Sector Strategies: Aligning the Skills of the Workforce with the Needs of Employers

“This brief describes how the 28 [Local Workforce Investment Boards (]LWIBs[)] randomly selected to participate in the [Workforce Investment Act (]WIA[)] Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold Standard Evaluation…incorporated a sector focus into their Adult and Dislocated Worker programs. It opens by providing a framework for understanding the overall goals, features, and intended outcomes of sector strategies. It then summarizes how study LWIBs executed or otherwise participated in sector initiatives and provides case-study examples of individual strategies. Data…were collected during in-person interviews with administrative and/or fiscal entity…staff…in 2012 and 2013 and telephone interviews in 2014, and from program documents provided by LWIBs and retrieved from the web….Because the study did not collect data on outcomes or impacts of the initiatives, this brief does not comment on their effectiveness” (p.2).

The brief presents a sector strategies framework to ground the brief’s findings. “Sector strategies are an employer-driven workforce development approach that directly aligns occupational skills training and other workforce development services with the needs of businesses. Four primary features…define the approach:

• Sector strategies target a particular industry or cluster of occupations with high demand for employees or projected growth.

• Key stakeholders—such as workforce and economic development agencies, education and training providers, employers, employer associations, and unions—partner to develop and execute sector strategies, typically under the leadership of an intermediary agency (such as an LWIB) that facilitates communication….

• Together, these partners comprehensively assess the human resource needs of regional businesses from the target sector and identify the specific challenges they face in recruiting and retaining a qualified workforce....

• The partners design and execute customized, employer- driven solutions to these challenges and ensure that the workforce has the specialized skills necessary to meet identified business needs” (p.2).

“This issue brief is one in a series of briefs that presents findings from the WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker Programs Gold Standard Evaluation, which is being conducted for the U.S. Department of Labor…, Employment and Training Administration…. The study examines the implementation, effectiveness, and benefits and costs of the Adult and Dislocated Worker programs using an experimental design” (p.8).

(Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

“All WIA Gold Standard Evaluation LWIBs reported targeting demand sectors as part of their WIA Adult and Dislocated Worker programs. Many study LWIBs also reported executing or participating in additional sector- focused initiatives that incorporated one or more of the other key features of sector strategies—partner, assess, and design and execute....Some also operated sector-focused American Job Centers…that provided employment, training, and education services exclusively to businesses and job seekers from a specific target sector” (p.3). The brief reports that “the five sectors most commonly targeted by study LWIBs were: manufacturing, health care and social assistance, logistics (which includes transportation and warehousing), information technology, and construction” (p.4). The brief also provides illustrative examples of sector strategies taken from various study sites, including “[a]cquiring funds to build California’s high-speed rail line” (p.4) by the Fresno Regional Workforce Board, “[a]ddressing teacher hiring and retention issues in Gulf Coast, Texas” (p.5) by the Gulf Coast Workforce Board, and “[c]onvening stakeholders to address supply chain sector worker shortages in North Central, Texas” (p.5) by Workforce Solutions for North Central Texas. The study also found that •“More than one-third of study LWIBs participated in meetings to discuss the human resource needs of regional businesses from target sectors. •About one-quarter of study LWIBs partnered with local employers from target sectors to develop and execute specialized occupational skills training programs” (p.1). Overall, the brief finds that “sector strategies can help businesses from a region’s highest demand sectors recruit and retain skilled workers, while also helping under-skilled workers gain requisite occupational skills and obtain good jobs in these sectors” (p.1). (Abstractor: Author and Website Staff)

• Last Updated:
• Created:
• Resource Publication Date: 2015
• Author(s): Ziegler, Jessica.
• Organizational Author(s): Mathematica Policy Research and Social Policy Research Associates
• Funding Source: U.S. Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration
• Resource Availability: Publicly available
• Posted by: Laura Aron
• Posted in: Workforce System Strategies