As our economy continues to recover, we still face a number of headwinds that are slowing the pace of growth.

Inflation and rising costs of living are straining household budgets at the same time employers are struggling to find candidates for good-paying, quality jobs that would help lift people into the middle class.

We need to connect more people to the skills and credentials needed to fuel our vital industries, including health care, manufacturing, transportation, construction, and finance. Our partners in the community college system, apprenticeship programs, and other institutions of higher education offer instructional programs aligned with business needs, but many workers struggle to access training to advance into new careers while balancing the needs of their families.

This challenging environment requires new approaches that will promote regional economic and workforce development and support people joining the labor force and filling the gaps in our labor market. Investments are essential to assist people exiting poverty and to prevent those who are struggling from falling deeper into financial hardship. Businesses also require assistance to better articulate their changing skill needs and understand the new demographic landscape to attract, retain, and develop employees.

Our unemployment rate hovers around record low levels, and Spokane has been fortunate to have experienced net population growth during the last few years, while other metros around the nation have seen their populations contract. However, other significant factors are contributing to a decline in available workforce.

Men aren’t returning to work at the same rate as women—especially those without higher educational attainment levels—even though the lack of availability of childcare is disproportionately impacting the numbers of women who can readily reenter the labor market, as they bear the brunt of providing care for younger children.

We are also seeing waves of retirements occurring as baby boomers are leaving the labor force at a higher rate than young adults are turning 18 and starting their careers. Compounding these impacts, younger workers don’t have the same level of skills to step into vacant management roles. We need to think and invest strategically in how we upskill existing workers to move up the ladder and at the same time welcome younger workers into jobs and provide them with the training, mentoring, and support they need to advance on their career trajectories.

Many workers from underserved communities—including black, indigenous, people of color, individuals with disabilities, veterans, those involved in the justice-system, and refugees and immigrants, to name but a few—still aren’t able to connect effectively to quality career pathways and good-paying jobs with benefits that create a stable foundation for themselves and their families.

At this inflection point in the arc of our economic recovery, our businesses can’t afford to leave any workers behind and not capitalize on the breadth and depth of what every resident can bring to grow and sustain our regional economy.

How do we chart a course that ensures businesses have the talent needed to flourish and people thrive in meaningful careers? Fortunately, we have a strong and responsive workforce system serving everyone in our state. Washington’s 12 local workforce development boards operate in every corner of the state, serving almost 80,000 job seekers annually and helping nearly 20,000 businesses fill vacant positions.

The Spokane Workforce Council and our 11 counterparts provide solutions to the current workforce challenges we each face—and the infrastructure to meet new ones—in this dynamic, post-pandemic landscape. But additional investments are needed to build capacity and maintain the momentum of our economic recovery.

This year, working with our partners in the governor’s office, the state Workforce Training and Education Coordinating Board, and the state Employment Security Department, our coalition is championing a strategic and flexible state investment that allows local boards to meet our diverse populations of job seekers where they are and engage with a broader array of employers to help them meet their workforce needs and retain or upskill their current employees.

The model for this investment is the successful Economic Security for All program, which the Spokane Workforce Council launched in 2019, and brings together partners in each local workforce system to leverage all available resources and deliver effective career services that support our regional talent development goals. Since July of last year, this program has served over 2,000 individuals statewide, helping them access training and household stabilization resources on their way to good jobs and long-term careers.

Expanding this investment will bring local solutions directly to job seekers and businesses, providing funding to aid in poverty prevention, increase investment in skills-based training, intensify the focus on, and outreach to, at-risk and underserved populations, support earn-and-learn opportunities, and enhance employer engagement to help them grow their workforce.

Funding this request at the $13.8 million level will provide the necessary boost to crucial services that help businesses navigate and connect with skilled workers and move Washingtonians into good jobs with family-sustaining wages and support them as they move to full financial independence.

By investing in this proven local workforce solution, our state will continue to improve access to economic opportunity for all. We hope you’ll join us in this landmark effort by local boards to strengthen our workforce system and serve even more residents and businesses that make for a resilient economy and vibrant communities.