Here we articulate the hurdles that impede full success for workers and employers, and potential changes at the public, private, and policy levels that could better match worker skills with employer needs in a rapidly evolving job market.
With a focus on low- and moderate-wage positions, we identify with opportunities in a rapidly changing job market to grow worker skills and qualifications, better match those skills to employer needs, and navigate the on- and off-ramps that build economic mobility and financial security for their future.
With a focus on low- and moderate-wage positions, we identify with opportunities in a rapidly changing job market to grow worker skills and qualifications, better match those skills to employer needs, and navigate the on- and off-ramps that build economic mobility and financial security for their future.
The consensus proposals included in this Blueprint for Action would create public, private, and policy changes crucial to better support matching worker skills with employer needs, thereby improving both worker economic mobility and employer competitiveness. During the group’s time of shared learning, important needs and opportunities emerged, including imperatives to:
improve accountability and coordination within and between workforce systems, public-private partnerships, and employers
shift the narrative and build advocacy for sustained, flexible, and systemic financial and legislative investment in adult education, skilling, and training programs
scale to the state or national level those pilots that are already successfully bolstering communities through workforce development and employer partnerships
As the diverse participants explored and grappled with the challenges in the work and the differences in our perspectives, we developed a shared vision of the work before us that guided our focus on three core areas of work, and which carried through to our final consensus on recommendations.
The participants in the Convergence Collaborative on Pathways to Better Jobs invite you to review these proposals and to join us in the work ahead as we focus on implementing them, filling gaps, and improving our complex workforce system to create onramps to new, better jobs. We urge readers to act in their own sphere of influence on the recommendations outlined in this report. We also invite leaders from the worlds of advocacy and policy, philanthropy, community-based work, and other important sectors to explore how the collaborative problem-solving framework we leveraged here across our differences can achieve worthwhile, durable solutions to many of our most intractable issues.
Support workers in growing their essential skills and navigating their career advancement through new, accessible resources.
Identify key areas in which employers can improve their competitiveness by creating more sustainable and job-ready talent pipelines.
Expand and scale work-based learning models to develop worker and employer opportunities.
The Convergence Collaborative has been extraordinarily timely, relevant, and thought-provoking and is already having a great impact on our workforce development work at the YWCA. I have most appreciated our discussions about the future of work, upskilling residents to meet the demands of the economy, and ensuring a stable and consistent foundation of skills for all workers.
Mike Schwartz, Collaborative Participant
As the diverse participants explored and grappled with the challenges in the work and the differences in our perspectives, we developed a shared vision of the work before us that guided our focus on three core areas of work, and which carried through to our final consensus on recommendations.
The participants in the Convergence Collaborative on Pathways to Better Jobs invite you to review these proposals and to join us in the work ahead as we focus on implementing them, filling gaps, and improving our complex workforce system to create onramps to new, better jobs. We urge readers to act in their own sphere of influence on the recommendations outlined in this report. We also invite leaders from the worlds of advocacy and policy, philanthropy, community-based work, and other important sectors to explore how the collaborative problem-solving framework we leveraged here across our differences can achieve worthwhile, durable solutions to many of our most intractable issues.
This Convergence Collaborative builds on two previous Convergence efforts to increase economic mobility and security for unemployed and low- and moderate-income workers: the Convergence Dialogue on Economic Mobility (also known as Working Up, 2018) and their quickly stood-up project in response to the COVID-19 pandemic – Economic Recovery for America’s Workers (2020).
Consensus recommendations for addressing key challenges facing low-income workers, including actions to change: the workforce system, job opportunities, incentives, and benefits, and supports for financial stability.
Clear and significant increases of opportunities for millions of America’s workers to upgrade skills, achieve additional credentials and degrees, strengthen career pathways and more, as major employer stakeholders at our table, like Walmart, invested meaningfully in key elements of the consensus recommendations.
The Dialogue resulted in enduring relationships among the participants across ideological and sectoral lines. Groups and individuals previously alienated from each other continue to work together as unlikely allies to drive additional changes to public policy and private practice to strengthen economic mobility.
The project on Economic Recovery for America’s Workers had a short-term mandate to address the economic fallout of the
COVID-19 pandemic on low-income workers, including potential solutions in the public, private, and non-profit realms. This process highlighted several issues and needs, including expanding multiple onramps and pathways to better jobs and supporting workers to succeed and advance at work by building solutions to meet personal and work responsibilities.
The 2018 Convergence Dialogue, bolstered by the project on Economic Recovery for America’s Workers in 2020, led directly to Convergence launching two new Convergence Collaboratives. These projects pushed deeper into the policies, resources, and scrutiny that respond to improving workers’ economic mobility and strengthening workforce readiness and competitiveness for employers.
As we advanced each of these areas of work, we remained highly conscious that some communities, especially people of color, continue to face unique barriers to economic security and mobility. And, because their perspectives are too often not included in key stakeholder discussions and the formulation of solutions, those solutions often do not meet their needs, and can sometimes even exacerbate the problem. This Collaborative addressed the potential challenge by:
Recommendations under the Worker Skill-building section are particularly valuable to communities facing the highest barriers as the related resources developed by the group are specifically focused on providing accessible content workers can directly utilize in their career advancement journey. Additionally, the proposals provided under the Employer-led Solutions and Work-based Learning sections aim to develop and scale systems that broaden talent pipelines, making them more inclusive, and provide opportunities for communities that may otherwise not have access to career pathways with upward economic mobility.
Launched in the spring of 2022, the Convergence Collaborative on Pathways to Better Jobs brings together a diverse and influential group of 30 participants representing workers, workforce trainers, policymakers, employers, and post-secondary education providers of all types. For just over a year, through the spring of 2023, the group met regularly to explore issues in workforce development and economic mobility. The focus was on identifying the needs and gaps within the existing system and public, private, and policy recommendations to better match worker skills with employer needs in a rapidly evolving job market.
Within our Collaborative there were differing priorities, which often cause tensions when considering various workforce solutions and challenges. Employer priorities and worker priorities often seem in conflict with each other, and it was critical to the project that both perspectives were represented. Another area of tension concerns funding many of the initiatives or supports that will create a more stable and sustainable talent pipeline and who should be responsible for investing in various skill-building and career advancement activities. These tensions are frequently exacerbated by the capacity that businesses have due to size or degree of assistance they may receive from state or federal resources.
The resounding benefit of the Convergence Collaborative on Pathways to Better Jobs was to bring representatives together from sectors that work past each other and have not had the opportunity to collaborate on solutions and to find comraderies and partnership on issues that previously seemed much more divisive. Worker voices communicated directly and openly with representatives from major national employers. Further, employers had a platform to discuss pragmatic and proactive initiatives that would create stronger talent pipelines, and help workers cement essential skills that can be transferred and translated into thoughtful career growth.
Lastly, Convergence engaged a professional facilitator and project team to support the group in building trust, developing a vision, finding areas of agreement, and formulating consensus recommendations set out in this report. In the next stage of work, the Pathways participants, who are listed below; will work with the Convergence team to implement our group’s proposals.
A supplemental facet of the Pathways Collaborative included original research conducted by Convergence staff with a large US-based international employer in the Fall of 2022. Convergence interviewed 125 frontline employees working across 25 stores in the Chicago and St. Louis metropolitan areas. These interviews informed the Collaborative by excavating the stories, perspectives, and challenges from workers with lived experience wrestling with career advancement and hurdles to economic mobility and financial security. The interview questions gauged worker interest and participation in upskilling and professional growth opportunities and explored the barriers workers experienced as limiting or preventing their engagement in such opportunities.
The interviews and listening sessions proved helpful as qualitative inputs to make the conversation among Collaborative participants more inclusive, complex, and comprehensive as we framed innovative solutions for strengthening economic mobility.
Key takeaways from the analysis of these interviews (see Appendix B for full Grassroots Engagement Report):
Employers can address many barriers that workers cite as preventing them from pursuing professional growth opportunities.
Workers want more and better communication about available professional opportunities and how they align with their individual career goals.
Workers desire easily accessible training, certifications, and other upskilling opportunities.
While degree programs remain popular, workers find them harder to access than other advancement opportunities.
Workers want to feel that they are growing professionally and learning at work — but this desire alone does not mean they will participate in growth opportunities that are not a good fit in their lives.
Stuart Andreason, The Burning Glass Institute
Rose-Margaret Ekeng-Itua, Ohlone College
Scott Fast, Innovate+ Educate
Jaimie Francis, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation
Ellen Frank-Miller, Workforce & Educational Research Center
Jane Graupman, International Institute of Minnesota
Jenny Ho, American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees
Roman Jackson, JobsFirstNYC
Elisabeth Jacobs, WorkRise
Amy Lebednick, West Michigan Works!
Beila Leboeuf, Walmart
Kerry McKittrick, Harvard Project on Workforce
Steven Partridge, Northern Virginia Community College
Deeneaus Polk, 3LEVATE
Priya Ramanathan, General Assembly
Eddie Santiago, Bowery Residents Committee
Lisa Schumacher, McDonald’s Corporation
Mike Schwartz, YWCA of Seattle King Snohomish County
Jenna Shrove, U.S. Chamber of Commerce
Rachael Stephens Parker, National Governors Association
Marie Victor-Wiggins, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United
We support this set of solutions as individuals. Our organizations have not formally endorsed this report, and our organizational affiliations are listed for informational purposes. This consensus process resulted in the strongest support for our principles and framework. We urge leaders across sectors to act on these proposals. Individual outputs listed in the Appendix of this document have been created by subsets of the group’s stakeholders. Please view these outputs to see stakeholder endorsements.
This report would not have been possible without the tireless work of Convergence project staff, Anita Chandramohan and Erica Loken.
The COVID-19 pandemic created one of the worst economic crises in the last century .The public health crisis exposed and exacerbated the pre-existing challenges and barriers that low- and moderate-income workers face to achieve financial security and upward mobility. Many individuals returned to entry-level and middle-income jobs that they had prior to the pandemic and while wages have grown at a record rate, inflation has impacted real wage rates . Though some individuals used the time during the pandemic to upskill, many still face barriers to a clear route to a better job, alternative career pathways, or different benefits.
At the time of the Collaborative launch in May 2022, overall reported trends indicated that unemployment caused by the pandemic was decreasing; however, there was economic strife, disillusionment, and an inability to find stable, quality jobs that afford upward mobility for millions of Americans. While unemployment is continuing to decrease, employers are grappling with talent pipeline cultivation and finding workers with the existing skills for the jobs they need to fill. Many individuals also continue to experience stagnant wages, have multiple jobs to meet basic needs, and face challenges in acquiring, navigating, or leveraging professional skills and certifications.
Women, Black, Indigenous, and people of color were disproportionately affected by the pandemic, only serving to worsen the significant employment hurdles faced by these communities and individuals prior to COVID-19 . Disparate impacts and systemic disenfranchisement are ever-present in low-income and rural communities, communities of color, and other social determinants that have historically inhibited access to employment, upskilling, or reskilling into new career pathways. Furthermore, millions of women shouldered more of the childcare, remote learning, and other familial and personal responsibilities before and during the pandemic, making it incredibly difficult to balance careers, scheduling, and responsive workplaces. Now, millions of women who want to reenter the workforce must also navigate large gaps in employment and skilling and continue to juggle the same limiting factors, most of which have not dissipated.
The Convergence Collaborative on Pathways to Better Jobs convened with the intention of addressing the many issues outlined above by working to build and share consensus-based recommendations to better connect workers — particularly those in low- and moderate-wage positions — with opportunities to grow their skills and qualifications, and to navigate the on- and off-ramps that build economic mobility and financial security for their future. The project also aimed to address how employers can and do benefit from investment in creating more sustainable and job-ready talent pipelines. Over the project, the focus narrowed as participants identified priorities and related gaps in our workforce system.
Percentage of individuals who started in a low-wage job in 2012 and did not move to a job with a median salary above the low-wage threshold in five years.
Percentage of Black children whose parents are in the bottom decile of the national income distribution remain there as adults, compared with just 17% of White children.
Collaborative stakeholders came together across political, ideological, sectoral, and other divides to advance solutions that meet the needs of both America’s workers and employers. It was clear from the beginning that while much good work is being done in the space, we still need to find ways to better connect workers with opportunities to build their skills and qualifications, in ways that meet the needs of employers, and to navigate the on and off ramps that will build economic mobility and financial security for them and their families.
The group grappled with various questions to inform their work and thinking, such as:
These observations point to three critical needs for solving the broader challenges:
Strengthen accountability and coordination within and between workforce systems, public-private partnerships, and employers
Shift the narrative and advocate for sustained, flexible, and systemic financial and legislative investment in adult education, skilling, and training programs
Drive scale around successful pilots that currently bolster specific local communities and industry partnerships to have impact at state or national level
As a means of structuring the work of this group, stakeholders developed an Employment Lifecycle Infographic (see Appendix C) identifying the unmet needs and gaps of workers, employers, and community-based organizations within the lifecycle of employment. Stakeholders encourage different audiences to use this as a starting place to dig deeper and get more specific on their programmatic initiatives. For example, employers and researchers could use it to understand intervention points during a worker’s tenure and then develop studies to learn more about what is happening at those specific intervention points. For smaller companies without Human Resource departments, pairing this infographic with a document about which resources exist in each of the lifecycle stages could also be a valuable resource. This infographic could be adapted to include a “what’s next” or recommendations for policymakers.
1. Develop and advocate for a universal essential skills framework for workers
2. Develop, bolster, and normalize practice use of career advancement plans and career navigators to support workers
3. Catalyze and support sector-focused skills partnerships with employers, worker organizations, skill builders, and community-based organizations
4. Invest in regional and sector skill building ecosystems that can pay off in the longer term
1. Use talent development roadmaps to build skills and raise productivity and retention across the employment lifecycle
2. Use partnerships with businesses, training organizations, worker organizations, and funders to improve ROI on skilling strategies and investments
3. Catalyze and support sector-focused skills partnerships with employers, worker organizations, skill builders, and community-based organizations
4. Invest in regional and sector skill building ecosystems that can pay off in the longer term
1. Support and encourage more employers to adopt and expand WBL programs
2. Strengthen coordination of administration and reporting by public agencies
There is significant opportunity for employers and community-based organizations (CBOs) to break down the barriers to upward economic mobility faced by individuals earning low incomes, women, communities of color, and rural communities. These barriers include inaccessibility to clear information that defines essential skills, challenges in attaining essential and technical skills, and a lack of guidance around career advancement pathways available to them. Employers can break down these barriers by clearly identifying routes for connecting job seekers with relevant skills to open jobs in their companies as well as articulating clear pathways for upward mobility from those jobs. CBOs need to support both the worker and employer to remove barriers, share and help interpret information that will facilitate the growth of the worker and the employer, and be equipped to provide services for the duration of a worker’s employment arc.
Many workers with low-to-medium incomes are missing a core set of essential skills, otherwise known as soft and hard skills, that are critical to their long-term success in the job market. As technical skill requirements evolve, one thing remains true: social, emotional, and cognitive skills will always be needed. Tremendous time and effort have been invested in creating skills frameworks; however, they are often geared towards communicating needed skills to employers and CBOs rather than directly to workers. Additionally, essential skills that workers need for success are present in some frameworks, but not others. To further compound the issue, they tend to utilize jargon and other language that is not accessible to many workers, and many are unintentionally riddled with implicit bias in the language used.
To fill this gap, our group has created a Universal Essential Skills Framework (see Appendix D) that is written with workers as the main audience, using clear, accessible language to define essential skills and provide examples of those skills. Therefore, the Framework is written so it can be directly administered as a resource to workers. There is, however, also great benefit in employers and CBOs using it with their constituencies. The broad nature of the Framework allows for greater scaling opportunity. For employers and CBOs, it should be viewed as a starting place that can be customized to fit their organization’s needs by updating examples of essential skills to reflect on the job expectations for the sector or industry.
Workers often face challenges such as access to clear information and guidance on the career advancement paths available to them within their current roles or in potential roles. Many individuals do not know what considerations they should be accounting for or questions they should be answering for themselves pertaining to what they want in a job or potential career path. They are also often unaware of what they should be asking of their employers at each stage of the employment lifecycle.
Career Advancement Plans are tremendously beneficial for short- and long-term planning, particularly as someone assesses their goals, skills, and professional trajectory. These plans can be used by both workers and employers. For workers, it can outline the questions they should be considering at each stage of the employment lifecycle, both for themselves and to ask of their employers. For employers, it can communicate worker perspective and what workers are thinking about at each of the stages.
Recognizing the gap that exists in worker resources for career advancement we have created a Career Advancement Guide (see Appendix E). This Guide was carefully crafted by stakeholders who have on-the-ground experience with workers and know the types of questions they need to be asking of themselves and their employers. The Guide provides a set of collated resources that workers can utilize as they work to answer questions. We envision the Career Advancement Guide being used by CBOs and human resource departments within companies to provide much-needed support to workers. Much like the Universal Essential Skills Framework, the Guide can, and should, be adapted to fit the needs of the constituency served.
One of the main barriers to upward mobility for low-wage workers is a lack of accessible guidance around career advancement pathways available to them. Although funding for career navigators is critical for workers to achieve long-term success, systems of navigators do not typically exist. While we have a system for case management, career navigation serves a more targeted purpose: career advancement.
Participants need support navigating systems including workforce, higher education, government resources, and potential places of employment to find the most ideal career pathways resulting in upward economic mobility.
One of the main barriers to upward mobility for low-wage workers is a lack of accessible guidance around career advancement pathways available to them. Although funding for career navigators is critical for workers to achieve long-term success, systems of navigators do not typically exist. While we have a system for case management, career navigation serves a more targeted purpose: career advancement. Participants need support navigating systems including workforce, higher education, government resources, and potential places of employment to find the most ideal career pathways resulting in upward economic mobility.
Public investment in career navigation is a high yield and scalable solution that simultaneously addresses employee and employer challenges. This includes addressing the huge skills gap among U.S. workers that are stuck in low wage positions with no pathways for upward mobility and whose skills do not match what is required for positions that employers are struggling to fill. States with remaining funds from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) can invest in providing accessible and affordable reskilling opportunities for workers and in employers who are willing to take a risk on hiring workers who may have less experience in the specific career they are currently hiring for but have exciting potential to learn the necessary skills for the role. Additionally, system investments in career navigation should use accessible language and meet workers where they are. This will have a positive return on investment overall, as proven in San Antonio by Project Quest’s 25-year economic impact study . Project Quest yielded a return on investment of $19.82 for every dollar invested. The total economic impact of the project was $1.67 billion — this included the increase in incomes of graduates of the program, the economic impact of spending, and the welfare savings from participants being able to move off these programs. The benefits of these investments are threefold: workers can access opportunities that result in upward mobility, employers have increased revenue, and governments see increased tax revenue.
Workers need to be able to access affordable training opportunities while keeping wraparound services, such as government benefits, to ensure they can achieve upward economic mobility. Many workers earning a low income cannot afford to lose earnings or government benefits while they obtain credentials and skills, however, they often do. When these individuals work to obtain additional credentials and skills that will support their upward economic trajectory, they lose benefits at a time when they most need support. For workers to succeed in entry-level jobs while skilling up for the next step of their career, we must ensure that policy reflects the need for continued support during this time.
Lower-wage workers seeking to advance into higher-paying jobs often rely on employer-provided skill-building opportunities and training. However, small-to-medium employers (SMEs) usually do not have the financial or personnel resources to invest in these opportunities. They also may know little about partnership opportunities able to fill gaps in their own capacity for talent development. Many of these employers are unsure whether there is a significant enough return on investment, given worker turnover, retention, and the time it takes to develop employees at various levels. There are evidence-driven ways for employers to earn a high return on these investments in skill-building for workers. Those investments can increase worker productivity and retention, while also creating pathways for their career advancement.
For SMEs and other employers who may need additional support, partnerships with other employers in the same industry, worker organizations, outside training organizations, and public and private funders can help with strategy, bring down investment costs, and deliver better results. It is possible for SMEs to build more robust talent development systems that serve workers and employers alike, but they need help in doing so, which is where partnerships can play a key role. Local, state, and federal agencies and coalitions can also support building more creative, effective solutions that SMEs can participate in to make strong investments in worker skilling and advancement, for both regional and industry growth.
Creating skills roadmaps for the entirety of a worker’s career is crucial for key entry-level and higher-skilled positions. Focusing on the identification of demonstrable skills, not higher education degrees, in this mapping benefits both the employer and the worker. A focus on skills-based job descriptions and roadmaps broadens the talent pipeline for employers; helps current and prospective employees identify avenues for mobility throughout all phases of the lifecycle; and improves equity. Using skills-based recruiting and hiring to boost productivity from the beginning of a talent pipeline search and process reduces the risk of mismatches and builds a more diverse, qualified workforce.
Using talent roadmaps during the recruiting and onboarding phases shows which skillsets will create opportunities for employees to advance, and how employees can gain those skills. However, providing this information is not enough. Employers can make it easier for their current workforce to increase its productivity by providing the time and/or funding needed to get training — whether on the job or through outside providers. Investing in workers improves retention for employers and provides opportunities for advancing workers who develop the skills employers need. It is important to note that some employers may have limited pathways for upskilling beyond the entry level, in this case, they can partner with other businesses, training agencies, and funders to provide “up and out” skill-building opportunities for employees and reap the benefits of higher retention and commitment for the time they are employed with the company, as well as cultivating a positive reputation in the community.
Many employers, especially SMEs, have limited human resource capacity, which limits their capacity to cultivate a robust talent development pipeline. Although some employers may have limited internal resources, there are external resources they can utilize for these purposes. To craft a talent and investment strategy, they can seek out help from industry and sector skills partnerships, pooled human resource and talent services, unions and other worker organizations, chambers of commerce, specialized training organizations, and community colleges. Identifying a talent pipeline is an important part of this overall talent strategy. To develop this pipeline, employers can work with training programs, schools, feeder businesses, community-based organizations, the military, and second chance hiring programs to provide them with the baseline of skills they need. Employers can build relationships with these partners so there is a mutual understanding of how to best work together to improve upward mobility for workers and create a stronger, healthier economy for employers.
There are established routes for many employers to join industry and sector-skilling partnerships. These partnerships can help reduce costs and provide external funding to improve ROI by providing resources for skill building that meet employers’ needs within specific industries or sectors. Partnership examples include Employer Resource Networks and Next Gen Sector Partnerships. If employers prefer to subsidize skills-based hiring, work-based learning opportunities, and training programs by other means, they can seek public and philanthropic funds, though it is important to ensure use of external funds does not sway or influence the direction of the employers’ focus on skills. An example of a framework that can be used by employers and employer-facing organizations to better align skills needs with what training programs offer is the U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation’s Talent Pipeline Management Program.
Public funding and support can incentivize SMEs and other employers to pool resources; collaborate with training and education providers and worker organizations; and, contribute to producing a better trained, more productive, better compensated, and more secure workforce. Well-designed sector- and industry-focused career programs that are developed jointly with employers, workers, and skill building organizations, attuned to local and regional labor markets and combined with matching funds, can be catalytic both to sustain and expand existing good jobs and to attract new industries that provide the jobs of the future. To transform our current system into one that is truly serving both workers and employers, we need to shift how we create and manage career programs, with employers having significantly more leadership in communicating their skills needs and support to build pipelines that evolve with a worker as they grow in their career.
Ensuring employers have the resources and networks needed to grow their organizations and support the growth of their workers is vital. Many employers lack the resources to engage in strategic, long-term thinking. Therefore, funding that allows for industry-driven labor market analysis to identify employer demand, skills gaps, and skills providers, and creating programs that offer public matching funds for gap-filling partnerships is critical, especially for SMEs. This will also allow CBOs and skills providers with the information they need to help workers build the skills that are most in demand, and which will lead to upward economic mobility, especially for worker groups that employers may not be well connected to such as women, people of color, and immigrants. Opening talent pipelines is beneficial for both employers and workers and can be supported by the promotion of skills-based hiring. Funding for tools for employers, worker organizations, and training organizations that can help them standardize skills terminology and make it easier for workers and employers to match skills with demand is a key option. Broadening talent pipelines can also be facilitated through publicly supported job fairs and hiring halls. These events provide opportunities to match employers and workers and raise awareness of the skills that can lead to good local and regional jobs.
The current workforce ecosystem is quite fragmented, which can create challenges for both employers and workers. To create more cohesion within the system, especially as it relates to regional and sector skill-building, industry-driven labor market and economic development analysis can be used to identify up and coming industries and the associated skills. This will allow for funding to be targeted to education and training institutions to design training programs tailored to build these skills, which will allow them to attract and retain leading edge employers to partner with.
There are several ways to support partnerships that will benefit both employer and worker success. Incentivizing the creation of long-term partnerships between employers, skill-builders, and workers with matching funds offered over several years will help create more cohesion within the system resulting in longer-term benefits than one-off, less systematized practices. Another means is to support regional employer, worker, and skill-builder collaboratives that enable employers to offer “up and out” pathways for workers and ensure smooth transitions to adjacent industries and jobs. Monetary incentives provide the resources to make partnerships happen, but it is also important that employers and skill-builders be recognized and rewarded for their success with awards and honors for successful partnerships, which can include spotlighting employers who have made substantial investments, relative to their size, and produced both public and private benefits.
With the national and global conversation around economic competitiveness and the need for skilled talent truly hindering recruitment, hiring, and retention, we are poised to act and transform the workforce landscape in this country. Work-based learning (WBL) is an educational approach or instructional methodology that uses the workplace or real work to provide students with the knowledge and skills that will help them connect school experiences to real-life work activities and future career opportunities. Work-based learning models create an environment where the job seeker is truly connected to the employer and the system is inherently created to provide on-the-job skill-building.
Work-based learning programs are designed to prepare participants for full-time work and help them acquire the knowledge and skills they need to enter or advance in specific career fields. WBL can be a component of a continuum of lifelong learning and skill development for a range of workers and learners, including K-12 students, young adults, college students, adult job seekers, and workers with years of experience. When no workplace is available to host a WBL program, it may be possible to achieve many of the same objectives through simulated experiences and student-run enterprises.
WBL includes several types of earn-and-learn programs — an educational and training model that combines academic learning with practical, on-the-job work experiences. Employees in these programs are provided with opportunities to gain valuable on-the-job training that is both practical and theoretical in scope and relevant to their field of study. Key to an effective earn-and-learn model is the concept of earning money while undertaking the experience. Earn-and-learn programs are designed to enhance the employability and skill sets of participants, helping them make a smoother transition from education, whether secondary or baccalaureate, to the workforce. All earn-and-learn programs are work-based learning initiatives, but not all work-based learning initiatives are earn-and-learn programs.
Work-based Learning Recommendation 1
Work-based learning is an effective way for employers to develop talent in more cost-effective ways, recognize a return on investment, and have access to technical assistance and incentives from both state and federal governments. Adopting these models and implementing them at scale can prove challenging for employers, resulting in registered apprenticeship programs or skill-based learning and hiring not being as widely practiced as it could be. Employers hesitate to participate because the Department of Labor (DOL), state regulations, or program requirements can be onerous, and program development, certification or registration, and administration can be very lengthy and costly. These programs, however, can often remove barriers for workers who need income and a steady job quickly and federal dollars are often not flexible, equitable, and inclusive and lack uniformity and standards. No one institution or entity can overhaul the registered apprenticeship system, but a clearly coordinated paradigm can allow for information to flow efficiently and consistently, which promotes employer and job seeker goals, in addition to intermediaries being dialed into the circle of critical players that can support job creation, acquisition, onboarding, and advancement.
Increased retention and reduced turnover.
Improved recruitment - job seekers are attracted to employers that invest in workers, have career pathways.
Funding available to help offset the cost.
Reduced turnover costs.
Employee engagement and loyalty.
Enhanced talent development and employee pipeline.
Stronger company culture and mentoring possibility.
Work-based Learning Recommendation 2
There are several opportunities to help more employees attain the skills they need to be ready to fill in-demand jobs. One option is to expand the federal Pell Grant program to support enrollment in high quality short-term programs that lead to employment. Employer incentives that are both simple and connected to the needs of communities, such as setting tax incentives that are tied to family-impacting wage standards through hourly-wage incentives and employer-tax incentives, can be offered. Additionally, the Department of Labor (or another type of intermediary) can become a national clearing house for the national OJT/RTI standards.
Additional and specific flexibility applied to work-based learning funding and supplemental resources would also be beneficial, such as using Pell Grants for RTI (Related Technical Instruction) coursework and expanded programs. Reporting requirements should also be standardized across agencies that provide funding support. For example, the Department of Labor’s standard is simultaneously different but largely duplicative compared to Veterans Affairs, which can create administrative burdens for practitioners, employers, and intermediaries. Lastly, it is vital that funding is inclusive of wage supports and wrap-around service supports to account for cost-of-living adjustments and recognition of the multitude of needs facing different workers and learners.
A more coordinated effort at the state level would also be beneficial, where the state-approving agency for registered apprenticeship is directly connected to human resource associations, labor unions, SMEs, C-suite professionals, education, and workforce and training providers. This can be done through fostering more industry-driven curriculum development and strengthening the role government has in organizing industry associations, chambers of commerce, and SMEs to drive curricula development. This strategy aims to facilitate closer collaboration between educational institutions and employers to provide a structured, coordinated approach to training, with variability as to whether it should be broad or narrow.
Finally, creating collaborative standardized occupational profiles is critical. There is a lack of clear profiles that outline the exact skills, knowledge, and competencies required for specific occupations in an easily accessible, consistently available, web portal. Such standardization would strengthen a platform such as O*Net, a free online career exploration database, and would develop similar, but localized and standardized, national profiles and would provide better clarity and consistency in designing training programs overall. A robust quality assurance and certification system that creates and elevates more established, reputable, organizations and independent bodies would help ensure that training pathways are relevant, pragmatic, and of value. This can be done via monitoring communal standards, conducting, and facilitating examinations, and fostering innovation. It is critical however to ensure that these additional checkpoints and evolutions do not create barriers to entry for low-income and marginalized groups.
Create talent development roadmaps
Embrace work-based learning programs
Advocate for increased funding to support adult learners
Create or expand skill-building and training programs
Facilitate access to workforce support services and providing targeted assistance to workers
Provide opportunities for employers to network with businesses, community-based training organizations, labor unions and worker organizations, and funders
Increase funding and flexibility in collaborating with CBOs
Create more transparency and understanding around quality, value, and outcomes of work-based learning programs
Help coordinate efforts between public agencies to streamline eligibility, reporting, and funding requirements for work-based learning programs
Establish methods to ensure existing funding is being used efficiently and effectively
There are many players within the workforce ecosystem and there are both important supports for each actor as well as important roles for each to play in strengthening and growing our workforce. Workers need more and better opportunities to meet them where they are. Adoption of a universal essential skills framework that clearly communicates the skills critical for success and related skill-building opportunities to help workers gain those skills is key for career advancement, especially within the most vulnerable populations. Greater utilization, and funding, of career advancement planning and career navigators will also lead to system improvements benefitting both workers and employers. Improved and increased opportunity and access for workers will help them to achieve upward economic mobility for themselves and their families and will expand talent pipelines for employers.
Employers can help develop workers’ skills in several ways including the creation of talent development roadmaps, adoption of various work-based learning programs, advocating for increased funding allotted to support adult worker learners, and creating and/or expanding skill-building and training programs for workers. These investments on the part of employers can lead to positive returns, but they can’t do it on their own. Employers need more opportunities to build partnerships with businesses, community-based training organizations, labor unions and worker organizations, and funders to improve ROI on skilling strategies and investments.
Additionally, CBOs are a critical pillar in bridging the gaps and connecting workers with valuable resources within the workforce ecosystem. CBOs serve as key intermediaries between workers and employers, facilitating access to workforce support services and providing targeted assistance to individuals seeking new or improved employment opportunities. By increasing funding and flexibility in collaborating with CBOs, policymakers can amplify their impact in reaching a broader range of adults and effectively address the needs of vulnerable populations and people furthest from opportunity. Investment in skill building and workers through the creation of new public and private partnerships will be instrumental in paving the way to expanding and extending our workforce.
Policymakers also have an important role to play in supporting workers, employers, and CBOs. Many sectors want to learn more to adopt, scale, and reimagine work-based learning programs, but do not know where to begin. Policymakers can support and encourage more employers to adopt and expand WBL programs by creating more transparency and understanding around quality, value, and outcomes of the various work-based learning models. They can also improve the WBL system by creating coordinated efforts between public agencies to streamline eligibility, reporting, and funding requirements for work-based learning programs. Flexible program eligibility criteria are another vital way to allow more workers to take advantage of workforce support services and develop their advancement and professional skillsets. This investment in more flexible eligibility criteria will allow more workers to take advantage of workforce support services. It is important however to not will ensure existing funding is being used efficiently and effectively, in addition to increasing funding that allows CBOs to work with a greater breadth of adults who are looking for new or better employment opportunities.
There is a tremendous opportunity for critical players within the workforce ecosystem to understand their role and importance in connecting more workers with highly sought-after skill sets and job opportunities that are stable, sustainable, and transferable. While there is still more work to do, we have outlined critical stepping stones for improving the system that is pragmatic and achievable.
The following pages contain resources you can start using today to build toward a healthier workforce ecosystem, as well as more detailed information on the findings listed in this Blueprint for Action.
Keep up-to-date with this project’s future impact and Convergence’s continued work on economic mobility by signing up for updates at convergencepolicy.org/subscribe.
