WA lawmakers should invest in WorkSource centers to boost state’s economic recovery
After losing his job and eventually losing his apartment, “Jordan” became homeless and began living inside his car. Without a stable place to live, he became disconnected from his daughters, and he realized he needed help to get back on track.
Fortunately, Jordan connected with skills training, job search assistance and help finding housing through a local non-profit. In less than a month working intensely with his career counselor and agency partners, Jordan had landed a steady job, moved into permanent housing, and was reunited with his daughters.
The help Jordan received was made possible by investments in the local workforce system — your tax dollars at work empowering a network of community-based organizations and non-profits to serve on the front lines of economic recovery. This state-wide collaboration of local workforce development councils, which has existed in some form for over 80 years, serves nearly 78,000 Washingtonians every year and helps nearly 15,000 businesses fill vacant jobs.
Right now, tens of thousands of people are still on the sidelines of the labor market for various reasons — lacking affordable childcare, fearing COVID exposure for themselves or their families, and many needing assistance to participate in the local and regional labor force. These communities — including many BIPOC, immigrants and refugees, and rural residents — are in real danger of becoming trapped in a series of interconnected obstacles, without additional support.
At the same time, businesses are struggling to fill nearly 200,000 vacant jobs across the state, including thousands in critical industries like healthcare, education, manufacturing, and hospitality services. This is impeding our state’s economic recovery and hampering the ability of businesses of all sizes to fully recover and grow.
As lawmakers in Olympia debate critical measures for Washington’s economic recovery, now is the time to invest in local workforce solutions. We recommend a $50 million state Workforce Innovation Fund to empower local solutions with flexible funding. We recommend lawmakers take advantage of the infrastructure that already exists — established funding, network of providers, community partners, WorkSource Centers, and industry relationships — and build on it to produce better results for workers and businesses, and to maximize scale and impact.
There have been no designated workforce investments through the Federal CARES Act or the American Rescue Plan. Existing federal funds are not flexible, not nearly enough, and ill-equipped to meet the “just in time” demands caused by our new pandemic economy, which would leave behind 90% of those in need.
Our state can’t afford to leave people like Jordan behind. By investing in these local solutions, legislators can put a down payment on equitable economic recovery for better and stronger communities.