Pennsylvania Sen. Camera Bartolotta (R-Waynesburg) announced Dec. 2 that she would introduce legislation soon to strengthen the workforce system through data sharing.
In a memorandum to her fellow legislators, Bartolotta said the state’s 22 local workforce development board provide services to connect works and job seekers to employers, but that tracking the success of the system would be more effective through data sharing. Her legislation would require the Department of Labor and Industry and the Center for Workforce Information and Analysis (CWIA) to share already collected workforce data on wages, new hire and unemployment compensation with local workforce development boards. The legislation was previously introduced as SB 761 in the previous session, she said.
“One of the most important ways to evaluate the effectiveness of workforce development programs and services is by measuring customer performance. Unfortunately, local boards often wait extended periods of time – upwards of two years – to receive customer performance data despite DLI and CWIA having access to the necessary timely data,” she said in her memo. “The breakdown and lag in information and data sharing is a significant barrier to effective and efficient program and policy analysis by local workforce development boards.”
Pennsylvania’s 22 local workforce development boards provide essential services that connect dislocated workers and job seekers to employers that can provide career pathways to financial stability. One of the most effective ways to track the success of our workforce system is through data. In the near future, I will be introducing legislation that will require the Department of Labor and Industry (DLI) and the Center for Workforce Information & Analysis (CWIA) to share already collected workforce data on wages, new hires, and UC claimants with local workforce development boards.
Data sharing would provide effective and efficient program analysis, as well as help in fine tuning and improving workforce development programs and providing accountability in those programs. Bartolotta said the data would provide local boards with timely information that would allow it to identify potential customers and measure the successes and shortcomings of specific programs and customers.
Additionally, she said the wage, new hire and unemployment compensation claims data is only successful if it is shared in a user-friendly way and if CWIA provides technical assistance in supporting local boards in accessing the data.