The Spokane Area Workforce Development Council, which previously concentrated on job-placement services, says its shifting its focus to help employers evaluate and fill their work force needs in the midst of a tight labor market here.


The council, which is operated jointly by the city of Spokane and Spokane County, disburses and administers federal funds to agencies that provide job-related services here, such as Goodwill Industries of the Inland Northwest, Educational Service District 101, Career Path Services, and WorkSource Spokane. Those services provide education and training programs for youths and adults, do consulting work for businesses, and gather labor market data for employers and others to use, says Mark Mattke, work-force strategy and planning director at Workforce Development.


For instance, WorkSource Spokanes business solutions team helps employers find workers, he says. Goodwill Industries operates a Planning Action for Youth Success Program that supplies job and professional-skills training.


Work-force development efforts are an essential part of a healthy economy because businesses grow more readily when they have access to skilled employees, Mattke asserts. In addition, large pools of trained available workers are attractive to companies that are considering relocating to or opening an office or operation in an area, he says.


In the past, the Workforce Development Council has tried to boost the economy here by focusing on providing money to programs that help people prepare for and find jobs, he says. Although it still finances programs for disadvantaged adults and youths on welfare and dislocated workers who need new skills to find different jobs, it has decided that concentrating more of its efforts on helping businesses train and find workers would achieve its overall goal better, he says.


The economy is driven by demand for workers, Mattke says. Businesses are what create new and better jobs, and they need to be supported so they can hire more employees and pay better wages.


The Spokane Workforce Development Council is located in a 1,250-square-foot space on the sixth floor of the City Hall building downtown, and has four employees, Mattke says.


In addition to promoting programs that help employers recruit and train workers, the council also is funding programs to help startup businesses obtain business licenses, understand tax laws, and evaluate statistics about the current labor market, he says.


ISR Inc., the Liberty Lake-based maker of cooling technologies for electrical components, is one company here that has been taking advantage of business-consulting services funded by Workforce Development, he says. Community Colleges of Spokane, through money provided by the council, is working with ISR to teach its employees new skills so they can become more valuable to the company, he says.


Other business clients include Sacred Heart Medical Center, Deaconess Medical Center, Triumph Composite Systems Inc., and Goodrich Corp., he says. Mattke estimates that about 1,000 businesses here are working with agencies that have received funding from the Workforce Development Council.


Although the council now is directing more of its efforts toward employers, its continuing to provide and promote training programs for job seekers, he says.


For example, its Youth Council, which includes members of the community and its board, encourages business leaders to visit schools, talk about what they do, and tell students about the value of higher education, Mattke says. It also promotes internships, summer employment, and job shadowing opportunities for students, and provides information for parents about the importance of encouraging their children to attend college.


Such efforts are vital to work-force development here, because Spokane County currently has a high-school dropout rate of 30 percent, he says. Meanwhile, an estimated 60 percent of jobs in the U.S. require at least a two-year college degree, he says. Introducing youths to opportunities here can help persuade them to stay and work, rather than move elsewhere, he says.


For adults, the council collaborates with schools and career services-related organizations to help qualified unemployed workers establish a career path, get the education they need for that career, and find a job, Mattke says. It also works with agencies that help employed people acquire new skills or obtain more education, which can be important in keeping a job or being promoted to a higher-paying position, he says.


As evidence of a tightening labor market here, nonagricultural wage and salary employment in the Spokane area rose to 213,100 in June, an increase of 5,800 jobs from the June 2005 level, according to preliminary state figures. Preliminary results from another state survey put the unemployment rate at 5.2 percent, down from 5.6 percent in the year-earlier month.


Low unemployment rates pose different challenges for the council than it faced several years ago, Mattke says. When the nation was in an economic downturn after the terrorist attacks of 2001 and the dot-com bust, the council was busy funding programs that retrained people who were unemployed and trying to change professions. Now, its working the other side of the ledger, trying to find out which industries need workers the most as Spokanes economy expands, he says. Those industries currently include health care, manufacturing, construction, and education, he says.


We scan the business climate to find out which businesses are driving economic development here, Mattke says. Then we target our dollars in those clusters.


The council particularly is focusing on promoting skilled trades, such as plumbing, carpentry, and electrical work, and professions such as engineering, he says. The majority of workers in those fields are nearing retirement age, and there arent enough people to replace them, he says.


Another challenge the council is facing, in part because of the low unemployment rate here, is declining federal funding, Mattke says.


Each year the U.S. Department of Labor allocates Federal Workforce Investment Act funds to Washington state. Legislators then assign money to 12 work-force areas in the state based on a formula that factors in unemployment figures and available jobs, he says.


This year, the council received $4.8 million in federal funds, compared with $5.5 million last year and $5.6 million in 2004, he says. Spokane Countys share of federal funds has been lower lately partly because of its low unemployment rates.


Although the economy has been heating up both here and nationwide, there still are people who stand to gain from employment services, he says.


The economy is improving, but thats not to say we dont have a need to train folks who are already working, or people who dont have jobs, Mattke says.


To try to augment its federal funding, Workforce Development is considering becoming a nonprofit organization so that it can hold fundraisers, which it cant do under its current designation as a government agency, he says. Nonprofit status also would allow it to be more flexible with the funds it receives, he says. Six of such councils in Washington state have become nonprofits in recent years.


Contact Emily Brandler at (509) 344-1265 or via e-mail at emilyb@spokanejournal.com.