Demand-driven training: Reimagining sector partnerships to build career pathways

A successful sports team relies on strong leadership and a clear vision to bring players together, build their skills and use game data to make improvements. To stay competitive, these teams regularly update their strategies and keys to success.

Similarly to a winning sports team, it’s time we rethink a workforce strategy that can effectively meet labor market demands – this strategy is sector strategies and partnerships.

For the past decade, the Employment and Training Administration has supported sector strategies that unite industry leaders and workers through partnerships with educators, employers, labor representatives and community organizations. These partnerships drive regional growth by supporting local industries and enhancing career opportunities.

The Workforce innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA) shifted away from an outdated model where individuals receive training for jobs that may or may not exist and recognized the importance of sector strategies as industry-driven approaches to identify and address industries’ workforce and talent development needs to make regions more competitive. 

In 2016, ETA developed a sector strategies framework to guide the creation of impactful sector partnerships. However, since its release in 2016, our knowledge of what successful sector partnerships has expanded through research and practice. We are now releasing a new framework that reflects our expanded knowledge and experience and include key elements like engaged partnerships, data-driven decisions, worker input and job quality. We’ve also updated the framework and added new resources to reflect these changes.

The new, updated framework represents the collective experience of practitioners who have succeeded with sector strategies and those working to improve their partnerships. It also comes after reviewing extensive research and literature. 

Whether you are new to sector strategies or have experience, you can enhance your approach using this updated framework. It is designed for both state and local use, offering flexibility at every level.

Join us in forming sector partnerships that develop the workforce of America. Together, we can unleash the full power of WIOA to connect people to good jobs and employers to skilled workers, creating pathways to economic mobility.  

Check out the new Sector Strategies Framework at WorkforceGPS. 

Manny Lamarre is the deputy assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Employment and Training Administration.