Worksystems is designated by the Governor and local government representatives to receive Workforce Investment Act resources allocated to the City of Portland, Washington and Multnomah counties. These dollars are appropriated by Congress and are administered at the federal level through the United States Department of Labor. Worksystems combines these dollars with other related resources to help grow and strengthen the quality of the regional workforce system.

Worksystems spends these resources in three ways – Administration, Coordination and Community.

Administration – Approximately 6.5% of Worksystems expenses are used to perform administrative functions, including financial and grants management, accounting, procurement, monitoring, compliance, human resources, and support for the Board of Directors and other organizational support activities.

Coordination – Approximately 12.5% of annual expenses are dedicated to Coordinating activities. These are activities Worksystems undertakes to help build a more effective system, including workforce research and best practice identification, industry consortium development, program and system planning, business recruitment and retention, resource development, advocacy/education, data management, evaluation and performance reporting.

Community – A minimum of 80% of Worksystems resources are distributed to community service providers and regional businesses to deliver direct services to job seekers, workers and businesses.