Are you new to the Workforce Information Database (WID) and just trying to get a handle on what it is?  The following list of resources should get you started.

About the Analyst Resource Center (ARC). The US Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) provides funding to states to ensure that locally held labor market information (LMI) data is maintained and stored efficiently and consistently to facilitate its effective use and sharing. States get grants to directly support their work toward this aim. But what is the standard they’re trying to achieve? Who determines what the priorities are and how to structure them? These are complex questions that have answers that evolve as the available technology and data change. The ARC is group of state managers and database administrators who do this work on a day to day basis and who come together to set standards for the database.

Training and Employment Guidance Letter (TEGL). The Workforce Information Database is a required “core” product as detailed in the Workforce Information Grant. Every year the Employment and Training Administration (ETA) sends out the Workforce Information Grant TEGL (Training and Employment Guidance Letter) to the States that lists the ETA “deliverables” or core products and services that are required of the states by ETA. In turn, the states submit a document to ETA that includes a description of how they are fulfilling their deliverables. On this page you will find links to both. Please review the latest Statement of Work listed below for Workforce Information Database deliverables. For a listing of the designated core tables, see the Core Tables page.

ARC Training Guide. Click here to become familiar with various topics including WID structure, LEWIS, Database basics, and even basic communication tools to use with your IT staff.

Structure. A data structure is a collection of data values, the relationships among them, and the functions or operations that can be applied to the data. The ARC meets periodically to discuss the structure of the WID. The reason for this consistent structure is so that it can be accessed and modified efficiently by all the states’ DBAs.

Recent Updates. Click this link for a list of recently updated tables.

Upgrade the WID. Click this link if you want to learn about upgrading the database tables.

Help! Click this link to be connected to someone who can answer your questions that you might have about the WID.

Newsletter. Twice a year we produce a WID newsletter and send emails with new content.

If you’re not receiving email updates about new content or the twice a year newsletter, please email us to request them.