Americans need a range of pathways to career success and economic mobility. Meanwhile, nearly the entire country faces a severe shortage of workers trained for high-paying jobs that do not require a bachelor’s degree. The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is the primary federal law governing the nation’s workforce development system and is a crucial policy to address these gaps. A decade after WIOA’s passage, significant challenges still hamper the workforce system’s ability to serve workers and employers. Policymakers across the political spectrum recognize the urgency of updating WIOA to put more Americans on the pathway to economic success.
