Agency Mission and Goals
The mission of the U.S. Department of Labor's Employment and Training Administration (ETA) is to ensure that all Americans have access to the resources they require to successfully manage their job lives and that U.S. businesses have access to the skilled workers and training resources they need to compete successfully in the global economy. To that end, individuals should be able to receive quality training and employment services and have access to good information and useful advice so they can make sound career and employment decisions.
The Office of Employment and Training Programs and the Office of Job Corps, which are part of ETA's Office of Job Training Programs, provide an array of programs designed to assist young persons in acquiring skills and obtaining employment. These programs have been shown to affect the participants' criminal behavior. For example, a study of the Job Corps program found that about 30 percent of the program's social benefits stemmed from reductions in criminal activity, especially burglary and larceny.
Activities and Priorities Relating to Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention
A number of ETA's goals and priorities relate to improving assistance to young persons to help them acquire skills and obtain employment, which in turn can result in a reduction in criminal activity. These goals and priorities include implementing school-to-work opportunity systems in a number of States, expanding Job Corps centers, increasing by 10 percent the number of Job Corps participants placed in jobs paying $6 or more hourly, increasing the number of young people in the summer Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA) program and the number receiving educational services, and increasing the number of apprentices.
The School-to-Work program, operated jointly by the U.S. Departments of Education and Labor, provides youth with performance-based education and training programs that will enable them to earn portable credentials, prepare them for first jobs in high-skill, high-wage careers, and increase opportunities for further education or training.
ETA will continue to work with its national and State partners to enhance the employability of youth and adults through its job training and apprenticeship programs and to provide workers with the critical skills and job search assistance they need to obtain stable and full-time employment, complete high school, or enter further education or training. ETA will continue to serve special segments of the population -- migrant and seasonal farm workers and Native Americans -- who tend to be the most disadvantaged. Frequently, these individuals are school dropouts with significant literacy problems. ETA will also continue to enhance the development of school-to-work transition systems nationwide to enable youth to take advantage of initiatives bridging school to work.
Although ETA does not have a separate budget for issues related to juvenile justice, the total budget for youth programs in FY 1995 was approximately $3.5 billion. This amount is roughly 40 percent of the agency's total budget.
The Job Training Partnership Act, Pub. L. No. 97-300 (1982), authorizes several job-training and education programs: