SKILLS Act

Senator Scott offered the SKILLS Act as an original part of his Opportunity Agenda, which he announced last January.  Many key components of the SKILLS Act, whose main focus was delivering high-quality, efficient job training services to Americans who need them most, were incorporated into a bipartisan compromise, WIOA, which was signed into law on July 22, 2014. 

SKILLS Act

The SKILLS Act, S.1911, transforms our broken workforce development and training system into a more responsive and efficient program that will better enable workers to compete in the 21^st century economy. Nationally, despite spending $18 billion annually on federal job training programs, there are nearly 4 million unfilled jobs and 11 million unemployed Americans. To bridge this gap, the SKILLS Act empowers job creators, reduces bureaucracy, and provides American workers with a more flexible and effective workforce development and training system. The U.S. House of Representatives passed the SKILLS Act (H.R. 803), sponsored by Representative Virginia Foxx (R-NC), in March 2013.

Preparing American Workers for Today’s In-Demand Jobs

Focusing on Today’s In-Demand Jobs, While Also Reforming Job Corps, Adult Education and Vocational Rehabilitation Programs

·      Eliminating delays that hinder job seekers from immediately accessing job training services.

·      Modernizing programs to ensure education and training focuses on today’s in-demand jobs.

·      Supporting young job seekers by reducing the age limitation from 18 to 16.

·      Ensuring youth have the opportunity to receive a high school diploma and/or a recognized postsecondary credential upon completion of the Job Corps program.

·      Increasing provider accountability to ensure high-quality services for disadvantaged youth.

·      Focusing on teaching adult learners basic literacy and math skills alongside occupational skills.

·      Strengthening programs for individuals with disabilities transitioning into employment.

Streamlining National Workforce Training Efforts to Better Serve Job Seekers

Streamlining Workforce Training Programs and Improving Accountability and Transparency

·      Streamlining 35 programs and establishing a single fund to create a more user-friendly system and ensure more resources reach job seekers by reducing administrative overhead.

·      Creating common performance measures and independent program evaluations every 5 years.

·      Ensuring a percentage of funds are targeted to individuals with unique barriers to employment.

Strengthening Business Engagement in Workforce Development and Training

·      Strengthening the role of job creators in the workforce development system by ensuring 2/3 of state and local workforce investment boards (WIB) are made up of employers.

·      Creating regular workforce analyses to ensure WIBs are focused on today’s in-demand jobs.

Empowering State and Local Government Leaders to be More Efficient and Effective

·      Requiring state and local leaders to outline strategies to serve at-risk youth, individuals with disabilities, veterans, and other workers with unique barriers to employment.

·      Empowering governors to designate workforce areas to better align resources and continuing to allow states to create a unified statewide workforce development plan.

·      Simplifying the current system that prevents many community colleges from offering workforce development and job training and permitting direct contracting with community colleges.

·      Providing governors with program management tools to maximize service delivery for local needs.