A key priority of the nation's governors is workforce development - education, employment, and job training systems designed to provide the skilled workers employers need to succeed and the education and training individuals to succeed in today's labor market. Impending labor and skill shortages will impede economic growth as states and communities strive to compete globally. At the same time, many workers lack the skills to get and hold jobs with earning that allow them to be self-sufficient and advance economically. Addressing these challenges in the global economic environment is a critical concern of Governors.

Focus of Center Activities

The NGA Center for Best Practices focuses its workforce development services on:

• State workforce development system reform;
• Implementation of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998;
• Comprehensive state strategies for workforce and economic development and welfare-to-work;
• Occupational training for labor market entrants and the unemployed;
• Skill upgrading for workers who are already employed;
• Career pathways for youth and adults - transitions from school-to-work and access to post secondary education;
• Linkages among education reform, higher education, and economic development; and
• Effectiveness of state workforce development systems in delivering results.

The Center also provides special ongoing support and information, including the Workforce Update newsletter, to states that subscribe to NGA's fee-for-service Employment and Vocational Training (EVT) program. The Center also staffs associations of state workforce board chairs and state workforce administrators.

Related Links

Federal Legislation

• Carl D. Perkins Vocational and Technical Education Act - Text and Summary of Public Law 105-332
• Wagner-Peyser Act - Text of the Wagner Peyser Act as Amended in 1998
• Workforce Investment Act -Department of Labor paper on implementing the Workforce Investment Act