Job Centered Economic

Development: An Approach for

Linking Workforce and Local
Economic Development
Linkage?
• More than job training
• Useful activities required to place people
who have few job skills that may be
outdated
 Skills training
 Placement
 Mentoring
 Post employment services
• Purpose?
Skilled Workforce
• A skilled workforce is a crucial element of
a good business climate
• So why is workforce development
separate from economic development?
 Economic development usually consists of
land use, planning, economic analysis, and
working with the private sector employers
and developers
 Workforce development focuses on
individuals and coordination with social
services and public sector organizations
Workforce Development
• Also work with educational institutions
▫ Training such as, but not limited to:
 High schools
 Community Colleges
 Proprietary Schools
 Unions
 Community based organizations
▫ Why do they focus on educational
institutions?
If they agreed…
• It would require cooperation's among
different departments within the same
government and organizations. All of
which have different cultures and goals.
• Funding?
 Funding for WFD is measured by services
provided for individuals….
 Funding for ED is by jobs created or
maintained, memberships
Continued
• Workforce development needs better linkages
to economic development so they can do more
than prepare people for low-wage jobs with
little advancement potential. So the term, Job
centered economic development came to
place.

• Term is centered around achievement in social

justice and focuses on indentifying and
accessing GOOD jobs, building careers,
networking, managing cases, enabling job
retention and advancement, promoting
innovation among employers, and advocating
policies to support living wage jobs.
How it works
• WFD is framed by federal legislation
• The Workforce Investment Act of 1998
▫ Consolidated federal job training
▫ Adult education: Literacy and vocational
rehabilitation programs into a more streamlined
and flexible WFD system
• Personal Responsibility & Work Opportunity
Reconciliation Act 1996
▫ Replace aid to families with dependant children
and provides grants to states to provide “temporary
assistance to needy families.
▫ Goal: rather than lengthy job training, the policy
assumes that clients will move into better jobs as
they gain work experience
One Stop Employment Centers
• Central point of access for all federally
funded employment programs
• Goal: To place people in jobs as quick as
possible
• Is there universal access?
• Limited job training…
The Case Study: Seattle
• Only addresses structural economic
issues
• Helps us examine which systemic change
can be achieved under existing legislation
and how professionals can shape policies
for equity goals and how to work with
existing to achieve greater equality
Seattle Jobs Initiative
• Program: Annie E. Casey Foundation’s 8-
year Jobs Initiative (1995)
▫ $30 million supports local governments,
community organizations, and educational
institutions.
▫ Promote the creation of job training
programs for jobs with advancement that
provides family supporting benefits. With a
wage of $8
▫ Each site can receive up to $700,000 a year
for planning and implementation
 3 elements and 4 goals
• Elements
• 1. Strengthen the economic base and business climate
(retention and expansion)
• 2. Support employment opportunities (education and job
training)
• 3. Support community based economic development
(neighborhood reinvestment)

• Goals
• 1. Help residents obtain jobs that pay “living wage” of at
least $8 and benefits
• 2. Ensure long term job retention
• 3. Secure employer involvement so people receive relevant
training and jobs are available after training
• 4. Integrate human services with employment and training
2 Strategies
• 1. Employment linkage: Immediate job
placement for work ready residents which
will leverage city investment and other
Economic Development Initiatives

• 2. Target Sector: Structure job training,

support services and case management to
place residents in jobs that are growing or
occupations that are well paying and have
opportunities for advancement
Seattle and King County Job
Initiative
• Both organizations strived to place people in jobs
that they would normally not have access to

• They created relationships with Brokers to gain

more leverage with community colleges to
change their curriculum to coordinate with the
business needs of the community

• They not only provide basic employment

placement but also postemployment counseling
King County Job Initiative
• King County Job Imitative was established
because of the rising cost of living in
Seattle that was forcing poorer people out
into Southwestern King County

• The need for jobs and job training was

still evident, so the initiative was started
in the county in response to the great
need
King County Jobs Initiative
• Same Basic principles as Seattle Jobs
Initiative
• Similar framework, but is more focused on
meeting the needs of employers for skilled
workers rather than SJI’s efforts to provide
living wage jobs
• Smaller than SJI so it has less leverage with
the community and technical colleges
• Thus it was important to collaborate with
the SJI
Seattle Job Initiative
• SJI Placed 2,344 people since its
operation began in 1997
▫ 65% through direct placements rather than
sectoral initiatives
▫ This helped determine that Sectoral
strategies take years to establish
• Projects get dropped when placement
rates, retention rates, or wages were low
Seattle Jobs Initiative
• One of the newer initiatives that started in
2001 was the Tech Talent Program
▫ Trains participants for high-demand and
well-paying web design positions
▫ Took ideas from the initiatives started in San
Francisco by OpNet and Bay Area Video
Coalition who also works to train lower income
groups
▫ Hired a broker with experience in the field
to be the human resource manager to
figure out the needs of the local companies
Seattle and King County Job
Initiative
• Due to their efforts Washington has been
influenced to adopt workforce
development policies to support the goals
of job centered economic development
• Washington transferred 17 million
dollars from Department of Social and
Health Services to Community and
Technical Colleges for developing
programs to promote job
advancement and wage increases
Seattle Jobs Initiative
Economic Development
Practitioners
• Ability to recognize when things aren’t working
and develop new pragmatic responses
▫ Examples:
1. Dropping sectors during declining labor market
demand
2. Redefining roles of partners and intermediaries
3. Expanding initiatives by developing new
partnerships
• They hope that other communities can take the
program and adapt it to their communities
Anne Keeney
• SJI Sector Manager
▫ “ the labor market can shift suddenly and you
need the flexibility to place people in a variety
of environments with the same skill set”
• She recognized that people need to be
prepared for jobs in every sector not just
one.
• It is more prevalent today than ever with the
changing technologies, and high-tech
careers