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ETA News Release: [03/11/2003]
Contact Name: Elissa
Pruett
Phone Number: (202) 693-4676
Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily Stover DeRocco
Testifies on Administration’s Plans to Improve Worker Training
WASHINGTON—Assistant Secretary of Labor Emily Stover DeRocco
today urged the House Committee on Education and the Workforce’s
Subcommittee on 21st Century Competitiveness to adopt the
Administration’s approach to reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act
(WIA). She called for the action in order to help speed economic growth, create
new jobs around the country and expand the reach of prosperity in both the
short and the long term.
“Over the past year, the Department of Labor has widely consulted
with stakeholders on how the workforce investment system can be further
strengthened,” said DeRocco. “Our challenge is to make WIA even more
effective and responsive to the needs of local labor markets, and to build upon
the innovations that have been developed.”
The Administration’s plan is designed to continue to transform and
further integrate the One-Stop Career Center delivery system into a cohesive
workforce investment system that can respond quickly and effectively to the
changing needs of business and the new economy; build on and improve “what
works” in the system; eliminate barriers to successful implementation and
fix what doesn’t work. Finally, the proposal seeks to improve links with
the private sector and with post-secondary education and training, social
services, and economic development systems to prepare the 21st
century workforce for career opportunities in high growth sectors.
In previous testimony before the House Committee on Education and the
Workforce, Labor Secretary Elaine L. Chao stated that the Department of Labor
has gone to considerable effort over the past year to gather input from
stakeholders on how they believe the workforce investment system can be
strengthened to help the country address the challenges workers face in
today’s economy.
In her testimony on Tuesday, DeRocco also explained the
Administration’s Workforce Investment Act reauthorization plan to reduce
the number of performance indicators from seventeen to eight (four for youth
and four for adults).
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