Workforce Investment Act - Iowa Workforce Development Region 15

Regional Profile

Workforce Investment Act

The Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) is designed to provide an efficient, effective and convenient system for job seekers to find jobs, employers to locate new workers, and for both to have access to information to assist them in developing career and business plans.

Some key principles behind this legislation - which went into effect in Iowa on July 1, 2000, and replaced the former Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) - include:

Streamlining services through a one-stop local delivery system. Customers can go one place to get answers to their questions.

Empowering customers to obtain services needed to enhance their employment opportunities.

Improving youth programs through academic and occupational learning.

Some of the core WIA services include help in résumé development, job-hunting skills, filing unemployment insurance claims, and finding out how to get information about employment and training programs' cost and performance.

Intensive WIA services are available for persons who remain unemployed or underemployed after using some or all of the primary services listed above. Examples of such services include individual career counseling, job-seeking skills classes, skills assessment, and job development assistance.

Persons who do not become self-sufficient after using intensive services may qualify for training funds and services through the Workforce Development system partners. These partners are required to provide access to training programs for adults, youth and dislocated workers as well as services and information, such as employment programs, unemployment claims, and services to veterans, long-term welfare recipients, older workers, the disabled, and persons in need of adult education and literacy programs. Click here for a list of WIA approved training providers.

Under WIA, each Workforce Investment Region must have a Youth Advisory Council designated to provide expertise and recommendations regarding youth employment and training policies.