The National League of Cities published a news analysis on May 2nd on the effectiveness of the public workforce system. The NCL represents more than 19 thousand communities nationwide.
If there is a single mantra that is heard over and over again, it is that the country must find a way to put Americans back to work. Though a major obstacle to putting people back to work is a lack of jobs, another obstacle is the mismatch between the skills of unemployed workers and what business needs. This mismatch has contributed substantially to the slow rate of return of America’s unemployed to the workforce.
Recognizing this is one part of the solution. Addressing it head on is yet another part. There is at least one important way to address this problem at the local level and that is through the nation’s workforce development system. Established by the Workforce Investment Act (WIA), the nation’s workforce development system is designed to provide a wide range of services to individuals in need of job training and placement assistance.
For example, last year, the workforce development system provided more than 10 million Americans with a wide range of services including apprenticeships, job training, basic education and job placement assistance. More than 8 million of those came through the Workforce Investment Act system alone. The remainder came through a range of workforce development programs designed to meet the needs of specific populations like migrant workers, American Indians, seniors and youth. And if you add those who received Internet-based assistance, an additional 8.5 million adults were helped.
As one travels across the country, one will find example after example of individual job training programs that have provided individuals with excellent job training assistance that have resulted in them being placed in well-paying if entry level jobs. Programs funded by the WIA are placing nearly 60 percent of their enrollees in jobs paying on average nearly $14,000 per year. And of those in jobs, nearly 80 percent were still on the job after one year.