Getting the Job Done: Advancing the New Skills Agenda draws from lessons learned through two years of MassINC’s New Skills for a New Economy Campaign and lays out critical reforms needed for the Massachusetts workforce development system.
There is broad agreement that Massachusetts’s workforce development system needs repair to meet the challenges of the 21st century. The system lacks a unified vision, maintains long waiting lists for ESOL classes, has inadequate resources, and lacks core accountability standards supported by business and industry. Getting the Job Done presents four recommendations to help low-skilled adults acquire the skills they need:
- Establish a new basic skills credential to certify a worker’s abilities;
- Increase program completion rates at community colleges;
- Cut the waiting list for ESOL programs in half; and,
- Establish regional skill alliances in each of the state’s regional economic competitiveness councils to plan and implement workforce development activities.