The Department of Labor's "Tools for America's Jobseekers" Challenge

[Commentary] In today's labor market, more and more people search and apply for jobs online. The National Broadband Taskforce at the Federal Communications Commission is developing a plan to ensure that all Americans will have access to broadband so they can take advantage of these online job training and placement resources. The Department of Labor is also taking steps to get more online job search and career advancement tools into the hands of job seekers. To that end, the Department's Employment and Training Administration is hosting the Tools for America's Job Seekers Challenge. The Challenge makes use of an innovative crowdsourcing platform to inventory online job search and career advancement tools, and allow workforce system professionals and jobseekers to explore, comment on, and recommend those tools. The goal of the Challenge is to help the workforce investment system identify the most compelling on-line tools to set job seekers on the shortest path to success. [Jane Oates is Assistant Secretary at the Employment and Training Administration in the Department of Labor.]