Workforce Expansion Program Resources
WEP Overview and Resources
The Workforce Expansion Program is part of the Workforce Development Division at the Vermont Department of Labor. The Governor proposed the two-year plan, and the General Assembly passed it. The goal of this program is to help employers fill available jobs and to connect job seekers who face barriers to those opportunities. The program has launched and is leading a regional system to work toward four broad goals (Act 183 of 2022).
- Increase local labor participation rate.
- Decrease the number of open positions reported by local employers.
- Increase the wages of workers in new jobs.
- Promote information about local career pathways to workforce development partners.
The Workforce Expansion Program will promote employer practices that lead to good jobs and expand workforce opportunities to priority populations through sector partnerships between business and the community.
We will use 6 strategies to achieve this goal:
- Bring together regional same-sector employer partners and engage community organizations that serve priority populations.
- Develop and measure solutions that meet community needs.
- Focus on two sectors that can benefit from a sector partnership.
- Promote changes in employer practices to improve job quality.
- Support changes that make jobs more likely to meet worker needs, and to attract and sustain workers.
- Provide support to engage priority populations in the workforce.
Addison County Economic Development Corporation has identified three populations on which to focus on for this project.
Youth (ages 14-24)
People with Disabilities
and Adults without a high school diploma
The goal of this program is to meet the needs of employers, job seekers, and the community.
To accomplish this, we are using the following existing frameworks:
Bring together regional same-sector employer partners and engage community organizations that serve priority populations.
U.S Department of Commerce Job Quality Toolkit:
Promote changes in employer practices to improve job quality.
Support changes that make jobs more likely to meet worker needs, and to attract and sustain workers.
The Workforce Expansion Program aims to work where those needs overlap, using existing
frameworks of Sector Strategies, US Job Quality Toolkit, and Social Determinants of Work.
Engaged partnerships,
Data and informed decision making, and
Worker voice and job quality are at the center.
There are five elements or stages of a sector partnership:
Leadership, vision, and alignment: Bringing people together, talking about what the data says and then we get our vision aligned.
Resources and capacity: We are supporting with our workforce expansion program coordinators and the folks who are participating.
Industry engagement: Ensuring that your industries are at the table as these sector collaborations are being designed.
Sector based service delivery.
Assess the impact of the service and focus on continuous improvement.
Those barriers can include:
Job flexibility
Health care
Childcare
Transportation
Sustained Education
Home and Community Health
Broadband Access
Access to Justice
Based on the Social Determinants of Health, which recognize that our health is determined by more than just our individual choices (e.g. where we live can influence our access to healthy food, etc.), the Social Determinants of Work model recognizes that there are conditions outside of the individual that act as barriers to employment and economic mobility. In this project, we can identify the needs of potential workers and job seekers, and recognize that if their needs are better-met, that will lead to meeting employers’ needs -- by having a more supported and engaged workforce.