To announce the release and availability of the ETA Occasional Paper 2004-08: Personal Reemployment Accounts: Simulations for Planning Implementation.

To inform states of the Employment and Training Administration`s (ETA) intent to publish in the Federal Register proposed revisions to the Planning Guidance and Instructions for Submission of the Strategic Five-Year Plan for Title I of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 and the Wagner-Peyser Act as well as Workforce Investment Act Unified Planning Guidance.

To inform State Workforce Agencies(SWAs) of the 2005 Monitor Advocate Training being held in Garden Grove, California, March 14-17, 2005

To transmit information on the Federal military retired pay annual cost of living adjustments (COLAs).

To delineate the policy changes in the SCSEP income guidelines.

To provide the following information for FY 2005: UI State Administration base resource allocations, general guidelines for resource planning, above-base funding and SBRs.

To transmit the updated Agricultural and Food Processing Clearance Order, ETA Form 790 and instructions.

To transmit the subject computation for State Workforce Agency usage in computing minimum weekly DUA amounts for all major disasters declared during the second quarter of fiscal year (FY) 2005.

To transmit the revised Federal Schedule of Remuneration for the UCX program based on the January 1, 2005, military pay increase.

To announce the availability of the Performance Enhancement Project (PEP) on-line tutorial for WIA performance measures, in which is designed to explain WIA performance measures in a simple and easy to understand manner and to show the effect of the actions of program staff on reported performance outcomes.

To announce Fiscal Year (FY) 2005 training seminars for SWA BAM PCA/DCA investigators

To announce Office of Management and Budget (OMB) approval of the extension for the RJM data collection.

To provide states with the Program Year (PY 2004) ACSI Table of Weights.

To announce the reauthorization of the Work Opportunity Tax Credit and the Welfare-to-Work Tax Credit under the Working Families Tax Relief Act of 2004 (P.L. 108-311) and to transmit a policy clarification regarding acceptance and processing of certification requests for new hires who work in one state but received public assistance benefits in a different state.

To inform the state workforce agencies (SWAs) of their responsibility to provide certain services under the TAA for Farmers program established by the Trade Act of 2002 and administered by the USDA.

To inform state workforce agencies (SWA) of updated addresses for the Defense Finance and Accounting Service for use in verifying military pensions and annuitant pay information.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has contracted with Social Policy Research Associates (SPRA) and its subcontractor, Mathematica Policy Research, to conduct an evaluation of the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program. This Training and Employment Guidance Letter is to inform state agencies that SPRA will be contacting 25 randomly selected states to solicit their participation in the study.

To announce the Office of Management and Budget's approval to extend the collection of information for the Income and Eligibility Verification System.

To inform High Growth Job Training Initiative ( High Growth ) grantees of the November transition to the Employment and Training Administration's (ETA) On-Line Electronic Reporting System for the SF 269 Financial Status Report