State's Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Progress Now Online

ST. PAUL – An online dashboard that tracks Minnesota’s progress in achieving goals set out by the Federal Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was released today by the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED).

The WIOA State Plan Dashboard seeks to provide transparency and accountability toward two key goals in Minnesota's WIOA State Plan:

• Reducing educational, skills training and employment disparities based on race, disability, disconnected youth or gender to provide greater opportunity for all Minnesotans.

• Building employer-led sector partnerships that expand the talent pipeline to be inclusive of gender, race and disability to meet industry demands for a skilled workforce.

“Making sure Minnesota’s economy is one that works for all Minnesotans, everywhere in the state is one of DEED’s principle goals,” said DEED Commissioner Shawntera Hardy. “The goals laid out in Minnesota’s WIOA State Plan, coupled with this new online dashboard, will better inform Minnesotans about the progress we have made toward that mission, and the work that still remains.”

Minnesota’s newly added WIOA State Plan Dashboard shows program activities and employment outcomes by program, year, race/ethnicity, disability status and gender. It includes participants who have exited from select workforce development programs within WIOA, and will be continually updated as data is reported to the federal government.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act was signed into law by President Barack Obama in July 2014. WIOA is designed to strengthen and improve the country’s public workforce system and help get Americans, including youth and those with significant barriers to employment, into high-quality jobs and careers and help employers hire and retain skilled workers.

DEED is the state’s principal economic development agency, promoting business recruitment, expansion and retention, workforce development, international trade and community development. For more details about the agency and its services, visit the DEED website or follow us on Twitter.