As fall approaches, many SkillSPAN coalitions are reflecting on spring and summer policy wins, finishing out busy legislative sessions, and planning for 2024. This blog highlights a small portion of SkillSPAN achievements in the first half of the year.  

SkillSPAN Coalitions are Making College Work 

Throughout the first half of 2023, several SkillSPAN coalitions advanced policy priorities to make college work for working people and businesses.  

• Michigan SkillSPAN successfully advocated to lower the age of eligibility for Michigan Reconnect, which offers tuition free certificate and degree programs at MI’s community and tribal colleges, from 25 years old to 21. This win builds on previous advocacy efforts to increase wrap-around supports for Reconnect students and to increase funding for the program, moving Michigan one step closer to offering debt free financial aid.  
• Indiana SkillSPAN worked with state legislators to pass HB 1160, which enables colleges to establish pilot campus navigator programs. The coalition leveraged their January 2023 report on educational attainment in Indiana to push for this policy win.  

Digital Equity @ Work Remains a SkillSPAN Priority  

•  In Colorado, SkillSPAN convened a group of adult education providers to help pass SB 7, an adult education bill with a focus on digital equity. The bill adds a digital literacy component to the basic education offered in adult education programs. This addition supports Colorado in its efforts to build a digital skill foundation for all its residents and is in line with NSC’s Digital Equity @ Work recommendations.  
• NSC also supported several SkillSPAN coalitions, including Louisiana and North Carolina, in weighing in on their states’ Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program and Digital Equity Act state plans. 

SkillSPAN Primed to Advocate for Investment in People-Powered Infrastructure 

State governments have begun to receive funds from federal infrastructure laws aimed at rebuilding our nation’s roads and bridges, fighting climate change, expanding broadband, and upgrading public transit, utility, and energy systems. As federal money flows to states, SkillSPAN coalitions are primed to emphasize the necessity of investing in people in order to meet these goals.  

• The Wisconsin SkillSPAN lead organization, WRTP/BIG STEP, convened a coalition of advocates to focus on the workforce development needed to successfully expand broadband in WI. The state Public Service Commission selected the coalition, known as the Wisconsin Broadband Workforce Coalition, to lead the state’s workforce development planning efforts. Placing workforce experts at the center of the planning process is a major step forward in training a diverse, multi-generational workforce to power WI’s broadband infrastructure.  

SkillSPAN Networks Lead on Creating an Equitable, Resilient Workforce System 

SkillSPAN is leading the conversation on new policies and implementation strategies that can create an equitable, resilient workforce system that works for the people and businesses that need it most.  

• SkillSPAN partners in Illinois were tapped to join Governor Pritzker’s Commission on Workforce Equity and Access. In April 2023, the Commission authored recommendations to create a more accessible, inclusive, and responsive workforce development system.  
• In Massachusetts, HD 1421 and SD 954 aim to expand access to state workforce data and improve data systems infrastructure. These bills were introduced by the state’s SkillSPAN coalition to better understand the employment outcomes of individuals served by the state’s publicly funded workforce system with hopes to support more equitable workforce outcomes. MA SkillSPAN recently testified on the bills with hopes to continue moving this legislation forward.  

What’s Next?  

Throughout the rest of the year, NSC and SkillSPAN will continue to advance policies that increase access to high-quality skills training. Be on the lookout for NSC’s upcoming publication, Building the Future Workforce a playbook designed to provide guidance for states to invest in a people-powered infrastructure.  To keep up to date on our work, sign up for our newsletter or register to attend the 2023 Skills in the States Forum in November 2023. The Forum convenes state and local leaders from across the country to highlight new policy innovations and discuss how state networks are expanding economic opportunity and racial equity for workers while boosting local businesses.  

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The United States underinvests in workforce compared with international peers, compared to historic levels and compared to worker and business need. These moderate proposed increases would be critical to improving the capacity of our workforce, career and technical and adult education systems to meet the needs of people across the country.  

The proposal, however, falls short of the scope and scale of investment workers or businesses need. The FY 2023 proposed investments are – almost uniformly for workforce and education programs, with a few notable exceptions – lower than those proposed in last year’s request or in proposals for additional recovery investments for states and local areas. While the proposal includes a focus on apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship programs that could support the successful implementation of the bipartisan infrastructure package passed last year, it also falls short of investing in the critical workforce and education programs necessary to prepare women, workers of color, and others who have been historically excluded from good infrastructure jobs for openings created through new federal investments in roads and bridges.  

NSC believes that a truly inclusive economic recovery is a recovery in which the workers and businesses who were most impacted by this recession, as well as workers who were previously held back by structural barriers of discrimination or lack of opportunity, are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from the economy’s expansion and restructuring. 

The PBR isn’t a binding bill that can move through Congress. Instead, it is a request from the administration that signals what they intend to prioritize. This year, the administration has chosen not to prioritize large legislative proposals we saw in last year’s request and that would have supported components of Build Back Better. Instead, this proposal – which comes on the heels of Congress finalizing government funding for this year just a few weeks ago – offers moderate increases for workforce and education programs.  

Read on for specific program-level budget analysis, what this means for workforce, and how our network is continuing to push the administration for an inclusive economic recovery. 

How is workforce funded in the Presidential Budget Request?  

Department of Labor 

The President proposed an 11 percent ($14.6B total) increase in funding for the Department of Labor compared to current funding levels ($13.2B). This includes a 5% increase to WIOA Title I formula dollars. WIOA Adult, Dislocated Worker, and Youth programs all saw bumps in funding as well, detailed in the below funding chart. 

The bill would increase funding for the Dislocated Worker National Reserve (DWNR) to $100 million for the next fiscal year. This increase is consistent with priorities seen from the administration and House Democrats in proposals intended to be part of – unpassed – recovery funding through Build Back Better.  

The President proposed a nearly 30% increase to apprenticeship grants, consistent with what he called for in last year’s Presidential Budget Request, and consistent with what he outlined during the State of the Union. This includes doubling the investment in Women in Apprenticeship and Nontraditional Occupations grants, which provide pre-apprenticeship opportunities to boost women’s participation in Registered Apprenticeship. This is greatly needed, as women suffered some of the worst economic losses disproportionally during the pandemic. 

The President also called for significant investments – a 47 percent increase from FY2022 levels –   in re-entry employment opportunities programs, an important step in giving opportunities to formerly incarcerated individuals. 

New programs 

The President proposes several new programs aimed at bolstering the workforce in his budget request. This includes $100 million for a new Sectoral Employment through Career Training for Occupational Readiness (SECTOR) program, which would support training programs focused on growing industries, enabling disadvantaged workers to enter in-demand jobs. This proposal has been a key priority for National Skills Coalition and our partners, including more than 60 businesses who participated in NSC’s Business Leaders United on the Hill event earlier this month.  

This new SECTOR program would be an important investment to support business engagement with training providers and the opportunity to link workers who need skills with businesses that are hiring in key industries. Support for industry partnerships was a key recommendation from business leaders in health care, hospitality/retail, manufacturing, and infrastructure industry advisory panels NSC convened last year. 

The administration also proposed $100 million for training and employment assistance for workers in communities that have experienced job losses due to dislocations in industries related to fossil fuel extraction or energy production. This program is intended to address changes in the energy economy and support community-led workforce transition, layoff aversion, job creation and other strategic initiatives for workers and job seekers in the coal, oil, gas, and other industries experiencing dislocations. 

The PBR also takes aim at tackling energy transitions through the new Veterans Clean Energy Training program. With proposed funding at $10 million, this national training program for veterans and spouses will provide participants with education, training, and credentials necessary to secure careers in various clean energy sectors, including the solar, wind, and other low-carbon emissions or zero-emissions sectors of the energy industry. The program will provide participants with education and training for in-demand careers and provide employers in these necessary and growing industry sectors with appropriately trained workers. 

President Biden proposes $75,000,000 for a National Youth Employment Program. The program would create summer and year-round youth employment opportunities beginning in the summer of 2022 that will enable youth to enter career pathways in high-demand industries and occupations.  

Similarly, another $15 million is proposed for the Civilian Climate Corps. This would provide employment and training activities for youth in climate resiliency fields. The training activities can include paid work experiences, private nonprofit entities, and pre-apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs. This program would have been funded in the House-passed Build Back Better Act at $40 million.  

The PBR did not include proposed funding for workforce data through Workforce Data Quality grants, but these investments are critical. Understanding who is accessing good paying jobs and wage outcomes is essential to an inclusive economic recovery. 

Overall, while the increases in DOL funding and new programs provide a small step to a woefully underfunded workforce system, but the administration and Congress would need to invest much more aggressively to bring the United States up to competition with our global counterparts. 

Department of Education 

The Department of Education’s 2023 budget proposal includes some programmatic funding increases, but overall is less ambitious than the suite of budget proposals that came from the Administration last year.  

The administration proposed a significant $1,775 increase to the Pell Grant maximum award, bringing the maximum to $8,760 for the 2023-2024 academic year. The budget does not propose any eligibility changes for the Pell Grant program, or other federal financial aid programs.  

Funding for state grants for Career and Technical Education (CTE), as well as Federal Work Study (FWS) and Supplemental Educational Opportunity Grants (SEOG) see small funding cuts under the budget proposal. This was likely not purposeful, but rather reflects that these 2023 budgetary numbers were determined prior to passage of the 2022 omnibus spending bill. CTE state grants, FWS, and SEOG all saw funding increases in that final funding package. 

Sign your organization on to tell Congress to expand Pell grants to high quality, short term training programs 

Beyond the Pell Grant program, the largest postsecondary funding increases are seen among institutional aid programs supporting Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Minority Serving Institutions, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and institutions serving a disproportionate number of disadvantaged students.  

The budget also includes a new allocation of $208 million under CTE national program funds for competitive grants to consortia of local educational agencies, institutions of higher education, and employers to pilot evidence-based strategies to increase the integration and alignment of the last two years of high school and the first two years of postsecondary education to improve postsecondary and career outcomes for all students. Additionally, there is $110 million under the Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education for grants to eligible States and Tribal Colleges and Universities to implement institutional-level retention and completion reforms. 

Notably missing from the budget is a detailed plan and recommended funding to enact a free community college proposal. This proposal was also missing in the final version of the Build Back Better framework, to the dismay of NSC, our network, and the workers, businesses, and students who would benefit from this legislation. This is something that was included in the administration’s 2022 budget proposal. There is a mention of the Administration wishing to work with Congress on the issue. Similarly, the ‘22 proposal on expanding federal financial aid to DACA students has also shifted to intent to work with Congress on that policy change.  

Department of Agriculture 

The budget request includes level funding for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) Employment & Training (E&T) funding for 100% funds. The proposal would support a $14 million increase to 50-50 funds, however, enabling states to match federal resources to help workers access better jobs and career pathways.  

Department of Commerce 

The President’s Budget Request includes a $125 million increase to Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP) which helps small and medium sized manufacturers stay competitive in the global and domestic marketplace. MEP helps businesses connect with innovative strategies, new technology, and workforce development.

Chart:  Presidential Budget Request Funding Data:

What’s Next 

After the administration releases their budget request, the House begins working on the twelve annual appropriations bills. Chairwoman DeLauro of the House Appropriations Committee has suggested a goal of moving all bills through the House by July or the beginning of August, at which point the Senate would work to pass their versions of each bill to meet the deadline to fund the federal government by September 30th.  

This deadline may slip – leading to a continuing resolution that holds funding steady for a short period of time – given partisan positioning and difficulty reaching bipartisan consensus on funding at the same time as members are engaged in midterm elections.  

How can we continue to ensure our workforce works for everyone? 

National Skills Coalition, and our partners in the Coalition to Invest in America’s Workforce, continue to advocate for critical investments in workforce and education programs.  

Please join our upcoming “Summit Sequels” virtual series to learn more about skills policy issues at the state and federal levels – over the course of six webinars, you’ll hear about best practices in the states and models that can inform federal decision-making and to discuss ongoing opportunities in federal and state skills advocacy. 

The post What does the Presidential Budget Request mean for an inclusive economic recovery? appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

What is evidence-based policymaking?

Skills training policies should be based on evidence of what works to create greater access to and better outcomes from our workforce investments. Evidence can include performance outcomes measures, the collection and use of data, and assessments and evaluations that measure the impact of a program on the population the program intends to serve.  

Good data can help us better understand what’s working, and what’s not, in terms of creating greater access to workforce investments and in reporting the measurable economic gains that advance career pathways, build wealth, and expand the well-being of workers. The development – and implementation – of federal investments, whether through the budget reconciliation process or the eventual reauthorization of the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act, must include data-informed and evidence-based policies. 

What is the Evidence Act?

Evidence is central to how policymakers should start each decision-making process – use data and learn from program evaluation, adopt policies, and direct funding so that it achieves the best results. The federal Foundations of Evidence-Based Policymaking Act, or Evidence Act, provides a roadmap. The Evidence Act expands the ability of the federal government to use evidence and data to make federal policies and programs more effective and efficient.  

The Evidence Act, which was signed into law in 2019, requires federal agencies to: 

• Develop a plan for evidence-based policymaking. Federal agencies’ plans should include policy questions, descriptions of data collection, and analytical methods. Each agency would also appoint a Chief Evaluation Officer who would assess the agency’s evaluation capacities, develop the agency’s evaluation plan, and implement it.  
• Improve researchers’ access to government data. Federal agencies must have an open data plan, or data that is valuable and will be available to the public, an inventory of data assets, and a transparent and secure process for accessing data. 
• Protect confidential information by restricting the disclosure of individual information, without the consent of the individual.  

How are federal agencies doing so far?

Recently, the national non-profit Results for America released its 2021 Federal “Invest in What Works” Standards of Excellence scorecard. The report highlights how nine federal agencies – that collectively oversee more than $286 billion in federal investments annually – are building and using evidence and data in their budget, policy, and management decisions. The Federal Standards of Excellence scorecard was developed to assess how federal agencies are implementing the Evidence Act. 

Results for America assesses federal agencies on 10 criteria. Some of these criteria include:  

• Leadership – Does the agency have senior staff members with the authority and budget to build and use evidence to inform its major policy and program decisions? 
• Research and evaluation capacity – Does the agency have an evaluation policy plan and learning agenda, and did it publicly release program evaluations?  
• Performance management and continuous improvement – Does the agency have outcome-focused goals and aligned program measures? Does it collect and use data to improve outcomes? 

• Data – Does the agency collect, analyze, share, and use high-quality administrative and survey data to improve outcomes? 
• Use of evidence in competitive and non-competitive grant programs – Does the agency use evidence of effectiveness when allocating funds in its grant programs? 

Some key findings from this report that skills advocates should pay attention to include: 

• The Department of Labor has recently appointed a chief innovation officer, a position left unfilled during the last administration. Three of the department’s five largest competitive grants require grantees to provide information about their past performance and use of evidence-informed strategies in their grant applications. The agency also held a data equity challenge for researchers studying the impact of agency policies on traditional underserved communities, with a goal to provide practical solutions to reduce disparities in outcomes. Lastly, the agency will also center equity in expanding its evidence-based knowledge. Their draft evidence-building plan for FY22-26 includes equity in employment and training programs and barriers to women’s employment as key learning priorities. 
• The Department of Education expanded its data staff to support its chief data officer, produced a series of evidence-based COVID-19 resources, and shared disaggregated data to help inform efforts to support students with disabilities, English Learners, students experiencing homelessness, and others during the pandemic. Disaggregated data can help the federal, state, and local policymakers make smarter, well-informed decisions. 

• The Administration for Children and Families (within the Department of Health and Human Services) helped build the capacity of grantees to support culturally responsive evaluation through centers and toolkits, and is developing a new African American Children and Families Research Center to support research on the needs of African American populations served by the administration. Key topics of interest for the Center will include research on educational and employment experiences and outcomes, experiences with human services, discrimination, and the effects of criminal justice system involvement. 

What’s the role of equity in evidence-based policymaking?

It’s essential to evaluate federal programs on their impact on the populations they were designed to serve, especially programs that target economically marginalized or historically underserved people. Given the pandemic’s disproportionate impact on people of color, immigrants, and those with a high school diploma or less, the need for data-informed policies will ensure that those most impacted benefit from economic recovery investments. 

In 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration boosted the evidence-driven efforts of federal agencies through executive actions, Evidence Act guidance, and American Rescue Plan Act guidance to help state and local governments maximize the impact of their recovery funds.  One such Executive Order (EO 13985) specifically called upon the federal government to advance racial equity and support for underserved communities. This Executive Order cites a lack of data disaggregation – by race, ethnicity, gender, disability, income, veteran status, and other key demographic variables – as a factor that hampers efforts to measure and advance equity. For instance, without data disaggregation, we won’t know if skills training investments support equitable outcomes for people of color and other populations previously held back from education and training opportunities. 

Taken together, the Evidence Act and guidance from the Biden-Harris Administration provides federal agencies with a roadmap to use evidence and data to inform the public investments needed to drive an equitable recovery. 

Rachel Vilsack, an NSC senior fellow, serves on Results for America’s Federal Advisory Committee. The Advisory Committee provide expertise to help increase the value, credibility, visibility, and relevance of Results for America’s Standards of Excellence. 

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Americans need clear and reliable information about their educational options. But they also need to know how to navigate these options. It’s no mystery why: there are nearly 1,000,000 unique credentials issued in the U.S. and more than 50,000 training providers and community colleges that offer credentials. Students, parents, and employers need a way to navigate information about these credentials to understand which pathway is the most promising. Having good data on credential quality and transparency helps people select a path that leads to equitable economic and career success. Good data helps students, working adults, and people undergoing career transitions know what training will help them succeed in growing industries and to understand which credentials will help them upgrade their skills to find work in the new economy. 

Creating an impact with Credential Quality and Transparency is a state policy toolkit that provides a map for how states that want to improve credential quality and transparency can use the quality non-degree credential framework (outlined by National Skills Coalition) and the linked, open-source data framework, common description language, and publishing platform created by Credential Engine.  

By combining efforts on both quality and transparency, states can guarantee that students, workers, and adults in career transition receive a consistent signal about which high-quality skills training programs will lead to employment, so that they can meet their education and earnings goals.  

What is credential quality? 

NSC proposes a consensus definition of quality non-degree credentials and criteria that states can adopt for their own quality assurance systems in order to make sensible budget and policy decisions and advance equity, putting students on a path to success. 

 The four key criteria for defining quality non-degree credentials: 

• There must be evidence of substantial job opportunities associated with the credential. Evidence must include quantitative data and direct communication with employers. 
• There must be transparent evidence of the competencies mastered by credential holders; where the appropriate length of the training program is how long it takes to master the competencies. 

• There must be transparent evidence of the actual employment and earnings outcomes of individuals after obtaining a credential. The data should be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender, disability status, and other characteristics to measure equitable progress. 
• Finally, stackability to additional education or training can help individuals advance in their educational, training, or employment pathway. 

What is credential transparency?

There are nearly one million unique credentials issued in the United States and well over 50,000 providers. Information on credentials and their outcomes need to be clearly and readily available so individuals can search, discover, and compare credentials in order to choose the most promising pathway.  

Credential Engine provides a suite of web-based services, such as a Credential Registry to house credential information using a common description language, and a platform to search and retrieve information about credentials. By connecting NSC’s quality non-degree credential criteria to Credential Engine’s common description language, more complete information about a credential can now be made publicly available to learners. 

How can states use the toolkit?

This toolkit provides information for states, and other stakeholders, who are interested in learning about credential quality and transparency. For stakeholders who already have familiarity with either credential quality or transparency efforts, this toolkit will demonstrate the combined power of both efforts.  

• States that have already adopted quality definitions for non-degree credentials will learn more about how Credential Engine can help them describe and publish information about credentials, including data elements associated with quality. 

• States that already partner with Credential Engine to make their credential information available on the Credential Registry will learn about why defining quality non-degree credentials is so important. 
• Finally, states that have not yet engaged in conversations on credential quality or transparency will find practical resources and recommendations to begin the process. 

Why do states need a toolkit?

It is imperative that students, working adults, and people undergoing career transitions know what training will help them succeed in growing industries and to understand which credentials will help them upgrade their skills to find work in the new economy.  

Credential quality and transparency information can also be a useful tool for equity. Most states have postsecondary attainment goals which aim, in part, to increase the number of people of color who receive credentials. As states have developed policies to expand access to degrees and credentials for adult learners and nontraditional students, it is critical for states to define which non-degree credentials offer quality to learners in the workplace and expand access to postsecondary attainment for those who would otherwise go without.  

If America wants to build an inclusive economy where all workers and businesses have the skills they need to stay competitive in a rapidly changing global marketplace, everyone must work together to expand access, attainment and transparency around quality non-degree credentials.   

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Credential Engine, in partnership with NSC and 10 other influential organizations, has released a new policy brief, Making Information about Credentials More Actionable through Increased Transparency and Quality Assurance. The brief explores how governors, legislators, and agency leaders can work to advance credential transparency. It also examines how increased quality and transparency help meet their postsecondary completion, equity, and workforce goals. 

What is Credential Quality?

National Skills Coalition believes quality non-degree credentials can be evaluated through data. The four key criteria for defining quality non-degree credentials are: 

• There must be evidence of substantial job opportunities related to a credential.  Employers must confirm that the credential is used in hiring, retention, or promotion decisions. 
• There needs to be evidence that credential holders have mastered certain competencies. The length of time is not as important as whether or not individuals can demonstrate the skills needed to do the job associated with the credential.  
• Information about credentials must be available. This includes employment and earnings outcomes of individuals after obtaining a credential. And whenever possible, outcomes  should be disaggregated by race, ethnicity, gender and other characteristics that can help to identify equity gaps so they may be addressed in a timely manner. 
• Lastly, non-degree credentials are often just one step along a career pathway. Whenever possible, non-degree credentials should lead to additional educational and training opportunities. 

Why is Credential Quality and Transparency important?

Simply put: Americans need clear and reliable information about their educational options. But they also need to know how to navigate these options. Good data on credential quality and transparency helps them select a path that leads to equitable economic and career success.  

Everyone benefits from quality information because:  

• A single quality framework helps adult learners better understand the skills and competencies required for in-demand jobs in their state.  It becomes easier to identify programs with proven outcomes that provide in-demand credentials and offer long–term career growth. 
• Employers can describe the competencies, skills, and knowledge they are seeking in job applicants more efficiently. This  reduces the risks of hiring unqualified candidates.  
• Education and training providers can meet the changing needs of the workplace using data that helps them align their programs to local labor markets.  
• Policymakers can ensure that public dollars are being spent on skills training programs with quality credentials. This clarity can create a path to an inclusive economic recovery. 

What are some recommended actions for states?

State leaders are critical to ensuring the quality assurance process is coordinated and aligned to serve all stakeholders. Policymakers should be consistent about which skills training programs and credentials aid in the reskilling and upskilling of working adults. Combining credential quality and transparency efforts helps ensure this consistency. 

Here are some recommendations and examples of state efforts: 

• Prioritize and coordinate efforts to assure the quality and transparency of credentials. 

State example: Colorado has leveraged their student longitudinal data system to create a “data trust.” This makes it more efficient to link data collections and produce more actionable information. As part of this effort, credentials that are offered in Colorado will be available on Credential Engine’s Credential Registry, so that students and working adults can make more informed decisions. Through recent work with the National Skills Coalition, Colorado also adopted criteria to define quality non-degree credentials. This will increase the usefulness of credential information for students and adult learners when setting their education and employment goals. 

• Compel education and training leaders to define high-quality credentials as those that meet rigorous labor market skill and demand thresholds. 

State example: The Louisiana Board of Regents recently approved a quality credentials of value policy. A cross-sector team—representing workforce, economic development, secondary, higher education and community college leadership—was vital to validating the policy. It will classify which non-academic credentials provide value in the marketplace and lead to strong career opportunities with good wages. These credentials of value will also be counted towards the state’s postsecondary attainment goal. 

• Require that outcomes are published on public open source portals, like the Credential Registry. 

State example: Leaders in Alabama are intentionally linking credential quality and transparency efforts with the launch of the Alabama Compendium of Valuable Credentials. This list of high-value credentials is aligned with regional and state career pathways. Information about credentials will be made available using a common data language. This allows for a greater connection of systems and tools to advance the success of state residents. 

Want to learn more? 

The Making Information about Credentials More Actionable through Increased Transparency and Quality Assurance policy brief includes more information on how quality frameworks are being supported in Credential Engine’s transparency efforts.  

The post For policymakers, students and advocates, quality information for credentials is vital appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Learn more about Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: https://nationalskillscoalition.org/covid19

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The deeply inequitable consequences of this economic crisis for Black, Latino, Indigenous, and other communities of color, for immigrants, and for people with a high school diploma or less lay bare our nation’s history. A history of structural racism that kills people of color and robs them of their livelihood. A history of public policies that undermine the aspirations of working people who want to train for a better job. A history of economic recovery strategies that pick winners and losers rather than creating real pathways to prosperity for everyone.

But today, as the NSC Board, we come to you in a spirit of hope, responsibility, and determination with the release of Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery: A Call for Action, Equity, and Accountability. This call to action offers a vision for the role that skills policy can play in an inclusive recovery. A recovery in which workers and businesses most impacted by this recession, as well as workers previously held back by structural barriers of discrimination or opportunity, are empowered to equitably participate in and benefit from economic expansion and restructuring.

Skills for an Inclusive Economic Recovery will guide our coalition’s work over the next two years. And over the coming months, we will share actionable legislative agendas and in-depth policy solutions that achieve the goals we put before you today. Solutions that state and federal policymakers can run with. Solutions based on the experience and expertise of our member businesses, labor-management partnerships, community organizations, community colleges, and education and workforce experts. Solutions that will require your advocacy to make them real.

America cannot train its way out of an economic crisis, nor can skills policy shoulder alone the weight of a more inclusive economy. Inclusive skills policy on its own will not dismantle structural racism, bring economic security to every worker, or ignite sustainable growth for every small business. A web of policies and practices contributes to these goals. But skills policy has an essential role to play and must be part of our nation’s path forward.

So it’s with a sense of hope, responsibility, and determination that we ask you to walk with us on this path and shape this journey.

In solidarity,

Andy Van Kleunen, CEO and Board member, along with the rest of the NSC Board

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As states reopen and jobs in sectors with high concentrations of women workers are returning, working mothers will see increased pressure while trying to balance work, childcare, and school schedules that are contingent on when and if the coronavirus spreads. And the situation may be dire for permanently displaced women – especially low-income workers – who need to prioritize housing and food security needs of their families above reentering the job market.

An inclusive economic recovery must prioritize investments in education and training tied to labor market demand – and the necessary support services – to connect displaced women to the upskilling needed to fully compete in the economy’s restructuring and expansion.

Just the facts, ma’am

One story that emerged during the Great Recession was the disproportional economic impact on men, as job losses battered the manufacturing and construction sectors, which traditionally employ male-dominated occupations. The current recession is trending in the opposite direction, a phenomena not seen in economic downturns in the United States. When many state stay-at-home orders temporarily closed businesses in April 2020, women (age 20 and over) saw a peak unemployment rate at 15.5 percent, compared to 13.0 percent for men, on a seasonally adjusted basis. While unemployment rates for both men and women have trended downwards in recent months, the impact of this recession – and subsequent recovery – for women will be closely studied for years to come.

Here are some workforce trends experienced by women during this pandemic and recession:

• Unemployment rates for Black women and Latino women continue to trend higher than white women. As of July, rates for Black and Latino women (age 20 and over) were 14.1 and 14.4 percent, respectively, compared to a 10.3 percent unemployment rate for white women. Research shows that Latino women are heavily represented in sectors that were most impacted by pandemic shutdowns.

• A similar trend exists for foreign born women, whose monthly unemployment rates are trending four percentage points higher than native born women – 14.7 percent versus 10.7 percent in July. Of note here is the disparity between foreign born men and women: the unemployment rate for foreign born men (10.7 percent) is just one percentage point higher than the rate for native born men (9.5 percent).

• While some jobs held by women have retuned – most notably in the leisure and hospitality sector – working hours and income, by extension, have not. One in four women worked part-time in July but wanted full-time work. Prior to the pandemic this rate was one in ten.

• Overall, women make up about 39 percent of frontline workers and are highly concentrated in health care practitioner and support occupations. Women also hold a large percentage of cashier positions in retail and grocery stores. It is especially important to note that workers of color hold a majority share of the health care support jobs, and nearly one in four health care support workers are single mothers.

• Women (41 percent) were more likely than men (31 percent) to have teleworked because of the pandemic in May, the first month this data point was available. By July, these percentages had fallen and narrowed: 29 percent for women and 24 percent for men. In general, workers with higher levels of education have a greater ability to telework during this pandemic.

• For parents, working from home also requires balancing childcare needs – nearly 40 percent of workers who teleworked because of the pandemic in May had children under 18. While the data do not allow us insight into who is providing extra childcare, women, on average, spend more hours per day caring for children. And recent analysis by the Census Bureau points to three in ten women aged 25 to 44 who were not working in mid-July due to COVID-19 related childcare issues.

• Short- and long-term dislocation of women from jobs will also impact their future career trajectories and earnings. One research study estimates that for women the average earnings loss during a recession amounts to 3.3 years of pre-displacement earnings.

We’re facing an unprecedented confluence of events that has resulted in a disproportionate impact on job loss among occupations that employ more women. This occupational segregation, particularly for women of color in lower earning positions, is an important racial equity lens to bring to skills investments. Some sectors where women are majority job holders have low potential for automation, while also lacking lack skill development and career advancement opportunities.

Take action

September is national Workforce Development Month, a recognition that the education, training, and career advancement of our workforce allows the United States to remain competitive in an international economy. This year, the need for skills investments is critical to helping those disproportionately impacted by the pandemic and to jumpstart the halting recovery for women.

Skill policies that broaden the infrastructure talent pipeline by supporting workers’ success (BUILDS Act) and sector partnerships that center apprenticeship and other work-based learning strategies (PARTNERS Act) can help all workers, especially women, succeed in 21st century careers. And access to wrap-around services, including high-quality childcare, are essential for young mothers to fully participate in retraining opportunities.

Make your voice heard: investments in our public workforce system must uplift the voices of displaced women workers so they can be a full part of an inclusive economic recovery.

The post Workforce Update: A Balancing Act for America’s Working Women appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

Good skills policies for an inclusive economic recovery must incorporate the needs of businesses so that investments in education and training are tied to labor market demand and leverage best practices, like work-based learning, to train workers for skilled positions.

Sector recovery so far

Payroll employment gains occurred over the last three months, with month-over-month comparisons illustrating what industries are coming back online as states progress along their reopening plans. Yet the announcement of an economic recession with a February 2020 peak in economic activity – coinciding with a near economic stoppage in March – makes for a complex story in how far this recovery must go to regain the 13 million jobs still lost.

Here are some notable highlights in industry employment between February and July 2020:

• Leisure and hospitality, down 4.3 million jobs – While the leisure and hospitality industry had the largest increase (2.1 million) in jobs between May and June 2020, there is no doubt that this sector was one of the hardest hit due to temporary business closures and state stay-at-home orders, as seen by the massive number of Unemployment Insurance claims from its workers. Workers in this sector have the lowest average weekly earnings, and Black and Latinx workers hold a disproportionate share of jobs. As more business closures become permanent, low-wage workers in this sector will need support to retrain for occupations in other growing industries. Currently, more than one-third of hospitality workers lack digital skills important for career advancement.

• Professional and technical services, down 1.6 million jobs – This industry spans high-skill professional business services – like information technology, engineering, and marketing – to company headquarters and a range of office and administrative services to support businesses. While workers in professional occupations were more likely to telework during the pandemic, the temporary help services sector saw the greatest job losses over the last three month as hiring paused and staffing services were not needed.

• Education and health services, down 1.6 million jobs – Given the prominent role of health care workers in frontline jobs during the pandemic, it might seem surprising to see job losses in this sector. However, the pandemic had varying effects on health care workers, as the demand for or availability of routine or elective services declined. Some health care workers were able to rapidly upskill and transition to other health-related sectors to support the pandemic. Education, of course, was notably impacted as school districts and colleges shifted to distance learning. And traditionally this is a sector that sees increased demand during a recession. The fall outlook for new college enrollment has improved among some institutions since the start of the pandemic, with trends suggesting students are attending institutions, including community colleges, closer to home.

• Retail trade, down 913,000 jobs – Like the leisure and hospitality sector, retail trade businesses were halted in the early months of the pandemic. One notable exception was grocery stores that continued to add jobs to their payroll over the past few months, as these jobs were deemed essential. Yet the headlines have been filled with large retail chains cutting stores or closing altogether. Without retraining and other supportive services, some adults will find it difficult to compete in a labor market saturated with job applicants, especially when one in three retail workers lack digital skills.

Finally, while no sector experienced job growth between February and June 2020, utilities (8,000), mining (93,000) and information (330,000) had the smallest national job losses.

Businesses can drive industry recovery

While the pandemic disproportionately impacted businesses in certain industries, there has also been varying effects by business size. Small businesses are essential to our economy, providing vital services and employment opportunities to local communities and residents. They were also most heavily impacted by the economic disruption of the last five months. Estimates of small business closures already surpassed the 100,000 mark and the number of small businesses open at all was still 20% below their pre-pandemic levels, as of mid-July.

Businesses are an integral part of an inclusive economic recovery. Through local and regional industry sector partnerships, small employers – along with community colleges, the workforce system, unions or labor-management partnerships, and community organizations – can take a leadership role in shaping re-training strategies to meet their skill needs while providing pathways for workers to good jobs in demand. This work already naturally begun during the pandemic to support employers who faced shortages for frontline health workers. And these partnerships should expand to other sectors who need skilled workers and for local businesses who want to advance the skills of their existing workforce to respond to workplace challenges associated with technological change.

An inclusive economic recovery for small businesses must include investments to ensure they – and the communities they call home – return stronger than their pre-pandemic economic conditions. This includes skills policies that provide displaced workers with the occupational mobility to move from contracting industries to skilled jobs in growing ones, supports participation in local sector partnerships, and provides small firms with publicly subsidized on-the-job training, work-based learning, and upskilling for their workers.

Take action

With unprecedented job loss due to the pandemic, displaced workers need a legislative response that invests in our recovery to reskill displaced workers for new jobs in growing industries and support businesses who want to upskill workers still on the job. Yet, the Senate’s recent package includes $1 billion in workforce funding, or only about $20 of re-employment support for each person laid off during the recession.

Stimulus investments also need to help keep workers on the job and empower businesses to upskill current workers with the digital and occupational skills necessary to succeed in 21st century careers. We are calling on Congress to invest $1 billion in a new Incumbent Worker Training formula fund that supports bringing industry partnerships to scale and empower incumbent worker training.

Make your voice heard: investments in our public workforce system and industry partnerships are necessary for businesses to be a part of an inclusive economic recovery.

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Workforce data must be at the center of the policy response to the pandemic to help target resources to – and elevate the voices of – workers and businesses who have been disproportionately impacted by Covid-19. Workforce data will also help advocates and policymakers evaluate whether the stimulus packages actually lead to an inclusive economic recovery.

Unemployment Insurance data analysis

The Unemployment Insurance (UI) claims data from April shows that women, people of color, and younger workers are among those who have been disproportionately impacted by the current economic downturn. According to the Unemployment Claims Monitor – a tool by The Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity at the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, which tracks weekly initial and continuing claims with disaggregated monthly counts by gender, race, ethnicity, age, and industry:

• Women account for more UI claims (51.7%) than their share of the labor force (47.0%) in 2019.

• Younger workers, age 25 to 34, are overrepresented in their share of UI claims (26.2%) compared to their share of the labor force (22.8%) in 2019.

• Black or African American workers account for 14.0% of UI claimants; and Latinx workers account for 15.6% of UI claims.

• Workers in two sectors – accommodation and food service (16.0%) and retail trade (11.0%) sectors – account for more than one in four total UI claims in April. These sectors typically employ younger workers.

• Health care and social assistance, despite being a critical sector in the front-line response to the pandemic, accounted for the third-largest industry with workers filing UI claims, at 10.7% of the total.

The data also shows that monthly unemployment rates jumped for all genders and racial groups in April, but their pre-pandemic starting points were very different.

• Unemployment for Black and African American women (4.8%) was nearly twice that of white women (2.6%) in February, on a seasonally adjusted basis. In May, the unemployment rate for whites dropped, but not for Black or African Americans.

• Likewise, unemployment rates for Black or African American teens (age 16 to 19) in the labor force was more than double (20.4%) the rate for white teens (9.5%) in February, with both rates increasing in April. The rate for Black or African American teens continued to increase in May.

• Latinx and Black or African American workers also make up a larger percentage of the jobs in the accommodation and food services – the sector most immediately impacted by the pandemic’s closures – than white workers.

Displaced workers need comprehensive re-employment support

Reskilling opportunities will be essential for displaced workers and the industries in which they were previously employed, as well as those who were unemployed prior to the pandemic. Several states have already launched new websites to provide a resource for their residents in connecting to online training options. Arizona’s Return Stronger Upskilling websites offers a one-stop resource for online career counseling or connecting workers to training, be it GED prep or industry-recognized certifications. Other sites, like Skill Up CT (Connecticut) and Get Hired IL (Illinois) are also offering their residents expanded access to re-employment support.

Access to programs to help train workers for the occupations that are and will be in demand as states reopen will also be important. Unfortunately, the Health and Economic Recovery Omnibus Emergency Solutions, or HEROES Act, fell far short of the investments in businesses and workers that the current crisis calls for, especially for adult education. The HEROES Act makes no additional investments in the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA), also known as the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) Title II program. Access to upskilling opportunities are critical for the one in five adults in the labor force with less than a high school diploma who were unemployed in May.

Measuring an inclusive economic recovery

Beyond using it to help shape polices that lead to equitable re-employment support, data will be integral to evaluating the success or deficiencies of stimulus strategies on meeting the needs of all workers and businesses impacted by the pandemic. Special attention should be given to the industries hardest hit by layoffs and closures, which desperately need community-wide support to get back to stable employment. Policymakers should also focus on communities of color and Indigenous populations who have faced structural barriers to education and workforce training and have been disproportionally impacted by the crisis.

This measurement could include analysis around what industries and displaced workers are returning to work faster, access to job training and credential attainment, and ensuring disaggregated workforce data is used to determine if all workers could equitably connect to new jobs in the post-pandemic economy.

How workforce and education advocates can get involved

States need more federal funding for workforce training in order to meet the needs of local workers and businesses in a post-Covid labor market. There are several steps that workforce and education advocates can take to ensure that federal policymakers understand the need for equitable and inclusive reskilling strategies.

• Urge Senate leadership and appropriators to properly invest in workforce training as part of future stimulus bills. While the HEROES Act included a $1.6 billion dollar lift to the US Department of Labor’s WIOA Title I programs, the funding is well below historic investment levels and what is needed to support American workers. HEROES passed the House on May 15, but the Senate is unlikely to take it up in its current form.

• Take action and join our coalition to stay engaged on how you can be a skills supporter in future stimulus bills and support data polices that will help us tell a complete story of our economic recovery.

The post Workforce Update: The road from recession to inclusive economic recovery requires strong workforce data appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

As some stay at home orders are lifted and businesses begin to gradually reopen, economic changes mean that some workers will simply not have the opportunity to return to their jobs. These workers will need employment guidance, and many will likely require more intensive training and supportive services. As the past recessions have shown, layoffs have major ripple effects throughout the public workforce and higher education systems.

The need for accurate, timely workforce data will be even more important in this environment – both to guide adult learners toward the best quality retraining programs, and to ensure that data-driven advocacy leads to policies that support an inclusive economic recovery.

Where will the jobs be?

In the current environment, traditional labor market information (LMI) sources are simply not fast enough to help education and workforce practitioners guide unemployed or displaced workers to the industries now facing shortages of trained workers or to the occupations where a quality credential puts individuals on a career pathway towards a family-sustaining wage.

Instead, workforce practitioners will need to rely on up-to-date information through job-listing aggregators or real-time tools that analyze current openings and the skills and credentials needed. There are private-sector vendors that offer these types of in-depth analysis tools to practitioners. But practitioners can also turn to their partners in state government. Specifically, state labor market and economic data experts can provide localized context to real-time trends, and many may already be parsing their own state-level job banks to provide lists of in-demand certifications or openings that support telework or work from home policies.

Longer-term work is underway at a national level. The National Association of State Workforce Agencies received a National Science Foundation grant in 2019 to begin amassing the millions of historical job listings from the National Labor Exchange for researcher access and the development of customer-facing tools integrating. A second phase grant, if awarded, will further this work in 2020.

Of course, real-time data comes with caveats. Caution should be paid to directly comparing year-over-year changes in educational requirements, as job openings for some occupations have disappeared simply because some businesses had to close in response to the pandemic. Depending on how fast the economy rebounds, we’ll need to watch changing job requirements, as employers typically inflate the education and experience requirements needed when labor supply is plentiful as a further way to screen candidates.

In both the short- and long-term, industry-sector partnerships can play a powerful role in  providing pathways for workers to jobs in demand. Through these partnerships, small and mid-size employers – supported by community colleges and workforce development leaders – can have a voice in shaping re-training strategies to meet their skill needs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. This work has already naturally begun to support employers who need frontline workers to support the pandemic.

What do we know about who needs (re)training?

States that have analytic capabilities can start informing local funding and policy decisions by sharing the disaggregated demographics of who has been ­– and who will remain – impacted by the pandemic-shocked economy. For example, Minnesota’s new daily and weekly initial UI claimant dashboard shows the age, education, race/ethnicity, sex and the occupations of individuals requesting benefits by region. In the six weeks between mid-March and end of April, three in 10 claimants reported having only a high school diploma, with food and beverage service and retail workers topping the cumulative totals.

North Dakota offers a similar detailed dashboard. And all states can tap into the characteristics of the UI claimants data that is availably monthly from the Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration (ETA) for tracking who is continuing to claim UI benefits.

What does training look like in a pandemic-affected world?

What is likely to remain in place for the foreseeable future is the need for virtual opportunities to receive public workforce services, and the need for assistance to jobseekers in finding online training programs. Just as education has quickly moved to remote and virtual learning, so too have there been rapid shifts to fully online workforce service experiences. Accessing virtual services during American Job Center and library closures is integral and needed, but workforce practitioners should also be mindful of improving access for individuals who may not have a computer, reliable home internet access, or the digital skills to participate in online services.

Jobseekers who need to access training services will be looking to online solutions as well. Participants in Adult and Dislocated Worker programs under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) must use their states’  Eligible Training Provider Lists (ETPL) may find appropriate training. States collect a core set of data from training providers about their programs, including delivery method such as classroom, online or hybrid.

In some states – Indiana, Michigan, and Texas are examples – customers can already sort training options by delivery method, making it easy to find online options. Given that online, e-learning, or distance learning programs currently account for about one in seven training programs on ETPLs across the country, states offering online search functionality by delivery type will allow customers to filter retraining opportunities that they may be able to access more quickly from home.

Connecting Workforce Data to Policy

In addition to the role of data in informing workforce development practice, good data also plays an integral role in supporting and advocating for effective policies. To that end, workforce and education advocates can take action now to make sure that policymakers understand what is needed for an effective pandemic response. In particular, advocates can ask policymakers to:

• Increase funding for federal workforce training programs to address worker reskilling now.
  • A recent NSC blog analyzed the House Democrats’ Relaunching American’s Workforce Act (RAWA) to invest $15.6 billion in supplemental funding for workforce and education services, including under WIOA, the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act (AEFLA) and the Carl D. Perkins Career and Technical Education Act, among other programs.
  • This act will further assist states in responding to the accelerated retraining needs due to COVID-19 that could not be accounted for in ETA’s recently announced WIOA Title I and III state allocations for Program Year 2020. While these programs got a modest overall increase in national funding, allocations to states are based, in part, on labor force and unemployment trends from 2019.
  • Workforce and education organizations can sign on now to a letter supporting the RAWA bill as part of the next COVID relief package to be taken up by the full Congress.
  • Support a Twenty-First Century Reemployment Accord to better prepare the US economy and workers for future shocks.
    • COVID-19 has elevated the current reskilling needs. Future federal stimulus packages should support more dynamic ways for workers and businesses to respond to economic crises, including increased automation and trade.

The post Workforce Update: Making a COVID-19 Case for Workforce Data appeared first on National Skills Coalition.

WIOA requires states to use unemployment insurance quarterly wage records to measure the performance of WIOA’s six core programs: Title I programs for youth, adults, and dislocated workers; Title II for adult education; Title III for Wagner-Peyser; and Title IV for vocational rehabilitation. However, states can have a difficult time getting employment and wage information about people who work in another state because they’ve moved after their program or commute to another state for work. SWIS solves this problem by enabling certain state agencies to exchange wage data with each other.

States can use wage data from SWIS to conduct research, reporting, and evaluation of eligible programs. However, what wage data states get depends on the program requesting it. Specifically, states can get wage data from other states about individual participants in WIOA’s six core programs, as well as some other state and local programs administered by DOL or ED, including secondary and postsecondary career and technical education. States can also get data about individuals to assess the performance of training providers on the eligible training provider list (although they can only share aggregate data with these providers). For other one-stop partner programs, such as Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) employment and training, state agencies can get aggregate data that combines information about participants.

While SWIS, as designed, is immensely useful to states, it only works if states voluntarily participate. If a state chooses not to participate, other states cannot receive employment information about their former participants or students working in that state. This could create huge gaps in the information available to other states. It could be particularly problematic for states with large percentages of their populations working in another state – for example Virginia, Maryland, and the District of Columbia. In order to ensure that SWIS is optimally effective, every state should do their part and sign on. Advocates can play an important role by urging their state to do so.

To learn more about SWIS, read NSC’s new paper.

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