Wigs Tegl 2019

EMPLOYMENT AND TRAINING ADMINISTRATION ADVISORY SYSTEM U.S. DEPARTMENT OF LABOR Washington, D.C. 20210	CLASSIFICATION Workforce Information
	CORRESPONDENCE SYMBOL DNPTTA/Workforce Information
	DATE

ADVISORY: TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT GUIDANCE LETTER NO.

TO: STATE WORKFORCE AGENCIES

STATE WORKFORCE ADMINISTRATORS

STATE LABOR COMMISSIONERS

STATE AND LOCAL WORKFORCE BOARD CHAIRS AND DIRECTORS

STATE WORKFORCE LIAISONS

STATE LABOR MARKET INFORMATION, WORKFORCE

INFORMATION, OR RESEARCH DIRECTORS

FROM: MOLLY E. CONWAY

Acting Assistant Secretary

SUBJECT: Program Year (PY) 2019 Workforce and Labor Market Information Grants to States (WIGS): Program Guidance and Deliverables

1. Purpose. To provide program guidance for the development, management, and delivery of workforce and labor market information (WLMI) funded through the WIGS.

2. Action Requested. Per the grant agreement, during the course of the year, grantees must provide the deliverables according to the requirements and timeframes outlined in Attachment 1. As described in TEGL 16-18, to initiate the PY 18 WIGS, state workforce agencies (SWA) were required to submit the SF 424 to Grants.gov by May 10, 2019.

3. Summary and Background.

   1. Summary – This guidance, published annually, specifies grant requirements for WIGS. ETA funds these WIGS and specifies grant requirements.

2. Background – State workforce agencies use WIGS to develop and disseminate essential state and local WLMI for job seekers, employers, educators, economic developers, and others. This TEGL describes required, encouraged, and other allowable activities, and explains the rationale for ETA policies and requirements.

4. Required, Encouraged, and Other Allowable Activities. State workforce agencies use WIGS to develop and disseminate essential state and local WLMI for a range of customer groups: 1) job seekers; 2) businesses/employers; 3) workforce and labor market intermediaries such as employment, school, and career counselors, and case managers at American Job Centers (AJCs), who help individuals find a job or make career decisions, or engage businesses seeking skilled workers; 4) program and service planners at educational institutions and community-based organizations; 5) policy makers, including state and local workforce development boards (WDBs); 6) partners, such as economic development entities and human resource professionals; and 7) other customers, including recipients of workforce development grants, researchers, commercial data providers, and the media. Grantees have considerable flexibility to meet customer needs, but must consult their customers and prepare several types of products.

Required products. Grantees must populate and maintain a database (a below), produce two types of public products (b and d below), and ensure staff are adequately trained (c below). If the grantee does not produce any of the four required deliverables, it must negotiate an extension and a revised schedule with the appropriate ETA regional office.

1. Workforce Information Database (WID). WID 2.8 will be released in the coming months. The states are required to implement WID 2.8 within 14 months of its release. Accurate and reliable data are a cornerstone of the nation’s workforce investment system. The WID includes the most important workforce-related data elements and defines them consistently, ensuring comparability across jurisdictions. The Analyst Resource Center (ARC), an ETA-funded grantee which supports consistent LMI data collection, provides and maintains information on the structure and content of the WID at www.widcenter.org/structure-2/, including background for this state requirement at www.widcenter.org/why-a-standard-structure/.

States must use WIGS funds to populate, maintain, and update the WID. States must also use WIGS funds to provide related staff training necessary to meet the WID requirements. Grantees must implement and maintain the most current version (soon to be 2.8) of WID and populate all ARC-designated core tables. The ARC website (www.widcenter.org/document/all-core-tables/) describes all required data elements and helps grantees obtain maximum benefit from the WID. ETA uses the WID to offer career information and guidance via CareerOneStop (www.careeronestop.org), ETA’s suite of national electronic tools for job seekers, labor market intermediaries, and employers.

2. State and local industry and occupational employment projections. These projections are one of the most frequently requested types of employment statistics. Projections are used to identify in-demand industries and occupations for career guidance; to plan employment, education and training, and economic development programs; as supporting documentation to apply for Federal grants; and for many other purposes. The U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) funds national employment projections, but WIGS fund the state and local (sub-state) projections produced by the states with assistance from ETA and BLS.

The employment projections requirements are described in the table following sub-section e below and deadlines for these products are established by the Projections Managing Partnership (PMP), a state consortium. ETA’s requirements do not differ between industry and occupational projections, but vary for long-term vs. short-term projections and statewide vs. sub-state projections. ETA grantees who are unable to produce the required projections must report this to their ETA regional office.

Grantees must use the methodology, software, and guidelines specified by the state-led PMP to produce all projections. Additionally, grantees must use the Local Employment and Wage Information System (LEWIS) to provide the staffing patterns for sub-state projections. To meet these requirements, grantees may use WIGS funds to obtain training provided by the PMP (see https://support.projectionscentral.com), ARC (see www.widcenter.org), LEWIS (www.lewissupport.com/) and other LMI-related sources.

3. Employee development and LMI training for service delivery. In accordance with section 3(c)(4) of the Wagner-Peyser (29 U.S.C. 49b(c)(4)), as amended by section 303(b)(2) of WIOA, states must provide employee development and LMI training to ensure quality service delivery. Such training may be provided to state workforce agency staff, to their local AJCs, and WDBs, in an effort to promote robust use of Workforce LMI. The training provided, and to whom, should be identified in the state’s WIGS Annual Performance Report. The provision of LMI training will help support a one-stop delivery system that provides high quality and professional services to the job seeker and businesses.

4. A statewide annual economic analysis report. ETA regards state economic and labor market analyses as essential to plan WIOA and other workforce programs. Therefore, ETA requires statewide economic analysis reports, and encourages annual publication. However, ETA recognizes that conditions may not change sufficiently each year to necessitate an annual report, and gives states the discretion to determine their frequency. For years in which a comprehensive economic report is not issued, grantees must publish other economic reports of value to state policymakers (including the governor and state legislature), as well as state and local WDBs.

Grantees have broad discretion over the reports’ contents, but they should include analyses of trends and challenges at both the state and sub-state levels. Examples of topics may include: employment growth or decline (actual and projected); unemployment and other labor market hardship indicators (such as low earnings); identification of growing and/or in-demand occupations and/or industries; other analyses of important industries and occupations; and skill shortages, mismatches or deficiencies, within the limitations of the available data. The analyses should address the jobless population as a whole, as well as the experiences, needs, and challenges of the targeted populations identified in state planning requirements.

ETA will not accept the following submissions for the economic analysis report or its substitute: 1) data tables alone; 2) job listings; 3) maps alone; 4) reports done by the grantee for BLS (e.g., news releases, employment situation reports, projections, etc.); 5) reports solely funded by Federal sources other than WIGS; or 6) any publication that does not contain any economic analysis related to that state.

5. Annual Performance Report. Grantees must submit a WIGS Annual Performance Report to their ETA regional office that summarizes all grantee activities, including the core deliverables and activities shown below, in the order indicated, by October 1 each year.

1. Workforce information database (WID);

2. Industry and occupational employment projections;

3. LMI training for service delivery; and

4. Annual economic analysis and other reports.

Whether a core or optional activity, each summary must identify:

1. A description of the activity;

2. How customer consultation is used in each activity;

3. Which customer needs are met by each activity; and

4. If the activity supports collaborations or leveraged funding.

Grantees are also asked to make any recommendations or suggestions to their regional office for improving the use of WIGS funding.

Please note: The WIGS Annual Performance Report must be signed by the state workforce agency head prior to submittal to the regional office. If this is not possible, a written justification explaining why the state workforce agency head has not signed must be provided to Federal Project Officer (FPO) for this grant.

The table below provides details regarding the WIGS deliverables for states:

Deliverable	Required, encouraged and other allowable activities	Due Date
Statewide long-term	Statewide 10-year projections are required in alternate years.	July 7, 2020 for 2018-2028 projections.
Statewide short-term	Submission of 2-year projections are required each year. ETA also encourages states to disseminate their short-term projections. State may also produce longer projections (e.g., 3, 4 or 5 years). ETA also encourages states to disseminate these projections. ETA discourages development of 1-year projections	March 6, 2020 The Two Year Projections is projected to 2021 with a base year of 2019

Deliverable	Required, encouraged and other allowable activities	Due Date
Sub-state long-term	10-year projections	Not required this year
Sub-state short-term	Encouraged, but not required, activity	N/A
Work Force Information Database (WID)	All states should update to WID 2.8	14 months from release date
(WIGS) 2019 Statewide Economic Analysis Report	States submit this report to the appropriate ETA regional office. The Economic report should provide web links to any additional economic and labor market reports and products. Because of security, all files must be in a Portable Document File (PDF) format.	October 1, 2020
(WIGS) 2019 Annual Performance Report and signed cover letter	The WIGS Annual Performance Report must have a signed cover letter from the state LMI Director stating the state has fulfilled all the deliverables of the WIGS grant. The state LMI Director is to submit the signed letter and report as separate files to the appropriate ETA regional office. All files must be in a PDF format.	October 1, 2020
WLMI Training for the Workforce System	ETA requires states to provide LMI training to promote ETA’s LMI goals and objectives.	States must submit data on training provided as part of their WIGS Annual Performance Report to their respective ETA regional office due by October 1, 2020.
Licensing information: states must populate the database with the license.dbf and licauth.dbf licensing files	States must submit data to the ARC in the manner specified. See http://www.widcenter.org/supported-activities/licenses/ for guidance.	June 30, 2020.

Required Methods. Grantees have considerable flexibility in conducting their work, but must meet certain methodological standards in collaborating with partners; consulting with customers; collecting data; disseminating statistics; maintaining data integrity, confidentiality, and security; and posting their products on the Internet.

1. Partnerships. In order to best serve their customers and optimize the Federal investment, grantees should establish and maintain partnerships that grantees consider relevant and mutually beneficial. Such partnerships help to increase resources, improve program outcomes, and help WLMI data influence planning and program decisions.

2. Customer consultation. One of the key tenets of WIOA is meeting the needs of businesses and jobseekers. Further, WIOA requires states to consult with customers, including employers, WDBs, core partner programs such as education agencies, participants, students, and others about the relevance of the WLMI collected and disseminated. WIGS grantees must consult with customers to ensure the workforce system is providing relevant and integrated information to support decision-making by state and local WDBs and other stakeholders. ETA does not prescribe how to perform outreach, but suggests it be performed in collaboration with other workforce system entities that are doing similar outreach, such as business engagement or industry outreach staff at the state and local level. Grantees must document these consultations in their WIGS Annual Performance Report.

3. Data collection and research methodology. All ETA-funded data collection, population, and dissemination activities must conform to the appropriate BLS, PMP, ARC, or generally accepted professional standards and methodologies. Information used in reports must: 1) be based in part on needs identified through customer consultations and product assessments; and 2) come from credible sources that meet professional standards. Multiple sources must be used, except when the report is based upon a single survey. Sources must be clearly referenced and/or footnoted. Any additional methodologies employed and any variants encountered in the research must be clearly described.

4. Publication requirements. In order to maximize the availability of WLMI products, grantees must post grant-funded products, reports, and workforce information on their websites in a readily accessible manner (unless otherwise indicated), and meet standard Federal accessibility requirements (www.section508.gov). To meet this criterion, grantees may use WIGS funding to develop, maintain, improve, or host WLMI websites and other electronic delivery systems. Grantees must also use the approved language in Attachment 2 on products or sites that are funded by WIGS. This language is in Attachment 2 for convenience but is a standard requirement included in ETA grant award documents.

5. Information technology (IT) specifications. To maximize its usefulness, any IT system or application developed with WIGS should adhere to industry-standard, open architecture principles with documentation and software made available for use by other organizations for Federal governmental purposes. To enhance the reporting of the delivery of both virtual, in-person, and hard copy WLMI services to customers, states are encouraged to work toward greater management information system (MIS) integration to capture WLMI services provided.

Additionally, states are encouraged to maintain and share with ETA state LMI website analytics, such as the number of visitors, page views, top LMI pages or websites visited, or other analytics the state would like to share. This information should be reported in the WIGS Annual Performance Report.

Required forms, files, and deadlines. Please refer to TEGL No. 16-18 for application submission requirements for PY 2019 WIGS grants. Note that this TEGL specified a due date of May 10, 2019 for submission of application forms.

1. Other standard forms and files. ETA requires grantees to complete ETA Form 9130 quarterly financial reports within 45 days of the end of each quarter. In addition, grantees must maintain their internal grant files in electronic form, and make these available upon request to ETA.

2. Deadlines. By accepting WIGS funding, a state agrees to fulfill all work specified in this guidance, including the deadlines. ETA expects grantees to expend WIGS funds using a “First in First Out” spending system. All funds received from an earlier date should be expended before spending funds received from a later grant. Any carryover must be expended before spending new funding. Grantees must expend the funds within the three-year period ending June 30, 2022. During the performance period, the grantee and the ETA regional office may jointly adjust planned expenditures within the state’s allotment. All WIGS expenditures must support the required and allowable activities, and conform to "reasonable," "necessary," and "allocable" costs specified in 2 CFR 200 (Uniform Guidance see: https://cfo.gov//cofar/#RUUG). WIGS cannot be used to supplant funding from other Federal or state sources. Please contact your regional FPO if you have questions or need technical assistance.

Encouraged economic and labor market reports and products. ETA encourages grantees to produce other reports and data in addition to those specified above. Grantees have wide discretion in both the topics and presentation format. These reports should include accurate data, actionable information, and resources that enable job seekers, employers, staff in AJCs, state and local WDBs, policy makers, and the workforce investment system to make informed decisions about the work-based learning, training, reemployment, and career pathways strategies that lead to worker advancement along a continuum of high-demand and higher wage jobs. Examples of such other products include: online self-service tools and other occupational and career guidance resources for job seekers; industry- or occupation-specific research; data visualizations, job vacancy surveys; supply/demand analysis; reports based on analyses of on-line job orders (job ads) data sources; and studies of topics of continuing interest such as labor or skill gaps, mismatches, or deficiencies. Examples of these reports and products are found on state websites and various US Department of Labor websites.

Other allowable activities. ETA encourages states to provide training and technical assistance to customers outside of the required LMI training for state and local workforce development staff. All LMI training provided by WIGS funded staff should be reported in the WIGS Annual Performance Report and should include the following information:

1. Type of LMI training provided

2. The customer group receiving the training

3. Date

4. Location

5. Estimated number of individuals receiving the training

ETA also encourages grantees to leverage WIGS funds by expanding partnerships among the workforce investment system, and education, training, and economic development communities.

5. Inquiries. For questions on grant requirements, contact the applicable ETA regional office. For financial management questions, contact the applicable ETA regional office, Grants Management Specialist Chanta Ferrell at [email protected], or National Grant Officer Serena Boyd at [email protected].

6. References.

• 2 CFR Part 200 and 2 CFR Part 2900 Uniform Administrative Requirements Cost Principles, and Audit Requirements for Federal Awards;

• Rehabilitation Act of 1973, Section 508 as amended (29 U.S.C. 794d);

• Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL) No. 16-18, April 10, 2019, Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth Activities Program Allotments for Program Year (PY) 2019; Final PY 2019 Allotments for the Wagner-Peyser Act Employment Service (ES) Program Allotments; and the Allotments of Workforce Information Grants to States for PY 2019;

• TEGL No. 6-17, January 24, 2018, Modification Requirements for Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Unified and Combined State Plans; and

• TEGL No. 15-14, December 19, 2014, Implementation of the New Uniform Guidance Regulations.

7. Attachments.

1. Consolidated Requirements for WIGS Grantees

2. Language for Grant Product Attribution and Intellectual Property Rights

Attachment I

Consolidated Requirements for WIGS Grantees

The following table summarizes the deliverables and requirements in column 1 (the body of the TEGL explains these in full). Columns 2 and 3 contain important administrative details that have not been included in the body of the TEGL, which focuses on policy.

Deliverables and Requirements	Due Dates	Submission, Formatting and Other Requirements
REPORTING
SF 424 (Application for Federal Assistance) Instructions for the SF-424 and forms can be found at https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/forms/sf-424-family.html. Select either “Instructions” or “PDF” for OMB number 4040-0004, currently the third row on the page. If a state believes it is necessary to revise their expenditure plan due to unforeseen factors, the state may petition the regional office for approval to modify the plan. Sample completed SF 424 forms may be obtained from the applicable ETA regional office.	The SF 424 is required to be submitted to Grants.gov by May 10, 2019.	States must submit the SF 424 to www.Grants.gov.
ETA Form 9130 quarterly financial reports. All sections of the form must be completed.	Within 45 days after the end of each quarter	August 14, 2019, November 14, 2019, February 14, 2020, May 14, 2020.
WIGS Annual Performance Report. The report must include hyperlinks to all published products, and major unpublished products must be attached. It must also summarize all activities, including the following. Describe all deliverables, highlighting new accomplishments and noting whether partnerships or collaborations were involved. The required customer consultations regarding products and services, including the customer needs identified. If customers identified needed improvements, state the responsive measures taken. Partnership and collaborative efforts, including activities to leverage grant funding and new activities. Recommendations to ETA for changes and improvements. Description of the training provided to include date, subject, who attended and the presenter(s).	October 1, 2020	1) This report must be submitted to the appropriate ETA regional office in a Section 508-compliant accessible PDF format for posting online on www.doleta.gov. 2) Unless a product referred to is a Web site, all Internet links in the document must lead directly to the product, not to a Web site that includes the product. 3) See general product and publication requirements.

Deliverables and Requirements	Due Dates	Submission, Formatting and Other Requirements
PRODUCT AND PUBLICATION REQUIREMENTS
Product Requirements (general) Provide accurate and actionable information that enables informed decisions by customers, and supports the development of data-driven strategies and policies. Produce products benefitting the governor, state legislature, state and local WDBs, relevant stakeholders, and the public. ETA encourages grantees to notify their regional office when products are posted on the Internet.	Ongoing	All products must include the date of issuance or revision, and an acknowledgement that the product was produced either in whole or in part with Department of Labor-funded WIGS. Documents must be formatted to permit parts to be copied (including specific words), e.g., a MS Word document or accessible .pdf formatting enabling such copying.
Publication Requirements (general). States must post all grant-funded products, reports, and workforce information on the Internet in a manner accessible to all members of the public (unless otherwise indicated), and comply with Rehabilitation Act Section 508 requirements.	Within a reasonable period after the completion of the work	States must include links to all WIGS-funded published material on their LMI Web site, and present it in a manner that makes it easy for the public to find this material.
Workforce Information Database (WID). Implement and maintain the most current version (soon to be 2.8) of the WID and populate all designated core tables in accordance with Analyst Resource Center (ARC) guidelines (required data elements are listed at www.widcenter.org/state-dbas).	Within 14 months from the release of a new database version	Implemented in the manner specified by the ARC. [States should inform their regional office if they use supplemental or non-standard WID tables.]
Occupational licensing information: states must populate the database with the license.dbf and licauth.dbf licensing files.	June 30, 2020	States must submit data in the manner specified by ARC.

Deliverables and Requirements	Due Dates	Submission, Formatting and Other Requirements
Employment Projections (general)	Ongoing	State must provide links to all published projections in the WIGS Annual Performance Report. Any unpublished projections products must be provided to the ETA regional office.
Statewide long-term industry and occupational projections 10-year projections	Due July 7, 2020 (2018-2028)	File must be provided to PMP in a manner to be specified by the PMP.
Statewide short-term industry and occupational projections 2-year projections	Due March 6, 2020 for projections from 2018-2020.	File must be provided to PMP in a manner to be specified by the PMP.
Sub-state long-term industry and occupational projections 10-year projections	NA	No Sub-state 10 Year Projections required under this TEGL. Please note these will be required under next year’s TEGL.
Sub-state short-term industry and occupational projections [Optional: allowable and encouraged, but not required, activity]	NA	If submitted, the file must be provided to PMP in a manner to be specified by the PMP.

Deliverables and Requirements	Due Dates	Submission, Formatting and Other Requirements
Annual and Economic Analysis Reports (or substitute as explained in the body of the TEGL). The information must be based on needs identified through customer consultations; must come from multiple, credible sources; and must be clearly referenced and/or footnoted.	Economic Reports due October 1, 2020 Annual Reports and signed cover letter due October 1, 2020	The WIGS Annual Performance Report must have a signed cover letter, from the state Workforce Agency director, stating the state has fulfilled all the deliverables of the WIGS grant. The state LMI Director is to submit the signed letter and report as separate files to the appropriate ETA regional office. All Economic Analysis and WIGS Annual Performance Reports files must be in PDF format. Unless a product referred to is a Web site, all Internet links in the document must lead directly to the product, not to a Web site that includes the product. See general product and publication requirements.
Other Published Reports. The information must be based on needs identified through customer consultations; must come from multiple, credible sources; and must be clearly referenced and/or footnoted.	Within 90 calendar days following the end of the program year	Must be formatted in a manner to permit parts of it to be copied (including specific words), e.g., a MS Word document or accessible .pdf formatting enabling such copying.

OTHER REQUIREMENTS	Due Date
Data collection. All data collection, population, and dissemination activities must conform to the appropriate BLS, PMP, ARC, or generally accepted professional standards and methodologies.	Ongoing
IT systems and applications. Any IT system or application developed with WIGS is to adhere to industry-standard, open architecture principles with documentation and software made available for use by other organizations for Federal governmental purposes.	Ongoing

Attachment II

Language for Grant Product Attribution and Intellectual Property Rights

The following language needs to appear on all products developed in whole or in part with grant funds:

“This workforce product was funded by a grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration. The product was created by the recipient and does not necessarily reflect the official position of the U.S. Department of Labor. The U.S. Department of Labor makes no guarantees, warranties, or assurances of any kind, express or implied, with respect to such information, including any information on linked sites and including, but not limited to, accuracy of the information or its completeness, timeliness, usefulness, adequacy, continued availability, or ownership. This product is copyrighted by the institution that created it. Internal use by an organization and/or personal use by an individual for non-commercial purposes is permissible. All other uses require the prior authorization of the copyright owner.”

In addition, the following text needs to appear when applicable:

“The Federal Government reserves a paid-up, nonexclusive and irrevocable license to reproduce, publish or otherwise use, and to authorize others to use for federal purposes: i) the copyright in all products developed under the grant, including a subgrant or contract under the grant or subgrant; and ii) any rights of copyright to which the recipient, subrecipient or a contractor purchases ownership under an award (including but not limited to curricula, training models, technical assistance products, and any related materials). Such uses include, but are not limited to, the right to modify and distribute such products worldwide by any means, electronically or otherwise. Federal funds may not be used to pay any royalty or license fee for use of a copyrighted work, or the cost of acquiring by purchase a copyright in a work, where the Department has a license or rights of free use in such work, although they may be used to pay costs for obtaining a copy which is limited to the developer/seller costs of copying and shipping. If revenues are generated through selling products developed with grant funds, including intellectual property, these revenues are program income. Program income must be used in accordance with the provisions of this grant award and 2 CFR 200.307.”

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