The state of Florida legislature recently passed the Workforce Innovation Act, 2000, which is supposed to address today’s leading business problem, the shortage and declining quality of labor. This summer, the state set up two new agencies to activate the legislation: Workforce Florida Inc. (WFI), a policy board, and the Agency for Workforce Innovation, WFI’s administrative arm. These agencies are required by federal legislation if the state is going to receive 15 cent flow-through dollars coming from Washington, from a pool of $120 million this year. But this federal flow-through funding comes with a lot of strings attached, including a huge institutional apparatus and a host of bureaucratic programs and regulations that effectually stymie any useful attempt to address Florida’s workforce problems.
