10 Transformational Pathways for States

To achieve each of the Future Workforce Now transformational objectives, states must take action across all ten policy pathways. Interact with the wheel to explore each pathway and the associated policies to prepare your future workforce for technological disruption.

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  • Lifelong Learning Ecosystem
  • Technologically Resilient
  • Comprehensive Support

Collect more comprehensive labor market information. The state invests in the production, dissemination and analysis of qualitative and quantitative labor force data to understand how the changing world of work affects individuals across populations. States should consider how to make this data more transparent in order to promote data quality through both incentives and accountability measures. Local institutions, including workforce development boards, maintain unique relationships with local employers and employees, and offer immense potential to provide information about barriers to employment and advancement. As states consider making investments in workforce training and education programs, they should consider working with their network of local workforce partners to first collect data on barriers to entering and remaining in the workforce. The State Workforce Board could conduct outreach to local boards, and in partnership with non-governmental partners, assess what resources and supports are needed most to help individual workers and families.

State Program Examples

  • Missouri

    Missouri Economic Research Information Center

    The Missouri Economic Research Information Center, the research division of the Department of Economic Development, partnered with Burning Glass to supplement state labor market data – which often lagged behind 2 years or more. This partnership now allows the state to produce real-time data so that Missourians may act more nimbly, make decisions that lead to higher quality employment and a stronger match between industry needs and the state’s workforce training capacity.

Develop a sustainable preschool through postsecondary education and workforce (P20W) governance structure. A transparent governance structure can facilitate data-sharing, access, and ultimately, track individual mobility from education through the workforce over time. Statewide governance structures help address common state priorities including (1) bringing down inter-agency siloes; (2) providing insights into key questions of governors and stakeholders; and (3) making sustainable, aligned progress across the workforce system. As a result of these data systems, educators, business leaders and policymakers can incorporate real-time results into their efforts to develop a future-ready workforce.

State Program Examples

  • Multi-State

    16 States: P20W Cross-Agency Data System

    Currently, sixteen states and the District of Columbia have a full P20W system that captures data across all four core agencies (early learning, K-12, postsecondary and workforce). The main methods states have used to develop these structures include legislation, Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs) between agencies, executive order, and federal State Longitudinal Data Systems (SLDS) grants.

  • Kentucky

    KYSTATS

    In 2013, Kentucky passed 151B.132, establishing the Office for Education and Workforce Statistics, now known as KYSTATS. The Executive Director is appointed by the governor and is responsible for collecting and integrating education and workforce data so that policymakers, practitioners and the public can make data-informed decisions on education and training programs. This governance structure has successfully acquired several federal grants to fund statewide data alignment, adding more than $11 million in funding toward the use of effective data in Kentucky.

  • Maryland

    Data Governance Advisory Board

    Maryland passed a charter to formally engage a range of stakeholders in its statewide data governance framework, the Maryland Longitudinal Data System. The Data Governance Advisory Board (Data GAB) consists of a “data steward” from state agencies, all of whom oversee data quality, gaps, security, and success measures pertaining to education and workforce goals of the state. The Data GAB is also responsible for developing a vision and mission around the collection, protection, and use of data across agencies to answer questions and inform policy decisions.

  • Multi-State

    25 States: Chief Data Officers

    25 states now have Chief Data Officers (CDOs), 18 of which have been appointed by the Office of the Governor. The state appoints an individual to oversee data quality, identify data gaps, ensure data security, and determining measures of success of systemwide digital infrastructure. State CDOs play an important leadership role within state government, including as the clearinghouse and advocate for coordinating data sharing between agencies and with the legislature. According to the Beeck Center for Social Impact and Innovation, CDOs are responsible for overseeing data quality, identifying gaps, ensuring security, and determining measures of success of systemwide digital infrastructure. CDOs play an important leadership role within state government, including as the clearinghouse and advocate for coordinating data sharing between agencies and with the legislature.  State leaders offer different perspectives on whether CDOs should reside in the Office of the Governor, Office of Technology, or elsewhere, however, there is consensus that enabling CDOs to be an advocate for agency action around data is a critical investment from states who are committed to preparing a future-ready workforce. The Beeck Center currently operates the State CDO Network to connect data leaders across the nation, and aims to improve data-related policy and service delivery through tools such as the CDO in Government Playbook.

  • Connecticut

    Executive Order Created the Chief Data Officer Position

    Connecticut Governor Lamont signed an Executive Order to create the Chief Data Officer (CDO) position and fund a data coordinator in each executive-branch agency to serve as a liaison to the CDO.

  • Mississippi

    Mississippi LifeTracks (MLT)

    Mississippi Lifetracks (MLT), was developed with strong leadership and support from former Governor Haley Barbour. MLT is an interoperable data system with the capability to tack and link education and training information from early education, K12, higher education, community college, public university and workforce data across multiple agencies.

Build data systems capable of tracking education and workforce program accessibility and outcomes across race, gender and ethnicity. The state measures progress toward closing equity gaps in postsecondary education, workforce training, employment, adult education and English language proficiency by collecting disaggregated demographic information on nondegree credential attainment and certifications, including badges, licenses and registered and nonregistered apprenticeship certificates.

State Program Examples

No examples to share at this time. Please check back later.

Pilot enhancements of unemployment insurance (UI) wage records to improve individual-level data on employment outcomes. States maintain flexibility in the information they require from employers on the wage records of their employees – as long as federal minimums are met. In recent years, there has been a growing movement to enhance UI wage records to include more data, including hours worked and occupational codes, to make the data more valuable for assessing labor market success. This enhanced information can help states transition from using data exclusively for UI evaluation, investigation and enforcement to determining if workforce training programs are effective, if those programs are meeting the job market demands, and if college graduates are finding employment. States interested in enhancing their UI wage data could begin by piloting an initiative to collect enhanced data within high-demand industries and those which are forecasted to be most impacted by technology. States might also consider assessing state laws and restrictive legal opinions that unnecessarily inhibit wage data access between interested users in order to make data more readily available to community colleges, researchers and policymakers.

State Program Examples

  • Illinois

    Requires Monthly Wage Recording

    Rather than requiring employers to submit quarterly wage reports to the state (as part of the Unemployment Insurance Program), Illinois requires employers with more than 25 employees to submit monthly reports. This enhancement provides the state timelier economic analysis and outreach to state workforce participants. In developing its enhanced wage reporting requirements, Illinois inventoried state UI wage record requirements; identified wage data some states already collect in addition to SSN, name and wage; located uses of wage record data beyond administration of the UI program; surveyed other state UI agencies on their collection of UI wage records, and; surveyed payroll service and software companies to assess their capacity to collect and report additional data.

Build capacity in the state workforce to interpret data and create useful products. The state invests in its workforce by developing a state employee training program to teach skills to interpret data, identify the potential and limitations of data and create new products that can be deployed to serve constituents.

State Program Examples

  • Multi-State

    Indiana, Illinois and Missouri: The Coleridge Initiative

    The Coleridge Initiative works with state agencies and academic partners to create and deliver Applied Data Analytics classes to government agency staff. It is a platform for multi-state data sharing and answering common research questions, mostly in the intersection of workforce and education. States can elect to contribute other data as well such as SNAP/TANF or corrections. These classes train participants in how to work with confidential data from multiple agencies to solve high priority problems identified by agency senior management. Indiana, Illinois and Missouri have partnered with Coleridge to increase statewide capacity to interpret local employment data, education outcomes, labor statistics, and more.

Communicate education and workforce data and information to stakeholders in an accessible way. Available information is not enough; states must also make available labor market information, including anticipated effects of disruption and associated skills gaps, to employers, regional workforce entities, education institutions and the general public. In addition to high level summary reports, states should consider making available state data machine-readable so that data scientists and analysts can develop innovative, predictive data tools.

State Program Examples

  • Montana

    Statewide College Report

    In 2019, the Montana Department of Labor and Industry (MTDLI) and Office of the Commissioner of Higher Education published a statewide college report to determine whether colleges are producing enough graduates to meet occupational demand. The report offers one of the nation’s most in-depth analyses of the supply and demand of Montana’s occupations and informs opportunities for new program development throughout the state college system. The report also offers a similar analysis for each region of the state to help identify any geographical disparities between supply and demand to inform projected shortfalls in certain occupations.

  • Colorado

    Talent Pipeline Report

    Senate Bill 14-205 was passed to require the Workforce Development Council, in partnership with other state and local agencies, to publish annually a report which explores issues related to the supply and demand of talent, and strategies for strengthening the state’s talent pipeline. The report also includes a series of recommendations to the Governor and the legislature, which are developed in accordance with the state’s postsecondary attainment goals. Since its creation in 2013, the report has led to more than thirty new bills becoming law.

  • Iowa

    Metrics that Matter

    The Future Ready Iowa Alliance publishes annually Metrics That Matter, a report publishing progress toward the Governor’s postsecondary attainment goal that Iowans earn an additional 139,900 post-secondary credentials by 2025. This report includes metrics on the current skills gap including rates of educational attainment (including registered apprentices), data on high-demand jobs, average earnings, and employer-demanded skills across industries.

  • Missouri

    Social Impact Dashboards

    The Office of the Governor has led a cross-government data initiative that has resulted in a series of social impact dashboards that indicate the use of social services over time across each county. Since April, state agency leaders have developed ‘microcells’ or working groups that meet weekly to address geographic-, population- or industry-specific challenges identified through this dashboard. Through these groups, the state has been able to align state policy objectives and target resources toward urgent unmet needs including gaps in available childcare and shortages in the health care workforce

  • Ohio

    Workforce Success Measures Dashboard

    To promote continuous improvement and inform investments across their workforce system, the Ohio Governor's Office of Workforce Transformation created the Workforce Success Measures Dashboard in 2017 to measure the success of workforce programs across the state. This tool features data that allows policymakers to assess how well programs help participants find employment, develop skills, enhance wages and provide value to business. In 2021, this resource will be enhanced to provide more granular and actionable information in a user-friendly interface so dislocated workers can make more informed decisions and quickly reconnect to the labor market in a high-quality job.

  • Virginia

    Regional Economic Dashboards

    In 2020, the Northern Virginia Regional Commission created a dashboard to track COVID-19 Economic Impacts in Virginia. The Dashboard displays state and county level total unemployment rates, number of unemployment claims and the percent of workers in “most vulnerable industries” based on potential for elimination of positions due to reduced economic activity in response to COVID-19. While this tool focuses primarily on industries negatively impacted by COVID-19, LMI could be similarly used to identify industries with job opportunities or occupations at risk of automation at the state and county level.  

  • Tennessee

    Labor and Education Alignment Program

    In October 2020, the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (TNECD) released a report that highlights jobs in high demand across Tennessee, including occupations in finance and technology, , automotive, distribution and logistics, and other target industry clusters. The Labor and Education Alignment Program (LEAP) report calls attention to occupations that are strategically important to the growth of the state economy and to TNECD’s expansion and recruitment efforts. In addition, STEM occupations with high employer demand are also indicated throughout the report. The LEAP report seeks to assist local, regional and state policy decision-makers and outlines areas for increased alignment between education and industry. 

Develop predictive data tools to forecast labor market displacement resulting from disruptive technologies. The state uses technology to develop new models for forecasting changes in the state labor market resulting from adoption of automation and related technologies. States can partner with research institutions or industry to adjust existing models that use state and federal labor data (such as data derived from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics). States can also focus targeted training and support on the sectors and geographies that data show are most likely to adopt advanced technologies.

State Program Examples

No examples to share at this time. Please check back later.

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