workforce

To drive state competitiveness and job creation, Indiana and Mississippi announced new efforts to engage regional institutions of higher education and other organizations to provide workers with the skills that match the needs of existing industry as well as attract new business and industry to their state. Through the Indiana Department of Workforce Development (DWD), the state will commit $22 million to fund industry-led regional partnerships aimed at aligning education and workforce needs. Mississippi Gov.

To celebrate the one year anniversary of the TechHire Initiative, the Obama administration announced an expansion of the program with the addition of 15 new communities. The administration also announced activities and commitments to help support career and technical education. 

Virginia Gov. Terry McAuliffe announced the creation of a pay-for-performance workforce training program that will help Virginia workers acquire the industry certifications and occupational licenses that meet the needs of key businesses in each region of the state.

The White House recently released a preview of its plans to build a stronger pipeline between K-12 education and high-skill employment. The President’s Computer Science for All Initiative would boost investment in states, districts and teacher training to improve computer science (CS) education for K-12 students. The three-year, $4 billion plan would also call on multiple federal agencies to focus investments on improving CS skills.

As long-term trends continue to impact the U.S. economy and its recovery from the Great Recession, more must be done to develop diversely skilled and adaptable workers, according to a new report by the U.S. Council on Competitiveness.

As globalization transforms national R&D funding priorities and increase the demand for top S&T, nations are shifting their national R&D strategies toward initiatives intended to attract top scientists from other countries. These attraction efforts have a specific focus on repatriating top researchers by offering them access to the funds necessary to build world class facilities. In addition to large national commitments, foundations also have announced efforts to attract researchers by providing grant funding to support R&D projects and build facilities.

While considerable attention has been paid to the growing role of cleantech jobs in the American economy, there has been less of a focus on the skills it takes to pursue these careers.

Several foundations have announced major commitments to fund workforce development efforts focused on expanding the talent pipeline in metros across the country. Each of these efforts is intended to provide high school students and/or young adults with skills and experience necessary to match specific needs of regional industries.

Throughout the Great Recession, numerous stories from sources like The Wall Street Journal pointed to the idea of the overeducated and underemployed recent college graduate as a symbol of the economic times. While some recent graduates were able to find work in their respective fields, many did indeed struggle.

The National Governors Association’s (NGA) Center for Best Practices launched the 2016 Policy Academy on Scaling Work-Based Learning – a pilot program in six states that blends work experience and applied learning to develop youth and young adults’ foundational and technical skills to expand their education, career and employment opportunities. The goal of the program is to connect 16- to 29-year-olds with middle-skills career opportunities in STEM-intensive industries such as advanced manufacturing, health care, information technology and energy.