - Review of State Plans for the Workforce Investment Act from a Disability Policy Framework
• Using the Emerging Disability Policy Framework to Create a Fully Inclusive Twenty-First Century Workforce Investment System

Other Federal Workforce Resources

• Employment and Training Programs: Opportunities Exist for Improving Efficiency
• Use of One-Stops by Social Security Disability Beneficiaries in Four States Implementing Disability Program Navigator (DPN) Initiatives
• Highlights of a GAO Forum: Workforce Challenges and Opportunities for 21st Century: Changing Labor Force Dynamics and the Role of Government Polices
• Workforce Investment Act: Substantial Funds Are Used for Training, but Little Is Known Nationally about Training Outcomes

Private- and Non-Profit Sector Workforce Publications & Resources

• Work-Oriented Social Security Disability Beneficiaries: Characteristics and Employment-Related Activities — Information about the number, characteristics, and employment-related activities of working-age SSI and SSDI beneficiaries who report having work goals or expectations.
• AARP Workforce Assessment Tool — Free, confidential tool that helps employers assess current and future workforce needs, anticipate skill shortages, and build on company strengths to attract and retain experienced workers.
• Staying Ahead of the Curve: The AARP Work and Career Study — Exploration of the perspectives and work-related needs of older workers today and tomorrow.
• National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA)
• National Association of Workforce Boards (NAWB)
• National Association of Workforce Development Professionals (NAWDP)
• International Association of Workforce Professionals (IAWP)