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Overview of the Workforce Investment Act (WIA)

The Workforce Investment Act (WIA) was signed by President Clinton on August 7, 1998 to reform the nation’s job training system. WIA establishes the One Stop Career Center concept, operating under state and local Workforce Investment Boards and offers a comprehensive range of workforce development activities through statewide and local organizations.

Key components of WIA include:

  • Streamlining services through the One-Stop delivery system
  • Empowering individuals through the use of Individual Training Accounts (ITAs) for eligible participants who have exhausted other sources of aid, and providing greater levels of information, guidance and support services from a single location
  • Universal access to core employment-related services such as job vacancies, career options, financial aid for education, employment trends, how to conduct a job search, write a resume, interview for a job, etc.
  • Increased accountability through the establishment of core indicators of performance that local and state managers of the workforce system must meet in order to retain funding levels
  • Strong role for local workforce investment boards representatives of designated service agencies and the private sector establish business-led boards that develop strategic planning, establish local policy and provide oversight of the local system
  • State and local flexibility to create a system that responds to local and regional labor market needs with significant authority reserved for the Governor
  • Improved youth programs linked more closely to local labor market needs and community youth programs and services with emphasis on academic and occupational learning.
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Workforce Investment Act of 1998

An Act to consolidate, coordinate, and improve employment, training, literacy, and vocational rehabilitation programs in the United States, and for other purposes.

Workforce Investment Act of 1998:

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Code of Federal Regulations

Through the Code of Federal Regulations, the Department of Labor implements major reforms of the nation's job training system and provides guidance for statewide and local workforce investment systems that increase the employment, retention and earnings of participants, and increase occupational skill attainment by participants, and as a result, improve the quality of the workforce, reduce welfare dependency, and enhance the productivity and competitiveness of the Nation.

Code of Federal Regulations:

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