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Unsurprisingly, another obstacle comes as a result of the numerous old, complicated, and state-specific administering systems used around the country. System maintenance remains a difficult task as many local agencies build or buy their own tools and databases, requiring workforce departments to stay knowledgeable about and keep up with multiple systems. As for system accuracy, it is extremely difficult to update every single system of all minor and significant changes to any type of data, leading to inaccurate info when it’s needed.

Data powers workforce systems forward and provides workforce departments with actionable insight. Amongst this data is available labor and jobs, government-provided training, the numbers and stats of each of those, and so much more. But unfortunately, as a result of the (siloed) array of administering systems that differ state to state (and sometimes city to city) mentioned in Part 1, workforce data is often not available holistically. 

March 2020 hit a record-breaking high for unemployment claims in the United States. At the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of unemployed persons rose from 1.4 million to 7.1 million according to The Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 5.2 million filed by mid-April. While millions of people continue to file every week, the workforce and unemployment departments are handling this drastic increase in system traffic. Many being overwhelmed by the demand as they deal with the immense number of administering systems and the different requirements that come along with each of them. That being the first of four points for improvement.