Statement on Reintroduction of the Relaunching America's Workforce Act (RAWA)

For Immediate Release

WASHINGTON – the National Association of State Workforce Agencies (NASWA) issued the following statement on the Relaunching America’s Workforce Act (RAWA).

“We support this important legislation reintroduced January 28, 2021 that would fund career services and upskilling opportunities for millions of underemployed and unemployed Americans, especially low-income workers, dislocated workers, and workers facing barriers to employment. The bill also supports state workforce agency priorities related to developing multistate data collaboratives and more real-time state and local labor market insights to increase the effectiveness of workforce investments and ensure better outcome measures.

While federal policymakers and federal and state workforce leaders have been focused on distributing billions of dollars of unemployment insurance payments to unemployed Americans, our country’s reemployment and recovery mechanisms need equal attention as the needs for these federal relief efforts continue.

Since the introduction of the Act last year, changes to the nature of work have only accelerated, long-term unemployment and disparities in labor market outcomes have grown, and the needs for workforce development investments have multiplied. While this major supplemental funding is needed, enhanced ongoing funding is also critical if the workforce development system is to address the urgent need to transform its services and service delivery, take advantage of the new human-technology frontier and evolve into a world-class system supporting labor market transitions. To reiterate our support when the Act was first introduced, it relies on existing, proven funding streams that promote state innovation, flexibility and accountability.”