Harrisburg, PA: Today, Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro presented his 2023 budget with a significant focus on workforce development. Carrie Amann, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association, made the following statement.
“Today, Governor Josh Shapiro outlined his vision for building the nation’s strongest workforce in Pennsylvania. We appreciate the amount of focus on workforce development and the workforce system. Workforce development will be at the forefront of the Administration’s priorities.
The governor’s plan to invest more money in apprenticeships will expand how Pennsylvanians of all ages can enter the skilled labor market. Similarly, increasing funding for career and technical education will provide Pennsylvanians with an essential pathway to start and advance in high-paying, high-quality jobs and give our businesses access to a strong and talented workforce.
Shapiro also called on establishing an unemployment compensation system that works for Pennsylvanians – an effort that requires partnership with Pennsylvania’s local workforce development boards. Our local workforce development boards are working with Pennsylvanians to achieve success; our input is valuable in the Governor’s efforts to ‘fix the mess.’
In addition to new investments and focus on workforce development, we also need to make data and information available to stakeholders to make the system more responsive to the needs of workers, employers, and job seekers. This session we are focusing on legislation that will #FreetheData and reduce the extreme lag in data released by the commonwealth. The inability of stakeholders to get timely data inhibits our ability to react to the current workforce needs. We should make employment and workforce data available to workforce agencies and stakeholders in real-time. We can actively improve our workforce development efforts and ensure we are implementing policies that positively impact and respond to real-world conditions.
We look forward to partnering with the Shapiro Administration as they work to improve our workforce development system for workers, employers, and job seekers.”
The Pennsylvania Workforce Development Association (PWDA) serves as the voice of the Pennsylvania workforce development system and a clearinghouse for workforce development information statewide. Known for Pennsylvania’s premier annual workforce development gathering every spring, we provide development and capacity building opportunities to workforce development professionals, local workforce development boards (WDBs), and other stakeholders while continuing proactive advocacy efforts on behalf of Pennsylvania’s workforce development system. Learn more by visiting https://www.pawork.org