Government operations and workforce · Federal workforce and hiring

Executive Order 13218: 21st Century Workforce Initiative

President: George W. Bush

Created an Office of the 21st Century Workforce in the Labor Department and a presidential advisory council to study technological, demographic and economic change, while coordinating an existing training-technology committee.

Status: Completed/expired. Is Executive Order 13218 still in effect? No. Executive Order 13218 is completed or expired. See Federal Register record.

What does Executive Order 13218 do?

The order assigned these duties: Secretary of Labor — Establish the Office of the 21st Century Workforce and chair the presidential council; Office of the 21st Century Workforce — Study workforce change, gather and publish information, and review Labor programs and barriers.

SignedJune 20, 2001
IssuerPresident George W. Bush
Lead agencies or officialsDepartment of Labor, Office of Personnel Management and the President’s Council on the 21st Century Workforce
Express timingCouncil to terminate after two years unless extended; office and information-gathering duties had no fixed end date

Before and after

Before the order

Workforce policy and training-technology advice were dispersed across Labor programs and an earlier advisory committee.

After the order

Labor established the office and used summits and public forums to develop workforce policy. The presidential council expired by its terms in 2003, and EO 13316 revoked the related training advisory committee provisions after that body’s work ended. The order’s office authority continues to appear in Labor’s official statutory-authority inventory, but no current stand-alone council exists.

Who had to do what

Agency / officeActionTiming / position
Secretary of LaborEstablish the Office of the 21st Century Workforce and chair the presidential councilAt implementation
Office of the 21st Century WorkforceStudy workforce change, gather and publish information, and review Labor programs and barriersOngoing under the order
PresidentAppoint up to 13 council members representing labor, business, government and educationDuring the council’s life
President’s CouncilAdvise the President, Labor Secretary and workforce officeThrough June 20, 2003 unless extended

What happened next

EO 13218 signed.

The order established the Labor office and presidential council.

The council’s stated two-year term ended absent an extension.

EO 13316 revoked the related EO 13111 training-committee provisions as completed.