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History and Role of Workforce DevelopmentPresented by: Colleen LaRose

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Camoin Associates (www.camoinassociates.com)

specializes in providing economic development

solutions to both public and private sector clients.

Camoin Associates has had the opportunity to serve

economic development organizations (EDOs), local

and state governments from Maine to Texas, private

sector corporations, and developers.

The firm’s work includes economic development

strategies in communities across the country, from

small, rural communities to large metropolitan areas

and entire states. In many of these instances,

building consensus among leadership around critical

opportunities and issues was at the core of our

work.

Founded in 2012, the North East Regional

Employment and Training Association

(www.nereta.org) provides training to economic

development organizations (EDOs) and workforce

investment boards (WIBs) throughout the country.

This organization has significantly opened lines of

communication between professionals in economic

development, workforce development, education,

and business through LinkedIn groups and

professional development webinars that NERETA

provides on a national basis.

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What is Workforce Development?

Wikipedia: WD is an American economic development approach that attempts to enhance a region's economic stability and prosperity by focusing on people rather than businesses.

Federal Reserve of St Louis: WD has come to describe a relatively wide range of activities, policies and programs employed by geographies to create, sustain and retain a viable workforce that can support current and future business and industry.

Colleen’s definition: WD is the government system that helps put people to work.

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WD helps put people to work by providing:• Improved communication between business and education providers

• Employer/employee matching services

• Skills training and connections to educational resources

• Improving access to career pathways (articulation agreements, incumbent worker training programs,

ESL training, computer training, volunteering, etc)

• Connections to social services supports

• Recommendations for transportation improvements

• Business expansion/retention connections

• Recommendations to business for employee retention improvements

• Entrepreneurship training and support

• Tax credits and other financial incentives for employers to hire

• Career development information

• And more….

Expanded Definition

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So how did “workforce development” get started?

And why?

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Purpose of Education

Economic• Basic survival (reading, writing, basic math)

Cultural Understanding• Cultural appreciation

• Values (why is my culture the way it is)

• Why is the culture of other people the way it is

Social• Make intelligent decisions as a society

• Uphold democracy

• Involvement with other people (appreciate

individual differences)

• Conform to society

Personal• Develop Individual talents and aptitudes

• Appreciate learning

Purpose of WF Development

Economic • Align local business needs with skills in the

workforce

• Learn specific marketable skills

• Facilitate career pathways

• Learn to be innovative, creative, resilient

• Provide for adult basic survival needs

• Financial literacy

• Adult education

• English as a second language (ESL)

• Coping with a disability in the workplace

• Workplace readiness skills

• Connections to childcare, housing,

transportation, addiction counseling,

mental health needs, etc.

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Education

Perennialist philosophyBelieving that education should be centered

on the learning of the great ideas of western

civilization

Also teaching: How to learn

(debate, senses, introspection, etc.)

and

Why to learn

(self-fulfilling, meaning in life, adaptation, etc.)

Workforce development

Essentialist philosophyBelieving that education should be centered

on how one should become a practical

member of society

Also teaching:Adaptation:

• to modernization

• to local environment

• to social change

Interdisciplinary thinking• connecting dots

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Prior to Civil War: largely perennialist education philosophy

Morrill Acts: 1862 and 1890

Educational Focus: teaching of practical skills in agriculture,

science, military science, and engineering

Public Investment: First time vocational skills/training were

addressed with public tax dollars in this country

Land Grant Universities

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In 1913, the United States Department of Labor (USDOL) was created

in response to pressure from organized labor. Its goals, according to

the statute, were to:

History of Workforce Development

“foster, promote and develop the

welfare of wage-earners, to improve

their working conditions, and to

advance their opportunities for

profitable employment.”

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New Deal (1933 and 1937): Goal of relief, recovery and reform of the United

States economy during the Great Depression

Initiated a series of programs including:

• Works Progress Administration (WPA) (1935-1942)

• Civil Works Administration (CWA)

• Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA)

• Civilian Conservation Corps (CCC)

Wagner-Peyser Act:• First public labor exchange service, matching workers with jobs

• National employment system - federal grants to states

New Deal

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Works Progress Administration (WPA)

(1935-1942)

• Initial appropriation was for $4.9 billion

• About 6.7 percent of the 1935 GDP

• Total spent $13.4 billion

• $210 billion in today’s dollars

• Peak 3.3 million jobs in 1938.

• About 8 million jobs during seven program years

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Manpower Development and Training Act of 1962 (MDTA): Intended to retrain workers

dislocated by technological advances. Not about poverty…about “structural unemployment” (assumed old

industries would be replaced by “new industries”)

• Became job-training program targeted largely to economically disadvantaged persons

• Service providers funded directly by the federal government

• Replaced in 1973 by CETA

Economic Opportunity Act of 1964 (EOA): Johnson's War on Poverty.

• Establishment of Community Action Partnership (CAP) agencies, Vista, Job Corps, and Head Start

Community Development Corporations (CDCs): Funding from Office of Economic

Opportunity; Include employment and training programs as part of a strategy to rebuild the economies of

distressed neighborhoods, building the community infrastructure for job-related services.

Manpower Development

&Training Act (MDTA)

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Comprehensive Employment and Training Act (CETA): Encouraged community-

based trends, and decentralized control of federally sponsored job-training programs

CETA funding: Hybrid block grant program

• Local units of government administer basic training components

• Also included programs for specific targeted groups and for public service

employment

• Became increasingly regulated

• Charges of corruption and mismanagement contributed to Congress's decision to

replace CETA with the JTPA in 1983

Comprehensive Employment

& Training Act (CETA)

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Job Training

& Partnership Act (JTPA)Job Training & Partnership Act (JTPA)

• Focused on low-income people.

• Created a new local governance structure - Private Industry Councils (PICs)

• Eliminated public sector employment, a core element of CETA

USDOL’S Employment & Training Administration (ETA) began giving states

and local areas grants funded by national Employment Service (ES) funding, to

develop and implement “one-stops” for workforce services. This became

foundational in the passage of WIA in 1998 which sunsetted JTPA.

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Workforce Investment Act (WIA) - 1998• Further emphasized "one-stop" approach (array of job-training, education,

and employment services)

• Core, intensive and training services

• At least one “One Stop” in each region (also “affiliates”)

• State and local governments now given authority to tailor content of job-

training programs to meet regional needs

• Core services may be made accessible through the internet.

• Emphasis on youth skill building (not work experience)

• Employer driven boards

Workforce Investment Board (WIA)

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Mandatory Partner Services of the One

Stop (defined by WIA)

• Adults

• Dislocated Workers

• Youth

• Adult Education

• Postsecondary Vocational Education

• Vocational Rehabilitation

• Title V of the Older Americans Act

• Trade Adjustment Assistance

• Veterans Employment and Training Programs

• Community Services Block Grant

• Department of Housing and Urban Development

• Unemployment Insurance

• Job Corps

• Bureau of Apprenticeship and Training

Optional Partner Services of the One Stop

(defined by WIA)• Transportation

• TANF - Temporary Assistance to Needy Families

Other Partners Services that may be

offered (not defined by WIA)

• Temporary employment services/Day labor

services

• Volunteer matching services

• Counseling Services

• Youth Services (aging out of foster care,

adjudicated, other)

• Re-entry services

• Other as deemed important by the WIB

Partners in the One-Stop System

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• Establishes Local and State WIBs

• Establishes One Stop Delivery service region

• Establishes Youth development services

• Jobseeker Funding Streams

• Adult (impoverished/low skill)

• Dislocated workers (jobs have been eliminated)

• Youth (ages 14-21) (30% for out of school youth)

WIA Title I

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Jobseekers• Service Delivery for Jobseekers (previous slide)

EmployersService Delivery for Employers:

• Business services representatives: Typically “selling” OJT,

customized training, tax credits, etc.

• WIB: Typically looking for employers to fill quota on their board

(research and policy)

• Employment services: screening candidates, onsite interviewing,

assistance with job postings, LMI , apprenticeship, compliance

assistance

Two Customers

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Adult and Dislocated Worker

• entered employment

• employment retention

• average earnings

Common Measures

Youth

• employment or education

• degree or certificate

• literacy/numeracy gains

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• 15% off the top for discretionary use

• 25% of dislocated worker funds for Rapid Response activities

Funding

Stream

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Local workforce investment areas can be a city or a piece of a city, as in the case of Los Angeles, a

county or part of a county, with the major city serving as its own local area as in the case of Newark,

NJ and Essex County, NJ), multiple counties, or a single state (as in the case of New Hampshire).

Workforce Minimum board is 32 members (based on required members and keeping board membership

51% private sector). Board members appointed by “CLEO” entity.

CLEO holds purse stringsCLEO supposed to provide direction and insight for broader economic development goals

Develop plans, selects providers, oversee service delivery, negotiate performance measures, and assist

the governor with the development of a statewide employment statistics system. (requirement outlined in

WIA Title III, the Wagner‐Peyser Act).

Two functions different than state WIB:

1. “employer linkages,” coordinating WIA‐funded activities with economic development

strategies

2. “connecting, brokering, and coaching,” promoting the participation of private employers in

the public workforce system.

Local WIBs

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Governor is “CLEO”

Responsible for the development of a state WIA plan (or the unified plan, if

the state opts to complete one)

“Development and continuous improvement of the statewide system of

activities” described in WIA Title I.

Accountable for designating local workforce investment areas, monitoring

WIA performance, distributing funds reserved for statewide activities, and

other related activities.

State WIBs

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Title IIAdult EducationAuthorizes the Adult Education and Literacy Act

Administered by the United States Department of Education through grants to states.

Purpose of the act is “to create a partnership among the federal government , states and

localities to provide, on a voluntary basis, adult education and literacy services in order to:

1. Assist adults to become literate and obtain the knowledge and skills necessary for

employment and self sufficiency

2. Assist adults who are parents to obtain the educational skills necessary to become full

partners in the educational development of their children

3. And assist adults in the completion of a secondary school education

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Title III

Wagner Peyser

Workforce Investment‐Related Activities –amends the Wagner‐Peyser Act of 1933,

administered through the US Department of Labor Employment & Training

Administration.

Wagner‐Peyser is a state administered labor‐exchange program whose services

were delivered through a network of unemployment offices until WIA.

Now a major partner of One Stop Centers.

Usually civil servants

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Title IV

Vocational Rehabilitation

Rehabilitation Act Amendment of 1998: to create linkage between State vocational

rehabilitation programs and workforce investment activities carried out under Title I

of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998.

Administered by the US Department of Education through states.

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• WIA Title 1

• Wagner-Peyser

• Adult Education and Literacy

• Older Americans

• Vocational Rehabilitation

• NAFTA-Trade adjustment

• Perkins

• Veteran’s employment and

training

• Community Services Block Grant

• HUD employment and Training

• Unemployment Insurance compensation

• TANF

• Food Stamp

• National and Community Services Act

Programs

• Other org as determined necessary by state

WIB

General Provisions: encourages states to develop and submit state

unified plan that includes the 15 federal programs listed in WIA

Title V

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• Too Little funding: 1979 peak funding. In real dollars, funding has dropped by 70 %! (12% drop between 2000-2007)

• Shift away from Developing Human capital: emphasis on “work first” …with training as a last resort…over time has caused deterioration of workforce skills in the marketplace at a time when even more skills are needed due to burgeoning technologies

• Smaller share of low-skilled, low income and youth being provided training

Major Problems with WIA

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• Not coordinated with economic development

• Social service mentality, not proactive in supporting business

• Grant driven…chasing dollars. Change strategies with new funding opportunities.

• Lack alignment (local, regional, state, federal) of strategic planning priorities

• Changing priorities with new administrations

• Boards too big and ineffective

• Silos of service – not leveraging resources and collaborating as needed

• Training that does not result in employment

• Reactive not proactive (too tied up with red tape)

• Best practices not widely shared, little to no training for WIBs other than legislation rules

• Not supportive of entrepreneurship

• Civil servants not “motivated”

• Need more OJT and apprenticeship

Other Problems with WIA

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American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA funds): attempt to put people back to work and save

jobs

Comparison to WPA program:

WPA program – $210 billion (in today’s dollars) and 8 million people employed

Population in US is 2.5 times the size of population in 1938, therefore, equivalent investment to WPA program

would have been about $525 billion (ARRA cost $831 billion)

6.8 million jobs created during two years of the ARRA program (2010-2012)

Economic Policy Institute (2012): “ (To create a sustained recovery) - Guaranteeing a return to full employment by

the end of 2015 would require policymakers to fund economic stimulus somewhere in the range of $1.5 trillion

to $2.2 trillion over the next three years.”

Why is ARRA seen as a failure and WPA seen as huge success?

WPA – large demand for labor in 1942 for WWII activities

Survey of businesses that received ARRA grants/contracts:

• Only 23% of 8,381 companies surveyed who hired new workers to complete their stimulus project, kept all of

them once the project was done.

• More than seven out of 10 companies did not hire workers at all or had to lay off the workers they did hire. ~(2013 Reason Foundation)

American Recovery & Reinvestment Act (ARRA)

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Workforce Development:

Coordination of skillsdevelopment initiatives that

prepare individuals for current and future occupations, givingbusinesses the human capitalnecessary to meet demand.

Economic Development:

Implementation of businessdevelopment and quality of

life policies that influence thegrowth and restructuring of aregion to improve its overall

economic well-being.

Definitions

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Workforce Development1. Job Development (who has jobs)

2. Collaborative

3. Federally funded

4. Attempts to be a system

5. Employer services related to acquiring employees (job postings, screening, OJT, etc.)

6. Jobseeker services (Eligibility/Resumes)

7. Coordination of education providers

8. Youth Support

9. Coordination of social services supports

10. Holistic support system

Economic Development1. Job Creation (make jobs)

2. Compete locally/regionally

3. Locally and state funded

4. Not a system

5. Business recruitment/retention services such as Tax Incentives, Location Hunting

6. Infrastructure/transportation support

7. Business development support

8. Community Development support

9. Bottom-Line $$$

10. Quality of Life (e.g.. Parks)

Comparison

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1. Evaluate local economic/workforce strengths and weaknesses.

2. Evaluate community’s place in the broader regional economy.

3. Evaluate community’s economic development and workforce development vision and goals.

4. Evaluate community’s strategy to attain its goals.

5. Evaluate connections between economic development, workforce development and other local policies.

6. Evaluate the regulatory environment.

7. Evaluate local economic development and workforce stakeholders and partners.

8. Evaluate the needs of your local business community.

9. Help create an environment that supports the start-up, growth and expansion of local businesses.

10. Evaluate community’s economic development and workforce development message.

Inspired by a report from National League of Cities and IEDC: “The Role of Local Elected Officials in Economic Development. 10 things you should know.”

Ten Steps to Aligning Workforce Development and

Economic Development

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Finding the Synergies

Prioritizing most important asset:

WORKFORCE• Career awareness through education

• Lifelong career planning/pathways

• Lifelong preparation and training

• Retention (of businesses and talent)

• Succession planning

Also:• Sector Strategies

• Cluster strategies

• Employer outreach

• Goal setting

• Marketing

• Grant writing

• CEDS planning

• Entrepreneurship Support

• Community volunteering

activities

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How CamoinHelps

Provides research

services to guide decision-

making

Facilitates goal-setting

Develops Action Plans

Evaluates progress

Convenes the right parties at the right times

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Presentation by:

Colleen LaRose

Workforce Development Specialist | Camoin Associates

President and CEO | North East Regional Employment & Training Assoc.

For questions, please contact:

Colleen LaRose

E-mail: colleen@nereta.org

Phone: 908-995-7718

Website: www.nereta.org

Twitter: @neretaorg

For information about Camoin Associates:

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