Territorial labor official outlines WIOA programs, youth initiatives and apprenticeship expansion

Commissioner Gary Malloy and senior staff of the Virgin Islands Department of Labor briefed the Senate Committee on Education and Workforce Development on March 7, 2025, updating lawmakers on federally and locally funded workforce programs that target construction, technology and health-care industries.

Malloy said the department delivers services through the territory's America's Job Centers and works with a one-stop operator, Equis Workforce Solutions, to administer adult and dislocated worker programs under Wagner-Peyser and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA). "The Virgin Islands Department of Labor builds the territory's pipeline through the workforce development programs that focus on those identified target industries," Malloy said in his testimony.

The committee heard a breakdown of program-year activity, performance measures and local appropriations. Malloy and his directors described: WIOA adult, dislocated worker and youth programming; the View electronic workforce system enrollments; Grow with Google online offerings; and the youth-team portfolio, which includes the summer youth work experience, the work-learn-and-earn model and the Lift internship for college students. The department reported program-year performance measures such as adult entered employment (67% for the second quarter of PY 2023, 64.2% in the second quarter of PY 2024) and various credential and…