TEGL_01-21_acc.pdf

ETA Advisory File Text

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION ADVISORY SYSTEM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Washington D.C. 20210 CLASSIFICATION Workforce Information CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL DNPTTA Workforce Information DATE July 1 2021 RESCISSIONS None EXPIRATION DATE Continuing ADVISORY TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO. 1-21TO STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES STATE WORKFORCE ADMINISTRATORS STATE LABOR COMMISSIONERS STATE AND LOCAL WORKFORCE BOARD CHAIRS AND DIRECTORS STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS STATE LABOR MARKET INFORMATION WORKFORCE INFORMATION OR RESEARCH DIRECTORS FROM SUZAN G. LEVINE s Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary SUBJECT Program Year PY 2021 Workforce and Labor Market Information Grants to States WIGS Program Guidance and Deliverables 1. Purpose. To provide program guidance for the development management and delivery of workforce and labor market information WLMI funded through the WIGS. 2. Action Requested. Per the grant agreement during the course of the year grantees must provide the deliverables according to the requirements and timeframes outlined in Attachment 1. Refer to Training and Employment Guidance Letter TEGL 19-20 for grant application submission requirements for PY 2021 WIGS funding. 3. Summary and Background.a. Summary This guidance published annually specifies grant requirements for WIGS which are funded by ETA. b.Background State workforce agencies use WIGS to develop and disseminate essential state and local WLMI for job seekers employers educators economic developers and others. This TEGL describes required encouraged and other allowable activities and explains the rationale for ETA policies and requirements. During times of economic changes the data and information produced by the WIGS is particularly important. 4. Required Encouraged and Other Allowable Activities. State workforce agencies useWIGS to develop and disseminate essential state and local WLMI for a range of customer groups 1 job seekers 2 businesses employers 3 workforce and labor market intermediaries such as employment school and career counselors and case managers at American Job Centers AJCs who help individuals find a job or make career decisions or 2 engage businesses seeking skilled workers 4 program and service planners at educational institutions and community-based organizations 5 policy makers including state and local workforce development boards WDBs 6 partners such as economic development entities and human resource professionals and 7 other customers including recipients of workforce development grants researchers commercial data providers and the media. Grantees have considerable flexibility to meet customer needs but must consult their customers and prepare several types of products. Required products. Grantees must populate and maintain a database see sub-section a. below produce two types of public products see sub-sections b. and d. below and ensure staff are adequately trained see sub-section c. below . If the grantee does not produce any of the four required deliverables it must negotiate an extension and a revised schedule with the appropriate ETA regional office. a. Workforce Information Database WID . WID 2.8 was released in May 2019 and states should have implemented it by July 15 2020. Accurate and reliable data are a cornerstone of the nation s workforce investment system. The WID includes the most important workforce-related data elements and defines them consistently ensuring comparability across jurisdictions. The Analyst Resource Center ARC an ETA-funded grantee which supports consistent LMI data collection provides and maintains information on the structure and content of the WID at www.widcenter.org structure-2 including background for this state requirement at www.widcenter.org why-a-standard- structure . States must use WIGS funds to populate maintain and update the WID. States must also use WIGS funds to provide related staff training necessary to meet the WID requirements. Grantees must implement and maintain the most current version of WID and populate all ARC-designated core tables. The ARC website www.widcenter.org document all-core-tables describes all required data elements and helps grantees obtain maximum benefit from the WID. ETA uses the WID to offer career information and guidance via CareerOneStop www.careeronestop.org ETA s suite of national electronic tools for job seekers labor market intermediaries employers and other states and developers use the information in their online tools. b. State and local industry and occupational employment projections. These projections are one of the most frequently requested types of labor market information. Projections are used to identify in-demand industries and occupations for career guidance to plan employment education and training and economic development programs as supporting documentation to apply for Federal grants and for many other purposes. Individual jobseekers and policy makers are particularly interested in projections during times of economic changes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics BLS funds national employment projections but WIGS fund the state and local sub- state projections produced by the states with assistance from ETA and BLS. ETA worked closely with the Projections Managing Partnership PMP a state consortium to make available a mid-term projections procedure to state projections 3 analysts through the Projections Suite software. The mid-term projections procedure has been approved by the PMP board and has been incorporated in the software for distribution to states. In PY 2021 states have the option of publishing either the two-year projection known as the short-term projection or the mid-term projection or states may publish both. The employment projections requirements are described in the table following sub- section e. below and deadlines for these products are established by the PMP. ETA s requirements do not differ between industry and occupational projections but vary for long-term vs. short-term projections or mid-term and statewide vs. sub-state projections. ETA grantees who are unable to produce the required projections must report this to their ETA regional office. Grantees must use the methodology software and guidelines specified by the state-led PMP to produce all projections. Additionally grantees must use the Local Employment and Wage Information System LEWIS to provide the staffing patterns for sub-state projections. To meet these requirements grantees may use WIGS funds to obtain training provided by the PMP see https projectionscentral.org ARC see www.widcenter.org LEWIS www.lewissupport.com and other LMI-related sources. Finally state occupational projections must be posted on the PMP website https projectionscentral.org as well as on the state LMI website to maximize public awareness and availability for use. c. Employee development and LMI training for service delivery. In accordance with section 3 c 4 of the Wagner-Peyser Act 29 U.S.C. 49b c 4 as amended by section 303 b 2 of WIOA states must provide employee development and LMI training to ensure quality service delivery. In an effort to promote robust use of LMI ETA encourages state LMI offices to provide training to state workforce agency staff local AJCs WBDs vocational rehabilitation providers providers to veterans returning to the civilian workforce providers assisting citizens re-entering the workforce after incarceration Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training SNAP E T providers and Temporary Assistance for Needy Families TANF service providers. The training provided and to whom should be identified in the state s WIGS Annual Performance Report. The provision of LMI training will help support a one-stop delivery system that provides high quality and professional services to the job seeker and businesses. Outreach and training are especially critical as states recover from the economic effects of the COVID-19 pandemic. ETA encourages LMI directors and their staff to actively seek opportunities to provide information and training to the local workforce system employers job-seekers AJCs and those seeking carrier advice. d. A statewide annual economic analysis report. ETA regards state economic and labor market analyses as essential to plan WIOA and other workforce programs. Therefore ETA requires statewide economic analysis reports and encourages annual publication. For years in which a comprehensive economic report is not issued grantees must publish 4 other economic reports of value to state policymakers including the governor and state legislature as well as state and local WDBs. Economic reports created by the state must be posted to the state LMI website. Grantees have broad discretion over the reports contents but they should include analyses of trends and challenges at both the state and sub-state levels. Examples of topics may include employment growth or decline actual and projected unemployment and other labor market hardship indicators such as low earnings identification of growing and or in-demand occupations and or industries other analyses of important industries and occupations COVID-19 economic decline and recovery and skill shortages mismatches or deficiencies within the limitations of the available data. The analyses should address the jobless population as a whole as well as the experiences needs and challenges of the targeted populations identified in state planning requirements. ETA will not accept the following submissions for the economic analysis report or its substitute 1 data tables alone 2 job listings 3 maps alone 4 reports done by the grantee for BLS e.g. news releases employment situation reports projections etc. 5 reports solely funded by Federal sources other than WIGS or 6 any publication that does not contain any economic analysis related to that state. e. Annual Performance Report. Grantees must submit a WIGS Annual Performance Report to their ETA regional office that summarizes all grantee activities including the core deliverables and activities shown below in the order indicated by October 1 each year. i. Workforce information database WID ii. Industry and occupational employment projections iii. LMI training for service delivery and iv. Annual economic analysis and other reports . Whether a core or optional activity each summary must identify i. A description of the activity ii. How customer consultation is used in each activity iii. Which customer needs are met by each activity and iv. If the activity supports collaborations or leveraged funding. Additionally given the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020 ETA expects that conditions in most states will change sufficiently to warrant a section in the Annual Performance Report to describe how the LMI office contributed to the states effort to help the state and local economy. Grantees are also asked to make any recommendations or suggestions to their regional office for improving the use of WIGS funding. Please note The WIGS Annual Performance Report must be signed by the state workforce agency head prior to submittal to the regional office. If this is not possible a 5 written justification explaining why the state workforce agency head has not signed must be provided to Federal Project Officer FPO for this grant. Required Methods. Grantees have considerable flexibility in conducting their work but must meet certain methodological standards in collaborating with partners consulting with customers collecting data disseminating statistics maintaining data integrity confidentiality and security and posting their products on the Internet. a. Partnerships. In order to best serve their customers and optimize the Federal investment grantees should establish and maintain partnerships that grantees consider relevant and mutually beneficial. Such partnerships help to increase resources improve program outcomes and help WLMI data influence planning and program decisions. Examples of partnerships to develop may include schools K-12 2-year colleges universities career and technical schools state-wide and local WDB and economic development boards any eligible training provider SNAP E T agencies TANF agencies veteran-serving organizations and other government agencies in your states and regions that use LMI or can use LMI in their planning and decision-making. b. Customer consultation. One of the key tenets of WIOA is meeting the needs of businesses and jobseekers. Further WIOA requires states to consult with customers including employers WDBs core partner programs such as education agencies participants students and others about the relevance of the WLMI collected and disseminated. WIGS grantees must consult with customers to ensure the workforce system is providing relevant and integrated information to support decision-making by state and local WDBs and other stakeholders. ETA does not prescribe how to perform outreach but suggests it be performed in collaboration with other workforce system entities that are doing similar outreach such as business engagement or industry outreach staff at the state and local level. Grantees must document these consultations in their WIGS Annual Performance Report. c. Data collection and research methodology. All ETA-funded data collection population and dissemination activities must conform to the appropriate BLS PMP ARC or generally accepted professi onal standards and methodologies . Information used in reports must 1 be based in part on needs identified through customer consultations and product assessments and 2 come from credible sources that meet professional standards. Multiple sources must be used except when the report is based upon a single survey. Sources must be clearly referenced and or footnoted. Any additional methodologies employed and any variants encountered in the research must be clearly described. d. Publication requirements. In order to maximize the availability of WLMI products grantees must post grant-funded products reports and workforce information on their websites in a readily accessible manner unless otherwise indicated and meet standard Federal accessibility requirements www.section508.gov . To meet this criterion grantees may use WIGS funding to develop maintain improve or host WLMI websites and other electronic delivery systems. Grantees must also use the approved language in 6 Attachment 2 on products or sites that are funded by WIGS. This language is in Attachment 2 for convenience but is a standard requirement included in ETA grant award documents. e. Information technology IT specifications. To maximize its usefulness any IT system or application developed with WIGS should adhere to industry-standard open architecture principles with documentation and software made available for use by other organizations for Federal governmental purposes. To enhance the reporting of the delivery of both virtual in-person and hard copy WLMI services to customers states are encouraged to work toward greater management information system MIS integration to capture WLMI services provided. Additionally states are encouraged to maintain and share with ETA state LMI website analytics such as the number of visitors page views top LMI pages or websites visited or other analytics the state would like to share. This information should be reported in the WIGS Annual Performance Report. Required forms files and deadlines. Please refer to TEGL No. 19-20 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act WIOA Adult Dislocated Worker and Youth Activities Program Allotments for Program Year PY 2021 PY 2021 Allotments for the Wagner- Peyser Act Employment Service ES Program and PY 2021 Allotments of Workforce Information Grants to States for application submission requirements for PY 2021 WIGS grants. a. Other standard forms and files. ETA requires grantees to complete ETA Form 9130 quarterly financial reports within 45 days of the end of each quarter. In addition grantees must maintain their internal grant files in electronic form and make these available upon request to ETA. b. Deadlines. By accepting WIGS funding a state agrees to fulfill all work specified in this guidance and adhere to the specified deadlines. ETA expects grantees to expend WIGS funds using a First in First Out spending system. All funds received from an earlier date should be expended before spending funds received from a later grant. Any carryover must be expended before spending new funding. Grantees must expend the funds within the three-year period ending June 30 2024. During the performance period the grantee and the ETA regional office may jointly adjust planned expenditures within the state s allotment. All WIGS expenditures must support the required and allowable activities and conform to reasonable necessary and allocable costs specified in 2 CFR Part 200 Uniform Guidance see https www.ecfr.gov cgi-bin text- idx tpl ecfrbrowse Title02 2cfr200 main 02.tpl . WIGS cannot be used to supplant funding from other Federal or state sources. Please contact your regional FPO if you have questions or need technical assistance. Encouraged economic and labor market reports and products. ETA encourages grantees to produce other reports and data in addition to those specified above. Grantees have wide discretion in both the topics and presentation format. These reports should include accurate 7 data actionable information and resources that enable job seekers employers staff in AJCs state and local WDBs policy makers and the workforce investment system to make informed decisions about the reemployment work-based learning training and career pathways strategies that lead to rapid reemployment and worker advancement along a continuum of high-demand and higher wage jobs. Examples of such other products include online self-service tools and other occupational and career guidance resources for job seekers including UI claimants industry- or occupation-specific research data visualizations job vacancy surveys supply demand analysis reports based on analyses of on-line job orders job ads data sources and studies of topics of continuing interest such as labor or skill gaps mismatches deficiencies and especially products and services provided in support of helping the state and local economy recover from the effects of COVID-19. Examples of these reports and products are found on state websites and various US Department of Labor websites. Other allowable activities. ETA encourages states to provide training and technical assistance to customers outside of the required LMI training for state and local workforce development staff. All LMI training provided by WIGS funded staff should be reported in the WIGS Annual Performance Report and should include the following information i. Type of LMI training provided ii. The customer group receiving the training iii. Date iv. Location v. Estimated number of individuals receiving the training ETA also encourages grantees to leverage WIGS funds by expanding partnerships among the workforce investment system and education training and economic development communities. 5. Inquiries. For questions on grant requirements contact the applicable ETA regional office. For financial management questions contact the applicable ETA regional office Grants Management Specialist Rahel Bizuayene at Bizuayene.Rahel dol.gov or National Grant Officer Serena Boyd at Boyd.Serena dol.gov. 6. References. Section 3 c 4 of the Wagner-Peyser Act as amended 29 U.S.C. 49b c 4 2 CFR Part 200 and 2 CFR Part 2900 Uniform Administrative Requirements Cost Principles and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards Rehabilitation Act of 1973 Section 508 as amended 29 U.S.C. 794d TEGL 10-19 Technical Assistance regarding the Submission Deadline for the Unified and Combined State Plans under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act WIOA for Program Years PYs 2020-2023 and Other Related Requirements February 3 2020 TEGL No. 15-14 Implementation of the New Uniform Guidance Regulations December 19 2014 8 TEGL No. 19-20 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act WIOA Adult Dislocated Worker and Youth Activities Program Allotments for Program Year PY 2021 PY 2021 Allotments for the Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service ES Program and PY 2021 Allotments of Workforce Information Grants to States April 27 2021 and TEGL 20-19 Revised ETA-9130 Financial Report Instructions and Additional Guidance April 29 2020. 7. Attachments. I. Consolidated Requirements for WIGS Grantees II. Language for Grant Product Attribution and Intellectual Property Rights