Linking Postsecondary to Employers and to Good Jobs

1. Linking Postsecondary to Employers and to Good Jobs

2. Partnering to Benefit Low-Skilled Individuals • Government partnerships with business can promote access and success in postsecondary education for low-skilled individuals, but states must: • Identify where additional investment in workforce education can make a difference for workers and employers both • Channel resources toward supporting regional partnerships between employers and providers of workforce education • Tricky balance of meeting individual employer needs, pursuing state economic development goals and helping workers advance • But neither employers nor the state, can afford to leave any adult behind

3. Linking Workforce Education to the Labor Market • How do workforce education offerings compare to workforce needs of employers? • Washington Dec 2005 report assessing workforce supply & demand, Illinois project to project future workforce supply • Statewide policies that link employer demand to workforce education programs on ongoing basis • Career Pathways • Illinois’ Critical Skill Shortages Initiative • Washington’s Skills Panels and Centers of Excellence • Georgia’s Statewide Skills Certifications • Massachusetts’ Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative • Ideally doing it for all workforce education programs, not just special initiatives

4. Government Training Partnerships with Business and Industry • Find creative ways to ensure the training benefits low-wage workers: target training grants according to workers’ skill levels, job level, occupational cluster or sector, and/or geographic region • Link the training provided to wage increases or job promotions • Incorporate basic ed and English language instruction into training • Wherever possible, require business partners to provide paid release time for training • Offer on-site training, preferably during work hours, or flexible scheduling at off-site locations • Help workers earn college certificates and degrees over time by offering transferable college credit for partnership training • Support workers’ participation in training with career and academic counseling, tutoring, soft-skills training, opportunities for peer networking, and other supportive services, like child care

5. Career Pathways: Examples in Several States • Initiatives that map the range of jobs and linked educational opportunities, typically within a specific sector, and fill gaps in education and training services • Ideally ladder starts at lowest literacy and English language levels and extends through four-year college degree, and includes comprehensive supportive services • Kentucky • KY Community and Technical College System provides funding to develop and implement career pathways that assist low-income individuals in entering or advancing in high-growth occupations (based on regional labor market). Funding provided through partnership of community colleges, business, and other stakeholders to design pathways, provide training, and supply employees for referrals. Funded by state workforce development trust fund and business partners

6. Georgia Certified Specialist Programs • State convenes groups of large employers to develop standardized statewide for-credit curricula and credentials in key sectors such as construction, manufacturing, warehousing and distribution, insurance, and customer service which is delivered at technical colleges • Operated by the Georgia Department of Technical and Adult Education, with staff assistance from state’s customized training unit • State’s HOPE Grants, which pay for up to two years of college for any Georgia resident, are essential to making these certificates widely available • Curricula geared toward low-skilled workers, also offered in Spanish

7. Washington Regional Skills Panels • Skills panels bring together local stakeholders including companies, training providers, and elected officials to collaboratively: • Assess current and future skill needs • Achieve dual goals of advancing workers and helping businesses prosper • Enhance effectiveness of existing state workforce and economic development investments • Work on solving diverse workforce education issues, such as articulation of ed and training programs, development of curricula, creation of apprenticeships, design of customized training for entry-level and limited English proficient workers in numerous industries

8. Washington’s Centers of Excellence • State provides financial support to community colleges to establish centers of excellence in particular industries to ensure they can develop trained workforces to meet regional labor market needs • Colleges partner with companies and other colleges to develop “best practice” industry-based curricula, training facilities, and product incubator labs • Provide system coordination, coaching and mentoring to assist in building seamless educational and work-related systems • Example: Renton Technical College’s Construction COE serves as a resource for industry, colleges, and others interested in preparing a workforce for the construction industry. The Center showcases innovative educational offering, at RTC and elsewhere, and promotes awareness of career pathways within construction.

9. Illinois Critical Skill Shortages Initiative • Aligns workforce programs within regions to build a reliable supply of skilled job seekers for “critical skill shortage” occupations that pay a good wage and provide benefits • Pulls together regional partnerships of employers, economic and workforce development agencies, and postsecondary providers to identify key occupations • With WIB leadership and strategic use of WIA 15% and state econ dev, encourages state & local E&T agencies to redirect programs and services to meet labor market shortages • Solutions must meet the short- & long-term needs of regional economy, realign existing public & private resources, and expand opportunities through training for “at-risk” individuals, including TANF recipients, ex-offenders, and the disabled

10. MA’s Extended Care Career Ladder Initiative • Provides grants to nursing homes and home health agencies, who may partner with other long-term care facilities, community colleges, CBOs, WIBs, and others to help create ladders so lower-skilled, lower-paid nursing home workers can move up (food service to CNA, CNA to LPN, etc.) • Ultimate employer goal: to increase quality of care and retention of workers • Types of training: on-site technical, basic skills, soft skills, off-site occupational training at community colleges for upper spectrum of ladder • 1 in 5 nursing homes in the state participating, some as consortiums • Raises at each step of the ladder

11. Incumbent Worker & Customized Training Programs • Most states have incumbent or customized training programs that subsidize the cost of upgrading skills of current workers or new hires • In nearly half of the states, training is funded through some form of employer tax revenues, including UI tax offsets, UI penalty and interest funds, and separate employer taxes • Tend to view themselves as economic development programs whose goal is to help employers meet workforce needs • Many programs are geared toward middle- to higher-level workers

12. Using Incumbent Worker & Customized Training Programs Strategically • Allow basic skills & ESL training • Target growth sectors that offer avenues for advancement for low- to middle-wage workers • Hold employers accountable: require business to match state investment and pay raises or promotions for employees who complete training • Target high unemployment areas to assist firms and employees in lagging economies • Target low-wage workers in ways that maintain credibility with business • Encourage including for-credit coursework or industry-based certifications in training plans so those receiving training can work toward credentials • For employers new to the state, require investments in training in exchange for economic development dollars

13. MN’s Job Skills Partnership • Funds employers in two critical areas where the state faces particular workforce education needs • Low Income Worker Training Program: covers the cost of short-term training for the unemployed or those in low-wage jobs with incomes below 200% FPL so they can move up the career ladder to higher paying full-time jobs in growth sectors • Special Incumbent Worker Training Program: funds training for workers with limited English proficiency and prioritizes projects that have a regional or statewide impact

14. Building Workforce Ed & Better Jobs into Economic Development Policy • Move beyond bricks and mortar, access to capital, and financial incentives to ensure public subsidies result in concrete benefits to residents: • Ensure development subsidies result in creation of quality jobs, apprenticeship programs • First source hiring agreements with local workforce education providers, WIBs, etc. • Require investment in workforce education by groups, such as Texas’ Economic Development Corporations, that college and spend local economic development sales taxes • Tie largest tax exemptions to higher compensation levels • Oregon’s Enterprise Zones require companies to compensate new workers at 150% of county average wages in order to receive largest subsidies

15. Ensuring Workers and Employers Benefit • Invest in partnerships that support postsecondary workforce education that is portable for workers across a group of employers (e.g., fund for-credit programs) • Leverage employer investments with state funds by requiring employers to provide matching funds, paid release time for training, and/or use of employer facilities or staff for training • Link state investments in regional partnerships or development to workforce education, hiring preferences, wage increases, and promotions for workers participating in postsecondary • Require that regional partnerships supported with state funds provide postsecondary to a range of workers, including entry points for those with lower skills and/or limited English • Create consistent funding for community colleges to support local and state economic and workforce development priorities