(a) Work experiences are planned, structured learning experiences that take place in a workplace for a limited period of time. As provided in WIA section 129(c)(2)(D) and § 664.470, work experiences may be paid or unpaid.

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(b) Work experience workplaces may be in the private, for-profit sector; the non-profit sector; or the public sector.

(c) Work experiences are designed to enable youth to gain exposure to the working world and its requirements. Work experiences are appropriate and desirable activities for many youth throughout the year. Work experiences should help youth acquire the personal attributes, knowledge, and skills needed to obtain a job and advance in employment. The purpose is to provide the youth participant with the opportunities for career exploration and skill development and is not to benefit the employer, although the employer may, in fact, benefit from the activities performed by the youth. Work experiences may be subsidized or unsubsidized and may include the following elements:

(1) Instruction in employability skills or generic workplace skills such as those identified by the Secretary’s Commission on Achieving Necessary Skills (SCANS);

(2) Exposure to various aspects of an industry;

(3) Progressively more complex tasks;

(4) Internships and job shadowing;

(5) The integration of basic academic skills into work activities;

(6) Supported work, work adjustment, and other transition activities;

(7) Entrepreneurship;

(8) Service learning;

(9) Paid and unpaid community service; and

(10) Other elements designed to achieve the goals of work experiences.

(d) In most cases, on-the-job training is not an appropriate work experiences activity for youth participants under age 18. Local program operators may choose, however, to use this service strategy for eligible youth when it is appropriate based on the needs identified by the objective assessment of an individual youth participant. (WIA sec. 129(c)(2)(D).)