NSC, Georgetown release new policy brief.

NSC, Georgetown New Policy Brief Examines Federal Impact on State Workforce Policy Innovation

On October 19, National Skills Coalition and the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality, and Public Policy released a joint policy brief examining recent innovations in state workforce policy and the implications for their continuation in the current changing political, economic and budgetary environment.

State Workforce Policy: Recent Innovations and an Uncertain Future draws heavily on the thoughts and insights expressed by participants in a roundtable discussion on recent state workforce policy innovations convened by National Skills Coalition and the Georgetown Center on Poverty, Inequality and Public in June 2011. The roundtable included current and former state workforce agency leaders, federal agency officials and researchers with expertise in state workforce training.

The policy brief—authored by Peter Edelman, Harry Holzer and Elizabeth Watson of Georgetown and Eric Seleznow and Andy Van Kleunen of NSC—highlights several innovative state practices that better aligned education and training with the demands for skilled workers in key occupations and industries. These innovations may now be threatened as a result of declining budgets and changes in political leadership. It also examines how some states shifted from an emphasis on short-term, low-cost job training and job matching, to encouraging more workers to earn new skills and credentials. The paper identifies a number of ways in which federal policy might better support the development of these initiatives, some of which can be implemented within the Workforce Investment Act (WIA) system and others outside of the WIA framework.

Finally, this brief offers several recommendations for restoring federal funding and strengthening WIA, including the continued alignment of the WIA system, community colleges, and the Unemployment Insurance system to encourage state workforce innovation.

Click here to download the policy brief.