Senate to Hold Hearing on WIOA Reauthorization
Washington Update
Senate HELP WIOA Hearing
On Wednesday, June 12, the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee is holding the hearing “The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act: Supporting Efforts to Meet the Needs of Youth, Workers, and Employers” to discuss reauthorization of the bill, in keeping with Senate HELP Ranking Member Bill Cassidy’s (LA) statement at the start of this Congress that he would make it his priority to address expired reauthorizations. In April, the House Education and the Workforce Committee passed the A Stronger Workforce for America Act in a 378-26 bipartisan vote. Witnesses for the hearing include Taylor White M.Ed from the Partnership to Advance Youth Apprenticeship; David Bradley, PhD from Jobs for the Future; Monty Sullivan PhD from Louisiana Community and Technical College System; Lisa Bly-Jones PhD from Chicago Jobs Council; and Matthew Dickerson from Mid South Extrusion.
Click here to access the livestream of the hearing.
Appropriations
The House’s appropriations work for FY25 is well underway, while the Senate appears to be moving at a different pace. The House subcommittee markup for FY25 is set for later this month but Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Labor-HHS-Education-Related Agencies Ranking Member Shelley Moore Capito said not to expect a markup on the Senate’s bill until later this summer. For FY25 the Biden administration is requesting a $22 million increase for the Office of Civil Rights to increase investigative staff — an increase that Capito has signaled she’s wary of granting, saying she doesn’t believe the Administration has made investigations a top priority.
Short-Term Pell
This week the Senate Armed Services Committee will mark up its draft of the National Defense Authorization Act, which lawmakers consider a must-pass piece of legislation because of the numerous pay and policy provisions it includes every year. Included among the over 1,200 amendments is the Bipartisan Workforce Pell bill, which would allow students to use Pell Grants to pay for job training programs as short as eight weeks long. The bill passed the House Education and the Workforce committee in a 37-8 bipartisan vote, but earlier this year the House scrapped a floor vote.
Unemployment Rate
On Friday, June 7, the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) released the May unemployment report, which showed the U.S. labor market added 272,000 jobs last month - far exceeding the Dow Jones consensus estimate for 190,000. The unemployment increased to 4% from 3.9%. The labor force participation rate decreased to 62.5%, down 0.2 percentage points. The health care, government, and leisure and hospitality sectors accounted for more than half of the gains, respectively adding 68,000, 43,000, and 42,000 positions. Over the past year, the labor market has remained tight and has defied economists’ expectations for a slowdown. Economists say it is beginning to cool, but is still nowhere near breaking.
Click here to access the report.
Click here to read Acting Secretary of Labor Su’s statement on the April jobs report.
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