The United States Department of Labor (DOL) released an article addressing the steady gains that have occurred across different sectors of the economy for the past three years. The Jobs Report marks 34 straight months of private sector job growth, which have added close to 5.8 million jobs to the economy. To close off 2012, December finished a strong year of consistent growth with an average increase of around 160,000 private sector jobs per month.

The Center for Budget and Policy Priorities released a report discussing the relationship between SNAP and work among low-income households. The success of the core goals of SNAP in increasing the food purchasing power of eligible low-income households to improve their nutrition and alleviate hunger continues to be well documented. This report discusses previous documentations and addresses labor force participation among SNAP recipients, as well as how SNAP supports work.

This report describes work in Connecticut, Indiana, South Carolina, and Wisconsin to link Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) with other administrative data for operational and research purposes. The report describes the agencies and organizations involved, each state’s planning process, goals, and achievements, and the Urban Institute’s role as technical assistance contractor. All four states proposed linkages with the National Directory of New Hires (NDNH), but two states dropped these plans after learning of costs and limitations of the NDNH. The report concludes with recommendations for supporting future state efforts and for facilitating research use of the NDNH. (author abstract)

The U.S. Department of Labor's Campaign for Disability Employment Policy released a new video public service announcement (PSA) titled "Because." This PSA features real people with disabilities who are pursuing their goals and passions, and intends to replace myths and misperceptions about disability employment with new views of what people with disabilities can do. This campaign aims to serve as an outreach effort to promote the hiring, retention and the advancement of people with disabilities.

The Employment and Training Administration (ETA) issued Training and Employment Notice (TEN) No. 14-12, "Receiving Ticket to Work Payments as an Employment Network." The purpose of this TEN is to announce a streamlined process for the American Job Centers, State workforce agencies, and workforce investment boards to become Employment Networks (ENs) under the Social Security Administration's (SSA) Ticket to Work (TTW) Program. The following are a few highlights from the EN Payment Agreement: 1) it simplifies and reduces paperwork for public workforce entities to become EN's, 2) it permits the use of an Individual Employment Plan to receive payment as EN's, 3) it provides two options for payments, and 4) it permits the use of electronic tools.

Mathematica conducted an exploratory study for the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), Food and Nutrition Service, to determine existing measures for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) modernization initiatives. These initiatives included call centers, online systems, document imaging, kiosks, partnering, waiving the face-to-face interview, shortened interviews, and online expedited applications. An integrated report summarizes findings on initiatives across the 45 States participating in the study, including how they monitor and measure performance. It also includes suggestions for performance measures and standards to consider.

From the Center for Law and Social Policy, this resource provides an overview of the need for adult education, as nearly 30 million adults in the U.S. have below a high school education. The Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (Title II of the Workforce Investment Act) provides services to support two million adults in gaining basic skills and a high school equivalent degree. Such programs help adult workers gain the basic skills they need to attain and maintain employment, and thus, less reliance on economic support programs.

STAR is a training and technical assistance initiative of the Department of Education, Office of Vocational and Adult Education, Division of Adult Education and Literacy. It contains helpful research and information on adult literacy. One of their issue papers titled "The Role of Diagnostic Assessment in Implementing Evidence-Based Reading Instruction" may be particularly helpful to look at when implementing literacy assessments with their TANF population.

The National Coalition for Literacy is charged with increasing awareness for adult education, family literacy, and English language acquisition across the country. The organization's Web Site includes a wide range of resources related to adult literacy, including fact sheets, policy areas, blog postings.

Out of work, no diploma and struggling in poverty just three years ago, Quinton Sanders now has a full-time career in the medical field thanks to the Affordable Care Act's Health Profession Opportunity Grants program.