An Institutional Analysis of American Job Centers: Study Highlights

To systematically document key characteristics and features of American Job Centers (AJCs), Mathematica and its partners—Social Policy Research Associates, The George Washington University, and Capital Research Corporation—conducted the Institutional Analysis of AJCs for the U.S. Department of Labor. In the second half of 2016, as the workforce system was in the early stages of implementing WIOA, the study team visited 40 comprehensive AJCs and examined a wide range of institutional features including administrative structure and One-Stop Operators, partner involvement, funding and resource sharing practices, data systems and sharing, and service delivery for job seekers and employers. The study provides a useful picture of the AJC system during the early days of WIOA. The findings offer insights into the changes and potential challenges WIOA raises for the existing AJC service delivery system in its efforts to fully implement WIOA and achieve its vision of an integrated workforce system.

This study summary provides an overview of the study design, summarizes the key findings from four study papers covering different aspects of the AJC system, and concludes with some implications for the AJC system under WIOA.