Patchwork Intermediation: Challenges and Opportunities for Regionally Coordinated Workforce Development

Abstract

Workforce intermediation has emerged as a potential tool for guiding labor market adjustment. This article presents an empirical test of workforce intermediation through a study of community colleges in North Carolina. It demonstrates the positive contribution of intermediary colleges in increasing access to jobs in the pharmaceutical and bioprocessing industries. It also considers the limits of this strategy when adopted by only a subset of colleges within a larger labor market region and, specifically, the challenges this creates for forging strong relationships with employers outside the jurisdictional boundaries of individual colleges. The authors conclude by considering policy options for extending the reach of intermediation across the regional labor market through greater intercollege coordination. The authors argue that coordination efforts in North Carolina, although still in their infancy, hold considerable promise for other college systems that are looking to position themselves as institutional leaders in intermediation.

Breaking the Waves: Innovating at the Intersections of Economic Development

“…In this regard, the Biotech Center's early support for industrial recruitment aligned most closely with the state government's ongoing efforts to lure prominent multinationals to keep scientific and engineering talent in North Carolina (Link, 1995). Over time, however, the Biotech Center has expanded its industrial recruitment efforts to extend employment opportunities to a more diverse set of North Carolina residents, including less educated job seekers displaced from traditional manufacturing industries, like textiles and furniture (Lowe, 2007;Lowe, Goldstein, & Donegan, 2011).…”

First Source Hiring: An Essential Tool for Linking the Poor to Employment or a “Dead Letter” Progressive Policy?

“…We posit the Five Rs can also be a framework for evaluating similar programs that link the poor with workforce opportunities. This is especially important as equity advocates consider approaches on a regional scale (e.g., Benner and Pastor 2015;Doussard 2015;Dreier, Mollenkopf, and Swanstrom 2014), and because institutional capacity is crucial for the emerging trend of workforce intermediation (Clark 2014a;Lowe et al 2011). In particular, these cases of FSH may be useful for assessing CBAs and PLAs, where there is a danger that the benefits negotiated by ephemeral community coalitions may not lead to meaningful gains in hiring over the long term (Marantz 2015).…”

“…We examine the body of FSH evaluation literature as an indicator of problems, obstacles, opportunities, and best practices for similar hiring strategies associated with workforce intermediation (Clark 2014a), which has been criticized in terms of a comprehensive solution (Fitzgerald 2006;Lowe, Goldstein, and Donegan 2011), and for other policies promoting place-based hiring approaches.…”

“…To secure benefits from sector-specific development strategies, FSH programs need to have strong links with economic development policy and the business community (Lowe 2007;Lowe, Goldstein, and Donegan 2011). Moreover, to find acceptance with employers, FSH must be able to provide timely response to the needs of key economic sectors (e.g., construction, hospitality, technology).…”

Both sides now: Toward the dual customer approach under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act in the United States

“…This integration best often occurs at community colleges to develop courses and certifications that meet these skill gap challenges. But the partnership I suggest here requires engagement of a consortium model of local employers in the same industry to articulate this common core of skill standards as the job seeker will need portable and transferable qualifications, not just a litany of demonstrable and marketable skills, to remain competitive in the local labor market (Atkinson, 1998; Lowe et al., 2011).…”