By: Christina M. Reger

Last week, while most of you were taking off early to begin your holiday weekend, the Department of Labor, along with the Department of Education was busy publishing new rules to make your lives all a little more interesting. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), “is landmark legislation that is designed to strengthen and improve our nation’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.” A copy of the rules can be found here.

As summarized in the Press Release, “The rules reflect input from stakeholders including employers and community leaders and details what the goals of a modern, agile, effective workforce should be, and how partners can work to achieve those goals. These rules aim to spur growth in local and regional economies; streamline and improve the coordination of employment and training services across federal agencies; and strengthen collaboration between the federal government, employers, states and municipalities.”

As always, there are plenty of resources in case you are having trouble sleeping one night:

Fact Sheets – one, two and three; and the ever popular Frequently Asked Questions. There is also a Quick Reference Guide for the DOL Rule only.

But Tina . . . what does this all mean to me and what do I have to do now??

Read it all and find out! That’s what my mom used to say!

The answer is: it remains to be seen. These new rules are designed to HELP business identify and employ more qualified skilled labor. Let’s see how it actually develops.

Oh, and You’re Welcome.