Department of Labor

The Administration's FY 2008 request for the Department of Labor (DOL) is $10.6 billion in discretionary budget authority, a decrease of $900 million (7.83 percent less) compared to the FY06 appropriation level of $11.5 billion. Compared to the FY06 budget overview, the agency’s payroll would increase by 679 full-time equivalent positions, however.



More than half of the agency's total discretionary budget, $5.6 billion is requested for the Employment and Training Administration (ETA). The ETA's mission is to contribute to the more efficient functioning of the U.S. labor market by providing high quality job training, employment services, labor market information and temporary wage replacement. For a second straight year, the budget continues funding for the Community-Based Job Training Grants initiative at $150 million in an effort to strengthen the links between community and technical colleges and local labor markets, and employers. Building on the High Growth Job Training Initiative, the Community-Based Job Training Grants seeks to prepare workers to take advantage of new and increasing job opportunities in high growth industries and sectors of the U.S. economy.



Similar to the FY07 budget request, the Administration's FY08 budget proposes to consolidate four DOL programs and state grants for basic employment services into a $3.41 billion Career Advancement Accounts (CAAs). This is the third year that the Administration has tried to create a unified grant program by consolidating the WIA Adult, Dislocated Worker and Youth programs and Employment Service state grants. The FY08 consolidated program would be at least $481.8 million under the comparable FY07 total for the programs reported in the DOL Budget in Brief.



Information on any future funding for the Workforce Innovation in Regional Economic Development (WIRED) program was not available at press time.