Workforce Development:Landscape, Legislation, Connecting Our Work

• Four Buzzwords and Their Connections:

• Career Pathway – Clear & supportive process, A to Z• Transitions – Having A getting you fully ready for B• Contextualized Instruction – Showing you how the

academic skills you’re being taught are applied to the skill you need to learn, improving the pace of learning and its retention

• Credentialing – Proof that you can do what’s needed

Who owns workforce development?(A brief history, or Tom Sticht be damned)

• First came OTJ training – craftsmanship• Limiting the needed skill set – Colt Firearms• One skill only – repetitive piecework – Ford• WW II – Need for semi-skilled workers in

manufacturing and armed services leads to contextualized instruction; largely ended in ‘45

• ‘80’s – Global competition and pressures for higher investment returns – training stops, lesser skilled jobs mechanized or outsourced

Today –

• HS population (replacement workers) shrinking• Skilled labor force is aging out of the system • Semi-skilled and unskilled workers need more

training in order to regain or stay in good jobs• Industry looks to government and educational

programs for training rather than providing them

Current Trends in Large-scale Employment

• High- and middle-skilled workers aging out of the workforce – 50% of jobs in CT held by persons 45+ in 2012

• HS graduate population in CT is shrinking, a trend projected to continue through 2029.

• Current HS graduates lack middle-skills, STEM skills, “soft” skills

• Many current middle- and lower-skilled workers have English language deficits

• Best practices are not being taken to scale• Policy leaders lack the urgency to improve on

this looming mismatch of employment needs for business growth and the supply of current and future talent to meet those needs.

• So . . .

Who’s on First?• DOL – Dept. of Labor - Sharon Palmer, Commissioner

– WIOA funding, Youth employment, Employer matching funds for incumbent workers

• DECD – Dept. of Econ. & Community Development – Catherine Smith, Commissioner– Works to promote and retain jobs and to leverage private

development dollars to work with state funding on innovative programs for growth.

• CWDC – CT Workforce Development Council – Group of 5 Regional Workforce Investment Boards (WIBs), which receive federal WIOA funding for job readiness, youth employment and employer incentives for incumbent worker training (adult ed opportunities here). Bill Villano of the south central WIB is spokesman for CWDC.

What’s on Second?

• Regional WIBs – 5 quasi-public programs for job development, with a council of business, government and education leaders to help direct efforts. WIBs also oversee the One-Stop Centers for job seekers, now called “American Job Centers”

• CETC – CT Employment and Training Commission – Donald Shubert, Chair– Governor’s advisory group on workforce

development, made up of state government, business and education leaders

– Approves the annual state plan for Adult and Family literacy

We Know the Player on Third• OWC – Office of Workforce Competitiveness –

Kathleen Marioni, Executive Director– Coordinates Jobs Funnel, targeted outreach program to

promote jobs in emerging sectors, but not in Governor’s current 2015-17 state budget

– Collaborates with Disability Employment Initiative and other special workforce initiatives

– Reports on WIOA operational development• DHE – Department of Higher Education – Gregory

Gray, President of Board of Regents– Oversees state U’s and community colleges, which

participate in PIP grants, transition to college activities

What does CETC report about Adult Education programs overall?

• Employment rates of learners in adult education dropped from 2007 – 2011 from 64% to 49%, largely due to the recession (a similar drop happened for UConn grads).

• These results were true for learners whether they entered adult ed for employability or for enhanced education.

• Despite gains in basic skills, the weekly wages of adult learners leave many in poverty.

WIA to WIOA – What’s Changing?

• Total WIOA funding yet to be determined - $562 million this year nationally for WIA, $622 million hoped for next year

• Current approximate CT funding under WIA– Adult training and job development - $7.1 million– Youth employment - $7.7 million– Dislocated workers - $8.3 million– SDE Program Improvement Projects (still called Title

II funds in WIOA) - $4.9 million

Emphasized in WIOA Changes:

• Overcoming barriers to employment• Aligning workforce investment, education and

economic development systems regionally• Postsecondary credentials and skills to secure,

and advance in employment• Career Pathways to support industry and

sector talent pipelines (requires accurate predictions of emerging markets)

More Changes Under WIOA

• One-Stops now American Job Centers• Job Center partners now total 16 federal/state

entities• More incumbent worker training services• No “sequence of services” (less red tape) for

workers who need basic skills development• Emphasis on Career Pathways developed

locally to meet area employment needs

And more changes . . .• Initial assessment of skill levels is more specific

as to basic skills of literacy, numeracy, English language proficiency and skills gaps – not yet fully defined or specified.

• Job search and assistance must include “in-demand industry sectors and occupations,” as well as non-traditional employment.

• Job Centers must engage in appropriate recruitment on behalf of employers and small businesses in the local area.

Still more changes . . .

• Job Centers must provide financial literacy services, especially for non-English speakers (read opportunity for adult ed programs).

• Job Centers can provide English acquisition and integrated education and training programs (again, adult ed opportunity)

• Training may include incumbent worker and transitional jobs.

• WIOA promotes basic skills education “provided concurrently and contextually with workforce preparation activities” – read “IBEST.”

And a couple more . . .• Fewer limitations on % of funding allowed for

incumbent worker and transitional jobs training. • “Out-of-School Youth” is now defined as 16 to

24; at least 75% of youth funding must be spent on out-of-school youth (was 30%).

Timeline Dates• WIOA implementation impact - July 2015, with

youth-related activities starting in the Spring of 2015

Timeline Dates (cont.)

• WIOA performance accountability provisions to take effect on July 1, 2016, with WIA provisions in effect until then.

• WIOA guidance on accountability (Notice of Proposed Rulemaking) was supposed to be published on January 18, 2015; now anticipated in “Spring 2015”. Check in at www.regulations.gov.

• However, for regulations going into effect this July1, check in at www.doleta.gov/wioa

Career Pathways

Effective career pathways programs have (from Kratos Learning Solutions):

• Labor and adult education and higher education working together responsibly

• Employers are directly engaged in planning• Education and training are contextualized

according to the employment sector targeted• Advising is critical in college transition

Career Pathways (cont’d.)

• Have multiple entry/exit points to accommodate client lives

• Use flexible schedules, modular lessons, accelerated instruction and other innovations

• Use business standards of performance to assess what credentials are offered to signify job readiness

• Offer comprehensive (wrap-around) services such as transportation, child care, counseling

Certificate Programs (Credentialing)

• Legislative Program Review and Investigations Committee charged this year to examine the effectiveness of postsecondary certificate programs in meeting workforce demands.

• CT ranks 40th in the nation for percent of adults with work-related certificates.

• Good certification programs can enhance career pathways with benchmarks of progress.

• Follow proposed bill SB 973 in this legislative session on certificate programs in CT.

Other workforce-related legislation proposed in 2015:

• SB 975 – Two-Generation Approach to School Readiness and Workforce Development Pilot Program – focus on low-income families and community-building

• HB 5848 – Women Returning to the Workforce – DOL to start a retraining skills program

• HB 6696 – OWC to study workforce dev. Issues• HB 6916 – DECD, SDE and BOR to study

workforce demands & appropriate job training

Questions?

• How do you see your programs getting more involved in workforce development, career pathways, IBEST?

• What are the challenges/opportunities of WIOA?

• As a system, what do we need to be doing differently, based on what was presented today?

Contact Info

• David Downes – CAACE Consultant• ddownes1015@gmail.com• 860-508-3789