New Act Puts Employers in the Driver's Seat for Job Training, Bypassing Initial Career Center Interviews

The Improve Employer-Directed Skills Act is making some big changes to how publicly funded job training programs work under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). In short, this bill shifts more control over who gets trained, and for what, directly to the employers.

The core of the bill is twofold: first, it streamlines the referral process, and second, it formalizes employer control over the training contracts. It also officially replaces the old term "customized training" with the new phrase "employer-directed skills development" throughout Title I of WIOA.

Fast Lane to Training: Skipping the Line

If you’re looking for a job and an employer offers to put you through specific, on-the-job training (OJT) with them, this bill could speed things up considerably. Currently, if you go through a WIOA-funded one-stop career center, you usually have to sit through an initial interview, evaluation, or assessment by the center staff to make sure the training is a good fit and that you’re ready for it. This bill creates an exception.

Under the new rules, if an employer refers you directly for training specifically tied to a paid job with them, the career center staff can skip that initial assessment. The employer just has to certify two things: that you need the training to get the job, and that you have the basic skills needed to actually succeed in the training program. Think of it as an employer vouching for you, which lets you bypass some bureaucratic steps. While this is great for speed—getting a job seeker into a specific training program faster—it does reduce the neutral oversight provided by the career center staff, who typically ensure the training is high-quality and the participant is truly prepared.

Contracts and Commitments: The New Employer Deal

This Act also gives local workforce boards the green light to contract directly with employers to provide this "employer-directed skills development." This isn't just a handshake agreement; the employer must submit a detailed plan. This plan needs to specify who is doing the training, how long it will take, and what credentials or skills the participants will earn.

Crucially, the employer must commit to covering at least the minimum required cost of the training, and they must provide a written promise—a guarantee—that they will hire the participant once the training is successfully completed. For employers, this is a clear win: they get publicly supported training tailored exactly to their needs, and they lock in a future employee. For job seekers, the guarantee of a job at the end is a significant benefit, reducing the risk associated with investing time in a training program. It formalizes the exchange: public funds for training in exchange for a guaranteed job offer.