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Policy Concerns

• Ensuring sustainable employment outcomes for people with serious and persistent mental health conditions and substance use conditions.
• Effects of COVID-19 on the Texas economy and workforce, and especially on those with mental health conditions.
• Lack of ongoing federal financial assistance for people impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
• Establishing accountability for outcome-based vocational rehabilitation services for individuals living with serious and persistent mental health conditions
• Lack of available information and data regarding employment outcomes for people experiencing mental health conditions.
• Long wait times for people seeking assistance accessing unemployment benefits through the Texas Workforce Commission.

Fast Facts

• The Texas unemployment rose from 2.5 percent in February 2020 to 13 percent in May 2020 and 8 percent in July 2020. The national unemployment rate went from 3.5 percent in February 2020 to 13.3 percent in May 2020 to 10.2 percent in July 2020. These numbers were impacted significantly by the COVID-19 pandemic. The unemployment rate is the ratio of the population that is unemployed and seeking employment to the current labor force.
• During a month-long period from May-June 2020, over 291,000 jobs were added into the Texas economy.
• A June 2018 TWC report indicated that there were about 1.5 million Texans aged 18-64 (standard working age-range) who had a disability.
• The national and state unemployment rates do not always reflect the prevalence of unemployment for people with serious mental illness or intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). The National Alliance on Mental Illness (NAMI) reported that the national unemployment rate for individuals receiving public mental health services was approximately 80 percent in 2012. The same year, the unemployment rate for individuals receiving services through the public mental health system in Texas was 85.6 percent.
• In 2018, about 40.2 percent of Texans with disabilities living in the community (ages 18-64) were employed compared to 76.4 percent of people without a disability. In the same year, the national unemployment rate for people with a disability was 8 percent, over twice that of people without a disability who had a 3.7 percent unemployment rate.

TWC Acronyms

CDC – Center for Disease Control

COVID- 19 – Coronavirus disease of 2019

FUTA – Federal unemployment tax

HHSC – Health and Human Services Commission

IDD – Intellectual and other developmental disabilities

NAMI – National Alliance on Mental Illness

SEAL – Summer Earn and Learn

SNAP E&T – Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training

TANF – Temporary Assistance for Needy Families

TVLP – Texas Veterans Leadership Program

TWC – Texas Workforce Commission

VR – Vocational rehabilitation

WIA – Workforce Investment Act

Source: Texas Workforce Commission (2020). Organizational Chart. Retrieved from https://www.twc.texas.gov/files/agency/agency-organizational-chart-twc.pdf

Overview

The Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) is the state agency charged with overseeing and providing workforce development services to both employers and job seekers across the state. TWC works toward the end goals of the Governor’s economic development strategy by providing the needed workforce development component. Three commissioners are appointed by the governor to represent the agency, each assigned to represent labor, employers, or the public.

TWC’s major functions include:

• Developing the workforce;
• Providing support services, including child care, for targeted populations participating in workforce training; and
• Administering the unemployment benefits and tax programs.

TWC is part of Texas Workforce Solutions, a local and statewide network comprised of TWC, 28 Workforce Development Boards, and their contracted service providers and community partners. Workforce Development Boards allow for regional planning and service delivery. Through this network, TWC reaches consumers at the local level in Workforce Solutions offices across the state and five Tele-Centers.

Texas Workforce Solutions provides workforce development services that are intended to: 1) help consumers find and maintain employment, and 2) help employers hire the skilled workers needed to conduct business. Workforce partners include community colleges, adult basic education providers, local independent school districts, economic development groups, private businesses, and other state agencies. Collaboration and coordination across these various stakeholders are both necessary to meet TWC’s overall mission to “promote and support a workforce system that creates value and offers employers, individuals, and communities the opportunity to achieve and sustain economic prosperity.”

Table 81 describes four major types of beneficiaries who utilize TWC services.

Source: Texas Workforce Commission. Retrieved from https://www.twc.texas.gov/ 

Individuals with disabilities, including serious mental health conditions, often experience barriers associated with joining and participating fully in the labor force (for a list of what TWC’s use of the term “disability” encompasses, see here: https://workquest.com/wp-content/uploads/2018-Disability-Determination-Worksheet.pdf). People with disabilities are more likely to work part-time and, on average, earn less than individuals without disabilities at every level of educational attainment. Because of the unique challenges individuals with disabilities face in the job market, national and state-level unemployment rates do not always reflect the prevalence of unemployment for people with serious mental illness or IDD. NAMI reported that the national unemployment rate for individuals receiving public mental health services was approximately 80 percent in 2012. The same year, the unemployment rate for individuals receiving services through the public mental health system in Texas was 85.6 percent. Yet for persons living with serious mental illness, employment can play a primary role in recovery and well-being. In 2014, The Bazelon Center for Mental Health Law reported that at least two-thirds of people with a serious mental illness want to work, and many have been previously employed.

In 2018, about 11.4 percent of citizens in Texas, or over 3.2 million people, had a disability. This was the second largest total number per state in the nation. Individuals with disabilities, including serious mental illness, can enhance workforce diversity and offer employers unique skill sets and perspectives when integrated into the labor force. Employing people with disabilities is advantageous to businesses as it results in lower turnover, increased productivity, and access to a wider pool of skilled workers.

For those experiencing mental health conditions, employment can promote social acceptance and community integration that leads to lifelong recovery and wellbeing. Work also gives people a sense of purpose, self-esteem, and self-worth. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) has multiple recommendations to manage mental health and stress in the workforce. They have proposed that healthcare providers ask patients about depression or anxiety, and that health professionals be part of core treatment teams. Public health researchers can create guides that outline the implementation and evaluation of mental health programs in the workplace, including the development of mental health scorecards for employees to rank their workplace and employee training and recognition programs. The CDC recommends community leaders and businesses promote mental wellness through educational programs to working adults through different agencies, support existing community programs that reduce risks of mental illness, and establish a system to easily access these community-based programs. The Texas Legislature is encouraged by the CDC to provide resources, coursework, and decision-making tools to organizations and employers delivering mental health education. In addition, the CDC recommends that the state collect data on workers’ wellbeing and on biomedical research to guide mental health innovations, and to promote techniques to help people in underserved communities to obtain mental health treatments.

Read about the TWC and their 2019-2023 Strategic Plan here https://twc.texas.gov/files/twc/strategic-plan-fiscal-years-2019-to-2023-twc.pdf.

View TWC’s financial reports here https://www.twc.texas.gov/agency/texas-workforce-commission-financial-grant-information.

Funding

TWC’s funding is comprised of both federal and state dollars, with the majority of funding coming from federal sources. TWC provides grants through allocation formulas to Workforce Development Boards that plan and administer the Workforce Investment Act, Temporary Assistance for Needy Families Choices, Employment Services, Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program Employment and Training, childcare, and other workforce and support services. Employer-paid state unemployment taxes and reimbursements pay for state unemployment benefits. The U.S. Department of Labor allocates funds from the Federal Unemployment Tax to the states to pay for administrative and operational costs. TWC’s budget from FY 2018-19 increased by about 23 percent, from almost $3,087 billion to over $3,794 billion in FY 2020-21.

Source: Zerwas & Nelson. (2019). H.B. No. 1 General Appropriations Act Eighty-Sixth Legislature. Retrieved from https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB1 

Source: Zerwas & Nelson. (2019). H.B. No. 1 General Appropriations Act Eighty-Sixth Legislature. Retrieved from https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=86R&Bill=HB1 

Changing Environment

Several pieces of legislation passed during the 86^th legislative session that impacted TWC and Texas’s mental health shortage. One such bill was HB 2813 (Price/Nelson), which requires a representative from TWC to serve on the statewide behavioral health coordinating council. Detailed breakdowns of these bills can be found in the Hogg Foundation for Mental Health’s Texas 86th Legislative Session Summary: https://hogg.utexas.edu/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/86th-Legislative-Summary.pdf.

Transfer of Services from the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services to TWC

Prior to September 2016, TWC did not provide any direct behavioral health treatments or supports to Texans with a mental health condition. However, in 2016 the state transitioned employment-related programs from the Department of Assistive and Rehabilitative Services to TWC as part of the HHSC transformation process. As a result, TWC began to work directly with individuals with disabilities primarily through the Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) program. The VR program provides services for people with disabilities to help them prepare for, obtain, retain, or advance in employments. More information is provided in the Vocational Rehabilitation For Persons with Physical and Mental Disabilities section of this chapter.

Employment Trends and Overall Outcomes

Employment rates of people with disabilities had been improving prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Nationally, labor force participation rates (the number of people available for work as a percentage of the total population) and employment rates for people with disabilities had been increasing while unemployment rates for people with disabilities had been decreasing. However, employment outcomes for people with disabilities continued to be far worse than for people without disabilities. In 2018, about 40.2 percent of Texans with disabilities living in the community were employed compared to 76.4 percent of people without a disability. In the same year, the national unemployment rate for people with a disability was 8 percent, over twice that of people without a disability who had a 3.7 percent unemployment rate. Figure 117 below illustrates unemployment trends for those living with disabilities.

Source: Division of Labor Force Statistics. (March 29, 2019). Persons with a Disability, 2018. Presentation to Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP). Retrieved from https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/odep/pdf/dol_odep_2018_briefing_with_notes_odep.pdf

Texas Mental Health Workforce Shortage

Texas has a shortage of mental health professionals in the state. As Figure 118 from the 2019 Texas Statewide Behavioral Health Strategic Plan shows, over 80 percent of counties in the state are deemed Mental Health Professional Shortage Areas, where there are more than 30,000 residents per clinician.

 

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