Contracted by the Minnesota Department of Trade and Economic Development, Berkeley Policy Associates conducted a review of the Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program. Minnesota's Dislocated Worker Program (DWP) provides laid off workers with services to help laid-off workers with find new employment at comparable wages as quickly as possible, thus minimizing the adverse affects of dislocation on their own lives, their families, and their communities. Minnesota began offering services targeted at dislocated workers in 1983 with federal funding authorized under Title III of the Job Training Partnership Act (JTPA). In 1990, responding to a statewide recession and a rise in worker dislocations, Minnesota enacted a payroll tax on employers to supplement federal funding for dislocated worker services. Funds collected from the employer payroll tax were allocated to the State Dislocated Worker Fund and used to create a state-funded component of the Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program. (This fund was renamed the Workforce Development Fund in 2000.)

Due in part to the importance of ongoing efforts to refine and improve the Dislocated Worker Program and in part to the proposed reorganization of Minnesota's workforce development system overall, the Dislocated Worker Program sought out BPA to conduct a program review. In conducting this program review we relied on qualitative and quantitative methods and data. Our qualitative research methods included three key components: (1) a survey of states, (2) interviews with Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program Stakeholders, and (3) a literature review. Our quantitative methods included analysis of program data and secondary data sources for labor market information.

Publications:

Review of the Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program, Final Report (May, 2001) (PDF:829KB)
Presents findings and recommendations for the Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program. This report examines the extent and impact of dislocation in Minnesota, describes and reviews the Minnesota Dislocated Worker Program, highlights findings from our survey of states with similar state-funded dislocated worker programs and other states with innovative practices for dislocated worker services, and identifies policy recommendations and areas for program improvement.