Understanding Our Workforce

CONTRIBUTED BY THE DELAWARE WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT BOARD

SUCCESSFUL CHANGE in any endeavor requires three steps. Understand the current environment, determine areas for improvement, and bring those improvements to fruition. It is exactly this approach underling the actions of the Delaware Workforce Development Board as it works to grow the state’s workforce, ensure that workforce possesses today’s relevant skills, and enhance avenues to connect employees with employers.

The Board’s recent survey of Delaware employers, conducted by Zogby Analytics, is significant in understanding the current employment environment. While the Board continues to review the detailed information, some key findings have emerged. Businesses cited a lack of self-motivation and attention to detail among prospective employees, as well as a lack of problem-solving and communication skills. Also lacking were a number of basic technical skills, such as proficiency with Microsoft Word and Excel. Another interesting finding is that, while college degrees are important to employers in many jobs, a majority of employers had openings for those without such degrees and almost half had openings for those previously in the criminal justice system. Such an expansion of the job seeker pool is significant since Delaware joins the rest of the nation in having fewer candidates than job openings.

More key findings will emerge, but the Board realizes it’s not just about data in a vacuum. As Board Chair Scott Malfitano notes, “it’s about connecting the data to our state’s real-life employment environment so that people have jobs and employers have the qualified workforce they need.” The goal is to use the data as a catalyst as the Board works with its training partners, focusing on growth sectors in the Delaware economy; working to close skills and experience gaps like the ones noted above; and making it as seamless as possible for job seekers and employers to connect.

One key step in this is the Board’s Business Liaison initiative, funded under the American Rescue Plan Act, or ARPA. The role of a business liaison is to contact businesses and gain a deeper understanding of their hiring needs, ensure they are fully aware of the hiring aids the state offers, grow the dialogue between employers and training initiatives in the state, and do so in a way that allows the Board to increase its focus on what creates success (or a lack of success) in the training efforts it supports.

Such a focus is always important, but especially now, as Delaware and Governor John Carney move to allocate $50 million of ARPA funding for workforce development across the state. Couple this with the above job seeker deficit and the Delaware Prosperity Partnership’s success in attracting employers and jobs to the state, and the need is obvious for innovative systems that ensure training efforts deliver on the requirements that hiring businesses need.

It is about earning the best return on investment, and as Malfitano and the Board’s executive director, Joanna Staib, often point out, the best measure of return on investment is a job at the end of the process.