SKILLS BLOG

NSC Releases Analysis of White House Plan

August 08, 2014

On July 22, the White House released its job-driven training action plan following Vice President Biden’s review of federal job-training programs. The release of Ready to Work: Job-Driven Training and American Opportunity coincided with the President’s signing of the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), legislation reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). Following the release of the national action plan, National Skills Coalition prepared an analysis of key provisions outlined in the report.

The action plan emphasizes strategies NSC has long advocated for, including industry engagement through sector partnerships, development of career pathways, using data to align training with labor market needs, and providing funding to seed and scale proven or promising strategies.

The action plan is a result of a Presidential Memorandum instructing the Vice President to lead an across-the-board review of federal job training programs in order to identify and implement steps the Administration can take to make these programs more “job-driven”—that is, employer-led, connected to real jobs in local or regional labor markets, and resulting in skills and credentials that help individuals succeed in the labor market. 

NSC is pleased to see the Administration and Congress working to make our workforce training programs more job-driven, integrated, transparent, and effective, and looks forward to working with the White House and the agencies as they begin to implement the action plan.­­­­­­­­­­­­­­