Washington's community and technical colleges are a collective, powerful, unmatched resource for advancing prosperity through education. These 34 colleges not only connect with employers in the regions where they operate, but also with each other through common programs--like advanced manufacturing and allied health--that align with Washington's…

Education is the catalyst for families, communities, and businesses to thrive. While Washington's employers report a growing need for a more educated workforce in order to stay competitive, many individuals need higher levels of education to obtain work that can support themselves and their families. Washington's Roadmap goals identify the…

Governors are increasingly aware that the emerging economy will provide few well-paying jobs for workers who have not earned a postsecondary degree or a relevant workforce certificate. Fifty years ago, nearly 80 percent of all jobs required only a high school diploma or less and most paid a good wage. Fast-forward to data from 2013 and that number…

Recognizing that higher education, including community colleges, four-year colleges, and research universities, cannot help drive economic growth in their states unless students' academic success is linked to the needs of the marketplace, governors and state policymakers are beginning to move beyond their focus on getting more students to get…

This document examines recent developments in strategic planning for employment, identifies key elements of strategic plans, examines issues to be addressed in implementing such plans, examines New Jersey's state plan in detail, and provides short sketches of the strategic plans for employment in six other states. Following an executive summary,…

The three projects examined in this paper are the Work Link/Project R.E.S.P.E.C.T. program in St. Louis and Seattle's Individualized Placement efforts and Office Occupations sector project. These are programs that have focused their efforts on the difficult goal of high retention. All have managed to place and keep between half and about…

In their 2004 State of the State speeches, the nation's governors cited many issues competing for their attention and their states' resources, including health care, education, crime, and security (Nodine 2004). Among the most compelling challenges were those related to economic development and the ability of a state's workforce to meet the needs…

A pilot project profiled and compared the influence of the major environments of supply and demand, education, practice location and incentives, licensure and regulation, and planning and analysis on the health workforce in and among 10 states (California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Iowa, Texas, Utah, Washington, West Virginia, and…

A project was conducted to improve the state of Washington's community and technical college system by developing and using an improved occupational forecasting system to assess and respond to education and training needs. First, long-term occupational forecast data from Washington's Employment Security Department were matched with technical and…

Occupational supply and demand in Washington State was examined by comparing projected supplies of skilled workers coming out of the state's community and technical colleges against the projected demand among Washington employers for people qualified to enter particular occupations. The analysis was based on a January 2000 report, information…