Missed Opportunities? Examining the Use of Wioa Waivers for out-of-School Youth Requirements

Background: In 2020, an estimated 4.8 million, or 12.6%, of young people between the ages of 16 and 24 were neither enrolled in school nor employed. Often called opportunity youth, this population is of concern to policymakers due to their potential for a negative life trajectory. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2014 (WIOA) serves this population. WIOA replaced the Workforce Investment Act, and placed a specific emphasis on WIOA youth programs primarily serving out of school youth (OSY), defined as being ages 16 to 24, not enrolled in school, and meeting criteria for at least one barrier to education, training, or employment. Youth-serving programs have described challenges to serving OSY in addition to the potential for missing in-school youth who could benefit greatly from these services. One option for addressing these challenges has been for Workforce Development Boards (WDBs) to request waivers to OSY requirements. However, little is known about the extent to which such waivers are requested and why. The purpose of this study is to examine (1) the use of waivers to adjust WIOA youth requirements and (2) the extent to which opportunity youth are participating in WIOA youth programs across the United States.

Methods: This mixed methods study included WIOA Youth Participant Individual Performance Layout (PIRL) records for PY 2021 (n=224,709) and 32 WIOA waivers requested by States and territories in PY 2022. All data was public use and downloaded from the U.S. Department of Labor (DOL) Employment and Training Administration website. We used descriptive statistical analysis of the PIRL data for WIOA Youth participation records to explore how opportunity youth are currently being served. We used content analysis to examine the type of WIOA youth waivers being requested, the stated rationale, and the DOL decision.

Findings: Examination of the PIRL data indicated that while 79% of participation records were for OSY, only 62% were for opportunity youth. Records for opportunity youth showed various barriers to education and employment, including being a single parent (31%), experiencing low-income (86%), having a disability (17%), experiencing homelessness (9%), having a criminal offense (11%), and foster care experience (4%). We found that of the 32 WIOA waiver requests made and granted to states/territories in 2022, 21 requested at least one waiver for youth services. The two requirements for which waivers were requested pertained to having to spend at least 75% of funds on OSY and only allowing individual training accounts (ITAs) for OSY. States commonly requested to expend 50% of funds on OSY and to use ITAs for in-school youth, also.

Implications: Waivers are an important policy tool to allow states flexibility in administering federal programs. Many states have long struggled to serve OSY (e.g., hard to locate), yet these are the youth that may be most in need of WIOA funded services. Widespread use of waivers to shift away from OSY raises questions about equity. Given the quantitative data from PIRL and the known needs of OSY, more robust resources and attention should be targeted to their use.