Better Jobs through Evidence and Innovation Act

Key Points

• The bill creates a new Workforce Development Innovation Fund letting the Labor Secretary award competitive grants to state and local workforce boards, colleges, tribes, and nonprofits to run job training programs with a track record of raising participants' pay.
• Grants come in three tiers based on how much proof a program has: early-phase grants test new ideas, mid-phase grants refine promising programs at one site, and expansion grants scale up programs with strong evidence to new locations.
• At least half of all grant funding each year must go toward expansion grants for the programs with the strongest proof of success, steering most of the money toward what already works rather than untested ideas.
• Grant recipients must spend at least 60 percent of their award directly running the training program itself, limiting how much can go toward administrative or overhead costs.
• The bill specifically pushes for programs to reach rural communities and people with barriers to employment, including through re-entry initiatives for formerly incarcerated individuals and apprenticeships.
• To make sure taxpayer money is well spent, most grants require an independent, rigorous evaluation by outside researchers measuring whether participants see real long-term earnings gains.