Job Training: Characteristics of Workforce Training Participants

Publication Date: April 2001

Publisher: Library of Congress. Congressional Research Service

Author(s):

Research Area: Education

Type:

Abstract:

In 1998, the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) replaced the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) as the country's major job training program. Specifically, the adult employment and training activities authorized under WIA Title I-B replaced the adult training program authorized under JTPA Title II-A. There are a number of statutory differences between JTPA and WIA, which could affect the characteristics of who is served under WIA and the type of training they receive. These differences include the addition of individuals 18 to 21 to the definition of adults under WIA, elimination of the JTPA income eligibility criteria, elimination of the JTPA older worker set-aside, and the inclusion of new WIA priorities for providing training to recipients of public assistance and other economically disadvantaged persons.

Through the years Congress has shown considerable interest in who was served in federal job training programs. For example, in the 101st and 102nd Congresses, the House and Senate held hearings and passed amendments to JTPA that addressed issues such as "creaming" (the practice of serving individuals who are the easiest to place in jobs and require the least services), possible racial and gender disparities in JTPA services, and how to best serve older workers -- as part of the main JTPA program or in a separate "set-aside" program. In developing WIA, Congress also expressed interest in issues related to targeting services to various groups. This interest is likely to continue as WIA is being implemented and when it is considered for reauthorization in 2003.

This report examines the statutory differences between JTPA and WIA that might affect participation by various groups (e.g., public assistance recipients, the unemployed) in the WIA adult training program. This report also presents data for Program Year (PY) 1998 on specific characteristics of all adult JTPA participants receiving any services and data on general characteristics of only those JTPA participants who received training services. This data will serve as a baseline to compare the characteristics of WIA participants when PY2000 WIA data become available in 2002. (The program years 1998 and 2000 were chosen as comparison years because PY1999 was a transition year for the implementation of WIA, and PY2000 was the first year all states were required to implement WIA.) When WIA data for PY2000 become available, a second report will be written comparing the characteristics of WIA participants and JTPA participants.

This report presents an analysis of the characteristics of JTPA participants that answers the question "Who was served in JTPA?" and provides the basis for answering the question "How do persons served under WIA differ from those who were served in JTPA?" in the next report. Regarding demographic characteristics, PY1998 JTPA adult participants were more often female, members of a racial or ethnic minority, at least a high school graduate, either not employed or not in the labor force, and economically disadvantaged. Regarding training, individuals age 55 and older were less likely to receive training services than were younger adults, and public assistance recipients made up a higher proportion of those receiving basic skills training than other kinds of training.