What WIOA looks like in New Hampshire
New Hampshire runs WIOA through the Office of Workforce Opportunity (OWO), part of the Department of Business and Economic Affairs. Services come through the NH Works one-stop system: twelve offices where NH Employment Security, Vocational Rehabilitation, and the WIOA service provider share a building. The Governor has made New Hampshire a single state local area. So there is one board, one policy, and one Eligible Training Provider List for the whole state. Reference: nheconomy.com/office-of-workforce-opportunity.
One detail that trips people up. The WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker programs in New Hampshire are run day to day by a contracted provider, Southern New Hampshire Services, whose staff sit inside the NH Works offices. You come in through NH Works. But the person who enrolls you is a WIOA Career Navigator who works for that provider. For you, it works like this. Sign up in NHWorks Job Match. Go to your NH Works office and ask for the WIOA Career Navigator. Finish the eligibility check and an assessment. Pick a program on the state ETPL. Then you get an Individual Training Account.
Who administers WIOA in New Hampshire
- The Office of Workforce Opportunity runs all Title I Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth money. It builds the ETPL from school applications checked with NH Employment Security and reports results to the U.S. Department of Labor. It also runs the state's Workforce Pell effort.
- The State Workforce Innovation Board is the one board for the NH Works system, since New Hampshire has no local areas.
- NH Employment Security (NHES) runs the twelve NH Works offices and the NHWorks Job Match system. Offices are open Monday through Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., in Berlin, Claremont, Concord, Conway, Keene, Laconia, Littleton, Manchester, Nashua, Portsmouth, Salem, and Somersworth.
- Southern New Hampshire Services is the WIOA Adult and Dislocated Worker provider statewide. The community action agencies run the Youth program in their regions.
Who qualifies for WIOA in New Hampshire
New Hampshire follows the federal Title I rules. The three doors:
- Adult program: 18 or older, a New Hampshire resident, able to work legally in the United States, and signed up for Selective Service if that applies to you. NHES describes the Adult program as serving residents who meet income and eligibility rules and need help getting or keeping a job. That reflects the priority-of-service rules below, not a hard income cutoff.
- Dislocated Worker program: you were laid off or got a layoff notice, you are on unemployment or ran out of it, you were self-employed and lost the business to the economy, or you are a displaced homemaker. A military spouse who lost work because of a move also qualifies.
- Youth program: 14 to 24 with at least one barrier to work. Most of the money goes to out-of-school youth 16 to 24.
Training money in the Adult program goes first to people on public assistance, people with low income, and people who need basic skills. Veterans and eligible spouses go ahead of others within each group. If you are on Medicaid, SNAP, or TANF, ask about WorkNowNH at the same visit. It is a separate state program for those enrollees, run out of the same offices. It can cover job-readiness costs that WIOA does not.
How to apply for WIOA in New Hampshire
- Sign up in NHWorks Job Match. Make your account at nhworksjobmatch.nhes.nh.gov. This is NHES's job matching system. It is required for anyone on unemployment and useful for everyone. Sign-up alone does not enroll you in WIOA.
- Go to your NH Works office and ask for the WIOA Career Navigator. NHES's own advice is to contact your local NH Works office to talk with a WIOA Adult Career Navigator, since eligibility varies. Bring photo ID, your Social Security card, proof you can work, and income or layoff papers. Veterans should bring the DD-214 and say so at the front desk. The statewide NHES line is 603-224-3311 or 1-800-852-3400.
- Finish the eligibility check and an assessment. The Career Navigator decides your door, records your priority status, and works through an assessment. Training is approved when the assessment shows you need it to reach work that pays enough.
- Pick a program on the state ETPL. Confirm the exact program is listed, not just the school, and that the job is in demand.
- Get the Individual Training Account. WIOA counselors may issue an ITA to an eligible adult, youth, or dislocated worker after needs are decided. On-the-job training with an employer is the other option if that fits better.
Finding approved training on the New Hampshire ETPL
New Hampshire's Eligible Training Provider List is built by the Office of Workforce Opportunity. It takes school applications, checks them with NH Employment Security, and sends the list with cost and results to the NH Works offices. Ask your Career Navigator for the current list and search training providers inside NHWorks Job Match. A warning: the web address the state's older plan documents give for the ETPL, an nscite.org domain, no longer belongs to the state. It now sends you to an unrelated gambling site. Do not use it.
On the federal scorecard at TrainingProviderResults.gov, New Hampshire reports 572 programs with results. That is what our Navigator draws on. In the fields people ask about most, that includes 160 IT and cybersecurity programs, 62 healthcare programs, 22 billing and coding programs, 21 CDL programs, 8 welding programs, and 6 EKG programs. Some results worth knowing: NHTI in Concord reports 89 percent completion and 83 percent employed after exit across 54 completers of its registered nursing associate degree. Manchester Community College reports 88 percent completion and 82 percent employed across 100 for its 8-week medical assistant certificate, and Lakes Region Community College 91 and 80 percent across 42 for its 15-week version. White Mountains Community College in Berlin reports 95 percent completion and 66 percent employed across 57 for its 8-week Class A commercial driver course. Small programs have their numbers hidden, so a blank is not a zero. The cost column on New Hampshire's rows is unreliable. Ask the school.
How much training money you can get in New Hampshire
New Hampshire publishes no fixed statewide dollar cap on Individual Training Accounts. Because the state is one local area, the limit is an OWO policy applied by the Career Navigator against your assessment and the cost of the exact program. It does not change from Nashua to Berlin. The questions to ask at the first appointment: What is the current training limit? Does the program I want fit within it? Is there money this program year?
Federal rules let an ITA combine with Pell Grants and other aid, as long as the sources are lined up rather than doubled. The Community College System of New Hampshire, where most ETPL programs sit, is Pell eligible. Bring the FAFSA result if you have one.
What are New Hampshire's WIOA program outcomes?
New Hampshire reports the six WIOA indicators to the U.S. Department of Labor every year. The table shows the targets the state agreed to for Program Year 2024 (July 1, 2024 to June 30, 2025), what it delivered, and the level it agreed to for PY2025. The numbers come from the Department of Labor's state performance reports.
| Indicator | PY2024 target | PY2024 actual | Result | PY2025 target |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Adult (392 served, 428 exited) | ||||
| Employment rate, 2nd quarter after exit | 78.5% | 82.9% | Met | 79.0% |
| Employment rate, 4th quarter after exit | 75.0% | 80.5% | Met | 76.0% |
| Median earnings, 2nd quarter after exit | $8,500 | $10,590 | Met | $8,750 |
| Credential attainment rate | 74.0% | 75.2% | Met | 75.0% |
| Measurable skill gains | 67.0% | 95.3% | Met | 67.5% |
| Dislocated Worker (539 served, 419 exited) | ||||
| Employment rate, 2nd quarter after exit | 84.0% | 85.1% | Met | 84.5% |
| Employment rate, 4th quarter after exit | 74.5% | 85.6% | Met | 75.0% |
| Median earnings, 2nd quarter after exit | $10,000 | $12,837 | Met | $10,250 |
| Credential attainment rate | 69.5% | 86.0% | Met | 70.0% |
| Measurable skill gains | 63.0% | 91.8% | Met | 63.5% |
| Youth (363 served, 196 exited) | ||||
| Employment or education rate, 2nd quarter after exit | 77.5% | 83.8% | Met | 78.0% |
| Employment or education rate, 4th quarter after exit | 75.0% | 84.1% | Met | 75.5% |
| Median earnings, 2nd quarter after exit | $4,750 | $5,972 | Met | $4,800 |
| Credential attainment rate | 73.0% | 59.4% | Missed | 73.5% |
| Measurable skill gains | 55.0% | 66.8% | Met | 55.5% |
In PY2024 New Hampshire met 14 of 15 targets. The only miss was Youth credential attainment, 59.4 percent against 73.0 percent. Skill gains ran 12 to 29 points past the target in every program, and median earnings beat the target by $1,200 to $2,800. The full story is on how New Hampshire measures workforce program success.
Workforce Pell in New Hampshire
Governor Ayotte signed HB 1774 on July 2, 2026, and the Office of Workforce Opportunity now runs a public Workforce Pell page. Certification work is underway. The state expects programs to take Workforce Pell students in early 2027. The approval process link was still marked as in development as of this writing, and no New Hampshire program can take Workforce Pell students yet. Reference: OWO Workforce Pell.
Workforce Pell extends Pell Grant money to programs of 150 to 599 clock hours over at least 8 and fewer than 15 weeks. You apply through the FAFSA. The 8-week medical assistant and CDL certificates already on the state ETPL are the kind of program the law was written for. Check the OWO page again in the first quarter of 2027. For where every other state stands, see the state-by-state Workforce Pell tracker.