[Senate Hearing 117-390]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
S. Hrg. 117-390
SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
AND INNOVATION TO ADDRESS
BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT
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HEARING
OF THE
COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION,
LABOR, AND PENSIONS
UNITED STATES SENATE
ONE HUNDRED SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS
SECOND SESSION
ON
EXAMINING SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES AND
INNOVATION TO ADDRESS BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT
__________
FEBRUARY 15, 2022
__________
Printed for the use of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and
Pensions
[GRAPHIC NOT AVAILABLE IN TIFF FORMAT]
Available via the World Wide Web: http://www.govinfo.gov
__________
U.S. GOVERNMENT PUBLISHING OFFICE
48-901 PDF WASHINGTON : 2023
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COMMITTEE ON HEALTH, EDUCATION, LABOR, AND PENSIONS
PATTY MURRAY, Washington, Chair
BERNIE SANDERS (I), Vermont RICHARD BURR, North Carolina,
ROBERT P. CASEY, JR., Pennsylvania Ranking Member
TAMMY BALDWIN, Wisconsin RAND PAUL, M.D., Kentucky
CHRISTOPHER S. MURPHY, Connecticut SUSAN M. COLLINS, Maine
TIM KAINE, Virginia BILL CASSIDY, M.D., Louisiana
MAGGIE HASSAN, New Hampshire LISA MURKOWSKI, Alaska
TINA SMITH, Minnesota MIKE BRAUN, Indiana
JACKY ROSEN, Nevada ROGER MARSHALL, M.D., Kansas
BEN RAY LUJAN, New Mexico TIM SCOTT, South Carolina
JOHN HICKENLOOPER, Colorado MITT ROMNEY, Utah
TOMMY TUBERVILLE, Alabama
JERRY MORAN, Kansas
Evan T. Schatz, Staff Director
David P. Cleary, Republican Staff Director
John Righter, Deputy Staff Director
C O N T E N T S
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STATEMENTS
TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 15, 2022
Page
Committee Members
Murray, Hon. Patty, Chair, Committee on Health, Education, Labor,
and Pensions, Opening statement................................ 1
Burr, Hon. Richard, Ranking Member, a U.S. Senator from the State
of North Carolina, Opening statement........................... 3
Witnesses
Mack, Melinda, Executive Director, New York Association of
Training and Employment Professionals, Albany, NY.............. 6
Prepared statement........................................... 7
Summary statement............................................ 11
Watts, Ashli, President & CEO, Kentucky Chamber of Commerce,
Frankfort, KY.................................................. 12
Prepared statement........................................... 13
Summary statement............................................ 16
Beard, Peter, Senior Vice President for Regional Workforce
Development, Greater Houston Partnership, Houston, TX.......... 17
Prepared statement........................................... 18
Summary statement............................................ 22
Sherard-Freeman, Nicole, Group Executive, Jobs, Economy & Detroit
at Work, City of Detroit, Detroit, MI.......................... 22
Prepared statement........................................... 24
Summary statement............................................ 28
SUPPORTING QUALITY WORKFORCE
DEVELOPMENT OPPORTUNITIES
AND INNOVATION TO ADDRESS
BARRIERS TO EMPLOYMENT
----------
Tuesday, February 15, 2022
U.S. Senate,
Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions,
Washington, DC.
The Committee met, pursuant to notice, at 10:05 a.m., in
room 216, Hart Senate Office Building, Hon. Patty Murray, Chair
of the Committee, presiding.
Present: Senators Murray [presiding], Casey, Murphy, Kaine,
Hassan, Smith, Rosen, Hickenlooper, Burr, Cassidy, Braun,
Marshall, and Tuberville.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR MURRAY
The Chair. Good morning. The Senate Health, Education,
Labor, and Pensions Committee will please come to order. Today
we are holding a hearing on supporting our workforce and
addressing systemic barriers to employment. I will have an
opening statement, followed by Senator Burr, and then we will
introduce our witnesses.
After the witnesses give their testimony, Senators will
each have 5 minutes for a round of questions. And while we were
again unable to have this hearing fully opened to the public or
media for in-person attendance, live video with closed
captioning is available on our Committee website at
help.senate.gov.
If you are in need of any other accommodations, you can
reach out to the Committee or the Office of Congressional
Accessibility Services. We continue to see a high number of new
COVID cases, so we are having this hearing in a larger room
where we can be socially distanced, limiting the number of
people who are in the room, and accommodating both some of our
Committee Members and witnesses through video as we have done
previously, and taking additional measures such as wearing
masks. As always, I really do appreciate the work from the
staff, of the Sergeant-at-Arms, the Architect of the Capitol,
and our Committee Clerk and his staff to make this hearing as
safe as possible.
Our Nation has made great progress rebuilding our economy
from the COVID-19 crisis. We have seen the highest economic
growth in nearly four decades, added a record 6 million jobs
last year, and saw the biggest annual improvement in employment
since we started collecting data. But our work is not done, and
that is especially clear when we look at how unequal this
crisis and the recovery so far have been and how that has
compounded the inequities that existed before the pandemic.
The unemployment rate for Black workers is still twice the
rate for white workers, and Black and Latino workers were both
nearly twice as likely as white workers to report losing income
last month. Meanwhile, women have accounted for almost two-
thirds of jobs lost during this pandemic, and we heard last
week about the challenges people with disabilities face in the
workplace and the need to make sure they can get competitive
integrated job opportunities, gain financial independence, and
participate more fully in our communities. These inequities are
holding our Country back.
We can't build back stronger when our economy leaves out
people who are ready and willing to take on good jobs. We can't
build back fairer when people who want to learn new skills and
seek better jobs continue to face discrimination because of
their race or their age or their income or their disability, or
because their primary language is not English. And we can't
build an economy that works for working families when a single
parent cannot afford childcare so they can go to a job or
participate in a workforce development program, or when workers
who can't afford to invest in new skills and get the jobs they
want simply because they can't afford textbooks or
transportation or tuition, or to even take time off from their
current job to take a class at a local community college or
pursue their higher education goals.
Of course, these barriers don't just hold back working
families. They hold back businesses who are looking for workers
to take on good paying jobs, and then our economy as a whole.
As we recover from this pandemic, we have to do so much better
than simply returning to a normal that wasn't working for
working families. If we want to rebuild an economy that works
for everyone, we need to tear down the systemic barriers that
stand between so many people and the opportunities they need to
gain new skills, get better jobs, and support their families.
That is why our Nation's workforce development programs are
so important. High quality, work based learning, registered
apprenticeships, and other workforce development programs can
help people grow in their careers or develop new skills and
start a new career. And when workforce development programs
provide assistance with transportation and housing and
childcare, help getting work gear like uniforms and tools,
accommodations for people with disabilities, and other support
to help people overcome barriers, they ensure that everyone can
access the opportunities that will help them succeed.
In a national survey of workforce development program
administrators, nearly all of them said supportive services
were important for program retention and completion. In fact,
program administrators who reported they were able to meet
these needs, saw four out of five participants complete their
programs. For those who couldn't meet these needs, reported
completion rates of less than one in three. Those numbers make
clear how transformative workers centered practices and support
can be.
I have seen in my home State of Washington what happens
when people have access to workforce development programs that
understand and tackle the barriers between them and a high
quality job. When Ali lost his job during the pandemic, the
African community housing and development in South Seattle
helped him get financial aid, enroll in classes at Highline
Community College, get a part time job at an airline, and set
him out on a new high quality career path in aviation.
When Rosa Linda, who is a single parent in Yakima, wanted
to improve her credentials and increase her pay, the public
workforce system helped her enroll in Yakima Valley College,
work on her resume writing and job interview skills, and then
get a new, better paying job in teaching. She no longer
worries, she says, about putting food on the table and was
excited to be able to afford holiday gifts for her family this
year. And across Washington State, the Aerospace Joint
Apprenticeship Committee offers registered apprenticeship and
pre-apprenticeship programs, including to young people who have
been impacted by the justice system.
These programs give young people who often have no work
history the opportunity and support to build the real world
experience and skills and industry connections they need to set
out on new, high quality careers.
Not only have I heard so many other stories from Washington
State about the importance of these programs, I have seen it
firsthand. When I was growing up, my family was able to make it
through very hard times because my mom was provided the support
and opportunity to go back to school, get training, and
ultimately get a paying--higher paying job that allowed her and
our family to succeed. That made a huge difference for all of
us.
Many families today have had the rug completely pulled out
from under them by this pandemic, and I want to make sure they
have the same opportunities that my mom did. So I look forward
to hearing from our witnesses today about what we can do to
continue tearing down barriers and building back our Country
stronger and fairer. And I am proud to say we do have a
bipartisan track record on workforce issues, like when we
passed the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act in 2014 and
when we reauthorized the Perkins Career and Technical Education
Act in 2018.
I know this remains a priority for everyone on this
Committee. So I hope we can continue to make progress, both by
strengthening programs that help workers overcome barriers, and
also by addressing some of the systemic issues that create
barriers in the first place, like racism, sexism, ageism, and
other forms of discrimination, poverty, barriers to workers
organizing and collective bargaining, inadequate accommodations
for people with disabilities, and a lack of paid leave, child
care and other policies that help makes things a little easier
on working families. With that, I will turn it over to Senator
Burr for his opening remarks.
OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR BURR
Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. I am glad we are
having this hearing today. I want to welcome our witnesses for
being here to testify. I am glad to see we have some who would
join us in the hearing room. Madam Chair, with the District of
Columbia changing their COVID guidelines effective today, where
they no longer require proof of vaccination to enter a
building, and with their proposed February 28th of the
elimination of an indoor mask mandate, I do hope that the
Committee will return to our regular in-person hearings very
soon.
We are here to talk about America's workforce. This is an
important topic. We are in a period of great economic
uncertainty. The pandemic has changed a lot of the ways that we
live and work. Thanks to extravagant spending in Washington,
American families are facing 40 year high inflation rates and
paychecks are increasingly stretched to put food on the table,
gas in the car. Plain and simple, this is a tax on working
class. Looking forward to the discussion today to hear more
about the ways that we can support pathways to good paying
jobs.
With all the changes to our economy, now more than ever it
is time for us to think about innovative solutions. Everyone is
here--everyone here is interested in finding ways to reduce
barriers to employment. But the Biden administration seems to
be creating their own barriers to employment. Look no further
than the partisan nominee at the Department of Labor, David
Weil, is the president's pick to lead the Wage and Hour
Division. This is a nominee with a track record of stifling
innovation and opposing growth opportunities.
His nomination is a threat to the gig economy, independent
contracting, and the franchise model for businesses of which
many or minority and women owned. I can't imagine the threat of
putting this type of leadership at the Department of Labor, and
it instills--and the lack of confidence that it instills in
employers. This Administration also seems to be creating
barriers to new training opportunities. Something we should all
be able to agree on is the importance of high quality workforce
training and education.
This includes apprenticeships. Instead of focusing on how
to expand the apprenticeship models, building on what works,
the Department of Labor is actually working on eliminating a
pathway. Industry recognized apprenticeships are a promising
way to expand the earn and learn model in new industries and to
reach new population of workers. Instead of building on this
innovative idea or working with Republicans on how to improve
it, this Administration has paused the recognition process.
If we are going to address barriers to employment, we
should be using all the tools in our toolbox, not just the
tools that labor unions find acceptable. The White House also
wants to put up roadblocks for people who want to work. As
businesses were adjusting to the pandemic, the president issued
a vaccine mandate. Make no mistake, I encourage every American
who is eligible to get vaccinated and to get boosted against
COVID. But amid labor shortages, supply chain issues, an
already strained workforce, this mandate is the last thing we
needed.
The sweeping new requirement far exceeded OSHA's legal
authority, and the Supreme Court was right to block it. We have
to find solutions to keep people in their jobs, schools and
businesses open. I also think we can all agree that Americans
can't work or go to school if they don't have safe and reliable
childcare for their families. Instead of seeking workable
bipartisan solutions, my friends on the other side of the aisle
insisted to do it themselves in a reckless partisan spending
bill.
Only in Washington would the answers be to create even more
complicated and just disjointed programs, rather than to do the
simple thing, fund a program that works and that has had
bipartisan support for decades. Talking about the childcare
development block grants. Barbara Mikulski and I led the
reauthorization of this program in a bill that overwhelmingly
passed the Senate in the House with bipartisan support. We can
do this again. It doesn't need to be partisan, it needs to be
smart. If we are going to find workable and lasting solutions,
we have got to find them together.
Today's topic has long been an area with support from both
sides of the aisle. I am looking forward to the hearing from--
hearing from our witnesses today about how they are providing
access to opportunity to workers in their communities. This
work doesn't happen in silos. Collaboration among stakeholders
is absolutely crucial. This includes business education
providers, workers, and Government.
This collaboration is not always easy. I expect some of the
barriers that we identified today will come with well-informed
Federal policy. Well-intentioned Federal policy, excuse me. We
have an opportunity to think outside the box and find ways to
better support the innovative strategies we see at the state
and local levels. Madam Chair, I hope we are smart enough to
listen today. I thank the Chair.
The Chair. Thank you, Senator Burr. I will now introduce
today's witnesses. And our first witness is Melinda Mack, the
Executive Director of the New York Association of Training and
Employment Professionals, a nationally recognized association
focused on poverty, education, job training, and economic
workforce development in New York. Thank you for joining us
today, Ms. Mack. Look forward to your testimony. Our next
witness is Ashley Watts. Ms. Watts is the President and CEO of
the Kentucky Chamber of Commerce.
The Chamber is the largest business association in the
state, representing 3,800 businesses which employ over half of
the state's workforce. Ms. Watts, appreciate you joining us
today to share your time and expertise. We will also be hearing
from Peter Beard, the Senior Vice President for Regional
Workforce Development for the Greater Houston Partnership. Mr.
Beard leads the partnership's upscale Houston initiative, a
business led effort that engages more than 200 employers,
educational institutes, community based organizations in the
workforce system.
Mr. Beard, thank you so much for joining us today. Look
forward to your testimony. Finally, we are also joined by
Nicole Sherard-Freeman, the Group Executive for Jobs, Economy
and Detroit at Work for the city of Detroit. In this role, she
tackles both the city's economic and workforce development
functions to attract and retain businesses and provide pathways
for workers' success in the job market. Ms. Sherard-Freeman,
grateful to have you with us. Look forward to your insights
today.
We will begin with Ms. Mack for your opening statement.
STATEMENT OF MELINDA MACK, EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR, NEW YORK
ASSOCIATION OF TRAINING AND EMPLOYMENT PROFESSIONALS, ALBANY,
NY
Ms. Mack. Good morning, Chair Murray and Ranking Member
Burr, the Members of the Senate HELP Committee. My name is
Linda Mack. I am the Executive Director of New York Association
of Training and Employment Professionals, which is New York's
Workforce Development Association. We were founded in the late
1970's and we represent every county in the state, and our
membership includes local workforce boards, career centers, as
well as union training funds, community colleges, youth and
adult literacy, education, job training, and employment service
providers.
Collectively, our members serve over a million New Yorkers
each year. COVID-19 has laid bare that the labor market, as it
has been designed, does not benefit all people equally. While
many New Yorkers have lost their jobs, the glaring
disproportionate negative impacts on people of color and
individuals working in low wage work is unambiguous.
But even as the labor market recovers, labor market
participation is still lagging. And as the great resignation
has made headlines, many workers are unable to take higher
paying jobs due to the lack of access for foundational skills
and technical skills or additional supports like childcare and
transportation.
As reported by our partners at the United Way of New York,
our state--in our state, about 45 percent of working households
are living at or beneath the basic cost of living, putting them
one flat tire away from not being able to put food on the
table. The inability to meet basic needs means that these
individuals do not have the resources to pay for or to step out
of work, to take a training course at a community college, or
to pay for that childcare that they would need in order to be
able to complete.
It also means that in classroom, or on the job requirements
of an apprenticeship are beyond their grasp. It doesn't have to
be this way. For example, the local workforce board in
Chautauqua has been engaging a number of long term unemployed
individuals, including those who struggle to access family
sustaining jobs. They are currently working to provide paid, on
the job training through the Workforce Innovation Opportunity
Act, or WIOA, and advanced manufacturing, allowing earning and
learning to occur simultaneously. It is a benefit to the
individual and a benefit to the employer.
This, coupled with wraparound supports from the local
career center, and individualized job coaching will ensure
participants can handle any hurdles that come their way and
also so that they can stay in training and then on the job. If
I am boiling it down to what Congress can do to help to ensure
this is an equitable economic recovery, I would share the
following. First, our Nation must invest in workforce
development at the scale and scope of the need.
The Federal funding through WIOA is a catalyst for public
and private investment, regional coordination through the local
workforce boards, and workforce system alignment across the
country and certainly in our state, where half a million New
Yorkers engage in the American job centers each year. This is
not about college or no college. It is about having the skills
you need for a good paying job for today and for tomorrow.
Second, understand the impact and value of wraparound support
services.
Services like childcare, transportation, access to current
navigation, resume writing, and case management are often the
difference between a worker succeeding and a training program
and being able to keep a job. Third, support industry or sector
partnerships to include increasing employment opportunities for
workers. In the North Country, Schluter Systems has struggled
to attract and retain workers at all levels. Their CEO has
shared the industry 4.0 now requires the company to attract
talent at a higher skill level while upskilling their existing
workforce.
In the last 2 years, three machine shops have closed,
forcing a company to find new ways to expand in-house
knowledge. To that end, Schluter Systems is currently working
with the North Country Workforce Board and Regional Economic
Development Partners and education partners as an active
participant in building the solution, by creating a youth
oriented work experience called the Authentic STEM program.
Modeled after the German Youth Apprenticeship Program, this
company believes it will be an essential model for their
ability to generate a pipeline of local workers for their
company and supply chain. And finally, support learning on the
job, including high quality workplace learning for youth and
adults, registered apprenticeship, and incumbent worker
training. This is particularly important for disadvantaged
individuals with immediate financial needs.
The Center for Employment Opportunities, who works with
those returning home from incarceration, has identified a daily
wage in coaching as stabilizing factors for participants
success. By way of example, at the Buffalo site, CEO has
partnered with a window manufacturer to employ participants in
transitional jobs. Their participants utilize hand tools to
build windows and frames and develop soft skills, and the
employer works with these recruits and now has a dedicated
source to hire full time workers into good union paying jobs.
In conclusion, a sustained economic prosperity for all
Americans is a priority. Focusing on getting people the skills
they need to do a good job or to get into a good job could not
come at a more opportune time. Local workforce boards and their
partners are at the front lines of creating hope, but they are
also driving the solutions for a better future.
I described a bit of what is being done here on the ground.
Now imagine what the impact could be if we doubled down on this
effort on America's economic competitiveness. Thank you for
this opportunity to discuss these issues. I look forward to
your questions.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Mack follows:]
prepared statement of melinda mack
Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Senate
Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, thank you for the
opportunity to share with you my experience working through the public
workforce and postsecondary education systems to address workers' need
and business demand.
My name is Melinda Mack. I am the Executive Director of the New
York Association of Training & Employment Professionals. \1\ Founded in
the late 1970's, our association represents every county in the State,
and includes federally funded local workforce boards, union training
funds, community colleges, literacy, education, job training, and
employment service providers. Collectively, our members serve over a
million New Yorkers each year.
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\1\ https://www.nyatep.org/
#::text=NYATEP%20increases%20the%20knowledge%2Dbase-
enhance%20the%20delivery%20of%20services.
Before COVID-19 the debate that rallied elected officials and
educators was the ``Future of Work'', automation, and its impact on
jobs. However, COVID-19 has laid bare what has been true all along--the
labor market, as it has been designed, does not benefit all people
equally. We saw mass unemployment rivaling the Great Depression, and
while many New Yorkers have lost their jobs, the glaring
disproportionate negative impacts for people of color and individuals
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working in low wage jobs is unambiguous.
As you know over 3.3 million people have filed for unemployment
insurance nationally, the highest number since the government began
tracking in 1967, and five times the prior record set in 1982. However,
according to the JOLTS data, even as the labor market recovers, labor
force participation is still lagging. New York's labor force
participation was around 61 percent pre-pandemic and is now hovering
around 59.8 percent. The New York Times reported last month that a
record number of Americans were quitting their jobs, primarily
concentrated in low-wage sectors, such as hospitality and food
services, making employers desperate to hire and raising wages to
attract more workers.
At the same time, workers lack access to foundational and technical
skills in our talent pool. In our state 40 percent of people have a
high school diploma or less. The COVID-19 crisis has underscored the
need to immediately address worker hardships, and the need to support
the transition back to employment.
Millions of New Yorkers have lost their paychecks and savings, and
therefore are calculating the costs of childcare, technology,
transportation, etc. which need to be in place to return to work and
keep the job. As reported by our partners at the United Way, in New
York 45 percent of households are living at or beneath the basic cost
of living, putting them one flat tire away from not being able to put
food on the table. Nearly 1.5 million working households in New York
were unable to meet their most basic needs in 2019. To make ends meet,
a single parent in the Bronx with a baby and a preschooler needs to
earn about $95,000--three times the minimum wage in New York City. And
while a similar family could get by on much less in Syracuse, the
$58,000 a year they'd need is still double the minimum wage in Onondaga
County.
The inability to meet basic needs means these families do not have
resources to pay for a training course at a community college or to pay
for extra childcare during class time. It means the in-classroom and on
the job requirements of a registered apprenticeship are beyond their
grasp, despite the strong outcomes for workers and businesses from this
model. And it means public policy is not doing enough for families
around the country to enable them to fill good jobs for which
businesses are hiring.
As we learned during the last Recession, even as the economy
improves, it doesn't improve for everyone equally. As reported by
Georgetown University's Center on Education and the Workforce in,
America's Divided Recovery: College Haves and Have-Nots, 2016, people
with a high school diploma or less did not rebound following the last
recession. Workers with a bachelor's degree or higher gained over 8.4
million jobs in the recovery, whereas those with a high school diploma
or less gained a mere 80,000.
The crisis also had a disproportionate impact on women and workers
of color in New York. Lessons from past economic downturns show that
Black and Hispanics/Latino workers, and women are likely to experience
greater job losses and recover wages and assets more slowly. Data from
early 2021 indicated similar trends maybe happening in the COVID-19
recovery. Additionally, the Schuyler Center has reported that over the
past year, more than 1,200 child care providers have closed
permanently, pushing child care into a crisis leading to more women, in
particular women of color, stepping out of employment to care for
children.
Taken together, this means tens of thousands of New Yorkers need
access to training and the supports necessary to succeed in that
training to ensure our recovery from the pandemic is equitable.
The good news is the public workforce, adult education and career
and technical education systems are poised to help people successfully
train for and find new jobs. Nationally, and in New York, workforce
development does not have a one size fits all, however. Our system has
extensive reach, and in New York alone, under the Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act Title I service program, the system serves over
224,000 Adults; 677,000 Dislocated Workers; and 6,300 Youth in PY20.
An equitable recovery will mean not just serving these workers,
though, it will mean addressing the varied barriers that prevent them
from finding good jobs today. Those most impacted by the COVID-19
Recession have been lower-income people of color and immigrants.
Structural racism has shaped labor market policies, including skills
policies, that contributed to those inequities before and during the
pandemic. Skills and re-employment policies should purposefully improve
both opportunities and outcomes for workers of color coming out of this
recession.
Effective models and workforce strategies that can serve as a model
for congressional action to address workers need and business demand:
Invest in workforce development at the scope and scale necessary to
meet worker need and business demand.
The Federal funding through the Workforce Innovation and
Opportunity Act, also known as WIOA, is the catalyst for public and
private investment, regional coordination, and workforce system
alignment across the country, and certainly in our state, where a half
million New Yorkers engage the American Job Centers each year.
Local workforce boards must actively match the right resources to
the right talent by working with partners to address barriers that
prevent individuals from being able to access and succeed in good jobs.
Over the past two decades, public investment in WIOA has declined
by 40 percent. \2\ This means going into the pandemic our public
workforce system already lacked necessary resources. To date, Congress
has not invested meaningfully in workforce as part of any economic
stimulus package. \3\
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\2\ https://nationalskillscoalition.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/
12/Funding-Cuts-Fact-Sheet-March2019.pdf.
\3\ https://nationalskillscoalition.org/blog/future-of-work/
congress-is-on-the-verge-of-making-historic-investments-in-workforce/.
Our international peers have, though. According to a report from
the Council for Economic Advisors, the United States would need to
invest $80 billion annually just to reach the median of that spent on
these programs by other industrial countries. \4\ Instead, we rank
below every other international peer in investment in workforce,
exceeding only that made by Mexico.
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\4\ https://trumpwhitehouse.archives.gov/wp-content/uploads/2018/
07/Addressing-Americas-Reskilling-Challenge.pdf.
New York has suffered the long-term trend of disinvestment in
workforce development through falling Federal appropriations. Twenty
years ago, Congress appropriated $4.86 billion, and as of 2020 that
funding has dropped to $2.79 billion, nearly half of what it was in
2001. Notwithstanding, adhoc infusions of Federal funding as a result
of a natural disaster or recession are no substitute for a long-term,
statewide strategy to invest in and grow New York's skilled workforce.
\5\
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\5\ https://s3.amazonaws.com/kajabi-storefronts-production/sites/
181530/themes/3772146/downloads/v4PzHjpKRQGwhgBiRnRe--A--NEW--WAY--
FORWARD--REPORT.pdf.
This underinvestment means workers can't access training and it
means our public workforce system doesn't have the resources necessary
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to help people be successful in that training.
Invest in and prioritize wrap around support services so workers
can succeed in both training programs and in a new job.
For workers who have been out of a job or underemployed, job
training is a critical part of their pathway to a good job. In order to
ensure workers have success in this training, however, the public
workforce system must provide access to wrap-around support services
like childcare, transportation.
In our state 40 percent of people have a high school diploma or
less and many more lack the additional supports like childcare and
transportation needed to move out of low-wage work. Right now, local
areas can invest in strategies like support services, but lack of
adequate funding often makes it impossible.
Strategies like childcare, transportation, access to career
navigation and case management and continued access to benefits
provided under other human resource programs like Temporary Assistance
for Needy Families (TANF) and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program
(SNAP) are often the difference between a worker succeeding in a
training program that leads to a good job and them being unable to
compete.
In pilot programs launched by the New York City Human Resources
Administration, public assistance recipients are connected to private
sector and public sector subsidized employment and receive work
readiness, job training and wrap-around work supports. The participants
earn wages over the course of 6 months, with no negative impact to
their benefits. Around half of the participants, who would have
otherwise remained unemployed, have connected to unsubsidized work.
Federal support to cover the costs of childcare continue to be
necessary in our state, both to address childcare needs and to focus on
alleviating the need for childcare workers.
Support sector-based training models and industry or sector
partnerships to bring businesses of all size together with education
providers and increase employment opportunities for workers.
Over the past 2 years, businesses have had to be nimble and
responsive to changes across industries. Under WIOA, states are
required to support local industry or sector partnerships, but there is
no dedicated money to help them do this. These partnerships bring
together education providers, local businesses, labor and labor
management partnerships, community-based organizations and
organizations that serve workers with barriers to employment. The most
sophisticated also engage organizations that work with communities of
color or others who have been disproportionately impacted by the
current crisis and the impact of systemic racism and previous policy
decisions.
In a state like New York, a lack of Federal investment in these
partnerships means that we are limited in our ability to convene
businesses with education partners, meaning fewer workers have the
benefit of that collaboration.
Just as the impacts of the pandemic have been felt differently
between different sectors, and even on different size businesses within
each sector, our workforce responses need to be just as industry
specific. As we develop forward looking workforce strategies, policies
should invest in and empower sector partnerships that are driven by
industry stakeholders, including smaller businesses that are often the
primary employer in local communities. These partnerships, in addition
to addressing local training needs, should also support the diversity
and inclusion efforts of local employers.
Again, where we are able to, though, we can see it work.
In the rural region of the Southern Tier there is an extreme
shortage of machinists. This same area also has unemployment that
exceeds the levels in other part of our state and workers consistently
face difficulty finding childcare. In response to business demand, the
local workforce board, the regional adult education provider and a
state funded workforce intermediary partnered with four local
businesses to design an accelerated machining training program. The
program invested Federal WIOA funding to provide individualized case
management to ensure workers could navigate the program and access
public resources to support childcare needs. WIOA funds were available
for workforce readiness training through the American Job Centers;
contextualized adult basic education to accelerate skill acquisition
and address literacy and numeracy deficiencies; all while deeply
engaging the employers in curriculum development and program design.
The partnership has grown to 14 employers, and at a minimal cost of
around $5,500 per participant and has returned more than $800,000 in
wages back to the regional economy. To date, more than [xx] workers
have been employed with businesses in this partnership and succeeded in
jobs with family sustaining wages.
Congress should also take steps to make sure that sector-based
training models are accessible to workers who have been
disproportionately impacted by COVID-19, including workers of color,
immigrants, and women. Public investments in sector partnerships should
include resources, technical assistance, and policy guidance that
support advancing racial equity and inclusion in local companies.
Support learning on the job, including work-based learning,
apprenticeship, and incumbent worker training.
Work-based learning that combines instruction at a worksite during
paid employment with classroom education, and that culminates in an
industry-recognized credential ensures workers obtain skills and
credentials while earning a wage. Registered apprenticeship is a great
example of this model, with strong wage and employment outcomes for
workers and improved retention and engagement outcomes for industry.
This is especially important for disadvantaged individuals with
immediate financial needs.
In the Adirondacks of New York, international company Schluter
Systems has struggled to attract and retain workers at all levels.
Their Chief Operating Officer shared with me recently that Industry 4.0
and the ``internet of things'' is causing a huge shift in the skills
necessary at all levels, so not only has it become a challenge to
attract people to manufacturing, now they must attract talent with a
higher skill level at the same time as up-skilling their existing
workforce. He shared that in the last 2 years, three machine shops have
closed down, forcing the company to find ways to expand in-house
knowledge. To solve this problem, Schluter Systems is currently working
with the North County Workforce Board and regional education partners
as an ``active participant in building the solution'' by creating a
youth-oriented, work experience program called The Authentic STEM
program. Modeled after the German youth apprenticeship, Schluter
believes it will be an excellent sectoral model to generate a pipeline
of local workers for Schluter and their supply chain, with experience
working on real industrial problems, strong communication and problem
solving skills. The programs will co-invest funding from industry and
WIOA to support career exploration for middle schoolers and real world
work experience for high school-aged students.
In conclusion, if sustained economic prosperity for America and all
U.S. workers is a priority, focusing on getting people the skills they
need for a good job could not come at a more opportune time. Local
workforce boards and their partners including employers, postsecondary
institutions, nonprofits and career and technical education programs,
are at the front lines creating solutions, and they are creating hope
for a better future. I've described a snapshot of what is being done on
the ground, now imagine what the impact would be on America's economic
competitiveness if we could double down on these efforts. Thank you for
the opportunity to discuss these issues today. Please consider us a
resource if we can be of any help.
______
[summary statement of melinda mack]
My name is Melinda Mack. I am the Executive Director of the New
York Association of Training and Employment Professionals. \1\
Collectively, our members serve over a million New Yorkers each year.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ https://www.nyatep.org/
#::text=NYATEP%20increases%20the%20knowledge%2Dbase-
enhance%20the%20delivery%20of%20services.
Over the past 2 years, millions of New Yorkers have lost their
paychecks and savings, and therefore are calculating the costs of
childcare, technology, transportation, etc. which need to be in place
to return to work and keep the job. As reported by our partners at the
United Way, in New York 45 percent of households are living at or
beneath the basic cost of living, putting them one flat tire away from
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
not being able to put food on the table.
As we learned during the last Recession, even as the economy
improves, it doesn't improve for everyone equally. Workers with a
bachelor's degree or higher gained over 8.4 million jobs in the
recovery, whereas those with a high school diploma or less gained a
mere 80,000.
The crisis also had a disproportionate impact on women and workers
of color in New York. Lessons from past economic downturns show that
Black and Hispanics/Latino workers, and women are likely to experience
greater job losses and recover wages and assets more slowly.
Our public workforce system is poised to address worker and
business needs, but Federal policy and investments are critical to
ensuring the system can best serve all workers, especially those with
barriers to employment.
Effective models and workforce strategies that can serve as a model
for congressional action to address workers need and business demand:
Invest in workforce development at the scope and
scale necessary to meet worker need and business demand
Invest in and prioritize wrap around support services
so workers can succeed in both training programs and in a new
job
Support sector-based training models and industry or
sector partnerships to bring businesses of all size together
with education providers and increase employment opportunities
for workers
Support learning on the job, including work-based
learning, apprenticeship, and incumbent worker training
______
The Chair. Thank you very much. Ms. Watts.
STATEMENT OF ASHLI WATTS, PRESIDENT AND CEO, KENTUCKY CHAMBER
OF COMMERCE, FRANKFORT, KY
Ms. Watts. Good morning, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr,
and Members of the Committee. I am honored to be with you here
today to discuss workforce, an issue every state is facing, and
specifically how we can remove barriers. Almost 2 years after
the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from
Congress, including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a
historic bipartisan infrastructure bill, our economy is on its
way to recovery. However, we will not be able to ensure a full
recovery until we have an active, engaged workforce.
As President of the Kentucky Chamber, the Commonwealth's
largest business association, the No. 1 issue I hear about from
businesses of all sizes, of all sectors are their struggles
with workforce and finding employees. We often say we have too
many people without jobs and too many jobs without people, and
how do we make these two things match. And then the days of a
somewhat divisive political climate, it is refreshing to be
able to say that this issue really sees no side of the aisle,
and we have worked with leaders from both parties toward
solutions.
For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been
creating programs to provide employer led initiatives to
develop, expand, and strengthen our workforce to support
Kentucky's economy. I would briefly like to tell you about a
few of these programs relevant to this Committee and topic.
Like many states, in Kentucky we have struggled with high
substance use disorder numbers as well as high levels of
incarceration.
However, the Chamber and the business leaders understand a
key to reducing recidivism is meaningful employment. With
funding from both state government as well as private entities,
the Chamber started our workforce recovery program, focused on
engaging the business community as part of the solution to this
epidemic by reducing the stigma and increasing second chance
employment opportunities across Kentucky.
This program has built an employer network of over 1,200
employers and recruited almost 28,000 second chance
opportunities statewide. Through this program, we also launched
the Kentucky Transformation Employment Program last year. This
program provides a pathway for businesses and employers to help
more Kentuckians reach long term recovery while supporting
second chance employment. Employers who choose to enroll in
this program receive protections from civil action regarding
negligent hiring and hiring because of an employee's substance
use disorder through Kentucky statutes.
To date, 22 businesses have signed up for this program,
which impacts more than 5,000 Kentucky employees. Another
barrier those coming out of incarceration phase is something as
simple as a lack of a proper state issued I.D. We realize that
many Kentuckians were coming out of incarceration and leaving
to reenter society, and the only form of identification they
had was their mug shot.
As you can imagine, this is not the form of ID one would
want to have when trying to secure housing assistance or
looking for a job. The Chamber, in partnership with the Just
Trust, has started a pilot project in Kentucky to give those
coming out of incarceration a state issued ID to help with
their successful reentry. We are hopeful State Government will
fund this program for all inmates in the future.
We know creating workforce opportunities starts at an early
age. Knowing this, the Chamber launched a statewide initiative,
Bus to Business, several years ago, focused on connecting K
through 12 students across the state to career pathways and
businesses in their communities. This program has been able to
engage over 210 schools and over 110 businesses across
Kentucky, impacting over 42,000 Kentucky students.
Students have the opportunity to tour companies, complete
hands on work based learning opportunities, and speak directly
to employers about career pathways available in their
organizations. And the last program I want to highlight is the
first workforce program the Chamber started to help create
workforce pipelines for key industries.
Over 4 years ago, in partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet
for Education and Workforce Development, Kentucky launched a
statewide implementation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Foundation program, Talent Pipeline Management. Over the last 4
years, this program has been talent solutions for five of
Kentucky's key industry sectors, engaged almost 300 employers,
and connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs, training, or
workplace learning opportunities.
In fact, this program has proven so successful, we have
expanded our portfolio to include Kentucky's signature
industries, equine and distilling, because you can't have
Kentucky without bourbon and horses. As an example of the
innovative solutions our equine employers are building, they
have worked with the Blackburn Correctional Facility to create
and implement the Workforce Readiness and Reentry Program,
where inmates gain vocational and job skill training before
connecting with career opportunities.
Following in the equine industry's footsteps, the Kentucky
Distillers Association partnered with the Chamber to start a
pilot project in 2021, which currently engages 15 distilling
companies. Members of the Committee, as you know and I am sure
you hear from your constituents, workforce is a multi-faceted
problem that must have multifaceted solutions to remove
barriers and create opportunities for everyone.
Thank you for the opportunity to share a little bit about
how collaborative partnerships in Kentucky are benefiting all
of our citizens' workforce and economy.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Watts follows:]
prepared statement of ashli watts
Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Committee. I
am honored to be here with you today to discuss an issue that every
state is facing and that is workforce. Almost 2 years after the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from Congress
including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a historic bipartisan
infrastructure bill, our economy is well on its way to recovery.
However, we will not be able to ensure a full recovery until we have an
active, engaged workforce.
Workforce has been a topic of concern for business leaders and
policymakers for years, but interest in the issue has surged in the
past 12 to 16 months. Driving this surge has been the collapse in
employment that took place with the onset of the pandemic in Spring of
2020 followed by the nationwide struggle to find workers to help
rebuild the U.S. economy. In April 2020, 23 million Americans were
unemployed and the national unemployment rate soared to 14.8 percent
(16.9 percent in Kentucky). One year later, surveys of employers showed
a record number of businesses struggling to find workers, while the
U.S. saw an unprecedented 9.2 million job openings.
No wonder workforce has been such a topic of interest lately.
Something is amiss. The truth is that something has been amiss for a
long time. As President of the Kentucky Chamber, the Commonwealth's
largest business association, the No. 1 issue I hear from businesses
across the state, of all sizes and sectors, are their struggles with
workforce and finding employees. We often say ``we have too many people
without jobs and too many jobs without people and how do we make these
two issues match?''
The pandemic and economic recovery have accelerated preexisting
trends and magnified our weak points. This is especially the case in
Kentucky, where the data tells us that since 2000 more and more
Kentuckians have not been participating in the workforce. In fact,
fewer adults in Kentucky participate in the workforce than in almost
any other state in the Nation. Perhaps what is more concerning is that
even once Kentucky fully restores its workforce to pre-pandemic
levels--which is not a certainty--we will likely still be far behind
the Nation and surrounding states. Kentucky's workforce challenges are
exceptional, but they did not suddenly emerge in the age of COVID-19.
Rather, they have been building and holding back our economy for at
least two decades. There is no one singular cause of these challenges.
Instead, the causes are many, and the solutions must be, as well.
I am pleased to be able to briefly highlight a few of the unique
programs the Kentucky Chamber has spearheaded in collaboration with
many partners to address the workforce issue and specifically how we
remove barriers. And in the days of a somewhat divisive political
climate, it is refreshing to be able to say that this issue really sees
no side of the aisle, and we have worked with leaders from both parties
toward solutions.
For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been creating
programs to provide employer-led initiatives to develop, expand, and
strengthen our workforce to support Kentucky's economy. I would briefly
like to tell you about a few of these programs that are relevant to
this Committee and topic.
In Kentucky we have struggled with high substance use disorder
numbers, as well as high levels of incarceration. However, the Chamber
and business leaders understand a key to reducing recidivism is
meaningful employment. With funding from both state government as well
as private entities, the Chamber started our Workforce Recovery Program
focusing on engaging the business community as part of the solution to
this epidemic by reducing stigma and increasing second-chance
employment opportunities across Kentucky. This program has built an
employer network of over 1,200 employers and recruited almost 28,000
fair chance job opportunities statewide!
Through this program we launched the Kentucky Transformation
Employment Program (KTEP) in September 2021. KTEP provides a pathway
for businesses and employers to help more Kentuckians reach long-term
recovery while supporting second chance employment. Employers who
choose to enroll in the program receive protections from civil action
regarding negligent hiring and hiring because of an employee's
substance use disorder through KRS 222.215. To date, 22 Kentucky
businesses have signed up for KTEP, which impacts more than 5,000
Kentucky employees.
Another barrier those coming out of incarceration face is something
as simple as a lack of a proper state-issued ID. We realized that many
Kentuckians coming out of incarceration are leaving to reenter society
and the only form of identification they have is their mug shot. As you
can imagine, this is not the form of ID one would want to use to secure
housing, assistance or look for a job. The Chamber, in partnership with
the Just Trust, has started a pilot project in Kentucky to give those
coming out of incarceration a state-issued ID to help with their
successful reentry. We are hopeful state government will fund this
program for all inmates in the future.
In March 2020, when we saw unemployment numbers skyrocket due to
the pandemic, we launched a website to highlight the many open
positions in all areas of the state. We would never have imagined this
campaign would have resulted in 55,000 webpage visits and over 100,000
jobs posted by employers in a little over a year. Given this momentum,
we launched Kentucky Talent Hub in October 2021 to create a more
dynamic online experience for employers, job seekers, and workforce
development professionals.
This online platform provides a space for employers to post
opportunities and directly engage with applicants and job seekers.
Employers across all industries post opportunities of any kind,
including full-time, part-time, fair chance, freelance, and internship
positions. Additionally, workforce and education partners can post
events and resources to engage employers, job seekers, and anyone
looking for new professional experiences and training, and highlights
second chance employers. Since launching Kentucky Talent Hub in October
2021, we have almost 1,000 users and close to 1,500 job opportunities
posted.
We know that creating workforce opportunities start at an early
age. Knowing this, the Chamber launched a statewide initiative focused
on connecting students across the state to learn more about career
pathways and businesses in their communities. In partnership with the
Kentucky Community and Technical College System (KCTCS) and the
Kentucky Society for Human Resource Management (KYSHRM), nearly 35,000
students have engaged in this program within the 2021-2022 school year.
Since the program's launch in 2019, Bus to Business has engaged over
210 schools and over 110 businesses across Kentucky, impacting over
42,000 students. Students have the opportunity to tour companies,
complete hands-on work-based learning activities, and speak directly
with employers about career pathways available in their organizations.
The last program I want to highlight is the first workforce program
the Chamber started to help create workforce pipelines for key
industries. Over 4 years ago, in partnership with the Kentucky Cabinet
for Education and Workforce Development, Kentucky was selected as one
of three states in the Nation to pilot a statewide implementation of
the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation's program, Talent Pipeline
Management (TPM). TPM is an effort to mobilize the business community
to close the skills gap by applying lessons learned from supply chain
management to move employers into the role of ``end customers,''
projecting talent needs and aligning those with education and workforce
development systems. Over the past 4 years, the Foundation's Talent
Pipeline Management program has built talent solutions for five of
Kentucky's key industry sectors, engaged almost 300 employers, and
connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs, training, or work-based
learning opportunities.
One thing about this program that I want to point out is that it is
funded through Federal workforce dollars, and the partnership between
state government and the Chamber was originally approved by a
Republican Governor. Before our grant came up for renewal we had a
Democratic Governor, but the success of the program was so clear, the
funding has continued and the partnership has strengthened and grown.
In fact, this program has proven so successful, we have expanded
our portfolio to include Kentucky's signature industries, Equine and
Distilling. You can't have Kentucky without horses and bourbon, right?
These signature industries are systematically leveraging TPM to solve
their workforce challenges by getting direct input from employers on
what critical positions they need to fill and what training or
education is required.
The equine collaborative has engaged forty-six employers and built
programs and solutions for various industry sub-sectors. As an example
of the innovative solutions employers are building, they have worked
with Blackburn Correctional Facility to create and implement the
Workforce Readiness and Reentry Program, where inmates gain vocational
and job skill training before connecting with career opportunities. The
TPM work in the Equine industry has also led to a registered
apprenticeship program, the development of career pathway documents for
various sectors, and a vocational program for individuals in recovery.
Following in the equine industry's footsteps, the Kentucky
Distillers' Association (KDA) connected with the TPM team to start a
pilot project in 2021. This statewide effort has engaged 15 distilling
companies and shows a projected need of 536 open jobs through 2025.
Kentucky's Distilling Industry shows a projected growth of 74 percent,
which does not include normal attrition. Maintenance specialists, tour
guides/brand Ambassadors, and machine operators are the industry's
greatest need. This collaborative is poised to co-engineer solutions
with education and workforce partners around the state. Through the
success of this work, the KDA and the Kentucky Chamber Foundation have
partnered to create a new position in the Kentucky TPM system,
dedicated to the distilling industry and modeled off the successful
TPM efforts with the equine industry.
Members of the Committee, as you can see, workforce is a multi-
faceted problem that must have a multi-faceted solution to remove
barriers and create opportunities.
Thank you for the opportunity to share a little about how
collaborative partnerships in Kentucky are benefiting all of our
citizens, workforce and economy.
______
[summary statement of ashli watts]
Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the Committee. I
am honored to be here with you today to discuss an issue that every
state is facing and that is workforce. Almost 2 years after the
beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, thanks to help from Congress
including PPP loans, Federal relief packages, and a historic bipartisan
infrastructure bill, our economy is well on its way to recovery.
However, we will not be able to ensure a full recovery until we remove
barriers to have an active, engaged workforce.
I'm pleased to be able to briefly highlight a few of the unique
programs the Kentucky Chamber has spearheaded in collaboration with
many partners to address workforce challenges and specifically to
remove barriers to workforce participation. And in the days of a
somewhat divisive political climate, I am pleased to say this issue
really sees no side of the aisle and we have worked with leaders from
both parties toward solutions.
For the last several years, the Kentucky Chamber has been creating
programs to provide employer-led initiatives to develop, expand, and
strengthen our workforce to support Kentucky's economy. I would briefly
like to tell you about a few of these programs that are relevant to
this Committee and topic.
The Workforce Recovery Program focuses on engaging
the business community as part of the solution to this epidemic
by reducing stigma and increasing second-chance employment
opportunities across Kentucky. This program has built an
employer network of over 1,200 employers and recruited almost
28,000 fair chance job opportunities statewide!
The Kentucky Transformation Employment Program (KTEP)
was launched in September 2021. KTEP provides a pathway for
businesses and employers to help more Kentuckians reach long-
term recovery while supporting second chance employment.
Employers who choose to enroll in the program receive
protections from civil action regarding negligent hiring and
hiring related to an employee's substance use disorder through
state statute. To date, 22 Kentucky businesses have signed up
for KTEP, which impacts more than 5,000 Kentucky employees.
Proper Identification is another barrier faced by
those coming out of incarceration. We realized many Kentuckians
coming out of incarceration reenter society and the only form
of identification they have is their mug shot. The Chamber, in
partnership with the Just Trust, has started a pilot project in
Kentucky to give those coming out of incarceration a state
issued ID to help with their successful reentry.
Bus 2 Business has engaged over 210 schools and over
110 businesses across Kentucky, impacting over 42,000 students.
Students have the opportunity to tour companies, complete
hands-on work-based learning activities, and speak directly
with employers about career pathways available in their
organizations.
Talent Pipeline Management builds talent solutions
for Kentucky's key industry sectors, and has engaged almost 300
employers, and connected more than 3,000 Kentuckians to jobs,
training, or work-based learning opportunities. In fact, this
program has proven so successful, we have expanded our
portfolio to include Kentucky's signature industries, Equine
and Distilling.
______
The Chair. Thank you very much. Mr. Beard.
STATEMENT OF PETER BEARD, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT FOR REGIONAL
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT, GREATER HOUSTON PARTNERSHIP, HOUSTON, TX
Mr. Beard. Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr,
and Members of the Committee for the opportunity to testify at
today's hearing. This is an important and critical topic to the
long term growth and competitiveness of the United States, and
to the economic prosperity and mobility of its citizens. Good
morning.
My name is Peter Beard. I serve as the Senior Vice
President of Workforce Development at the Greater Houston
Partnership, where I lead its Upskill Houston initiatives and
Houston Back on Track, which are all employer-led based on the
same model Kentucky uses, which is the Chamber Foundation's
Talent Pipeline Management.
With 900 members and a board of directors of business and
civic leaders, the Greater Houston Partnership serves as the
Houston region's Chamber of Commerce and Economic Development
Organization, focused on a mission of ensuring Houston's place
as a great global city. Similar to the supply chain disruptions
reported in the news every day, Houston and many communities
across the United States are confronting significant
disruptions and fundamental shifts of their talent pipelines
that provide the skilled talent our employers and businesses
require to grow and compete globally.
Regional economies like Houston are experiencing a
fundamental shift as they become technology enabled, innovation
based economies. These shifts are accelerating three key trends
impacting the skills individuals will need to compete for 21st
century jobs. First, skills are becoming obsolete more quickly.
Second, employers now require higher levels of digital and
technology skills across industries and functions. Third, there
is a premium on soft and non-cognitive skills essential for
baseline success in the workplace. These trends will require
ongoing upskilling and reskilling of the existing workforce by
more adaptable and agile approaches that will not likely be met
by traditional education and workforce systems. In my written
testimony, I provided some details related to several themes.
First, it is important to develop an understanding of the
existing skills and capabilities of individuals in order to
support their upskilling into quality jobs and occupational
pathways. I described in detail how Houston is using a data
driven model with the Texas Workforce Solutions Vocational
Rehabilitation Services to assess the inherent and innate
capabilities existing workers possess, and then to identify
correlations and the presence of similar capabilities in
opportunity populations.
In the pilot study, about 10 percent of the VRS clients
tested were found to be good statistical fits for customer
service roles, breaking down barriers. Second, employers will
need to strengthen and support skills-based hiring and
education and provide workers with clear occupational and
skills pathways to navigate the changing skills requirements
our industries are confronting.
In Houston, our industrial construction industry developed
competency maps for critical industrial crafts that describe
skill sets for each level from helper to journeyman, and then
they map the skills to the relevant modules in the national
career construction curriculum and develop performance
verifications to ensure individuals can professionally perform
the relevant tasks and activities.
Community colleges, community based organizations, and
workforce career offices will need to coordinate and align and
integrate their services to support individuals and increase
their workforce outcomes. The Workforce Connector Program in
the Texas Gulf Coast is a partnership between United Way of
Greater Houston and Gulf Coast Workforce Solutions, and
provides co-location of wraparound services, career coaching
and navigation, and cross referrals between the two systems.
The shift in the skills needs of employers is accelerating,
and we will require lifelong learning and skills development to
enhance occupational mobility and economic prosperity. It will
be important to optimize the supports and services individuals
and adult learners require to improve their economic mobility
and prosperity through better jobs. Improved coordination,
alignment, innovation, and performance across the multiple
regional systems will be necessary.
At its core, this will require strong employer leadership
and engagement, and the presence of robust, accurate, and
timely labor market data and information. Agile and innovative
solutions will be necessary to strengthen the virtuous cycle of
economic growth and prosperity. Thank you for the opportunity
today to provide this testimony. I will be happy to answer any
questions you may have.
[The prepared statement of Mr. Beard follows:]
prepared statement of peter beard
Thank you, Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and Members of the
Committee for the invitation and opportunity to testify on this
important topic that is critical to the long-term economic growth and
competitiveness of the United States and to the economic mobility and
prosperity of many of its citizens.
Good morning. My name is Peter Beard and I serve as the Senior Vice
President for Workforce Development at the Greater Houston Partnership
where I lead its UpSkill Houston and Houston Back on Track initiatives.
With 900 members and a board of business and civic leaders, the Greater
Houston Partnership serves as the Houston region's chamber of commerce
and economic development organization focused on a mission of ensuring
Houston's place as a great global city. The Partnership has long
championed Houston's growth through economic development efforts aimed
at attracting leading global companies to Houston, creating jobs and
contributing to the region's GDP.
The Greater Houston Partnership created the UpSkill Houston as an
employer-led, jobs-first initiative to address the skills gap challenge
Houston (and every regional economy in the United States) faces with a
changing industry base, an increasingly diverse population, and a
fundamental shift in our regional economy (e.g., the energy
transition). The skills gap exists when too many employers can't find
diverse workers with the skills needed for success in the workplace,
when and where the employers need them; and when too many people lack
the skills, education, and credentials they need to compete for good
21st century jobs and to share in the economic prosperity of the
region. UpSkill Houston focuses on the good occupations in the region
that require education and skills beyond high school and less than a
four-year college degree--``middle-skill'' occupations.
In this morning's testimony, I will be focusing on four themes:
(1) Developing baselines of existing skills and capabilities to
support upskilling into quality jobs or occupational pathways.
(2) Strengthening skills-based hiring and education.
(3) Ensuring effective transitions into employers' workforces.
(4) Supporting quality life-long learning that enhances
occupational mobility and economic prosperity.
As context for my testimony, it is clear that the COVID-19 pandemic
has accelerated the fundamental shift that has been taking place in
regional economies to technology-enabled, innovation-based economies.
In light of the pace of change and associated economic uncertainty, the
following trends described below will likely continue to create
additional challenges and skills gaps that we will need to be address
through strong alignment, innovation and agility:
Skills are becoming obsolete more quickly; and will
require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the
existing workforce.
Digitization and automation technologies are
affecting all jobs--creating new ones, augmenting certain
roles, and automating others--and will require workers to have
higher levels of digital and technology skills across
industries and functions.
Employers are placing higher premiums on the soft/
non-cognitive skills that are essential for baseline success in
the workplace.
The foundation for addressing these challenges is the presence of
robust, accurate, and timely labor market data and information. Strong
engagement and leadership from employers and business leaders have been
essential for ensuring Houston's employers have access to the skilled
talent they need to compete and grow. In our work, we utilize the U.S.
Chamber of Commerce Foundation's Talent Pipeline Management (TPM)
framework and tools to ensure that employers truly lead the work. The
framework provides consistency in the approach and creates the
foundation to scale across a large region and provides essential data
and information to drive action and performance.
The Greater Houston Partnership and UpSkill Houston fundamentally
believe that quality education and skills development creates a
virtuous cycle of economic growth and opportunity for the Houston
region and requires strong employer leadership and engagement. To
strengthen this virtuous cycle will require coordination, alignment,
innovation and performance across multiple regional systems (i.e.,
education, higher education, workforce and community-based social
services sector).
Developing Baselines of Existing Skills and Capabilities
Effective career coaching, counseling and advising are emerging as
essential supports needed to assist workers with navigating the
changing career pathways in today's technology-enabled, innovation-
based economy. Employers increasingly are segmenting critical skills
into three broad categories: (1) Essential/Soft Skills, (2) Digital
Skills, and (3) Technical/Job-Related Skills. Counselors and employers
need to know what abilities, skills and personality dispositions are
present in job candidates to guide them to occupations leveraging these
innate abilities. In some cases, these can be inferred by previous
positions which can be used to identify adjacent occupations with
greater career mobility and opportunity. \1\ ``Next mile'' skills
training can then be identified to assist an individual in
transitioning into that new pathway.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia has developed it
Occupational Mobility Explorer to identify opportunities for workers to
transfer their skills from one occupation to a similar--but higher-
paying--occupation in the same labor market.
In Houston, we are using a tool developed by Fast Forward Works
(``FFW'') to aggregate data related to inherent and innate capabilities
existing workers possess and then to identify correlations and the
presence of similar capabilities in opportunity populations that would
suggest individuals might be successful in occupational roles. \2\ When
career counselors and navigators understand the presence of these
capabilities, they can assist individuals in exploring potential career
choices that can increase sustainability and success.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ The Fast Forward Works assessment platform contains
psychometric instruments validated over decades of use in the academic
literature to assess and measure cognitive abilities (e.g., critical
thinking, pattern recognition, time sharing, etc.) and personality
characteristics (e.g., conflict resolution, self-efficacy, self-
actualization, risk avoidance, etc.).
Fast Forward Works (``FFW'') has conducted occupational studies
with employers in the trucking industry looking for ``safe'' truck
drivers and in the customer service sector seeking to identify ``good''
customer service representatives. By developing customized assessments
of key aptitudes, FFW has been able to develop a quantitative model
found to be predictive of ``safe'' truck drivers and ``good'' customer
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
service representatives.
In Houston, we combined the occupational studies with assessments
conducted with 100 clients who have various disabilities including
autism and anxiety disorders, as well as learning and physical
disabilities. FFW is working with Texas Workforce Solutions-Vocational
Rehabilitation Services (``VRS'') to test the feasibility of assessing
VRS clients in the comfort of their own homes using a 1-hour FFW cloud-
based assessment measuring their cognitive abilities and aptitudes to
identify meaningful employment opportunities. Traditionally, it has
been necessary for them to go to a psychologist's office to take
various assessments which is costly to the state and is burdensome to
the clients.
Using data from the occupational study for customer service
representatives, FFW found that about 10 percent of the VRS clients
tested would be good statistical fits for customer service roles.
Quantitatively understanding and verifying the cognitive and
personality characteristics of job candidates can potentially bring
massive efficiencies to employers' hiring and talent acquisition
efforts, resulting in improved success rates for these clients. This
approach also de-risks the hiring of these job candidates to the
benefit of both employers and candidates.
As we increase the inventory of occupational studies analyzing high
demand jobs, Houston will have the foundation to scale this work in an
efficient and objective way and connect unconventional job candidates
to employers in need of quality candidates.
Strengthening Skills-Based Hiring and Education
Employers are moving to skills-based hiring with proficiency
assessments (and away from the pedigree of a college degree). Several
examples include: Memorial Hermann Health (removing high school diploma
requirements for entry-level positions) and Houston's industrial
construction contractors (using industry developed competency maps and
skills verification).
While data and information from state and Federal agencies (e.g.,
education agency, higher education commission, and workforce board) are
important starting points, aggregated, collective and real-time
information and data from employers are what educational institutions,
community-based organizations, and workforce development agencies
require to strengthen education programs. Employers have direct access
to and knowledge about this critical information and, when aggregated
for an industry, can benefit education, community and workforce
institutions:
How many and what types of workers they need and
when and where employers need them.
What skills and competencies workers need to possess
to be successful in the workplace.
From where their best talent comes (e.g.,
internally, educational institutions, military, staffing
agencies, community-based organizations, etc.).
With three critical pieces of information, employers can partner in
new and more effective ways with education, workforce programs, and
community-based organizations. With this valuable information, these
organizations can develop and improve their programs to ensure students
and adult learners develop the skills and competencies employers need
in their workers to be successful. This strengthens the role of the
talent providers and developers as they add critical value to learners
and workers along a value chain that can start with career awareness
and progress to employer upskilling and retention efforts. The State of
Texas, along with six other states, will be a part of pilot project
with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation to improve the quality and
detail of state labor market information collected through enhanced
Unemployment Insurance reporting. This Jobs and Employment Data
Exchange (JEDx) project will streamline and improve how employers
report data to government agencies; produces better longitudinal data
about jobs and employment to power new workforce analytics while
protecting privacy; and empower individuals with data and trusted
records to verify work history as well as their eligibility for
government benefits.
Houston's industrial construction contractors have significantly
advanced their efforts in skills-based hiring and education by
developing competency maps that describe the skills and abilities craft
professionals need to develop in order to move to the next level their
careers, from entry-level helper to top-level journeyman. The industry
collaborated to describe the skill sets for each level, mapped the
skills to the relevant modules in the national construction curriculum
(NCCER or National Center for Construction Education and Research), and
developed performance verifications to ensure individuals have skills
proficiency and can perform the relevant tasks and activities. The
competency maps also provide the career pathways for individuals to
advance in their careers and provide mobility of workers across
employers.
Ensuring Effective Transitions Into Employers' Workforces
Against a backdrop of limited resources, we confront the reality of
a significant challenge to support underserved populations as they
prepare for and obtain the skills for good occupations. Many times,
this requires that individuals have access to and receive the necessary
wraparound supports and services (i.e., transportation, childcare,
employment preparation, etc.) in order to ensure success. The effective
transition into an employer's workforce is a critical to long-term
success for many individuals.
Community-based, social service organizations not only provide the
wraparound services, but build longer term relationships with their
clients and provide ongoing supports for employment success once client
enter the workforce. UpSkill Houston works closely with United Way of
Greater Houston to support its community partners in partnering with
employers to address barriers or breakdowns when they arise. During
Summer 2021, UpSkill Houston conducted user research to understand the
barriers and challenges of individuals and underserved populations
impacted the pandemic. Four personas were developed and have assisted
community-based organizations and employers adapt their programs and
hiring requirements to be responsive to those barriers. This work
ensures there is risk sharing that can avoid a bad outcome and support
success.
United Way has also collaborated with the Gulf Coast workforce
board to establish the Workforce Connector program that creates the
opportunity for cross-referrals between workforce career offices and
community-based, social service organizations to ensure a more
comprehensive suites of services and supports are available to a
client. The program also highlights how more effective coordination,
alignment and integration between community colleges (i.e., career and
student services), community-based organizations (i.e., wraparound
services and supports, ongoing relationships), and workforce career
offices can optimize the supports individuals are receiving.
Supporting Quality Life-Long Learning to Enhance Occupational Mobility
and Economic Prosperity
As I noted previously, skills are becoming obsolete more quickly;
and will require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the
existing workforce. The associated pace of change and economic
uncertainty, however, will likely make it more challenging to solve
talent shortages through the traditional education and workforce
systems and will require more adaptable and agile approaches and these
trends are having implications today. More importantly, workers will
now be expected to be lifelong learners.
Many of Houston's commercial and industrial construction firms
(Turner Industries, S&B Engineers and Constructors, Marek Bros., TD
Industries and Trio Electric) have created internal skills development
programs which are closely aligned and coordinated with their business
needs and to strengthen retention. Upskilling appears to be more
effective when provided in the context of an individual's current
employment because the additional skills are generally context
specific.
It is important to note that we continue to see an increasing
number of employers strengthening their upskilling and reskilling
efforts for front-line workers through expanded use of tuition and
educational benefits. Several examples of this trend include Waste
Management's (headquartered in Houston) Your Tomorrow program, AT&T's
Future Ready program, Walmart's Live Better U and Walmart Academy.
Guild Education has emerged as an important partner for companies
seeking to use their tuition and education benefit programs to more
strategically upskill and reskill their existing workforces. We believe
these trends will only accelerate and clearly impact adult learners,
students and educational institutions.
Conclusion
Technology-enabled, innovation-based economies are accelerating the
shift in the skills needs of employers at an accelerating pace. The
Houston region requires strong employer leadership and engagement to
drive the innovation necessary to strengthen the virtuous cycle of
economic growth and prosperity. With improved coordination, alignment,
innovation and performance across multiple regional systems that
develop our region's and the Nation's talent, we are optimizing the
supports and services individuals and adult learners require to improve
their economic mobility and prosperity through better jobs.
Thank you for the opportunity to provide this testimony.
______
[summary statement of peter beard]
As the fundamental shift from regional economies to technology-
enabled, innovation-based economies continues, the following trends
will likely create additional challenges and skills gaps we will need
to be address through strong alignment, innovation and agility.
Skills are becoming obsolete more quickly; and will
require routine on-the-job upskilling and reskilling of the
existing workforce.
Digitization and automation technologies are
affecting all jobs--creating new ones, augmenting certain
roles, and automating others--and will require workers to have
higher levels of digital and technology skills across
industries and functions.
Employers are placing higher premiums on the soft/
non-cognitive skills that are essential for baseline success in
the workplace.
The Greater Houston Partnership and UpSkill Houston believe
fundamentally that quality education and skills development creates a
virtuous cycle of economic growth and opportunity for the Houston
region which requires strong employer leadership and engagement. The
foundation for addressing these challenges is the presence of robust,
accurate, and timely labor market data and information.
Four themes strengthen this virtuous cycle through coordination,
alignment, innovation, and performance across multiple regional
systems.
(1) Developing baselines of existing skills and capabilities to
support upskilling into quality jobs or occupational pathways:
Quantitatively understanding and verifying the cognitive and
personality characteristics of job candidates can potentially
bring massive efficiencies to employers' hiring and talent
acquisition efforts, resulting in highly improved success
rates.
(2) Strengthening skills-based hiring and education: Houston's
industrial construction industry developed competency maps for
critical industrial crafts that describe skill sets for each
level, mapped the skills to the relevant modules in the
national construction curriculum, and developed performance
verifications to ensure individuals have skills proficiency and
can perform the relevant tasks and activities.
(3) Ensuring effective transitions into employers' workforces:
Effective coordination, alignment and integration between
community colleges, community-based organizations, and
workforce career offices can optimize the supports individuals
are receiving and increase workforce outcomes.
(4) Supporting quality life-long learning that enhances
occupational mobility and economic prosperity: The pace of
change and economic uncertainty makes it challenging to solve
talent shortages through the traditional education and
workforce systems, and requires adaptable and agile approaches.
______
The Chair. Thank you very much.
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. You want to turn on your mic.
STATEMENT OF NICOLE SHERARD-FREEMAN, GROUP EXECUTIVE, JOBS,
ECONOMY & DETROIT AT WORK, CITY OF DETROIT, DETROIT, MI
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you. Greetings Chair Murray,
Ranking Member Burr, and all other Members of this Committee.
It is my honor to be with you today. I lead economic
development and workforce development on the ground in Detroit.
And to answer the questions you have asked, I am going to begin
with a short story.
In 2018, Mayor Mike Duggan pitched the late Sergio
Marchionne, who was then CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automotive, now
Stellantis, on a once in a lifetime idea. FCA needed 215 acres
of land for a new assembly plant for the new Jeep Grand
Cherokee, a $2.5 billion investment that would be the first of
its kind in 40 years. To win the business, Detroit had 60 days
to assemble the land and get the Community and City Council to
approve the deal.
In return, the Mayor had only one major ask, that FCA would
give Detroiters the first chance at the 5,000 jobs the project
would bring to the city after, of course, the union satisfied
all of its union obligations. In Stellantis' report to the
community in December 2021, the company reported hiring more
than 5,200 Detroiters from a pool of more than 16,000 Detroit
at Work, job ready candidates.
Union membership increased by more than 5,000. Gross wages
paid to employees in Detroit increased by 44 percent. And
income taxes collected in the city of Detroit increased by 34
percent. The project had its challenges, but the experience
offered exceptional learnings. First, economic conditions in
Detroit, good or bad, highlight two challenges we all know,
childcare and transportation.
In Detroit, there are only 23,000 available childcare seats
for 55,000 children under the age of five, and the average cost
of childcare for just one child in Detroit exceeds the median
annual cost of rent. Southeast Michigan also has a unique set
of transportation challenges. The average metro Detroiter can
access 2 million jobs in a 1-hour drive, but only 65,000 jobs
in a 1-hour public transit trip. Across the state, the
locations of people who are living in poverty are mismatched to
the locations of good jobs.
There are also other barriers to economic mobility. First,
the irrefutable impact of intergenerational poverty. In
addressing America's reskilling challenge, a July 2018 report
from the Council of Economic Advisers, the authors cite
situational poverty factors, which are potentially strong
deterrents to pursuing retraining. We believe that report and
can add to it from our experience that when you live in
situational poverty for too long, intergenerational poverty
becomes inescapable.
Second, job readiness expectations are rapidly changing,
and too many workers lack access to the knowledge economy.
These conditions have sidelined thousands of workers in
Detroit, and low labor force participation rates are sub-
optimizing our Nation's economy. So what can we do about it?
Here are four solutions from the ground in Detroit. First, the
Community Health Corps, a model built to disaggregate and solve
for the most immediate and egregious issues facing Detroit's
least resourced residents.
This program is essential to increasing labor force
participation, because through it, we help people get back on
their feet so they can get back into the economy. We have
served more than 1,300 households in the past 13 months, and
490 participants are already well on their way to their own
economic self-sufficiency goals. The second initiative is a new
model for work readiness driven by employers need.
Now in the Stellantis example, Detroit had one goal, and
that was to understand what was keeping our employer client
awake at night and solve for it. Detroit at Work turned those
employer insights into a workshop that we delivered with our
community based partners more than 975 times across the city,
in churches and recreation centers, and in our one stops known
as Detroit at work career centers.
The company said that the Detroit at Work models saved
their H.R. department more than $2.1 million in costs. The
third learning is about adult basic education. More than 200
Detroiters washed out of Stellatis' hiring process because they
didn't have a high school diploma, and Mayor Mike Duggan's
response was to create Learn to Earn, where Detroiters earn a
stipend to complete their high school diploma.
Now, critics argue that paying adults to finish a basic
credential shouldn't be necessary. Frontline practitioners
would argue that incentivizing adults who have real financial
obligations and significant time constraints is a model worth
trying. Getting residents off the sidelines and back into the
workforce is essential to Michigan's economy.
[The prepared statement of Ms. Sherard Freeman follows:]
prepared statement of nicole sherard-freeman
Greetings Chair Murray, Ranking Member Burr, and all other Members
of this Committee. It is my honor to be with you today. I'm Nicole
Sherard-Freeman, Group Executive for Jobs, Economy and Detroit at Work
in the city of Detroit. I lead economic development, workforce
development, and serve as the executive director of Detroit's Workforce
Investment Board under the leadership of Mayor Mike Duggan.
You invited me here today to talk about the barriers job-seekers
and would-be job-seekers are facing on the ground, to tell you how
we're solving those issues in Detroit, and to ask for your help where
we need it. To do that, I have to begin by telling you a short story
that illustrates what's possible at the intersection of workforce
development and economic development with the right partnerships.
In 2018, Mayor Mike Duggan pitched the late Sergio Marchionne,
then-president and CEO of Fiat Chrysler Automotive--now known as
Stellantis--on a once-in-a-lifetime idea. FCA was in search of 215
acres of land to build a new assembly plant for the new Jeep Grand
Cherokee--a $2.5 billion dollar investment that would be the first of
its kind in 40 years. To seal the deal, Detroit had 60 days to assemble
the land, gain community and City Council approvals, complete the sale,
and ensure the City's capacity to handle the related approval
processes. In exchange, the Mayor had only one major ask: that FCA
would give Detroiters the first chance at the 5,000 union jobs the new
campus would bring to Detroit, after satisfying all of the company's
union obligations.
In Stellantis' (formerly FCA's) report to the community in December
2021, the company reported that since July 2019, they have hired more
than 5500 Detroiters from a pool of more than 16,000 Detroit at Work,
job-ready candidates (including into company jobs across the Metro
Detroit area). Union membership increased by more than 5,000. Gross
wages paid to employees increased from $573M in 2020 to $827M in 2021--
an increase of 44 percent. Income taxes collected in the city of
Detroit increased from $10.6M in 2020 to $14.2M in 2021--an increase of
34 percent. \1\ While neither the company nor the City and its
residents would say this project has been without its challenges, the
experience informs a good deal of what I'll share today.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\1\ Stellantis. Neighborhood Advisory Council Update. December 15,
2021. https://stellantis4detroit.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/2021-
NAC-Update-Stellantis-Presentation--FINAL.pdf.
Any significant change in economic conditions--the infusion of a
$2.5B investment, or the fallout from a global pandemic, for example--
offers important lessons to any student of the circumstance. Changing
economic conditions in Detroit--for the better and for the worse--have
brought into sharp contrast two challenges we already knew Detroiters
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
and many Michiganders were facing: childcare and transportation.
In Detroit, there are only 23,000 available childcare seats for
55,000 children under 5 years old. \2\ Beyond the availability of
seats, childcare is often prohibitively expensive, as the average cost
of sending one child to childcare in Michigan exceeds the median annual
cost of rent. \3\
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\2\ https://hopestartsheredetroit.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/11/
HSH-Full-Framework--2017--web.pdf.
\3\ Ibid.
While Detroit is home to the Nation's Big 3 automakers, Southeast
Michigan has a unique set of transportation challenges. First, many
Detroiters commute out of the city for work and must depend on a
personal vehicle to do so. Public transit is often not a viable option,
as the average metro-Detroiter can access 2 million jobs in a 1-hour
drive but only 65,000 jobs in a one-hour public transit trip. \4\ While
commuting by car is often a necessity, it's also expensive.
Transportation costs the average Detroit household more than 20 percent
of their annual income. \5\ This high cost results in many Detroiters
going without personal transportation.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\4\ University of Minnesota Accessibility Observatory. https://
access.umn.edu/.
\5\ Center for Neighborhood Technology. H+T Index. https://
htaindex.cnt.org/.
Economic conditions in Detroit have also laid bare three other
barriers impacting far more than just our current employment levels.
First, The Council of Economic Advisers report Addressing America's
Reskilling Challenge (July 2018) cites ``managing both education and
covering household expenses'' as a potentially ``strong deterrent'' to
pursuing retraining. \6\ Our frontline experience builds on that
observation. Situational poverty, or poverty created by short-term
conditions, is often created by illness, death of a primary
breadwinner, or long-term layoff. By contrast, intergenerational
poverty is the resulting outcome of extended situational poverty that
is passed on to the next generation. Its chief characteristics include
hopelessness, persistent failure to succeed through conventional or
traditional means, and little to no awareness of or access to resources
to the people or systems necessary to change one's circumstances. \7\
Live in situational poverty for too long, and intergenerational poverty
becomes inescapable. Moreover, changing expectations for job and career
readiness in many of our largest and fastest growing sectors, and the
lack of access too many workers have to the knowledge economy and the
future of work are a strategic threat to the competitiveness of our
city, state and region. These dynamics have sidelined thousands of
workers in Detroit--resulting in low labor force participation rates
that suboptimize our economy. \8\ While scoping our challenges is, of
course, an important first step, we take that question one step further
in Detroit. We regularly ask ourselves, what if we combined our
knowledge of the barriers our residents face with expert insights into
the future of work? And then, what if we iterated on a set of solutions
that were informed by resident, grassroots, faith-based, and community-
based organizations so that we could improve our trendlines on the
metrics that deliver value? What I'll highlight today are four
solutions, how they fit together to solve for the larger challenges we
face, and how we measure those strategies against the results the
Mayor, the Mayor's Workforce Development Board (Detroit's Workforce
Investment Board), our State of Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity
partners and elected officials demand, and our taxpayers deserve.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\6\ https://www.luminafoundation.org/resource/addressing-americas-
reskilling-challenge/rapidly.
\7\ https://www.michigan.gov/documents/mdhhs/MCCA-2014-2015-
Generational-Poverty-Report-515073-7.pdf.
\8\ https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sponsored-content/why-
increasing-labor-force-participation-essential-michigans-economy.
Best practices for addressing workers' barriers to employment
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Congress can support to scale success we've had in Detroit.
Community Health Corps: Addressing wrap around needs of Detroit's
most disconnected residents and connecting them with work.
Community Health Corps, created by Mayor Duggan and Deputy Mayor
and former Michigan Supreme Court Justice Conrad Mallett, is a model is
built to disaggregate and solve for some of the most immediate and
egregious issues facing Detroit's most disconnected residents. From
unsafe housing conditions and food insecurity to access to behavioral
and physical health services, Detroit's Community Health Corps is a 30-
person team working to connect Detroit's vast network of existing
programs and community service providers in an operational
infrastructure that will help us make one taxpayer dollar work like
five dollars. This program is essential to increasing labor force
participation because many of the challenges our most disconnected
residents face don't exist because we lack solutions. These challenges
exist because access to solutions across multiple agencies with
complex, disconnected, laborious bureaucracies is a barrier. If you've
ever tried to help a family member work through an application for a
legitimately earned public benefit following a house fire with a
fatality, as I have, you know the challenges firsthand. With CARES and
ARPA funding as support, Community Health Corp is delivering a team of
front-line, door-knocking State of Michigan certified community health
workers who are getting into and staying in the trenches with Detroit's
most disconnected residents. We've served 1316 households in the past
13 months, with 490 having completed their economic self-sufficiency
goals. \9\ We're not the first community to try this approach, but
here's what's different in Detroit: Within the appropriate legislative
guidelines, Mayor Duggan seated this program inside our workforce
agency, Detroit at Work. Why? Because intergenerational poverty is
complex. If our model delivers essential human services without
hardwiring participants with concrete ways to improve their skills, get
a job, and get firm footing onto the path toward the middle class, then
we're not improving economic mobility; we're just creating false hope
that economic stability and mobility are possible. As long as they're
doing their part, our resident taxpayers should rightfully expect
better than that from their government officials.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\9\ Community Health Corps. city of Detroit. December 2021 Program
Update.
Innovative work-readiness programs and industry partnerships with
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
local employers.
The second initiative born of the FCA experience is a new model for
work-readiness and employer partnerships. From the early days of the
Michigan Economic Development Corporation and Labor and Economic
Opportunity division's $5.8M investment in the project, the Detroit
team has had one aim: Understand what's keeping our employer-client
awake at night and, wherever possible, solve for the issues before they
ever show up on the manufacturing facility floor. Our client told us
three things: (1) new workers don't have access to the information
necessary to understand the working conditions and physical demands of
a day-in-the-life of a production worker; (2) the communication and
problem-solving methods in today's manufacturing environment are not
the same as those that existed in your grandfather's plant; and, (3) if
you set expectations for the work, and new employees get through the
first few weeks, the job, career opportunities, and union wages and
benefits can offer the kind of financial stability that helps rebuild
families and communities. Our job at Detroit at Work was to distill
those observations into a work and career readiness workshop that would
quickly get Detroiters `on the list' for priority hiring when the Mack
Engine Plant opened. That's what we promised, and Detroit at Work and
its community-based partners delivered more than 1000 work-readiness
workshops across the City in churches, recreation centers, and our
American Job Center One-Stops--also known as Detroit at Work Career
Centers. More than 37,000 Detroiters expressed interest, more than
16,000 took the steps necessary to pre-qualify themselves through our
Detroit at Work program, and more than 5500--or roughly one out of
three applicants were hired. The company says the Detroit at Work
marketing and vetting campaign helped them save $2.1M in H.R. costs. In
combination with the State of Michigan's Labor and Economic Opportunity
investment of $5.8M, this $7.9M investment in talent created a new
model for employer relationships in the City. In Detroit, we believe
public workforce systems owe employers and job-seekers significant
returns on their investments.
Reshaping adult basic education to enable credential attainment and
support partcipants' basic needs.
While not a surprise, the third learning has led us to begin
reshaping adult basic education in the City. More than 200 Detroiters
washed-out of the Stellantis hiring process because they didn't have a
high school diploma. We have no data on the number of Detroiters who
never applied because they did not wish to be embarrassed by their lack
of the credential. Mayor Duggan's response was to create Learn to Earn,
a program to support Detroiters with a stipend of up to $200 per week
for up to 6-months to complete their high school diploma or GED.
Critics argue that paying adults to finish a basic credential shouldn't
be necessary. Front-line practitioners argue that incentivizing adults
who have real financial obligations and significant time constraints is
a model worth trying. \10\ To date, more than 480 Detroiters have
enrolled and are making progress toward skills gains and diploma
completion. In Detroit, this number is more than two times the number
of students who enrolled prior to the establishment of the incentive
model. \11\ In Detroit, we believe that by adjusting the incentive
model for students and exploring incentives for teachers, we have a
shot at further modifying the behaviors of participants and outcomes of
the program.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\10\ Karolina Ramos. Poverty Solutions. Behavioral Economics of
Education Incentives: Lessons for the Learn to Earn Program. November
2021.
\11\ Learn to Earn Program Update. City of Detroit. July 2021.
Leverage Federal investment and strong outcomes of work-based
learning to broaden the impact of local and state funding.
Last, there are more than 11,000 Detroiters who were not selected
as an FCA hire. This pool of talent (along with more than 30,000 more
in our data base who are Detroit at Work customers who are not
interested in auto manufacturing jobs) are ready to take steps toward
their next opportunity. Using American Rescue Plan Act funding, we've
built a plan to take advantage of their motivation and skills called
Skills for Life. Essentially, three internal City departments have
piloted a program through which Detroiters work 3 days per week earning
$15 per hour removing commercial blight remediation and leading other
city beautification projects while spending 2 days per week earning a
credential and $15 per hour that will lead to a middle-class job at the
end of the program. We believe this combination of meaningful and
necessary work to beautify the City while earning pay and a credential
is a pathway to a middle class career. More importantly, it's a way for
Detroiters to practice lifelong learning. Skills for Life is an
opportunity for residents to build their professional adaptability
skills--one of the most sought-after traits for employees in the
knowledge economy, \12\ and establish critical thinking, advanced
problem-solving in advanced technology environments (including highly
automated and artificial intelligence [AI] enabled workplaces),
mobilizing systems and teamwork effectiveness, digital fluency and
citizenship, and understanding digital systems. These competencies are
among the 56 foundational skills that will help citizens thrive in the
future of work. \13\ While the Skills for Life program launched in
November 2021, early results are promising. More than 200 residents are
interested, 100 have applied, 38 enrolled, 3 graduated, and 39 are
expected to begin in the next 4 weeks. While this is no cause for a
victory lap, we see positive trends we will continue to track, evaluate
and use to inform future program adjustments.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\12\ https://www.accenture.com/us-en/insights/future-workforce/
missing-middle-skills-human-ai-collaboration.
\13\ https://www.mckinsey.com/industries/public-and-social-sector/
our-insights/defining-the-skills-citizens-will-need-in-the-future-
world-of-work.
We believe that taken together, the measures above will help
increase Detroit's labor force participation. Mayor Mike Duggan and
City Council's vision is to create opportunity for all Detroiters. As
noted in a recent editorial by former Michigan Lt. Governor Brian
Calley, \14\ and as echoed by my Workforce Board co-chairs Cindy Pasky,
President and CEO of global staffing agency Strategic Staffing
Solutions, and David Meador, Chief Administrative Officer of DTE
Energy, one of Michigan's largest utilities, getting residents off the
sidelines and back into the workforce is essential to Michigan's
economy and Detroit's readiness for continued industry investments.
While Detroit's labor force participation rate has been steadily rising
over the last year, to just 1,353 fewer residents employed or looking
for work in December 2021 than pre-pandemic March 2020, too many
Detroiters remain disconnected from work. \15\ Improving economic self-
sufficiency, and advancing economic mobility for residents into good,
middle-class jobs and careers--while centering equity in the strategy--
are among Mayor Mike Duggan's top priorities.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
\14\ https://www.crainsdetroit.com/sponsored-content/why-
increasing-labor-force-participation-essential-michigans-economy.
\15\ Bureau of Labor Statistics. Local Area Unemployment
Statistics.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------
Conclusion
One silver lining in our current crisis has been the funding to put
real muscle behind understanding and creating resident-informed
solutions to what we're facing. With the help of Workforce Innovation
and Opportunity Act (WIOA) funding and our partnership with the State
of Michigan's Labor and Economic Opportunity division, CARES funding in
mid-2019, and now American Rescue Plan Act funding, Detroit stood up
these first-of-their-kind initiatives to tackle some of our most
intractable challenges, while creating pathways to economic stability
and mobility. We believe that, in Detroit, our residents don't need
more programs. What we need is funding and permissions to braid funding
across the Department of Labor (DOL), Health and Human Services (HHS),
Department of Education (DOE) and others into solutions that deliver a
greater return on investment for taxpayers. As importantly, we need
investments to continue readying industrial land and sites so that
Detroit and Michigan can strengthen the local and regional economy, and
can compete to bring more industry and investments to the US.
Many thanks to this committee for the privilege of sharing
Detroit's learnings. If of interest to this body, Detroit would welcome
the chance to provide further testimony about what is working, what is
not, and what Mayor Duggan and his administration are doing about it in
the City with support from Senator Debbie Stabenow and Senator Gary
Peters, Governor Gretchen Whitmer and her administration, local
legislators including City Council and the Detroit Delegation, the
business community and faith based leaders, and most importantly--the
residents of the city of Detroit.
______
[summary statement of nicole sherard-freeman]
I. HELP Committee Greetings.
II. Stellantis (formerly FCA) and Detroit--A brief on-the-ground
case study of how economic development and workforce development come
together to produce unprecedented opportunities and outcomes in
employment and economic outcomes for the city of Detroit.
III. What Detroit has learned from significant changes in its
economic conditions. Two known barriers (childcare, transportation) and
new insights into long-term issues: the irrefutable impact of
intergenerational poverty, changing expectations for job and career
readiness in many of our largest and fastest growing sectors; and the
lack of access too many workers have to the knowledge economy and the
future of work.
IV. Detroit's response: Best practices for addressing workers'
barriers to employment that Congress can support to help scale the
success we've had in Detroit.
(a) Community Health Corp: Addressing wrap around needs of
Detroit's most disconnected residents in a model that connects
them to work
(b) Detroit at Work: Innovative work readiness programs and
industry partnerships with local employers
(c) Reshaping adult basic education to enable credential
attainment and support participant's basic needs.
(d) Leveraging Federal investment and strong outcomes from
work-based learning to broaden the impact of local and state
funding, and ready residents for lifelong learning and the
future of work.
V. Conclusion: Opportunities and Asks
______
The Chair. Thank you very much to all of our witnesses for
excellent testimony. We will now begin around a 5-minute
questions, and I ask all of our colleagues to again keep track
of the clock, stay within those 5 minutes.
Ms. Mack and Ms. Sherard-Freeman, I will start with both of
you. Too many young people face really significant challenges
in accessing high quality jobs, especially in in-demand fields.
Barriers like lack of access to childcare, transportation, high
quality education often really undercut workers earning low
wages, workers of color, or formerly incarcerated individuals,
workers with disabilities and many others. We need a system
that really helps workers overcome those barriers.
Ms. Mack and Ms. Sherard-Freeman, let me ask both of you,
and I will start with Ms. Mack, what are the top things that
workforce systems working with their partners need to do to
support people facing multiple barriers to employment?
Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you for the question. I think what
happens on the ground is a recognition that partnership is
crucial and critical. And so what we see, many programs are
working across their community based partners in conjunction
with their Government partners to make sure that there are
adequate wraparound supports for individuals who are going
through programs.
By way of example, I was speaking with an adult literacy
program yesterday in the Capital region, and they were sharing
a story about a woman named Maria, who had a IEP, so an
individual education plan because she had a learning disability
and was at a third or fourth grade reading level when she
entered into their literacy program, and ultimately needed
employment.
They were able to connect her to a part time job at a
department store while providing the additional wraparound
supports transportation, childcare, housing support to be able
to continue to finish that high school diploma and ultimately
get into a post-secondary career through vocational
rehabilitation.
Again, I think part of what the secret sauce is for
workforce development is on the ground. The workforce boards
and their partners know each other really well, and when they
work together, that is when we see success not only for
employers, but for the individuals as well.
The Chair. Thank you. Ms. Sherard-Freeman.
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. I will build on Ms. Mack's responds by
adding that the other crucial component to partnerships is
actually getting the voice of the participant into the center
of the discussion.
Now, some would call that centering worker voice. What we
see it as on the ground is getting the voice of the people who
have those struggles into the conversation, into the room. I
will tell you the story briefly of Rhonda Liz Carter, who was
hired by FCA.
She had been trying to get into the company since she was
18. It took the Detroit at Work program to translate employer
insights into really what Ms. Carter needed to know to be a
successful candidate.
It had been decades, and the Detroit at Work program on the
ground, building solutions around what participants tell us
their barriers are, was really the answer to her challenges.
The Chair. Thank you. Every year, more than 600,000 people
transition from state and Federal prison back into their
communities. High quality jobs really is one of the most
effective ways we know to reduce recidivism and ensure formerly
incarcerated people have a path to stability and success.
But unfortunately, the unemployment rate for formerly
incarcerated people is nearly five times higher than the
overall unemployment rate. So we really need better policies
and systems in place to support the transition back into the
workforce for those individuals.
Ms. Mack, I will turn back to you. How are the workforce
system and community based organizations in New York working to
support people as they transition back into their communities
and into pathways that lead to high quality paying jobs?
Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you. Again, going back to the example
I provided in the testimony. Having a place for someone to land
when they leave incarceration is crucial.
That is why Center for Employment Opportunities and the
Osborne Association are such important assets in our state,
because they work directly with the jail system and probation
to make sure that individuals sort of land in a program that
can, again, address their specific needs, whether it be
housing, that child support, sort of other sort of debts that
they have accrued, but also to be able to address some of the
soft skills that are necessary so that they can transition
through just transitional employment into a good paying job.
It allows employers to try them out. But that also allows
individuals to get that immediate wage, which again, they have
indicated as absolutely crucial to the ability of people to
sort of stay out of jail.
The Chair. Thank you very much, and I will turn to Senator
Burr. My time has expired.
Senator Burr. Thank you, Madam Chair. Ms. Watts, why is it
important for the private sector to be involved in the second
chance hiring policies, and why did the Kentucky Chamber
embrace that initiative?
Ms. Watts. Thank you for that question. The Kentucky
Chamber Several years ago, we have been advocating for policies
specifically around felony expungement. And many people said,
why is the Kentucky Chamber, the group of the employers in
Kentucky, really advocating for not knowing what someone's
background was?
Really, it was because of opportunity and because of
workforce and making sure that people really could, once they
pay their debt to society, come out and be active citizens, be
good taxpayers, be involved in the community. And that is what
we wanted to see. And so I think it is important for employers
to really lean in on this issue because it is not just saying I
am a second chance employer.
There is a lot more that goes into it, and that is what our
programs provide. It is looking at their H.R. manuals, it is
training their employees. It is talking about maybe it is not
the first chance, and you are out, maybe it is two or three
chances and making sure they have the proper support system
around them and recovery, but really leaning in and making sure
that we are aware of the struggles these people are facing.
Even something as simple as giving them an ID when they are
coming out of incarceration. We are wanting them to come back
and reenter into society and put their best foot forward. But
yet, when they have their mug shot to show for a job interview,
that is not really putting their best foot forward. So we are
literally thinking of every step that we can to help these
people reintegrate back in society. And we often say, we don't
want them to just get a job, we want them to get meaningful
employment.
We want them to get training, something that they are
passionate about, so they can really build that life on there.
And that is what we have seen being successful in Kentucky.
Senator Burr. Well, thank you for that work. Mr. Beard,
employers are embracing skills based hiring rather than
focusing more on the traditional credentials. How have Houston
employers adapted to this practice and what more can be done?
Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator Burr--excuse me. First, we
are seeing folks remove the credential requirement. Memorial
Hermann, one of our largest health care systems, has removed
its high school diploma requirement. And similar to Ms. Watts's
point, it will show up in the interviewing process, whether
folks have the skills and abilities for the roles that they are
describing.
We are also understanding and seen as we described in the
construction industry, that the skills are more important than
the credential. So sending a signal that you can leave high
school and come into the workforce and within a couple of years
be in a very, very good job.
Then I think the future trend is we are also seeing other
employers, for example, Chevron, who is moving to a skills
based hiring approach, and they are going to use Houston as
their pilot site to bring that. And when you think about
Chevron in terms of not only the work that it does in kind of
the middle skill space, but also in the high skilled space.
We expect that we will continue to see that role, because
at the end of the day, the skill, not the credential, is what
is there.
Senator Burr. Thank you for that. Ms. Sherard-Freeman,
workforce systems have two major customers, job seekers and
employers. I want you to sort of expand on what you have said
about the importance your office puts on engaging both of these
groups in the employment process.
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you for the question, Ranking
Member Burr. So we believe that unless we are driving solutions
with the employer's needs in mind, our solutions will be
insufficient. We also believe that unless we center our
solutions around what workers really need, job seekers and
would be job seekers, our solutions will be insufficient. And
so we found ways on the ground in Detroit really to bring both
of those perspectives into focus and keep them in focus.
Senator Burr. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Madam Chair.
The Chair. Senator Casey.
Senator Casey. Thank you, Chair Murray. I wanted to start
by noting a piece of legislation that both Senator Cassidy and
I are working on, the Pregnant Workers Fairness Act, and I am
grateful for Senator Cassidy's partnership on this bill and the
commitment shown by Chair Murray and Ranking Member Burr to
advancing this important legislation. And its policies like
this that obviously will help make high quality employment
accessible to those who face very steep barriers.
I want to thank Bill Cassidy for that and thank the Chair
and Ranking Member. I wanted to start with a question about
what is known as the sub-minimum wage. People with disabilities
are better able to achieve financial independence, we know, and
to spend more time engaging in their communities when they
transition to competitive employment and work in integrated
environments, workplaces that hire both people with
disabilities and people without disabilities.
I have introduced the transformation to Competitive
Integrated Employment Act, which would end the sub--end the
sub-minimum wage and provide support to businesses in order
that they have the support they need to do just that. Senator
Daines has worked with me on this bill, and I appreciate his
help.
We know that the labor force participation rate for people
with disabilities is almost 38 percent, according to the
Department of Labor. That is half, half the rate for people
with disabilities. In addition, the poverty rate for people
with--for adults with disabilities between the ages of 16 and
64 is 26 percent. So a high, or I should say a low labor force
participation rate and a very high poverty rate.
Mr. Beard and others who may want to weigh in, how do we
make sure that people with disabilities can obtain employment
that is my first question. And then second, what are your
recommendations for increasing employment for those with
disabilities?
Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator. The example I gave is really
trying to knock down those barriers, which is understanding
what skills and capabilities an individual has, and then
mapping it to a place where they can easily upskill into that
role.
That is one example. And then we have another example in
Houston with a nonprofit organization that has partnered with
many of the vendors at our main sports venues, where they train
individuals to serve pizza and other things and make them that
initial wage that is much more competitive.
Those are the examples, but it is going to require
employers understanding that the skills individuals have can be
used in the workplace. And to your point, the diversity that
enriches the workplace as well.
Senator Casey. Thank you, and unless there is anyone else
who may want to weigh in on that, I will have a second question
for Ms. Mack. This is, with relationship to, or I should say
with regard to questions about low level criminal records. We
know that more than one in three adults have some form of
criminal record, which keeps them from participating in many
facets of everyday life as background checks become more
commonplace.
Although many of these individuals successfully complete
their sentence, many are still constrained by low level and
non-violent criminal records. I have introduced legislation
with Senator Joni Ernst from Iowa, the so-called Clean Slate
Act, which would automatically seal low-level nonviolent
Federal offenses after the individual completes their sentence.
Ms. Mack, here is the question, when you consider this
issue, in your experience, how can criminal records impact an
individual's ability to obtain education and training or access
high quality employment even after, after they have completed
their sentence?
Ms. Mack. Sure, thank you for that question. We know that
in some instances, many people don't even know that they have a
criminal record. And especially with young adults. We actually
have an entire organization in the city of New York that just
works on helping adults understand whether or not they have
something of a record and how they can get that sealed or
expunged, if necessary.
I think as was described before, one of the biggest
barriers as we sort of now use automated processes to screen
resumes and often these types of offenses will screen people
right out before they are even getting a shot to sort of
explain what happened or what the instances were that sort of
got them in the situation in the first place.
But in addition to that, I think folks often forget that
the skills and abilities of individuals are what we need to be
paying attention to and not necessarily what has happened in
their past. And so, I mean, personally, I believe that would be
a huge help to many New Yorkers. And I know in our state, our
state legislature is taking strides to think about ways to do
that as well. So, thank you for that.
Senator Casey. Thanks very much, Ms. Mack. Thank you, Chair
Murray.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Cassidy.
Senator Cassidy. Thank you very much. Thanks to all the
witnesses. I think there is a common theme that I am hearing
from you, which is you kind of meet the worker where she or he
is, and meeting them there, you work with the employer. Let me
just go right back to Bob Casey. I think that is the purpose of
our Pregnant Workers Fairness Act.
There is an article I have seen from a woman in an article
from the Cincinnati Enquirer, so obviously applies to Kentucky,
of someone in Kentucky, a police officer who is pregnant, and
she couldn't get the lighter duty that was available in her
late pregnancy, even though it was available because of rigid
work laws. And so if we are going to like increase opportunity
for people, there has to be a certain flexibility. It has to be
meeting the worker where she is, or he is in a case of not
related to pregnancy.
Bob, thanks very much for doing that, and hopefully our
preaching on the issue will get it passed, so thank you. And
then also related to that, which all of you seem to speak to,
but nobody speaks to you directly. I want to make a pitch for
something else I am working on with Senator Warren, the College
Transparency Act, which would allow an individual when she or
he is deciding where to go to school, to have easily accessible
and understanding information as to how much she or he would
have to borrow in order to complete a curriculum in that major
at that school and what their earning potential would be
afterwards.
I say that because commonly I see billboards of pretty and
handsome young men and women going to some university, so as
to, kind of online training or whatever. I know they are
borrowing a heck of a lot of money, but I can look at the
professions that they are promoting, and they are not going to
make enough to pay back those loans. And if they draw down
their Pell, they are going to--it is going to be a huge
opportunity cost.
Instead of being able to apply all this money to a course
of study that would really give them a career for the future,
they are going to end up earning something at minimum wage plus
tips, hoping that ends up meeting needs.
Again, that is our College Transparency Act. And just so I
know that I am not kind of assuming that you would agree, Ms.
Sherard-Freeman, let me just ask. I am from Baton Rouge. We
have, unfortunately, a lot of poor folks. I am glad we have our
folks, but I am sorry that they are poor, and you spoke to them
so well.
I almost feel like this is a bait and switch. You spoke
about helping people get through their high school. Here we
have something to help them get through their college. But
oftentimes the money ends up wasted because they choose a
curriculum which is not going to be profitable for them. Any
thoughts on that in general, and perhaps particularly on the
goal of something like the College Transparency Act?
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Well, thank you so much for the
question. Yes, we believe that the kind of transparency that
you are describing is essential to really fixing the issue that
we have all talked about today and that is getting people off
the sidelines and back into the workforce.
That presumes getting them back into positions in the
workforce that will provide for both economic stability and
economic mobility. People can't make good decisions without
good data. And I think what you are talking about is improving
the quality of data available to Americans.
Senator Cassidy. Yes, ma'am. And Mr. Beard, I once went to
a place in South Louisiana and the guy said, I need a master
welder, I don't need a sociologist. But if I got a master
welder, the guy is going to make $80,000 a year before we get
to overtime. And so again, this is all about competitiveness.
How do we make it competitive for that individual to get a
better job, but also, how do we, in the aggregate, make our
Country more competitive, providing jobs for those people? Any
thoughts about the transparency required so someone would
choose that would be better for their future, earning potential
as opposed to that would seem to attract them on a billboard?
Mr. Beard. We would wholeheartedly agree, Senator. First,
we think about it as credentials of value, which means our
credential has an intended purpose and you can finance it the
way you were describing, that it isn't an undue burden once you
leave. And so that requires the information that is there.
The State of Texas is partnering with the U.S. Chamber
Foundation as part of its job employment data exchange to get
the kind of data that would be necessary for that transparency
to show someone who had completed a degree, what they are
making using enhanced unemployment insurance reporting.
In addition, we think performance based approaches
strengthen that approach, and you can see it done in multiple
different ways. In terms of here in Texas, there is the Texas
State Technical College that basically is funded because it is
out-workforce outcomes are the basis for the appropriation from
the Legislature.
Finally, the U.S. Chamber Foundation is also working on
talent finance to begin to align employment outcomes, employer
interest, and education to actually produce those outcomes.
Senator Cassidy. Yes, that is a--thank you all. Again, I
just feel like each of you is meeting the worker where she or
he is. And I just learned in my experience, I am a doctor, you
have got to meet the patient, you have got to meet the
individual where they are, not where you expect them to be.
Thank you for that and thank you for--I am going to take it
as a ringing endorsement for my College Transparency Act. Thank
you all. I yield back.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Kaine.
Senator Kaine. Thank you, Chair Murray and Ranking Member
Burr. This is a great panel on an important topic, so I have a
plea and two questions. So my plea is this, I am speaking to
you as representative of the entire Nation's workforce
development professionals. Many of you use the phrase soft
skills. I hate that phrase because it sounds too soft.
When I talk to my employers, they really want technical
skills, but in some ways, even more. They are looking for
creativity, problem solving, teamwork, communication, show up
and be mission focused and stay till the work is done. And they
almost have a harder time finding that than the technical
skills.
They can sometimes train for the technical skills, but it
is hard to create that. So I always use success skills are
survival skills rather than soft skills, because I think it
sort of elevates it to the importance and deserves. So that is
my plea.
Now my question. Ms. Mack, in your testimony, I just want
to read a quote from your testimony here. Your written
testimony. You talk about the barriers that folks have,
``workers lack access to foundational and technical skills and
do not have resources to pay for training courses while also
supporting their families.
This means public policy is not doing enough for families
around the country to enable them to fill good jobs for which
businesses are hiring.'' Senator Portman and I have had a long
time bill called the Jobs Act, which would enable Pell Grants
to be used for high quality, short term career, and technical
education offered at community colleges and other institutions.
There are 49 Senators, including many on this Committee,
who are co-sponsors of the bill. I want to thank my Chair and
Ranking Member because when we were debating the USICA bill,
the Senate version of our competitiveness bill, they helped me
sort of with a shoestring catch. We became the last amendment
that was cleared for a manager's package, meaning unanimous
support in the Senate.
The manager's package didn't work out then. But last week
the House passed their version of this bill, the COMPETES Act,
and it became the last amendment that was added on a floor vote
that was strongly bipartisan.
My question would be, if we allowed those who are Pell
Grant eligible to use Pell Grants for high quality career and
technical education, how would this solve or address some of
the workplace barriers we are talking about?
Ms. Watts. I can address that first. Thank you, Senator.
And in Kentucky, we agree we think soft skills is too soft. We
call it the central skills. And so we have actually put that
curriculum in K through 12 education through statute several
years ago.
But we very much in Kentucky are facing almost the exact
same thing. We have a scholarship fund program funded through
our Kentucky lottery system, and currently you can only use it
at a traditional 4 year college or a community technical
college. We are trying to revamp that at a state level with the
Legislature this year to be able to use that scholarship money
for those skills trainings.
For those welding schools, the pipefitter jobs, those
things that we do need a credential or certificate for, to not
just make it about a traditional 4 year or 2 year community
technical college degree. So we in Kentucky very much agree
with that premise.
Senator Kaine. Let me ask Ms. Mack since I quoted her, and
then I have a second question and I will see if Ms. Sherard-
Freeman and Mr. Beard would want to address. Ms. Mack.
Ms. Mack. No, we also completely agree. Short term probably
would be a huge support, especially to our community colleges.
And I think the key is, as you describe, is high quality. So
making sure that it is going to industries and sectors, into
programs that are resulting in good wages and employment
afterwards.
Similar to Kentucky, New York is also taking sort of a
stance around short term TAP, which is our temporary funding
that sort of goes to support low income students in New York
State. And so this combination of the part time TAP, and part
time Pell could be an incredible boon for our low-income
students across New York State.
Senator Kaine. Thank you, Ms. Mack. So my second question
is this, and I will address it to Ms. Sherard-Freeman and Mr.
Beard. Probably because of the way the title of this hearing is
set up, and a little bit because of jurisdictional issues in
the Senate, I was interested we had a discussion about
workforce and not a single one of you mentioned immigration.
When we talk about immigration, it appears we almost always
talk about the border. But when I talk to my employers, my Ag
employers or my construction industry or my oystermen and
watermen on the Chesapeake Bay, they are often talking to me
about TPS or work visas. How much of our Nation's workforce
needs need to incorporate smart immigration policy?
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you for the question, Senator.
So we believe smart immigration policy is essential to helping
rebuild America's workforce. Detroit is on the receiving end
right now of Afghan refugees.
We have approximately 200 housed in a hotel while we work
to find permanent housing, and one of the first things we are
doing is being sure that those refugees have the documentation
and the resources they need to quickly connect with jobs that
will lead to economic stability, support their housing, and
ultimately help them be important parts of the community fabric
in Detroit.
We did the same thing with Syrian refugees. It is the
Mayor's practice, and we believe it is good business.
Senator Kaine. Chair Murray, could I ask Mr. Beard if he
would answer that question?
The Chair. Absolutely.
Senator Kaine. Thank you.
Mr. Beard. Senator, we would obviously be very supportive
of a skills based immigration policy. We think that there is a
shadow economy that is hurting many employers because they
can't access workers that are here in the country, so we have
got to find a solution to that. It is not an easy one,
obviously.
But I know our employers are concerned about it because
there are skilled skills and they can employ people with the
skills necessary for the demand in an industrial and commercial
construction sector that is thriving in Houston. So we would
support it.
Senator Kaine. Great. Thank you. Thank you, Chair Murray.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Hassan.
Senator Hassan. Well, thank you, Chair Murray and our
Ranking Member Burr. I thank you to all the witnesses. And I
just want to thank my colleagues, Senator Casey, for his
discussion on the subminimum wage, something I am eager to work
with him on, and proud that New Hampshire was the first state
to eliminate sub-minimum wages. And also a thank you to my
colleague, Senator Kaine. I am a co-sponsor of the Jobs Act and
we just got to keep working to get that done.
I want to start with a question to both Ms. Sherard-Freeman
and Ms. Mack. When I was Governor of New Hampshire, now as a
Senator, I have supported career pathway programs which combine
work, education, and support services to expand opportunities
for workers who have fallen out of the labor force or need to
make progress in their careers.
Through these programs, businesses partner with higher
education institutions so that workers receive on the job
training, while also earning recognized educational credentials
to help advance in their careers.
This Congress I reintroduced the Gateway to Careers Act for
Senators Young, Kaine, and Collins, a bipartisan bill to expand
career pathways, as well as to provide wraparound support for
workers who face barriers such as transportation or childcare
costs.
I will start with you, Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Could you speak
to how career pathways programs help workers to reenter or
remain in the workforce? And then we will go to Ms. Mack.
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you very much for the question,
Senator. We believe that career pathways, the kinds of supports
and the way you have structured them are essential to not only
helping residents get on their feet toward the end of economic
stability, but that they are essential to ensuring economic
mobility.
Stability without mobility is a dead end, and we believe
that the career pathways work that you have described is
exactly what we need.
Senator Hassan. Thank you very much. Ms. Mack.
Ms. Mack. Ma'am, I am going to second what my colleague in
Detroit shared. I think this is the way you do workforce
development effectively through career pathways and sector
based strategies.
It is a true partnership between workers and employers. And
I think a great example of that is registered apprenticeship.
And we are sort of seeing, that registered apprenticeship is
growing and expanding. And in our state, we are also working to
figure out ways to engage more young adults in registered
apprenticeship and apprenticeship programs because it does come
with those wraparound support. They are often paid training
opportunities.
In addition to that, there is a true career progression
that we can watch and see and also communicate. So it is sort
of the point before around transparency, you can communicate
what the path looks like for individuals. And so I completely
agree. I think career pathways is a way to do this work.
Senator Hassan. Well, thank you. Ms. Mack, I have another
question for you because I want to turn to some of the unique
challenges facing workers in rural areas. Many workers who
would like to remain in their local communities struggle to
find the right training opportunities that align with
businesses' needs, in many cases leaving them underemployed or
forced to leave their communities for better job opportunities
elsewhere.
One way to address this is better alignment between
business needs and local education and training opportunities,
something that Senator Collins and I hope to address by passing
the Success for Rural Students and Communities Act. Ms. Mack,
how have you worked to improve opportunities for workers in
rural communities in New York?
Ms. Mack. Sure, and I think this is where local workforce
are really crucial. And two of the examples that I provided,
Chautauqua County and the North Country are both some of the
rural parts of the state.
What is crucial is being able to understand, as was
described before, what the needs are of the individual. I think
a lot of folks would assume it would be transportation or some
would be childcare, but and often it is housing. There is a lot
of constraints around housing in rural communities.
Sort of working with employers, I think the local workforce
boards are able to better coordinate those educational
institutions to meet their needs in the timing and sort of the
distance that might be required, but also, more importantly,
sort of utilizing virtual services to support workers and
employers as well.
In Chautauqua, they are working directly with a group of
manufacturers to sort of recruit and hire for their specific
needs. And in North Country, they are designing a whole brand
new program that is focused on recruiting young adults directly
out of the K-12 system.
Senator Hassan. Thank you. And that is a segway to a
question for Ms. Sherard-Freeman, which is really about
housing, because workers' difficulty in finding affordable
housing can hurt their ability to remain in the workforce,
makes it harder for businesses to attract workers that they
need.
One way to address this is obviously for communities to
invest in safe and affordable workforce housing options. How
does access to stable housing impact people's ability to find
and retain employment? And have you worked to address this in
Detroit?
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Oh, thank you so much for the
question, Senator. In Detroit, we believe that economic
mobility hinges on stable housing, and we have worked
diligently to ensure that affordable housing is part of that
equation.
We really believe that affordable housing should be the
basis for economic development in all neighborhood plans.
Affordable housing as the basis for economic development, not
simply a response to economic growth. If you wait for the point
that it is a response to economic growth, it is too late.
We are so very pleased to have the Choice HUD Award in
Detroit, building on Ford Motor Company's $1 billion investment
in Corktown. Affordable housing will be a significant part of
that choice grant. We have a $30 million grant, and it blends
together housing, affordable housing workforce, the wraparound
support you have described. We believe it will be a model.
Senator Hassan. Thank you very much, and thank you, Madam
Chair, for letting me go over here.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Murphy.
Senator Murphy. Thank you very much, Madam Chair. Thank you
all for your testimony today. I remember looking at a really
interesting data set, right on the back end of the Great
Recession, when we had recovered most of our employment. And
what it showed was that though over that period of time, a lot
of people had become unemployed and then a lot of people had
been reemployed, there had been this really fascinating shift
in terms of age demographics.
What had happened during that time was that older, the
percentage of the older workers or the percentage of older
Americans in the workforce had dramatically increased, whereas
the percentage of younger Americans in the workforce had
plummeted. You had essentially seen this shift of young people
in the workforce coming out and older people going in.
The sort of long term data here is pretty frightening,
right between 2000 and 2018, workforce participation rates for
those ages 16 to 19 fell from about one-half of the population
to one-third. That is stunning in an 18-year period of time,
and we know it just got worse during the pandemic because we
saw again a bottoming out of summer job opportunities for
teenagers.
I wanted to focus just, and I will ask this to the panel
and maybe directed initially to you, Mr. Beard, but then open
it up to others. I want to talk about barriers to employment
for teenagers and for young workers, because it is those early
work experiences that set the platform for later success.
We just have a stunningly fewer number of kids who are
having this positive workforce experiences when they are
teenagers. And if you have these barriers later on in life,
they are just compounded by a lack of exposure to the workforce
into job skills when you are in those early formative years.
Are there specific things we need to be thinking about in
order to overcome this pull out of the workforce of teenagers?
Because it seems to me, given the data telling us something has
happened very quickly to that population, we need to have a
targeted policy to address those barriers.
Mr. Beard. I think there are several things, Senator, and
thank you for the question. The first is we need to start
obviously in the school system and creating opportunity there.
We have got some really good examples in Houston where our
employers have partnered with the school districts and the
community colleges to do pre-apprenticeship programs that then
provide summer internships at $13, $14 an hour that create that
culture.
It also has the employers' responsibility of working with
the school system to actually ensure, to Senator Kane's point,
through developing the essential skills. I think the second one
is Mayor Turner in Houston has advanced his Hire Houston Youth
Program, which really engages the business community to provide
summer--paid summer internships to youth in Houston.
Then third, I think there are opportunities about how do we
work with community based organizations to support students as
they get ready to go into internships during their school
years. But then at the other point is, how do we open up the
funnel with employers once they have left the school districts
to find pathways, which is a really difficult thing with
opportunity youth because they have disconnected from the
system? I will let others respond.
Senator Murphy. Sure.
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. If I might, Senator. We are in the
seventh year in Detroit of Detroit's Young Talent, which is the
city's summer youth employment program that the Mayor launched
when he took office. Every year we place more than 8,000 young
people into opportunities.
We target 14 to 24 year olds, so certainly covering the
opportunity youth that Mr. Beard is referencing. These are
essential skills jobs. These are jobs working in our fire
cadets and with our police department and with community based
organizations.
We think it is an essential way to ensure that the pipeline
of talent of young people are engaged, and more importantly,
have relationships with local employers so that over the long
term, they have an opportunity baked in into their future.
Senator Murphy. I thank you for these responses. This
intentionality about making sure that young people have those
experiences, which does often involve some amount of subsidy, I
think is required in an economy where so many more older
workers now need to stay in the workforce longer.
You would love it if the private sector had the solution
for these kids. But ultimately, with so many folks needing to
stay in the workforce longer in order to make sure they have
enough for retirement in order to make sure they have food on
the table, we are going to have to be a little bit more
intentional in the mechanisms by which we use, sometimes using
subsidy to get those kids the skills they need early on. Thank
you very much, Madam Chair.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Smith.
Senator Smith. Thank you very much, Madam Chair and Ranking
Member. And it is great to be a part of this panel and so
exciting to see the interest in this issue. I want to just
actually start by following-up on the questions that Senator
Murphy was just asking. I will--maybe I will go to you, Ms.
Mack, on this. I am thinking especially about youth workforce
programs and especially pre-apprenticeships, about pre-
apprenticeships.
In Minnesota, we have got a great example of this in a
program called Youth Build, which is a very successful pre-
apprenticeship program. A lot of times, though, these strong
programs they won't kick in until students are already at risk
of falling off track, or they really can't get exposure to the
programs until they are 16, and then by then, they are already
sort of not really clear how their own talents are going to
connect into the job opportunities that they have.
I am wondering kind of how we think that some of these
efforts might be reformed. I have a piece of legislation with
Senator Graham and Senator Wyden and Senator Collins to
introduce a bill called the Youth Workforce Readiness Act. And
what it would do is to pull in afterschool providers to help
connect youth with local employers through things like job
shadowing or career exploration or internships, and of course,
registered apprenticeships.
Just another way of connecting young folks with what might
be their first job to get at the challenges that Senator Murphy
just explained so well. So maybe, Ms. Mack, could you just tell
us a little bit more about what you think we need to be doing
to connect young people sooner to career opportunities? If you
agree with that, if you agree, it is a timing challenge as well
as equality quality of opportunity challenge.
Ms. Mack. Sure, absolutely. And I think in New York City in
particular, again, the ecosystem of providers who do workforce
development often are also engaged in sort of after school
supportive housing. They run sort of a full service approach in
terms of engaging New Yorkers. I think where we find the most
success is where they are subsidized work based learning or
workforce development opportunities or project based learning
that is again coordinated with the K-12 system.
I think for part of that, we would need to sort of extend--
expand under the Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act, the
waiver that is in place right now around a serving exclusively
out-of-school youth. We have heard from our members there is
interest in doing exactly what you are describing around making
sure that more young adults who are currently in school have
access to supportive programs and dropout prevention.
But in addition to that, I think it is this need to be able
to directly connect to a wage based employment. And so in our
state, we have a summer employment program that has operated
for about 30 years at this point. It is funded primarily
through TANF. And in New York City alone, they serve about
100,000 young adults each year with their sort of summer youth
employment program.
Again, I think the connection between K-12, but then also
directly to work is crucial. So going back to Senator Kaine's
comments before about success skills, I mean, I don't know
about you, but I certainly learned a whole lot my first job
about what I could and couldn't do at work. And I think that
giving young adults that experience is probably the most
essential thing we could do at this point.
Senator Smith. Absolutely. My first job was getting up at
6:30 in the morning to clean the Glazer at the donut shop where
I worked, and I was 16 years old, and I learned a lot about
like showing up was not an option. I learned a lot about a lot
of things at that job that time. Ms. Sherard-Freeman, I wanted
to just follow-up with you.
I so appreciate you sharing your experience about the work
that you are doing in Detroit, which is really impressive. I
really especially appreciated your testimony about how, when
people are facing challenges that keep them from working, it
could be childcare or transportation or housing, I want to
associate myself strongly with the questions that Senator
Hassan was asking nothing else will work no matter what kind of
great training opportunities or workforce opportunities they
have if the other things in their life aren't working.
Minnesota workforce development professionals are telling
me that in the next bill reauthorization that they would really
like to see some additional flexibility so that they can think
about how to serve families as part of a two generation
approach. For example, got a family member who wants to boost
their training because another family member has become
dislocated from their jobs.
Or you have got a client who is working with both WIOA and
TANF, and how can we make that two generation approach work
better? So, Ms. Sherard-Freeman, can you just tell me what else
you think we should be keeping in mind when it comes to best
practices about taking this two generation approach?
Ms. Sherard-Freeman. Thank you so much for the question. So
the flexibility that you have just described, being able to
blend and braid funding across WIOA and TANF, if we had that
same degree of freedom to make every tax dollar work in the
maximum--toward maximum value, being able to braid funding
across not just the Department of Labor and Health and Human
Services, but the Department of Education, and where there are
other opportunities to reduce the silos so that we can make $1
tax dollar work like $5, that is the kind of--those are the
kinds of freedoms that we need to weave together funding.
To make your point, our summer youth employment program in
Detroit, Grow Detroit's Young Talent, is an $11.4 million
program. And we are very fortunate to have roughly a quarter of
a million, half a million dollars each year from our partners
at the State of Michigan Labor and Economic Opportunity
Division.
The rest of it, we fundraise. We are very fortunate to have
good, strong, philanthropic partners, but fundraising to the
tune of about $10 million a year, we believe that is a place
where legislation and Federal support should kick in for our
young people before they become at risk.
Senator Smith. Thank you so much, Madam Chair. I know I am
out of time, but I want to just note, I remember so clearly
working at the state level and trying to figure out how to get
flexibility in these very complicated workforce training
programs. And I mean, I remember so many times the
administrators saying of course, we would like to have more
money, but what we really need is more flexibility so that we
can make every dollar work in exactly the way that it could
work if we had that flexibility. So, just thank you for that.
The Chair. Thank you very much.
Senator Braun.
Senator Braun. Thank you, Madam Chair. We have been talking
about workforce for such a long time. Senator Hickenlooper and
I recently did a Subcommittee hearing on it. I am going to draw
upon what was the biggest issue in my home State of Indiana
pre-COVID was workforce. I would hear workforce, workforce,
workforce, some rural broadband, depending on your county, and
affordable housing.
Now I am going to go back to when I first started paying
attention to it was when I was CEO of my own company, when it
was really starting to grow in the last 10 years of the 37
years I was doing that and looked into my own school districts
in my County. And I think the issue with workforce, everything
I have heard today is tangential. I think the biggest issue
with workforce is that we have almost stigmatized some of those
pathways. And I will give you this little vignette to hear how
shocked I was.
Coming from the lowest unemployment county in the highest
manufacturing per capita county in the State of Indiana, we as
employers--mine was a logistics and distribution business, all
the other companies were manufacturing. It was depressing to
hear that in our own schools, of the 60,000 to 80,000 jobs that
we had begging, they weren't for 4 year degrees. Maybe a little
bit of STEM, but generally a better life skills training in
high school. I took industrial arts when I went to high school,
and that is probably something I remember more about than
almost any other class.
But almost all of those were gone, and it was AP--the only
way you can be successful in life is getting a 4-year degree.
Well, the market doesn't call for that. Parents have now had a
recent graduate or two that has a degreed son or daughter back
in the basement because it was an ill-advised degree with no
market. Half the kids that get on that journey for a 4-year
degree don't complete it.
State Board of Education and all of the educational
institutions within states, I think have oversold that. We ship
twice as many degrees out of our state as we keep within 4 year
degrees. I would love to see high school curriculum get back to
the basics and start teaching some of these skills that we
would all love to see there where we can even train. New
employers have been too dependent on the system, too. Now they
are getting with it.
I would like to hear, Ms. Watts, Mr. Beard, what you think
of what I have just said? How important is that to create
incomes--close though it would be almost $1 billion in Indiana
if we just did a better job at what I am talking about.
Ms. Watts. Thank you, Senator, for that question. In
Kentucky, your neighbor to the south, we too are a
manufacturing and logistics hub, and so those careers are very
important. And I think we have actually done quite a disservice
the last several years when we would hear the rhetoric, college
isn't for everyone.
What we should have been saying is that something post high
school is for everyone. Whether it is a degree, credentials,
certificate, 2-year education, something after high school was
for everyone. And so in Kentucky, we are actually even looking
at using scholarship dollars for students to be able to go to
those pathways that we will need in our logistics and our
manufacturing sectors because we know those are the jobs that
are needed right now. They are good paying jobs.
They can usually have a year of training and get right into
them. So we are completely aligned but I do think it is going
to be an alignment between the business community and the
education community as well.
In Kentucky, our community and technical college system has
really been at the forefront of making sure we have the
students that are going to meet those needs of our employers in
Kentucky.
Senator Braun. Thank you. Mr. Beard.
Mr. Beard. Senator, I would say amen first. Second, the
initiative I specifically lead focuses on those particular
occupations. 30 percent of those roles that require education
and skills beyond high school and less than 4 years of college
are what we need in Houston. And like Kentucky, we have a
significant manufacturing sector a health care sector an
automotive sector, transportation.
All of those jobs, you can leave high school with a good
career in technical education program and find a pathway. And I
think it requires two things. One, the employer leadership to
communicate that back into the school system and partner
differently with the school districts and the community
colleges.
Second, we need to change the awareness and perception and
narrative that is going on. And we did some focus group
research to understand kind of the perceptions and
misperceptions that families and parents have related to that
all because of the 4-year narrative. And so we have to do a
different job. Thank you.
Senator Braun. Thank you. And real briefly, in closing, not
to mention that higher education, post-secondary education has
now eclipsed the increase in the cost of health care each year,
and that would be the No. 2 issue in this country that has got
to be addressed as well, where it is a fixed cost, just with
different curriculum to do the things in high school that I
think cure a lot of the problems we contend with after high
school. Thank you.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Rosen.
Senator Rosen. Well, thank you, Madam Chair and Ranking
Member Burr for holding this important hearing today. I want to
build upon what Senator Braun is talking about because we do
have to scale and expand our workforce continually as jobs
continue to grow and change and the needs change. But one area
we really need to do that in, I believe, is our cyber
workforce. Because right now there is nearly 600,000 job
openings in cybersecurity in the U.S., more than 3,500 job
openings in my home State of Nevada alone, according to Cyber
Seek and the Federal Government cybersecurity jobs map.
As these jobs go unfilled, cyber-attacks against our
schools, our health care systems, our critical infrastructure
sectors, well they are just increasing in frequency and
severity, including in Nevada. So to address the skills gap, I
recently introduced the bipartisan Cyber Ready Workforce Act
with Senator Blackburn, a bill that would direct the Department
of Labor to award grants to workforce intermediaries to
increase access to registered apprenticeship programs in
cybersecurity that would lead to industry recognized
certification.
The certification will prepare Americans for these in-
demand jobs that are going to help protect our critical
infrastructure and our data systems. And this will also help
support and fund wraparound support services for cybersecurity
apprentices, including and assisting with cost of
transportation, housing, and childcare services. So Ms. Mack,
how do you think expanding and improving upon proven models
like registered apprenticeship programs help us address and
fulfill some of the long term cyber workforce shortages that we
are creating?
Ms. Mack. I will tell you that one of the most successful
apprenticeship programs we have in New York State is related to
cyber security, and it comes out of a partnership with local
community college near Utica and the local workforce board.
It has become a direct pipeline for candidates, primarily
refugees, who live in that community to get into cybersecurity.
And so it has been a proven pathway. It has been incredibly
successful.
Most of the folks end up going and working for the
Government. And I think again, if the more we could do to scale
and expand that statewide, become a model that everyone looks
to in our state, and is hoping to sort of spread across the
state. So I think it is exactly what we need to do.
Senator Rosen. How important do you think those wraparound
services are for apprenticeship programs if we want to remove
those equity and access barriers for student housing, perhaps,
or especially for women, perhaps childcare?
Ms. Mack. They are the difference maker between whether or
not people can participate in training and, or keep a job. And
so again, I think that the wraparound supports are crucial, and
ultimately, as they shared, I think that they can ultimately
make the difference about whether or not someone's going to be
able to make it through that program.
Senator Rosen. Thank you. I appreciate that. I want to move
on to the pandemic's impact on Nevada's travel and tourism
workers, of course it is tourism all across the country, but
particularly important in Nevada. And because workers in the
travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors, they really are the
backbone for us in Nevada and our economy. They make our state
a global destination, from everything from vacations, of
course, to conventions, outdoor tourism.
But unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic has had a
devastating and disproportionate impact on the workers in my
state, with roughly 63,000 jobs in tourism and hospitality,
they still have not returned nearly 2 years after many
businesses closed in March 2020.
Ms. Mack and then Ms. Sherard-Freeman, in the short time I
have left, what lessons did we learn a decade ago from the
Great Recession about how to address worker displacement in the
travel, tourism, and hospitality sectors? How can we apply
those lessons today? What should the Federal Government be
doing to help potentiate getting people into--back to the job
they want or into a new job? Ms. Mack, you can go first.
Ms. Mack. Yes, I will go quickly that this is a huge issue,
of course, in your state as well, with New York City's economy
relying pretty heavily on tourism and hospitality. I think one
of the challenges we found is the need to be able to prop-up
those small businesses to be able to ensure that individuals
can go back to work, there are places to go back to work.
But in addition to that, again addressing those barriers to
employment and the wraparound supports, in order for someone to
be able to step out of employment and then go into a training
to be able to advance to the next career.
We have worked really closely with Restaurant Opportunities
Center, and they have so many stories about workers who are
concerned about not having the right wraparound supports to be
able to, again, go into that training to advance their next
career.
Senator Rosen. I only have a few seconds left, so Ms.
Sherard-Freeman, I will let you respond on the record, we will
submit our questions for the record in order to let my
colleagues who are behind me ask questions. Thank you so much.
The Chair. Thank you.
Senator Hickenlooper.
Senator Hickenlooper. Thank you, Madam Chair. Thank all of
you. This is the kind of hearing that I think the Senate really
benefits from. As Senator Braun mentioned earlier, we convened
a meeting with the Employment and Workplace Safety Subcommittee
last week on health care workforce.
We talked about a lot of the challenges facing that
workforce. But I think that the--as the 21st economy continues
to evolve, upskilling and reskilling opportunities are going to
expand and grow in number, not diminish. It is going to be in a
variety of industries, not just health care.
I will start, Mr. Beard, with you. So you have discussed a
little bit of how the upscale Houston initiative is making
progress. Maybe a little more on that in addressing the skills
gap. But how does it--how do could we begin thinking about it
as a model for the rest of the country? In other words, what
elements do you think are easily translatable into a scale, a
national scale?
Mr. Beard. Thank you, Senator. So a couple of things. One,
I think the model and the approach that the U.S. Chamber
Foundation developed with talent pipeline management that
engages employers to talk about the pipelines they need to
develop is critically important.
That an employer, no matter whether they are in Indiana or
Kentucky or Texas, are getting a similar experience in terms of
engagement, because it takes that kind of engagement to then
bring in the community based organizations that provide the
wraparound services and career navigation.
But also, I think to this point that we have been talking
about, we need to find a way to align the various services in a
very different way so that it allows for co-location across
referrals across systems because right now it is siloed. You go
to the workforce system, you deal with a community based
organization, you go to the Career Services Office of the
Community College, and we need to find different ways to
optimize those resources to provide those supports.
Then I think finally, how do we continue to incent
employers, particularly on the education and upskilling piece
of this to support education benefits for the front line
workers, because we know similar to the conversation about
hospitality or Amazon or any of those other employers, that
those jobs have opportunities, but how do employers support
folks upskilling into other roles that are adjacent and that
are important to them. Because they don't want those workers in
those roles permanently, they want to kind of flow them
through.
Senator Hickenlooper. Alright. Absolutely. Ms. Mack, and I
appreciate the background, work hard, be nice to all people. I
made a pledge and followed through when I first became Mayor of
Denver in 2003 that I would visit every public school in Denver
in my first 4 years. No one told me there were 161 schools.
But I rapidly within about 40 schools I figured I had
something to say to kids and it was always, I came--ended up
with work hard, be nice, never quit. So you should put your
little never quit down there on the bottom. Obviously, we need
to invest in students and workers if we are going to be
prepared for this 21st century challenge.
I think increasing access to apprenticeships, making sure
that multiple working pathways are available, that is critical
to the success both for the workforce but also for employers.
As a Subcommittee Chair and often with Senator Braun, I am,
or I should say we are focused on expanding opportunities for
apprenticeships and especially youth apprenticeships.
How can we be doing a better job, and I think this is a
problem we have all faced, and you, many of you, a couple of
you have touched on this, but not only reaching the students,
but their parents, because so much of what they think is cool
or is acceptable is filtered through their conversations with
their parents. So in terms of promoting opportunities and
apprenticeship, how could we do a better job of reaching out to
parents?
Ms. Mack. I think it is parents and young adults. And so
across our state, there are a number of events that have now
popped up, sponsored by local workforce systems, to get young
adults from schools and their parents to come out for a day to
meet with businesses, to try out some of the equipment, and to
learn about careers.
I think those have proven super successful in our ability
to help people understand that these are pathways to good jobs.
But also it doesn't mean that this is a terminal end, and your
career stops here. That there are still opportunities to go on
to post-secondary following training and an apprenticeship
program.
Again, I think that ultimately more career exposure is
necessary and making sure that we are getting to young adults
and getting to parents because most people don't even know what
companies exist in their region. And so this ability to sort of
show, actually physically show them facilities makes a huge
difference.
Senator Hickenlooper. Great. Now somehow I am out of time.
I am not sure exactly how that happened, but I have other
questions I will put forward. I really am excited by the work
that all of you are doing, and I think there has got to be a
way we can synthesize this and orchestrate it in a way that
really does help our workforce, but also our business community
at the same time. Thank you.
The Chair. Thank you. I believe that is all of our Senators
who had questions today. Senator Burr, no closing remarks. Let
me just thank all of our witnesses for really an important
conversation, and all of our Senators who were here today to
ask very thoughtful questions.
I think we all are very focused on this and working to make
sure that everybody can participate in our economy to the best
of their ability. So Ms. Mack, Ms. Watts, Mr. Beard, Ms.
Sherard-Freeman, thank you so much for sharing your time and
your expertise.
For any Senators who do wish to ask additional questions,
questions for the record will be due in 10 business days, March
2nd at 5 p.m. And with that, the Committee stands adjourned.
[Whereupon, at 11:41 a.m., the hearing was adjourned.]
[all]