GAO Report Highlights Exemplary One-Stop Centers that successfully provide workforce services both to individuals seeking jobs and training and to employers seeking qualified employees.

A General Accounting Office (GAO) report features exemplary one-stop centers in 14 states that successfully provide workforce services both to individuals seeking jobs and training and to employers seeking qualified employees.

Contact: Neil Ridley
Employment & Social Services Policy Studies NGA Center for Best Practices

Wisconsin and a few other states pioneered the development of coordinated one-stop centers in the 1980s. Under the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, all states are required to establish networks of one-stop centers with a range of employment, education, and training services.

Although one-stop centers have been under development for years, relatively little is known about their effectiveness. The GAO report helps to fill that gap by identifying common features and strategies of model one-stop centers. Some key strategies are:

* Streamlining services and improving access to services for individuals seeking jobs and training.

* Using specialized staff and developing specific services for employers seeking to find qualified employees.

* Working with employers through chambers of commerce and economic development entities.

* Strengthening partnerships among education, welfare, workforce and related programs.

* GAO Report http://www.gao.gov/new.items/d03725.pdf