Federal Workforce Funding to Support Local COVID Responses

As the end of July came and went, Congress missed its opportunity to ensure continuity in the expanded unemployment insurance (UI) benefits that millions of dislocated workers depend on during the COVID-19 public health and economic crisis. This as another 1.4 million people filed initial unemployment claims last week and the U.S. gross domestic product—an indicator of economic growth and health—contracted by a record-high 32.9 percent during the second quarter of 2020. The lack of a much-needed COVID relief bill has also meant that our public workforce system is still waiting for the resources it needs to provide job training, career services, and other support to the millions of youth and adults that COVID has left unemployed or underemployed. Even though Congress has yet to pass another stimulus bill, the federal government has made other important investments in the development and implementation of evidenced-based training interventions.

In July, the U.S. Department of Labor announced the availability of $40 million in grants to assist community colleges in collaborating with employers and the public workforce system to develop and deliver accelerated career pathways and socially-distanced, technology-enabled learning for dislocated, incumbent, and new workers. Modeled after the $2 billion Great Recession era Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training (TAACCCT) program, the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant initiative recognizes the critical role that community colleges play in meeting local and regional labor market demand for a skilled workforce.

Community colleges often play an outsized role in training and retraining workers and they will likely play a critical role in helping workers reconnect to jobs in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic. New America’s evaluation of the TAACCCT program found that participants were nearly twice as likely to complete a program and earn a credential, and almost 30 percent more likely to have positive labor market outcomes than comparison students.

Building on the lessons learned through TAACCCT, the Strengthening Community Colleges Training Grant (SCCTG) prioritizes the development of effective accelerated learning models, the alignment of curriculum and credentials with industry demand, and the expansion of student supports critical to completing training. It also supports the use of technology-related and online training delivery given how COVID has forced higher education and training to adapt in relatively short order. What SCCTG also gets right is the focus on the importance of public workforce development system partners in systems change. Prospective applicants must specifically outline how they will use funding to strengthen their community’s training infrastructure. This can involve strategically leveraging the resources of educational, workforce, and employer partners, and creating a framework for organizing, integrating, and delivering programs and services that connect with employer needs.

This summer, the U.S. Department of Education also announced the availability of funds to address COVID-related employment and training needs. The $127.5 million Reimagine Workforce Preparation Program (RWPP), funded by the Education Stabilization Fund under Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, would provide grants to state workforce agencies for small business incubator programs and facilities as well as career pathways and short-term training that result in badges, certifications, micro-credentials, licenses, or other credentials. The stated goal of RWPP is to help dislocated workers quickly return to employment, expanding postsecondary options and opportunities, and supporting entrepreneurship in stabilizing both the local economy and institutions of higher education, thus restoring pre-pandemic economic growth.

For some dislocated workers, job-training opportunities that result in meaningful credentials will position them to rejoin the labor force. However, rapid retraining, although tempting, might not be the solution to getting youth and adults into quality jobs. Research suggests that employer demand for advanced education and training increased markedly during the Great Recession, and has persisted over the last decade. This means that workers with a college degree have had better luck finding employment in the tight labor market that followed the financial crisis. Workers without a postsecondary credential, on the other hand, have been shut out of some jobs, despite sometimes possessing the skills employers require, and have seen a decline in real median wages.

Training investments like RWPP and SCCTG can be critical to improving post-COVID employment rates - provided they result in high-quality programs that recognize the skills of dislocated workers and equip job seekers with credentials of value. Yet, with COVID recovery negotiations stalled in Congress, it will likely be some time before education and workforce systems at the state and local levels—and workers themselves—get the full relief that they need.

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