The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of a final report, "Exhaustees of Extended Benefits Programs: Coping with the Aftermath of the Great Recession." This report examines the extent to which Unemployment Compensation (UC) recipients collected all benefits to which they were entitled ("exhausting" their benefits), in the context of the Great Recession and the extended potential duration of benefits, at that time; and assesses the outcomes for these individuals relative to other unemployed workers.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of three reports titled: 1) Green Jobs and Health Care (GJ-HC) Impact Evaluation: Findings from the Implementation Study of Four Training Programs for Unemployed and Disadvantaged Workers; 2) GJ-HC Impact Evaluation: Findings from the Impact Study of Four Training Programs for Unemployed and Disadvantaged Workers; and 3) GJ-HC Impact Evaluation: Special Topic Paper on Standard Error Estimation in Evaluations with No-Shows.

In addition, ETA announces the release of the GJ-HC Impact Evaluation public-use data files, available to researchers, practitioners, and other members of the public, and GJ-HC Impact Evaluation restricted-use data files, available to researchers authorized by ETA, for the purpose of conducting their own analyses with the data related to the evaluation.

This Change 2 replaces and makes corrections to the previously issued Training and Employment Notice (TEN) 28-16 to inform the workforce system with examples, best practices, partnership models, and information on how to align resources available under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to increase services to English Language Learners (ELL) with substantial cultural and language barriers to employment. It further provides information to the workforce system, including partner programs and entities that are jointly responsible for workforce and economic development, educational, and other human resource programs, about how to align their efforts to provide basic career services, individualized career services, and training services.

To announce the release and availability of three issue briefs from the current evaluation of the Self-Employment Training (SET) demonstration. These briefs provide lessons learned and implementation issues faced as part of a project piloting self-employment assistance and training services for dislocated workers. The briefs include:

• Case Management for Self-Employment Success: Emerging Lessons from the Self-Employment Training Program;
• The Characteristics and Motivations of Participants in the Self-Employment Training Demonstration; and
• What Does $1,000 in Seed Capital Buy? Emerging Lessons from the SET Program's Offer of Micro-grants for Business Start-Ups.

To announce the release and availability of the ETA National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) Public Access Data for Fiscal Years 1989-2014 and three NAWS research reports:

• Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2000-2009: Profiles of Youth, Parents, and Children of Farm Workers in the United States. Research Report No. 10 (Report No. 10);
• Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2011-2012: A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farm Workers. Research Report No. 11 (Report No. 11); and
• Findings from the National Agricultural Workers Survey (NAWS) 2013-2014: A Demographic and Employment Profile of United States Farmworkers. Research Report No. 12 (Report No. 12).

The Framework on Registered Apprenticeship (RA) for High School Students provides guidance from the U.S. Departments of Labor (USDOL) and Education (ED) to the public workforce and education systems on the components of a high-quality RA program for high school students. The purpose of this framework is to provide recommendations on key elements of RA programs for high school students and to encourage greater use of RA and pre-apprenticeship programs for in-school youth at least 16 years old, enrolled in secondary schools. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) sets the minimum ages and occupations in which youth can be employed in agricultural and nonagricultural employment. In nonagricultural employment, 16- and 17-year-old apprentices are specifically permitted to do some hazardous work otherwise prohibited for that age group provided certain requirements are met (see footnote three in Attachment 1). Apart from these exceptions, all other work deemed to be hazardous by the Secretary of Labor is prohibited for 16- and 17-year-old apprentices working in nonagricultural employment. This framework provides an important opportunity for youth to finish high school and continue on a pathway toward multiple career and educational opportunities, such as entering an RA program, earning an associate's and/or a bachelor's degree, and obtaining sustainable employment. The framework seeks to enhance the competitiveness of businesses by connecting youth to work-based learning and developing in-demand skills and competencies.

This Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) provides information on the requirements to designate or certify one-stop operators through a competitive process as setforth in sec. 121(d)(2)(A) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA).

The WIOA Joint Rule for Unified and Combined State Plans, Performance Accountability, and the One-Stop System Joint Provisions ("WIOA Joint Final Rule") was published in the Federal Register (FR) on August 19, 2016, with an effective date of October 18, 2016, at 81 FR 55791.This guidance has been reviewed by our Federal partners in the one-stop system, and is based on the statutory provisions of WIOA and its final implementing regulations.

This Change 1 replaces and makes corrections to the previously issued Training and Employment Notice (TEN) 28-16 to inform the workforce system with examples, best practices, partnership models, and information on how to align resources available under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to increase services to English Language Learners (ELL) with substantial cultural and language barriers to employment. It further provides information to the workforce system, including partner programs and entities that are jointly responsible for workforce and economic development, educational, and other human resource programs, about how to align their efforts to provide basic career services, individualized career services, and training services.

To respond to questions from state workforce agencies about prior guidance provided to state agencies regarding the requirements of Federal law pertaining to protecting individual rights in state procedures to prevent or recover unemployment compensation (UC) overpayments.

To transmit to States and outlying areas estimated funding levels for WIOA Title I Youth, Adult, and Dislocated Worker program allotments for PY 2017.

Registered Apprenticeship is an important workforce development strategy that the workforce system provides to its customers, both job seekers and employers. It is an evidence-based model for job seekers and is a job-driven strategy for employers and industries. Engagement with employers, institutions of higher education, and policy makers has ramped up significantly in order to achieve the administration's goal to double the number of apprentices across the United States. This is an historic opportunity for the workforce system to expand its business base and offer job seekers greater employment prospects while offering employers a strategic approach to talent development. The purpose of this guidance is to provide information about the new provisions for Registered Apprenticeship in WIOA, including the status of Registered Apprenticeship sponsors as Eligible Training Providers, membership on State and Local Workforce Boards, the use of WIOA funding to support Registered Apprenticeship, reporting on Registered Apprenticeship activity, and suggestions about how to coordinate with the Registered Apprenticeship system.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of a final report - Wage Insurance and Wage Supplements: Final Evaluation Design Report; which provides design options for possible future demonstration and evaluation of these approaches.

To announce the release and availability of a final report, Implementation of the H-1B Technical Skills Training Grant: Grantee Characteristics and Experiences Providing Employer-Based Training, that describes the experiences of the H-1B Technical Skills Training (TST) grantees, highlights two types of program interventions used to address long-term unemployment, On-the-Job-Training (OJT) and incumbent worker training, as well as employer-based strategies. This report describes the TST program findings based on data and other information collected between the autumn 2013 and spring 2014. In addition to the data analysis, the report provides an overview of the TST grant programs, structure, size and services; and includes examples of five TST grant programs identified through site visits for the study.

This Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 25-15, Change 1 clarifies the U.S. Department of Labor's policy on eligibility determinations for the new target group (see Section 6), changes the certification date from September 29, 2016, to September 28, 2016 (see Section 9), increases the number of days from 30 days to 90 days for employers to submit a needs letter (see Section 12), and extends the 90-day grace period for states to modify their automated systems and grants an additional 90-day grace period for State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) to accept certification requests on "previously OMB approved"forms (see Section 13). The remainder of this TEGL informs and provides procedural guidance to the State Workforce Agency (SWA), participating agencies, and Federal and State partners on the retroactive legislative reauthorization of all Work Opportunity Tax Credit (WOTC) target groups, the Empowerment Zones that expired on December 31, 2014, and the introduction of a new target group and new WOTC ETA Forms. This TEGL also provides procedural guidance to SWAs for processing and issuing determinations for all certification requests.

To revise the status of Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) 11-02 Operating Instructions for Implementing the Amendments to the Trade Act of 1974 Enacted by the Trade Act of 2002 and TEGL 11-02, Change 1 Change 1 to the Operating Instructions for Implementing the Amendments to the Trade Act of 1974 Enacted by the Trade Act of 2002.

The purpose of this Training and Employment Notice (TEN) is to provide the workforce system examples, best practices, partnership models, and information on how to align resources available under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) to increase services to English Language Learners (ELL) with substantial cultural and language barriers to employment. It further provides information to the workforce system, including partner programs and entities that are jointly responsible for workforce and economic development, educational, and other human resource programs, about how to align their efforts to provide basic career services, individualized career services, and training services.

To ensure states are aware of the locality-based salary rates for certain Federal civilian employees.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) announces the release and availability of two papers under the subject project: Strategies for Connecting Unemployment Insurance (UI) Claimants to the Workforce System: Findings from the Implementation Study of the UI Workforce Connectivity Grant Program, and Experiences of Three States in Developing Social Media Strategies for Employment Assistance Programs.

To ensure State Workforce Agencies are aware of the Federal military retired pay annual cost of living adjustment (COLA) provided by the Department of Defense.

To ensure states are aware of the Schedule of Remuneration for the UCX program that reflects the military pay increase effective January 1, 2017.