Department of Workforce Development

Friday, February 16, 2001 Governor Scott McCallum Secretary Jennifer Reinert

News Media Contact Rachel Biittner 608/266-8710 e-mail: news@dwd.state.wi.us fax: 608/266-1784

Standards based on job placement, wages, education and health benefits

MADISON – Department of Workforce Development Secretary Jennifer Reinert announced today that 95% of the agencies that operate the Wisconsin Works (W-2) program statewide are meeting or exceeding the required standards that measure job placement, wages, length of employment, educational activities and available health benefits.

"The standards provide the department with a clear measuring stick on how the W-2 agencies are doing in placing people into jobs, helping them keep their jobs, ensuring they make a livable wage, and that they receive necessary health benefits and educational opportunities," said Secretary Reinert. "This success is proof positive that expecting and rewarding outstanding achievement produces great results," added Reinert.

The standards were enacted to measure the performance of the W-2 agencies in the current contract that began in January of 2000. The contract standards cover the following areas, with the following requirements:

• Entered Employments – 35% of participants must have obtained a job
• Wage Rate – Those who obtained a job must have wages at least equal to those reported in 1998
• Job Retention – 75% of participants are still employed after 30 days, and 50% are still employed after 180 days
• Full Engagement – 80% of population engaged in required employment or training activities
• Basic Educational Activities – 80% of participants without a high school education are participating in educational activities
• Available Health Insurance – 30% of jobs have health insurance available through their employer

In total, 69 of the 72 W-2 agencies are meeting or exceeding the performance standards in the first year of a two-year contract cycle, making them eligible for the Right of First Selection for the next round of contracts that begin in January of 2002. The ROFS allows the agencies to re-contract for W-2 without external competition. The remaining agencies will be eligible to compete against other agencies for the next round of contracts.

"The standards were meant to encourage competition among agencies, and ensure that very strong efforts were being made to not only help people make the transition from welfare to work, but help people keep their jobs and advance in them. These results show, setting high standards translates into quality services for people needing help making that transition," said Jennifer Noyes, Administrator of the Division of Workforce Solutions.

Some of the highlights of the results include:

• 69 agencies are meeting all six of the standards.
• The remaining 3 agencies are meeting at least four out of six of the standards.
• Most agencies are far exceeding the wage rate standard with the highest at 136% of the target rate.
• Agencies are far exceeding the available health insurance standard with at least one agency reaching 100%.

Statewide Comparison of standards required versus average results

Comparison of Milwaukee Agencies

• Milwaukee had 77% of the W-2 "entered employments" statewide.

"The high performance of the Milwaukee agencies is a critical indicator of W-2’s success, as approximately 75% of those participating in the W-2 program live in Milwaukee county," added Reinert.

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