Columbus – One workforce development area spends 97 percent of its funds on direct services to clients, while others spend as little as 41 percent, according to an interim performance audit of the Ohio Department of Job and Family Services (ODJFS) released today by Auditor of State Dave Yost.

“A variation of 56 percentage points is just too much,” Auditor Yost said.  “I commend ODJFS management for recognizing that and working to do something about it.”

This portion of the performance audit, requested by the Governor’s Office of Workforce Transformation (OWT), was designed to provide information on how Workforce and One-Stop system resources are used at the local level.  Results found wide variances among workforce investment areas in whether money is spent on direct services – core and intensive, support services and training – or on administrative services such as program management and overhead.

The report recommends that the ODJFS Office of Workforce Development (OWD) collaborate to develop performance standards that exceed the federal requirements to drive improvements to Ohio’s Workforce Investment Act (WIA) system.  The report also suggests that OWD and OWT work with WIA areas and one-stops to steer training away from occupations where data does not show substantial demand for jobs.

Another recommendation suggests that ODJFS standardize and automate the ways in which the 20 WIA areas report financial information to state-level managers.  Once automated, ODJFS would be better able to improve the quality of the data collected.

Today’s interim report is part of a larger performance audit of ODJFS.  Final performance audit reports of this agency, the Ohio Department of Education and the Ohio Department of Transportation will be released in June.  A full copy of this interim report may be accessed online.

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The Auditor of State’s office, one of five independently elected statewide offices in Ohio, is responsible for auditing more than 5,700 state and local government agencies.  Under the direction of Auditor Dave Yost, the office also provides financial services to local governments, investigates and prevents fraud in public agencies and promotes transparency in government.

Contact:
Carrie Bartunek
Press Secretary
614-644-1111