Report 2013-102 Recommendations and Responses in 2015-041

Report 2013-102: Employment Development Department: It Needs to Address Data Issues to Better Evaluate and Improve the Performance of Its Employment Programs for Veterans

Department Number of Years Reported As Not Fully Implemented Total Recommendations to Department Not Implemented After One Year Not Implemented as of 2014-041 Response Not Implemented as of Most Recent Response
Employment Development Department 2 8 4 4 2

Recommendation To: Employment Development Department

To improve the quality of the performance reporting it submits to Labor, the department should work with Labor to develop reasonable controls to avoid reporting overstated and inaccurate performance measures.

Response

The EDD exercised due diligence by collaborating with the Department of Labor (DOL) on how to further improve the quality of performance data submitted to DOL. On September 22, 2015, DOL provided correspondence (Attachment 1) which supports that DOL is satisfied with EDD's efforts to ensure quality data is submitted. The following examples and corresponding evidence demonstrate EDD's collaboration with DOL to improve the quality of data transmitted to DOL:

-On May 5, 2014, EDD launched the upgrade of the California Job Opening Browse System (CalJOBSSM). This system upgrade includes a single-client record that significantly decreases the chance of overstated or inaccurate performance data being reported to DOL. To further support this system upgrade, we have included an excerpt from reference materials developed by our vendor, Geograhic Solution, Inc., which discusses the single-client record (Attachment 2). This document also provides information on how CalJOBSSM complies with applicable federal reporting.

-On June 19, 2013, at the request of DOL, EDD reprogrammed CalJOBSSM to automatically convert wages at or over $1,000,000 to $999,999 for both pre- and post-program wages. This change was necessary as DOL's Enterprise Reporting and Validation System is not capable of capturing wages of $1,000,000 or greater for a given quarter. The EDD's system modification allows DOL to receive wage data that more accurately reflects California's quarterly wages, as previously these wage records were rejected by DOL's data system. Although this change was made to accommodate DOL's Enterprise Reporting and Validation System, EDD continues to maintain the data which reflects the actual amount reported by the employer.

In addition, performance data is reviewed for accuracy and run through a number of edit checks before being transmitted to DOL. Anomalies identified through this process are researched and resolved prior to transmitting these data reports to DOL.

Recommendation To: Employment Development Department

To identify ways to better serve veterans in California, the department should assess the success or struggles of veterans within demographic categories in finding employment, such as age, race, or educational attainment, by comparing veterans' performance to that of nonveterans in the same demographic categories and across demographic categories and use this analysis to determine whether specific populations of veterans could be better served through more targeted efforts and to identify best practices for improving employment outcomes for these specific populations. Further, the department should provide the results of this analysis annually, beginning in 2014, to stakeholders, including local workforce agencies, the state workforce board, the interagency council, the Legislature, and the public.

Response

The EDD launched the upgraded CalJOBSSM on May 5, 2014. Through the new CalJOBSSM, current functionality is now available to gather performance data for veterans by demographic categories. The DOL/Employment and Training Administration 9002 and DOL/Veterans' Employment and Training Service 200 series reports are available within CalJOBSSM for reporting and data collection. The Program Reporting and Analysis Unit will continue to work with the system vendor and EDD's Information Technology staff to further provide data analyses. Additionally, the Program Reporting and Analysis Unit continues to improve product development for program processes, procedures, and formal statistical analysis that will allow the Veterans' Program Unit staff to collect and analyze additional demographic information needed to identify veterans' workforce services data such as the "Program Service Identifiers" implemented July 21, 2015, which provides specific identification of veterans with "significant barriers to employment" in CalJOBSSM (see Attachment 3).

The Veterans Program Unit is also in collaboration with EDD's Labor Market Information Division to further develop veteran demographic statistics with relationship to the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 2015. The Labor Market Information Division is currently developing a formal report which we anticipate will be available by the end of the calendar year. This report will incorporate four subject areas: state-to-state comparisons, gender, educational attainment, and unemployment compensation for ex-service members. The EDD envisions this deliverable will be made available to stakeholders annually to support measureable data which supports EDD's vision to provide continuous quality improvement of outreach services to our State's veterans.

Recommendation To: Employment Development Department

To better optimize its leadership role in the interagency council's employment workgroup, the department should ensure that the employment workgroup develops a timeline for completing its action items and develops a process for measuring its success in improving employment outcomes for veterans. Specifically, the department should take the lead for establishing a time frame for evaluating tools to help assess and translate military skills into finding civilian jobs and establishing a transition assistance program for veterans.

Response

The EDD has exercised due diligence and brought this to the Interagency Council's attention. As stated in our last response, establishing timelines and goals for the workgroup is not within the sole purview or control of EDD to accomplish. Therefore, EDD requests that this recommendation be closed.

Recommendation To: Employment Development Department

To assess whether it is doing enough to take advantage of federal requirements that federal contractors give preference to veterans when hiring, the department should determine why the reported number of veterans receiving employment with federal contractors is so low relative to the number of job referrals made and it should provide appropriate direction to the veterans employment representatives to better leverage the federal contractor job listing.

Response

The Office of Federal Contract Compliance Program (OFCCP) has been providing compliance assistance to federal contractors to help them develop a plan, policies, and procedures to implement DOL regulations (see Attachment 4), including giving preference to veterans when hiring. Since the Veterans Program Unit's reorganization to the Workforce Services Branch's Deputy Director's Office, many process improvements have been implemented, as the Deputy Director found that more emphasis was needed in improvement to the Veterans Program for DOL/Veterans' Employment and Training Service reporting and program development. As such, the Veterans Program Unit has established a close relationship with the OFCCP to help federal employers respond to compliance evaluation reports (see Attachment 5). In addition, the Local Veterans' Employment Representatives in the field offices are now assisting federal employers to meet compliance requirements by helping employers register in CalJOBSSM and posting federal positions.

Outreach to federal employers allows for participation in the established 24-hour job- posting holds for veterans in CalJOBSSM. This process also provides continuous outreach to new and established federal employers and maintains federal compliance with OFCCP; however, it remains the discretion of the employer to hire a veteran. Therefore, EDD requests that this recommendation be closed due to full implementation.

Current Status of Recommendations

All Recommendations in 2015-041