S. 4382 — Workforce Data Enhancement Act

This section establishes a Workforce Data Quality Initiative grant program by adding a new subsection (d) to section 169 of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) (29 U.S.C. 3224). The Secretary of Labor must use not less than 5% and not more than 10% of amounts made available under WIOA section 132(a)(2)(A) for any program year—plus possibly other section 169 funds—to competitively award grants to eligible entities (i.e., state agencies or consortia responsible for state wage records used in unemployment insurance and labor market information, labor market information production, and core program administration). Grants support designing, developing, implementing, improving, or aligning statewide longitudinal data systems that integrate education, workforce development, labor market outcomes, and other data to strengthen program quality, build state evidence capacity, meet performance reporting requirements (including under WIOA section 116), promote privacy and security, increase transparency, standardize workforce data, and address skill needs. Applications must describe proposed activities and budget, expected outcomes, support for performance reporting and standardization, public-private partnerships, real-time skills data, privacy methods, and post-grant sustainability; priority goes to multistate consortia improving cross-state data infrastructure or skills exchanges and to projects expanding skills/credentials data, private partnerships, real-time data (including on AI/machine learning), non-Federal leveraging, or existing systems. Grant funds may support data linkages on skills and in-demand occupations across education, workforce, and labor market systems, among other activities.