February 23, 2022
NOW IS THE TIME TO INVEST IN WASHINGTON’S ECONOMIC RECOVERY WITH LOCAL WORKFORCE SOLUTIONS
By Katie Condit, Chief Executive Officer, WorkForce Central
In April 2020, 18.2 percent of Pierce County workers lost jobs to COVID-19-related closures. As the county moved to reopen, the local Pierce County workforce system worked to assist more than 150,000 people who filed unemployment claims to get back to work. At the same time, the local workforce system supported over 300 businesses to upskill their current workforce and recruit and support new employees coming on board in recovery.
WorkForce Central’s Business Solutions team supported the local Tacoma business Aero Precision to increase its workforce from 250 employees just prior to the start of the pandemic to more than 700 employees in 2022. Aero Precision had a spot at seven Hire Pierce County Virtual Job Fairs during 2021, and this success came about through partnership in recruitment and outreach with the local Pierce County workforce system.
The support that businesses and jobseekers receive in Pierce County is made possible by investments in the local workforce system — tax dollars at work empowering community-based organizations to aid economic recovery. This state-wide collaboration of local workforce development councils serves nearly 78,000 Washingtonians annually and helps 15,000 businesses fill vacant jobs.
Right now, thousands of people across the state are still on the sidelines and out of work for various reasons — lacking affordable childcare, need for living wages, barriers to training opportunities — and many don’t know where or how to get the skills necessary to compete for living-wage jobs. These communities 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 high-demand industries like healthcare, construction trades, 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 that meet the needs of businesses and job seekers. We recommend lawmakers take advantage of the infrastructure that already exists in our local workforce systems — established funding, network of service providers, 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 federally designated workforce investments through the 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 percent of those in need.
Our state can’t afford to leave anyone behind. By investing in these local solutions, legislators can put a down payment on equitable economic recovery for better and stronger communities.
Katie Condit is Chief Executive Officer of WorkForce Central, which stewards the Pierce County Workforce Development System. WorkForce Central bridges the gap between job seekers, employers, and community organizations to build a robust workforce pipeline and ensure economic vitality across the region.
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Media Contacts
Katie Condit, Chief Executive Officer, 253-495-8515, kcondit@workforce-central.org
Joanna Rasmussen, Director of Communications, 253-213-2960, jrasmussen@workforce-central.org
