Dr. Charisse Childers appointed to federal workforce council

Dr. Charisse Childers, Director of Arkansas Workforce Services, was appointed to the Workforce Information Advisory Council (WIAC)) by Secretary of Labor Julie A. Su.

The WIAC is a 14-member Federal Advisory Committee of workforce and labor market information experts representing a broad range of national, state, and local data and information users and producers.

The purpose of the WIAC is to provide recommendations to the Secretary of Labor. Childers is one of four state agency directors in the U.S. appointed and she will serve a three-year term. Childers was nominated by Arkansas Secretary of Labor and Licensing Daryl Bassett.

The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) was signed into law on July 22, 2014. WIOA is designed to help job seekers access employment, education, training, and support services to succeed in the labor market and to match employers with the skilled workers they need to compete in the global economy. Congress passed the Act with a wide bipartisan majority. It was the first legislative reform of the public workforce system since 1998.

WIOA requires states to strategically align their core workforce development programs to coordinate the needs of both job seekers and employers through combined four-year state plans with greater flexibility than its predecessor program (WIA).