More data needed to track outcomes of job programs for Black workers, report says

By Allende Miglietta

(Reuters) -New research from the Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies says that more data is needed to determine whether job programs like sector partnerships help Black workers who face employment and wage disparities.

The workforce system “exacerbates these disparities by steering Black workers into low-wage opportunities with minimal career advancement and economic mobility,” the report said, citing past studies.

Its analysis highlighted “sector partnerships” as a possible solution - collaborations between employers in the same industry, with educational institutions, community-based organizations, and unions - to develop workers’ skills and connect them with potential employers.

“[The] model has shown it can increase pay and job retention for Black workers,” said Justin Nalley, senior policy analyst at the Joint Center.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, signed into law July 2014, requires local and state workforce boards to collect and analyze regional labor market data to develop "sector initiatives for in-demand industry sectors or occupations."

The WIOA does not dedicate "specific funding to sector partnerships, though states can convene them as a job training expense," according to the report.

"It is a required Workforce Strategy to have sector partnerships, but there's no funding attached to it, so funding needs to be attached to it,” Nalley said.

The Department of Labor did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The U.S. House of Representatives passed legislation to reform the WIOA in April. The bipartisan bill, A Stronger Workforce for America Act, aims to expand workers’ skills development, codifies sector partnerships and their eligibility for funding.

The Joint Center added that a data requirement on "program level outcomes reported by race" should be included in the Senate version of the bill, which has yet to be passed. Black Americans comprise 13% of the workforce, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Federal and state agencies that oversee anti-discrimination policies, like the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, are underfunded, according to Algernon Austin, director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research.

“Our ability to identify and counteract discrimination in the labor market has been systematically weakened over time,” Austin said, adding underfunded enforcement leaves accountability gaps for inequitable outcomes.

The EEOC said in a statement that while it has "implemented efficiencies," it has recovered "significantly more in monetary benefits for victims of discrimination each year than our budget—$665 million in FY 2023 alone."

A U.S. Department of Labor 2021 study on the wage-growth trajectory of American workers in training programs, including sector partnerships, showed Black workers earning $2.46 to $15.50 less per hour than white colleagues after entering the transportation, production, healthcare and agriculture fields. By 10 years in the workforce, white workers’ wages grow approximately 28% more than Black counterparts.

“The availability of getting the skills you need to make higher salaries, a lot of those opportunities have been restricted just by discrimination,” said Democratic Representative Bobby Scott, who introduced the bill with Republican Representative Virginia Foxx.

(Reporting by Allende Miglietta; Editing by Kat Stafford and Aurora Ellis)