Let’s Build What Works: Transforming Workforce Training and Modernizing the Workforce Development System

The future of workforce development isn't just about filling jobs—it's about building an ecosystem that actually works for the people it's meant to serve.

At H-CAP, we've learned that when you put workers at the center of program design, everything else falls into place. The programs become more durable, more sustainable, and more adaptable to real-world challenges. But let's be clear: centering workers doesn't mean leaving employers out of the equation. It means starting with what workers actually need—comprehensive support, clear pathways, and programs designed around their lived experiences—and building from there.

This approach isn't just more strategic; it's more effective. When workforce development truly serves workers, it serves everyone.

We believe that the program components that make our workforce development models unique and effective, are the keys to unlocking the potential of workforce development training programs writ large and transforming the workforce development ecosystem. 

Alongside employers and workers, H-CAP has supported the growth of labor-management training partnerships as a model workforce approach for centering workers and balancing employer interests in the design, development, implementation, and evaluation of workforce training models. 

We believe our models and the components that anchor them can attract and cultivate a greater number of workers and employers who support a widely available public workforce development ecosystem. 

Why? Because labor/management training partnerships deliver results for both workers and employers. 

Background

Even as the demographics of our workforce have changed, the workforce development system has not adapted its training programs to effectively and equitably meet the needs of all workers and employers. 

When we talk with workers, they tell us that they worry that workforce development initiatives won’t help them find and get good jobs. Workers want good jobs and policies to achieve them, but they tell us that access to job training is inadequate.

Recent research indicates that very few women living on low incomes get access to public workforce training programs. Research also indicates that women living on very low incomes experience nominal wage growth after participating in current workforce programs. Among men, data indicate that workforce programs struggle to address persistent wage gaps. A review of 75,000 Eligible Training Provider (ETP)  programs in the United States shows that public workforce development training dollars do not promote job quality. 

A Path Forward 

It’s been over twenty years since the workforce development system saw any significant policy shifts. Modernizing the workforce development ecosystem for today’s workers must start with what do workers need and want from workforce development training programs?

At the heart of our labor/management training programs are a set of worker-centered operating principles. It’s these principles that make our training models effective. And it's these principles that we think should bind every workforce development training program: 

• Support the holistic needs of workers and lead with equity. Our program models ensure that workers have what they need to succeed in training from the start. This means identifying the necessary support for workers to thrive. From child care to bus passes and work-appropriate clothing, we make sure that barriers to access and success in our programs are mitigated.  

• Support jobseekers by designing programs that offer real work, on-the-job experience and learning, and compensation. Particularly for adult workers, learning on-the-job is necessary for honing skill sets, ongoing development, and growth. Our program models create the conditions by which workers are learning on the job. Also, most adult workers and learners cannot afford to engage in training without being paid. Our models ensure that workers are paid while they are working and learning in real time. 

• Align workforce training with real, quality, jobs. We set workers up for success on day one of our training programs. Our programs ensure that there is a quality job waiting at the end of training. Workers are prepared to succeed, and employers understand the expectation that our workforce training is intended to transition to quality jobs. 

• Hold training programs accountable to metrics that matter. It’s not enough to simply train workers - we need to hold ourselves and our training programs accountable to outcome and impact measurements that matter for workers. This means collecting and interpreting data that is disaggregated based on a number of factors, and using data as a continuous improvement tool to refine our programs over time. 

• Co-build training programs with workers and employers. Our training models balance worker interests and employer needs. This means we’re experts at listening to what employers need and want, building training programs and curricula alongside them, and holding employers accountable to creating the conditions by which our trainees are supported and can thrive. 

Building For The Future 

We are leading the way to ensure that the needs of workers and employers are met. 

Nationally, our labor management training partnerships span 16 states plus Washington, DC, including more than 1,000 employers and 700,000 workers across every setting of healthcare – from home care, to skilled nursing facilities, to clinics and hospitals. In total, we and our partners interact with tens of thousands of healthcare workers every year. 

The principles that we offer here are essential to our model’s success. Aligning our programs in this way also ensures that workers are actively recruiting new workers into the health care sector – addressing shortages in an evolving and necessary field. 

The current public workforce system leaves far too many people behind. And, today, the public workforce development ecosystem is under attack like never before. It is critically important to work together to advance a transformative vision of a workforce ecosystem—one that puts workers at the center and sees them holistically.

And the building of a transformative future for the workforce development system begins today. 

Anchoring the workforce ecosystem in the needs of workers, designing training models that align with the components that we elevate here, and focusing on accessibility, equity, and effectiveness of the system are the building blocks for a sustainable and durable public workforce system. 

Let’s build what’s next.