WIOA Titles I and III National Performance Summary

Program Year 2024

(July 1, 2024 through June 30, 2025)

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) establishes performance accountability indicators and performance reporting requirements to assess the effectiveness of states and local areas in achieving positive outcomes for individuals served by the workforce development and education systems’ six core programs. These six core programs are the Adult, Dislocated Worker (DW), and Youth programs, authorized under WIOA title I and administered by the Department of Labor (DOL); the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) program, authorized under WIOA title II and administered by the Department of Education (ED); the Employment Service program authorized under the Wagner-Peyser Act, as amended by WIOA title III and administered by DOL; and the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program authorized under title I of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973, as amended by WIOA title IV and administered by ED. WIOA has provided a historic opportunity to align performance-related definitions, streamline performance indicators, integrate reporting, and ensure comparable data collection and reporting across all six of these core programs, while also implementing program-specific requirements related to data collection and reporting.

Program Year (PY) 2024 is the ninth year state grantees reported performance information under the WIOA performance accountability provisions. Title I and title III grantees submitted individual performance records to DOL using the Participant Individual Record Layout (PIRL) (ETA-9172) and states certified the results using the WIOA Statewide Performance Report (ETA-9169). WIOA section 116(d)(2) requires states to report on outcomes achieved on the primary indicators of performance, including outcomes achieved by individuals with barriers to employment, characteristics of participants, and other information such as numbers of participants who received training and/or career services, and the average cost per participant of those services.

This summary reflects the information available from the PY 2024 WIOA title I and title III program reports. PY 2024 reports for WIOA title II programs and reports for WIOA title IV programs are available on the ED performance websites. The WIOA definition of participant does not include those who used only the self-service system and/or received information-only services. These individuals are referred to as Reportable Individuals and are excluded from counts of participants and from the calculation of primary indicators of performance.

PY 2024 data include information on participant characteristics and the six performance indicators: Employment Rate in the 2nd Quarter after Exit, Median Earnings in the 2nd Quarter after Exit, Employment Rate in the 4th Quarter after Exit, Credential Attainment Rate, Measurable Skill Gains, and Effectiveness in Serving Employers.

The following key areas and supporting charts represent DOL’s high-level observations of the national WIOA titles I and III PY 2024 performance results.

Trends in Program Participants

Figure 1 shows the changes in the number of participants for each program from PY 2021 through PY 2024. The WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, Youth, and Wagner-Peyser programs served over 2.7 million participants in PY 2024. This marks an overall increase of 3.2 percent compared to the previous program year (PY 2023).

Trends in Training Services Provided

Figure 2 shows the trends in the training services WIOA title I program participants received from PY 2021 through PY 2024. In PY 2024 the percentages of Adult and Youth participants receiving training services marginally increased while the same percentage of Dislocated Workers decreased. The actual number of participants who received training services decreased slightly in all three programs.

Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit

Figure 3 shows the PY 2021 to PY 2024 results for the Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The results for the Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit indicator were relatively stable since recovering from the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall PY 2024 Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit performance results are slightly down across all WIOA title I and III programs compared to the previous program year.

Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit

Figure 4 shows the PY 2021 to PY 2024 results for the Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit performance indicator. The Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit results have increased year-over-year since PY 2017 and this trend continues in PY 2024.

Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit

Figure 5 shows the PY 2021 to PY 2024 results for the Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit performance indicator. Similar to the 2nd quarter employment results, PY 2024 Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit results are slightly lower than PY 2023 for WIOA title I and III programs.

Credential Attainment Rate

Figure 6 shows the PY 2021 to PY 2024 results for the Credential Attainment Rate indicator. Note that the Credential Attainment Rate is not a required performance indicator for Wagner-Peyser.

Consistent with previous years, Adult and Dislocated Worker program participants most frequently attained occupational certificates in PY 2024. For WIOA Youth, the two most common credential types were secondary school diplomas (or their equivalent) and occupational certificates. Performance results for all three programs increased from the prior year, as a modest upward trend has emerged since PY 2022.

Measurable Skill Gains

Figure 7 shows the PY 2021 to PY 2024 results for the Measurable Skill Gains indicator. Note that Measurable Skill Gains is not a required performance indicator for Wagner-Peyser.

The PY 2024 Measurable Skill Gains results continue an upward trend driven by improved data collection and reporting.

Effectiveness in Serving Employers

The Effectiveness in Serving Employers (ESE) indicator is a statewide aggregate indicator that represents the work done on behalf of employers by all WIOA core programs. From PY 2018 to PY 2023, the Departments required states to report data for two of three pilot indicators: Retention with Same Employer Rate, Employer Penetration Rate, and Repeat Business Customers Rate.

In 2024, the Departments made changes in the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Effectiveness in Serving Employers Performance Indicator final rule (89 FR 13814 (Feb. 23, 2024)) (ESE final rule). This final rule, which took effect March 25, 2024, defines the Effectiveness in Serving Employers primary indicator of performance (ESE), as required by section 116(b)(2)(A)(i)(VI) of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), as Retention with the Same Employer. The ESE final rule required states to report the indicator as a shared indicator across the six WIOA core programs and PY 2024 was the first year of data for the newly defined performance indicator. Figure 8 shows the reported retention rates for the ESE indicator from PY 2021 to PY 2024. The displayed ESE results for years prior to PY 2024 are pilot ESE results reported by a subset of states that self-selected to report Retention with the Same Employer as one of their pilot indicators. The increased reported counts indicate states transitioned to the new definition of ESE as required.

Trends in Participants with a Barrier to Employment

Figure 9 shows the total count of participants with a barrier to employment for WIOA title I and title III programs over time. Serving individuals with a barrier to employment is a primary focus of WIOA. Over 1.3 million participants served in PY 2024 reported having a barrier to employment, a 7.6% increase compared to PY 2023. It is important to note that participants self-report many of the barriers to employment.

Figure 10 shows the percentage of participants with a barrier to employment by program over time. The percentage of WIOA title I participants with a barrier to employment increased in PY 2024 while the overall number decreased. However, the Wagner-Peyser program served more participants with a barrier to employment in PY 2024 than in PY 2023.

Types of Barriers to Employment

Figure 11 shows the number of participants with select types of barriers to employment for the WIOA title I programs as defined in section 3 of WIOA.

Low-income is the most common barrier, followed by English Language Learners/Low Levels of Literacy/Cultural Barriers for Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth participants and Single Parents for Wagner-Peyser participants. In the Adult program, which had a total of 250,160 participants in PY 2024, 73.2% of participants reported a Low-income barrier.

Figure 12 shows the number of participants with select types of barriers to employment for the Wagner-Peyser program.

Reportable Individuals

Figure 13 shows the total count of Reportable Individuals from PY 2021 to PY 2024. Reportable Individuals are individuals who engaged with the workforce development system by accessing self-services, received information-only services or activities, or who did not complete program requirements for eligibility or participation.

In PY 2024 the Adult and Dislocated worker programs reported 31% and 26% fewer Reportable Individuals, respectively. The Youth and Wagner-Peyser programs served more Reportable Individuals in PY 2024 compared to the year prior, with Wagner-Peyser driving and overall increase of 15% across title I and III.

Performance Data Availability

WIOA Primary Indicator of Performance First Program Year of Complete Performance Data:

Employment Rate 2nd Quarter after Exit - PY 2017
Median Earnings 2nd Quarter after Exit - PY 2017
Employment Rate 4th Quarter after Exit - PY 2018
Credential Attainment Rate - PY 2018
Measurable Skill Gains - PY 2016
Effectiveness in Serving Employers - PY 2024

Data Sources

Sources:

PY 2024 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
PY 2023 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
PY 2022 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records
PY 2021 Q4 WIOA State Performance Records