Challenge: Today’s economy—and the economy of tomorrow—require workers to constantly adapt to advances in technology, upgrading their skills and competencies to keep pace with change. However, Washington invests about $6 million per year in customized incumbent worker training—nearly the lowest level (#46) of any state, according to a national study. Washington businesses need workers with the right mix of skills, education, and aptitudes to increase productivity and profitability.

Opportunities: Washington should increase its commitment to growing the skills of our current workforce by investing in an Incumbent Worker Training Fund. This would build on the success of the Job Skills Program, overseen by the State Board for Community and Technical Colleges, and double the state’s investment in upskilling current workers with increased skills and credentials. The program would provide a 50/50 match to employer funds. This co-investment leverages capital, expertise, and existing workforce infrastructure to prepare for rapid transformations in industry, while retaining and growing the existing workforce.

(Cost: $12.5 million annually)

Challenge: To meet TAP’s goal of connecting more workers with jobs, and employers with the help they need—when they need it—the public workforce system must do more to engage businesses. We estimate the state’s workforce system is directly serving only between 4 and 8 percent of businesses. These services can make a tremendous impact. But we are not reaching enough potential customers. Being able to more quickly identify businesses in need of services will help the workforce system more effectively use limited staff and funding. Up until now, there was no way to do this without extensive research and analysis costs.

Opportunities: The Board has identified a program that could help more effectively target resources through Dun & Bradstreet, called EconoVue. The program employs a wide range of data to identify businesses showing signs of
growth and that are likely to add workers, so the system can help them secure needed talent. EconoVue can also identify businesses at risk of layoffs or closure so the workforce system can help mitigate layoffs or even prevent closure.

(Cost: $350,000 annually)

Challenge: Recent federal workforce legislation (Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, 2014) called for service integration across programs and funding streams to achieve better outcomes, but did not provide any new resources. Instead, it provided mechanisms for states to break down the walls between funding and program silos. True integration of service planning and delivery requires that programs can communicate with each other
on critical aspects of the customer relationship. As an example, a business with critical workforce shortages should be able to access the full breadth of services available across WorkSource centers, community and technical
colleges, and the Department of Commerce without having to retell their story, or supply the same intake information or qualification requirements across multiple agencies. For both businesses and jobseekers, an integrated case management system will streamline the customer experience, save time, and reduce duplication on the path to customer goals. Every agency has its own data collection and service management system, and these systems don’t talk to each other, limiting our ability to operate as a comprehensive system.

Opportunities: Funding is needed to support an IT business analysis of our system’s MIS infrastructure. New technologies have provided more options, at less expense, for data sharing and integration, while still maintaining personal data security. Under the Board’s proposal, a business analyst will scope the technological and legal challenges to data sharing, and will scan the national environment and technology solutions to make recommendations for cost-effective mechanisms for sharing data across existing systems, without having to rebuild any single system.

(Cost: $560,000, 2020-21 biennium)