Building a Workforce Development System as an Economic Development Strategy: Lessons from US Programs

Abstract

In the knowledge economy, the economic prosperity of places is increasingly tied to the talents of its people. Therefore, many cities and regions have made the attraction and retention of skilled people a core economic development strategy. This article argues that a better strategy is actually to increase the overall pool of talent available, and to do so means rethinking, and investing in, the workforce system. Once the literature and theory has been reviewed, the second half of the article mines multiple US case studies for useful lessons on how workforce systems can be developed and better aligned to economic development.

Notes

¹ The Bread and Butter Café has been renamed the Starfish Café since the research for this article was completed.

² I say ideally because in some geographic locations, there are no credentialed training providers available and, in those cases, private sector agencies may have to deliver the training. This does not necessarily undermine the quality of training provided, but reduces the portability and transparency of the skills outside the geographic area in which they are provided.