HR 5380119th CongressIn Committee

Labor Market Response Act

Introduced: Sep 16, 2025

Labor & Employment

Standard Summary

Comprehensive overview in 1-2 paragraphs

The Labor Market Response Act is a bill that would affect the Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG) program, which operates under Section 2008 of the Social Security Act. The core change requires every grant application to include evidence of current labor market needs—specifically, descriptions of recent labor market information and evidence of in-demand health care jobs or worker shortages. In practical terms, this means grant applicants must demonstrate that the proposed training or placement projects align with sectors and occupations where there is actual, recent demand for workers. The bill also makes a minor technical change to the SSA statute to accommodate this new requirement and sets an effective date of October 1, 2025.

Key Points

1Adds an application requirement: Each HPOG grant application must describe the availability and relevance of recent labor market information and provide evidence of in-demand health care jobs or worker shortages.
2Statutory redesign: Reconfigures subsections of Section 2008 of the Social Security Act to insert the new requirement and adjust numbering (c moves to d, d moves to e, with the new subsection c added after subsection b).
3Program affected: Applies specifically to Health Profession Opportunity Grants under Section 2008 of the Social Security Act.
4Effective date: Takes effect October 1, 2025.
5Purpose: Aims to ensure HPOG funds support training and placements that reflect current labor market demand, potentially improving job outcomes for participants.

Impact Areas

Primary group/area affected- Grant applicants and recipients of Health Profession Opportunity Grants (HPOG); they will need to gather and submit labor market information and evidence of in-demand jobs or shortages as part of their applications.Secondary group/area affected- Workforce and welfare agencies that administer HPOG; they may benefit from clearer alignment of funded projects with labor market needs, but may face additional administrative requirements to verify and review the LMI evidence.Additional impacts- Administrative burden: Applicants may incur extra work to collect and document recent labor market information (e.g., job vacancy data, wage trends, credential demand) and to demonstrate alignment with in-demand health occupations.- Alignment with labor market information: The bill could improve targeting of funds toward occupations with documented shortages or high demand, potentially improving participant placement and outcomes in the health care sector.- Data and interpretation: Applicants will need to determine credible sources of labor market information and how to present it in a way that satisfies the new requirement; this could encourage consistent use of certain data sources (e.g., BLS, state labor market data, occupation projections).- Implications for equity and access: If demand data influence funding decisions, there could be unintended effects on programs serving underserved communities or non-traditional entrants if their pathways are not as clearly represented in labor market data.

Generated by gpt-5-nano on Oct 8, 2025