HR7566-119

What This Bill Does

This bill directs the Secretary of Labor to provide competitive grants to up to 15 eligible entities, including political subdivisions, Tribal entities, and combinations of contiguous local or Tribal entities, when unemployment is at least 150 percent of the national rate. A grantee must offer employment to any adult resident who applies through the program. Jobs last during the three-year pilot, must honor applicable bargaining-unit coverage, pay at least the greater of the referenced federal minimum wage, local required wage, prevailing wage, or collective bargaining rate, and provide FEHBP-comparable health coverage plus paid family and sick leave. Funds may cover supportive services such as transportation, child care, housing, needs-related payments, workplace learning advisors, adult education, reentry services, and financial literacy. DOL must create a Job Guarantee Program Trust Fund, use payment formulas and 80 percent spend-down rules, issue national job priorities such as child care, senior and disability care, clean energy, and sustainable infrastructure, audit grantees annually, recoup intentionally or recklessly misused funds, collect annual grantee reports, evaluate impacts, add qualified participants to the Work Opportunity Tax Credit, and receive such sums as necessary.

Who Benefits and How

Adult job seekers in high-unemployment communities, Tribal entities, eligible local governments, people with barriers to employment, workers needing supportive services, and employers later hiring pilot participants benefit from guaranteed jobs, training, benefits, services, and WOTC eligibility.

Who Bears the Burden and How

The Department of Labor, DOL Inspector General, grantee governments, federal agencies hosting pilot jobs, local workforce boards, and job guarantee grantees must administer applications, websites, wages, benefits, audits, reports, evaluations, recoupment, and trust-fund payments.

Key Provisions

• Creates a competitive job-guarantee pilot for up to 15 high-unemployment eligible local or Tribal entities.
• Requires pilot jobs to be available to adult residents and to provide wage floors, FEHBP-comparable health coverage, paid family leave, and paid sick leave.
• Authorizes supportive services, workplace learning advisors, adult education, reentry services, financial literacy, and up to eight weeks of training.
• Requires DOL audits, annual grantee reports, rigorous evaluation, trust-fund payments, recoupment rules, and national job priorities.
• Expands the Work Opportunity Tax Credit to qualified participants who complete at least three months in a job guarantee program.