Progress and Challenge of Workforce Investment Act in the U.S.: Implications for Workforce Development in Korea

Workforce Investment Act (WIA) has a remarkable historic shift in national public workforce employment and training policy in the U.S. WIA was designed to unify a fragmented employment and training system and has evolved as a federal policy designed to serve the employment and training needs of job seekers (adults, dislocated worker, and disadvantaged youth) and employers. Since WIA enacted in 1988, it has made significant progress but still faces challenge in implementing the system envisioned under WIA. Then, the review of the progress and challenge can provide policymakers and researchers with useful lessons in conducting the Skills Development Accounts which recently has been tried out in Korea. In this sense, the purpose of this study was to review the progress and challenge of WIA and discuss the implications for workforce development in Korea. In addition, based on the discussions of WIA, several implications for Korean workforce development are suggested.