Workforce Development for Economic Developers Part 1: Differences between Workforce Development and Economic Development

Workforce Development for Economic Developers
Part 1: Differences between Workforce Development and Economic Development

Workforce Development is a growing area of interest by economic developers because businesses are reporting a shortage of skilled workers. Smart Solutions Group will be authoring a series of blogs on this topic to show how economic developers can provide the workforce needed by businesses in their region.

Historically, Workforce Development and Economic Development have had different missions. The primary link between these two groups has been Labor Market Information – employment, unemployment, and wage data – that is published by federal and state workforce development departments. As a shortage of skilled workers in key occupations has increased, the relationship between workforce developers and economic developers has grown closer. Some state workforce development departments now conduct surveys of workers and non-workers, implement career readiness certificate programs, and offer new training programs that will help provide the skilled workers needed for economic growth. However, these two groups need to work more effectively together to insure an adequate supply of skilled workers is available while both are able to maintain their primary missions.

The first step to getting workforce developers and economic developers to work closely together is to understand the differences between these groups. The following exhibit shows the primary differences between Workforce Development and Economic Development

 

 

Workforce
Development

Economic
Development

ORIGIN

The Great
Society

Competition
for Business/Job Creation

ENTITY

Federal/State

Private/Public/Public-Private

CULTURE

Human/Social
Services

Business/Economics

WORKER FOCUS

Disadvantaged/Displaced/Low
Skill

Skilled and
Professional

OBJECTIVES

Employability

Economic and
Job Growth

PROGRAMMING

Individual Case
Management

Strategic
Planning

MEASUREMENT

Program
Completion and Job Placement

Job Creation/Retention
and Economic Growth

 

By looking at this chart, you get the feeling that workforce developers are from Venus and economic developers are from Mars. But that is not the case – they both want to see their economy grow and provide opportunities to workers in their community but they approach growth from different directions. Our experience has shown that if you get both groups to focus on the same issue, you get a better solution than if they approach the issue separately.

In Part 2 of this series, we will cover the topic of Skill Gaps and Skilled Worker Shortages from an economic development perspective. In future parts of this series, we will present information on:

  • measuring skill gaps and skilled worker shortages,
  • workforce information needed by site selection consultants and business executives,
  • new sources of comprehensive workforce information,
  • competitive analysis of skilled workers by region, and
  • developing a strategic roadmap to provide skilled workers for your target industry clusters.

If you have any comments or questions on Part 1or have issues related to workforce development that you want to see addressed in future articles, send them to Ed Andrews at ed@smartsolutionsgroup.net. Visit our Skills Ready Website

 

Next Previous
Menu ✖