Federal Workforce Funding Library

Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (WIOA Title II)

$715 million as of 2026 (level funding).

What it does: AEFLA is the main source of federal funding for programs that teach adults basic skills—reading, writing, math, and more. For adults missing them, gaining these skills is a gateway to accessing better-paying and longer-lasting job opportunities.

Who it serves: Adults without a high school diploma or with low literacy skills, as well as people learning the English language.

Why it's important: There are at least tens of millions of adults in the United States who could access better-paying work if not for skills they did not learn or were not able to learn from the K-12 education system. Adults with high school diplomas are more likely to have jobs and less likely to need public services such as food stamps.

What challenges does it face: In summer 2025, the Trump Administration withheld much of this funding, creating great uncertainty for the programs and students that rely upon it. Separately, this funding is part of an effort to merge the Departments of Education and Labor’s workforce programs under common administration at DOL. This has created confusion among some grantees as to which agency and agency officials make decisions and on what.

Additionally, funding has not kept up with tremendous demand, and this demand could grow due to setbacks in basic education during the COVID-19 pandemic.

What could be better: It is hard to obtain the educational skills you need if you can't get to class because you don't have a ride or don't have someone to care for the people you love most. This money could better support access to childcare and transportation, which are vital to any workforce or education program for adults.

Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act (Perkins V)

$1.4 billion in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: The Perkins Act is the primary source of federal dollars for career and technical education programs in high schools and institutions like community colleges.

Who it serves: Millions of students at high schools, community colleges, and other institutions providing career and technical education. The program also provides support for career and technical education to middle-school students.

Why it's important: Perkins is a significant source of federal support for community colleges, which are vital to helping workers access good-quality jobs in the trades, healthcare, and technology. As the cost of college keeps going up, and the availability of student aid goes down due to recent changes by Congress and the Trump Administration, Perkins is an increasingly important source of funding for helping workers obtain better-paying work

What challenges does it face: The Perkins program is enduring a significant transition due to the Trump Administration’s move of Department of Education programs to the Department of Labor. DOL is attempting to integrate these funds with the planning processes for the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act. Separately, there have been reports that some Perkins grantees struggled to access funding immediately as the program moved from Ed to DOL infrastructure.

What could be better: Perhaps even more acutely than some programs, the need for Perkins funding is much greater than the dollars available.

Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE)

$171 million in 2026.

What it does: FIPSE’s mandate is to “improve postsecondary educational opportunities” across broad areas of concerns across higher education in the United States. In late 2025, the Trump Administration held a short competition that redirected FIPSE funds toward its priorities, including Workforce Pell implementation, “civil discourse” on college campuses, and new accreditors aligned with Administration goals.

Who it serves: Typically, institutions of higher education.

Why it's important: FIPSE is one of the few funding sources in the federal government intended to undewrite risk-taking in postsecondary education.

What challenges does it face: In committee report text, Congress set priorities for FIPSE including important needs like rural education and basic needs of students. The Trump Administration, not legally bound by these directions, redirected these funds to the priorities described above.

What could be better: If Congress wishes to safeguard these funds for their intended uses, it should include the intended uses in the statutory text of appropriations, not nonbinding committee text.

Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act Formula Programs (WIOA Title I)

Adult: $875 million in 2026 (a $10 million cut).
Dislocated Workers: $1 billion in 2026 (level funding).
Youth: $948 million (level funding).

What it does: WIOA is the law that unlocks the federal funding that makes up much of the money that America consistently spends on getting working people into jobs. Most WIOA money is sent to states and territories in amounts determined by a formula based on a variety of needs and factors.

There are four primary formula programs—Adult, Youth, Dislocated Worker, and Wagner-Peyser Act funding—with Wagner-Peyser funding supporting the administrative backbone of the federally funded workforce system. They are treated as one here due to overlapping issues, although they have distinct eligibility and use requirements.

Who it serves: Adults and young people who meet income and other eligibility requirements.

Why it's important: This money is America’s most consistent source of workforce funding. It also supports jobs centers where unemployed workers can access benefits and career services to help them find new jobs.

What challenges does it face: Several, which are detailed in more detail below.

This money is too scattered. Too few dollars go to states to handle workforce needs and the law diminishes the power of the money that states receive by splitting it too many directions.

This money is too restricted. States and workforce boards must show that workers who need rides or childcare cannot obtain this support from federal entitlement programs. That often sends workers into separate complicated government systems. It may be months before workers know that these other programs can provide the services they need to take training, and the benefits they do receive from WIOA programs often are inadequate to cover their needs.

The money favors low-wage jobs. A microscopic percentage of this funding routes workers toward training in which they can thrive, like Registered Apprenticeship. Instead, Congress installed an expectation that this funding will move workers toward the first available jobs, which often are low-paying ones.

What could be better: This funding would be more impactful if allowed to serve more Registered Apprenticeships and cover the costs of supportive services without requiring so much runaround by unemployed workers.

Homeless Veterans Reintegration Program

Funding is spread out over multiple years, but Congress added $6 million to program in 2026.

What it does: HVRP helps veterans who have no housing or risk losing housing by providing resources and training to ensure they have steady employment. It also provides resources for veterans in prison.

Who it serves: Veterans who face at least the risk of losing housing.

Why it's important: Historically, a significant percentage of unhoused Americans were veterans, although this percentage has dropped to as low as 5 percent in recent years. Homeless veterans can have significant behavioral health issues, and they can face challenges accessing steady work. This can be because these veterans do not have safe housing, but also a consequence of the private sector's frequent underemployment of veterans with skills not readily recognized by civilian employers. HVRP helps address this complex mix of issues.

What challenges does it face: This program is incredibly underfunded for the scope of the problem. Additionally, the largest employer of veterans is historically the federal government, which has laid off hundreds of thousands of employees since the start of the Trump Administration.

What could be better: Due to the complexity of unhoused veterans' needs, this program can focus on transitional job opportunities that help veterans find dependable housing, but not necessarily long-term economic security. Increased emphasis on Registered Apprenticeship could be an option for addressing both immediate and long-term financial needs of veterans. The Trump Administration altered the most recent of these HVRP grant to remove awards criteria promoting homeless veterans' access to safe jobs with living wages.

Indian Native American Programs

$60 million (level funded).

What it does: This funding covers jobs training, work experience, and services like childcare and training for indigenous workers.

Who it serves: As defined by federal law, American Indians, Alaska Natives, and Native Hawaiians who are unemployed, underemployed, or low-income individuals.

Why it's important: There are very few dedicated federal resources helping indigenous communities with employment and jobs training needs. This program addresses issues that acutely affect indigenous communities, such as geographic isolation and limited economic opportunities.

What challenges does it face: The program's funding has not kept up with increased demand for workforce support among indigenous workers.

What could be better: This program could benefit from additional dedicated funding that does not require tribal applicants to compete with frequently better-resourced state governments.

Job Corps

$1.7 billion for operations for operating more than 100 centers in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: Job Corps is the largest residential training program in the country, training young people in jobs ranging from career to conservations to the traditional trades to the culinary arts. Most, but not all, Job Corps centers provide for housing, healthcare, and help fill holes in their educational background.

Who it serves: Students from lower-income backgrounds ages 16 to 24. The program is prohibited from rejecting students simply for having had past contact with the criminal justice system, although students who have been convicted of serious crimes are barred from Job Corps. Additionally, the program provides services to people with disabilities and young people who are victims of human trafficking.

Why it's important: No other program provides the same level of dedicated and intensive support to this population of students, including making up for lifelong lack of dependable access to healthcare and behavioral healthcare.

What challenges does it face: The program faces unfair stigma based on its predominantly black and poor population of students, something seen in recent political attacks on the program. It also has struggled to fulfill its current mission at current funding levels, which have been static for around a decade. The Trump Administration also has sought to eliminate it. While Congress has taken steps to prevent this, it also has effectively locked the program in place without additional help while inflation chips away at its current funding levels.

Additionally, the program has statutorily required zero-tolerance drug-testing requirements that are much more complicated to administer in an environment where many states have legalized recreational marijuana use.

What could be better: Like many programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, Job Corps could better connect its graduates with higher-quality job placements instead of lower-paying jobs that are the easiest to access after graduation. One option could be to increase its ties to pre-apprenticeship programs that graduate students into Registered Apprenticeship programs in the traditional trades, which provide a competitive, progressive wage to young people.

National Dislocated Worker Grants

Level funded at $300 million, but significant portions fund other projects carved out by Congress.

What it does: National Dislocated Worker Grants (DWGs) provide emergency support to governments, nonprofits, and others to help respond to mass job loss events, such as plant closures and natural disasters.

In effect, there are four different types of DWGs.

Employment Recovery DWGs: Grants that respond to plant closures and other larger-scale layoff or joblessness events through special jobs training projects.

Disaster Recovery DWGs: Grants that provide temporary disaster-relief jobs and jobs training to minimize the job-loss impacts of natural or man-made disasters.

Opioids DWGs: A form of Disaster Recovery DWGs that respond to a national health emergency declaration based on widespread opioid addiction.

Special Projects DWGs: Occasional grants that target special workforce priorities. DOL most recently used this authority to cover part of the cost of a pay-to-train program to retain already-employed workers.

Who it serves: Dislocated workers, who are unemployed workers meeting certain requirements under federal law. Additionally, disaster grants assist workers whose unemployment or underemployment is related to the disaster that prompted the grant application.

Why it's important: These grants respond to mass job-loss events in ways other federal economic development and disaster funding sources do not, primarily by funding the needs caused to the local workforce system in responding to these strains. They also provide targeted projects that can move forward economic transformation in an area as well as assist in the cleanup and assistance that can relieve the effects of disasters.

What could be better: The requirements of these programs are unnecessarily complex and often hard to manage for grantees operating in quickly evolving or emergency situations.

National Farmworker Jobs Program

$97 million in 2026 (level funded).

What it does: This program funds career services and training for farmworkers to advance job opportunities in agriculture and other fields. It also supports clean, safe housing for these workers, which unfortunately is not always a certainty.

Who it serves: Migrant (meaning traveling, not necessarily immigrant) and seasonal farmworkers and their families.

Why it's important: This population—and the field—are vital to feeding America and the world. However, there are very few resources for ensuring that they have needed resources like housing as well as an opportunity to expand more technical careers in agriculture.

What challenges does it face: Due to stereotypes about farmworkers, this population and their needs regularly are overlooked, including by political leaders.

What could be better: There are worker shortages in high-tech and precision-based jobs in agriculture. The National Farmworkers Jobs Program could be an excellent source of talent for these programs given the experience and expertise of the workers involved.

Prisoner Re-Entry Programs

$110 million in 2026 ($5 million cut).

What it does: This program—currently called RESTART (Reentry Employment in Skilled Trades, Advanced Manufacturing, Registered Apprenticeships, and Training) initiative—is funding that aids people returning from prison and justice-involved youth in getting skilled careers and avoiding future criminal activity and prison time.

Who it serves: People returning from incarceration as well as certain teenagers and young adults with a history of contact with the criminal justice system.

Why it's important: This grant provides sorely needed help for inmates who want to join or rejoin the labor force. Stable jobs are key to ensuring that these workers do not return to prison, and the skills participants learn in Pathway Home are meant to help them find and keep that employment. It also provides access to skilled jobs that can create pathways for young people away from the criminal justice system.

What challenges does it face: These populations face significant stigma. They require also extensive services that are often difficult to fund adequately due to the amount of funding available for these grants and limitations in federal law on supportive services.

What could be better: Given the size and challenges facing America's prison population, the total funding available for this project does not come close to addressing the full need.

Registered Apprenticeship expansion dollars

$285 million in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: For the past decade, Congress has invested money dedicated to only Registered Apprenticeship. Since 2023, this money has totaled $285 million. Historically, this funding is split among state grants, larger-scale apprenticeship special projects, and contracts with intermediaries to help start new apprenticeship programs.

In 2026, DOL started using a significant portion of this funding to start pay-to-train incentives to encourage growth of apprenticeship in the United States.

Who it serves: By law, this funding must serve registered apprentices and registered apprenticeship programs.

Why it's important: Registered Apprenticeship receives a microscopic percent of funding from the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, the main source of workforce funding in the United States. These funds primarily favor short-term training programs. Despite political leaders claiming they want more apprentices, this is the only meaningful source of money that Congress consistently invests in apprenticeship programs.

What challenges does it face: Because this is the only consistent and dedicated funding for Registered Apprenticeship, it has many needs to address. A recent report found that only 3 percent of apprentices receive resources from this fund.

What could be better: More funding and more support for existing and well-performing programs that can bring more workers into the trades.

Senior Community Service Employment Program

$395 million in 2026 ($10 million cut).

What it does: SCSEP works with community organizations to provide work experience to older workers who face significant challenges in finding employment.

Who it serves: Lower-income workers age 55 or older who have poor employment prospects and are not ready for a job.

Why it's important: Income inequality and economic pressures are forcing Americans to work to older-and-older ages. SCSEP often serves the oldest Americans who are forced to work despite barriers such as disability, the risk of homelessness, and employer prejudices against hiring older workers. Other programs often overlook these workers because of work requirements or a lack of careful tailoring to the needs of older workers.

What challenges does it face: The Trump Administration is currently withholding hundreds of millions of dollars for this program without explanation, forcing many active SCSEP providers to shut down. It can be difficult providing services to workers who need them because of the persistent isolation among some elderly people and limited tech skills.

What could be better: This is a program with strict geographic service requirements. This can force grantees to spend significant amounts of time canvassing remote areas for participants instead of providing services to eligible workers available elsewhere.

Strengthening Community Colleges

$65 million in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: Community colleges have tremendous promise to connect more Americans to good-paying jobs through affordable—or in some states, free—postsecondary education. Strengthening Community Colleges grants help fund the equipment, staff, and infrastructure needed to see through that promise.

The 2026 version of this fund will be used to help implement the Workforce Pell program.

Who it serves: These grants generally address capacity and infrastructure issues, but they are intended to benefit unemployed workers, incumbent workers, and new workers.

Why it's important: Community colleges' promise for skilled trades needs money to happen in real life. This grant pays for scheduling changes and infrastructure that might not be covered by other sources of funding.

What challenges does it face: In addition to holding up other community college funding, the Trump Administration has proposed eliminating this funding. Put together, this could be a devastating blow to community colleges at the same time they are dearly needed to match increasing demand for trades and healthcare jobs.

What could be better: The $65 million Congress is way too little money for this big of a need.

Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations (WANTO)

$5 million in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: WANTO provides technical assistance to employers and labor unions to help women enter careers where they are underrepresented. It also supports pre-apprenticeship programs and vital supportive services like childcare, food assistance, and gas to help women overcome barriers to these jobs.

Who it serves: Women workers entering occupations where they have been traditionally underrepresented, often in the traditional trades.

Why it's important: WANTO's success stories are profound for its funding level, helping women access jobs and apprenticeships that they otherwise would not have reached without the supports built into the program. This is important due to very low numbers of women in Registered Apprenticeship programs. Research shows WANTO—and pre-apprenticeship programs like the ones it funds—can boost the earnings and careers of women in skilled occupations.

What challenges does it face: The Trump Administration has proposed ending this program and terminated most of its grants. Additionally, funding is tight.

What could be better: The funding for this grant is very low, with the largest amount appropriated to it being $5 million.

Workforce Opportunity in Rural Communities

$55 million in 2026 (a $5 million increase).

What it does: WORC provides workforce training meant to address the needs of rural workers in more than 700 specific counties and parishes ranging from West Louisiana to Maine. It can support apprenticeship programs and supportive services like childcare and transportation that can help rural workers commute long distances to jobs paying decent wages.

Who it serves: Unemployed workers, currently employed workers, and new workers.

Why it's important: The $50 million provided by the Department of Labor is vital to the workforce needs of rural America, especially those facing generations of poverty in places covered by WORC such as Appalachia and the Mississippi Delta.

What challenges does it face: In creating this program, Congress essentially asked that the federal government solve for every worker problem in rural areas with an abundance of need and a web of complex problems. These grants, then, are often very small and can only make the smallest of dents in the problems making it difficult for workers in these regions to find good-paying and steady jobs.

In 2025, the Trump Administration did not solicit one of these grants, without any explanation.

What could be better: There is a need for more workforce funding dedicated to the needs of rural America.

YouthBuild

$105 million in 2026 (level funding).

What it does: YouthBuild trains young people in the constructions trades and other skilled jobs while building affordable housing. It then helps those workers connect with post-job placements in their chosen fields.

Who it serves: Young workers from lower-income backgrounds, ages 16 to 24.

Why it's important: YouthBuild can be a direct line for young people into the construction trades at a time when we need more workers. It also provides leadership training that can be a key factor in helping young workers succeed, grow, and thrive on worksites

What challenges does it face: YouthBuild can be misinterpreted as a program meant to greatly expand America's affordable housing stock. While it contributes to this needed expansion, its focus on ensuring students receive training and succeed does not mean it produces significant amounts of new housing.

What could be better: YouthBuild could have stronger and more direct connections to Registered Apprenticeship programs, preferably with commitments to hire students to ensure they end up in good jobs where their wages and skills will grow.