To provide guidance to the states regarding the content of the WIA Annual Report Narrative including: the procedures for submission of the report to the Employment and Training Administration (ETA); acceptable approaches to fulfilling the customer satisfaction requirements for PY 2012 and PY 2013; and narrative about strategies for serving veterans (as referenced in section 4, part F). The WIA Annual Report Narrative is due on Friday, November 15, 2013.

To provide ETA funding recipients with additional information about permissible uses of funds made available through the Fiscal Year (FY) 2013 appropriations process. Since States have not yet received their full Program Year (PY) 2013 allotments due to the current Federal government shutdown, this guidance is intended to answer questions about the use of these funds (once received) for WIA activities provided on or after October 1, 2013.

To respond to questions from state workforce agencies and provide guidance about the Federal government shutdown and the Unemployment Insurance program, including Unemployment Compensation for Federal Employees (UCFE) and Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC).

To provide ETA funding recipients with information about how the temporary suspension of the Federal government will impact the execution of ETA-funded programs and services.

To provide information to State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) about the potential for sequestration in Fiscal Year (FY) 2014 and how the Department of Labor (Department) would apply sequestration to mandatory Unemployment Insurance (UI) programs for FY 2014, so that SWAs can make necessary operational changes.

To provide the State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) information on the nomination extension process for EZs, and the date when SWAs can start processing certification requests for the two target groups, which require its members to reside in EZs.

To transmit the subject computation for State Workforce Agency usage in computing minimum weekly DUA amounts for all major disasters declared during the first quarter of Fiscal Year (FY) 2014.

To announce the availability of funds for the 2013 ETA Research Papers Program. This initiative will provide approximately $80,000 in funds, for up to 10 projects, to doctoral and post-doctoral students interested in writing scholarly, policy-relevant research papers on topics of interest to the public workforce investment system. These applications are due on November 11, 2013.

To notify State Workforce Agencies (SWAs) of the availability of funds through the Supplemental Budget Request (SBR) process for costs related to the implementation of sequestration requirements impacting the EUC program in FY 2014.

To update ET Handbook No. 395, 5th Edition, to include BAM standards for exhaustive attempts to obtain claimant information and to establish guidelines for coding errors when claimants fail to respond.

To inform states of the extension of approval from the Office of Management and Budget (OMB) for the use of the Form MA 8-7, Transmittal for Unemployment Insurance Materials, and to remind states to use it to transmit unemployment insurance materials.

To announce the release and availability of the Significant Provisions of State Unemployment Insurance Laws Effective July 2013.

To notify WIA Section 166 Indian and Native American (INA) grantees of a pilot study on credentials received by participants of the Native American Employment and Training program and to provide guidance on how to define a credential. The pilot study will be for one year, from July 1, 2013, through June 30, 2014. All grantees will be included in the pilot study, however, no additional information will be required from grantees as the data will be obtained from the Standard Participant Information Record (SPIR) file that grantees already submit every quarter. Upon completion of the study, the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) – in consultation with the Secretary of Labor’s (Secretary) Native American Employment and Training Council (NAETC) – will establish a “credential goal” for the Native American, Section 166 program. The purpose of the credential goal will be to promote increases in training that lead to the attainment of industry recognized credentials and employment. The credential goal will be in addition to the existing three performance measures for the Native American program (entered employment, employment retention and average earnings).

This Training and Employment Notice (TEN) is intended to improve reporting on training related employment for WIA programs. The TEN begins with general overview of the current state of the training-related employment and occupation information in the Workforce Investment Act Standardized Record Data (WIASRD) for individuals that obtained employment after program exit. Second, this TEN presents the challenges associated with collecting this information. Lastly, the TEN will present some state practices on effective ways to collect and report on training-related employment for WIA exiters who received training and obtained employment.

To inform the workforce system about the required process for providing outreach to and tracking outcomes of VRAP participants, including how the Department of Labor (DOL) will make available VRAP participant information to state grantees. It also includes procedures for American Job Center (formerly known as One-Stop Career Center) staff to offer VRAP participants employment assistance upon program completion or termination as required by the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. This guidance provides specifications for reporting to DOL on outreach activities and the employment outcomes of VRAP participants. This change also corrects an inconsistency on the reporting values, offers more details on report due dates, provides instruction for reporting individuals who are both VRAP participants and Extended Unemployment Compensation (EUC) claimants, and provides programmatic updates.

To specify the performance reporting requirements and associated timelines for submitting reports and/or individual records for the following programs/activities:

• quarterly reports and data validation results for the Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service;
• quarterly and annual reports and data validation results for the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) title IB programs and National Emergency Grants;
• the Trade Adjustment Assistance (TAA) program; and
• the National Farmworker Jobs Program (NFJP).

To provide guidance on the modifications to the WIA Performance Reporting System

To publish the nationwide list of AJCs that the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) has designated as significant MSFW and bilingual local offices.

To announce the 2013 National Unemployment Insurance (UI) Tax Conference that will be held in Washington, D.C., September 16 – 18.

To inform the workforce system of the implementation of the Final Rule establishing the UNTEER for veterans and eligible persons for use in evaluating States’ performance in assisting veterans to meet their employment needs.