0 Georgia Work Ready Debra Lyons, Director Governor’s Office of Workforce Development August 19, 2010

Here is the story across the country--  Unemployment is holding steady at 9.5%  State revenues continue to be challenging  Economic growth is sluggish  And – job, jobs, jobs is what people want! 1

Here is the story in Georgia --  Unemployment has declined from its high of 10.5% to 10.0%  State revenues continue to be challenging  Economic growth is happening but difficult to keep pace with layoffs  And – job, jobs, jobs is what people want! 2

What are states doing?  Every state has some type of workforce development strategy –Often they are targeted –Healthcare –Green economy –Not often connected –All have challenges ensuring they produce a skilled workforce –And many are implementing some innovative strategies 3

So, what is Georgia doing? 4

5 Georgia Work Ready is the implementation of the Governor’s vision “We need a system that links workforce development and education together and aligns to the economic needs of the state, its regions and local communities” - Governor Sonny Perdue Feb. 20, 2006

6 Georgia Work Ready  Key elements: –Work Ready Certificate –Work Ready job profiling –Certified Work Ready Communities –Work Ready Regions TM

But – what else is Georgia Work Ready?  Be Work Ready  Get Work Ready Month  Hire Work Ready  Certified Work Ready facilities 7

But what are we really doing?  Being leaders  Being strategic  Being the common thread  Being accountable  Being supportive  Being good stewards of taxpayers money 8

Elements of Work Ready  Work Ready Certificate is powered by ACT WorkKeys® National Career Readiness Certificate –Target all elements of workforce –Current and Emerging  Work Ready job profiles –Target medium to large companies –New hires and current workers 9

Elements of Work Ready  Certified Work Ready Communities –County goals of residents earning Work Ready Certificates and increasing HSGR  Work Ready Regions Regional industry clusters with clear goals –Industry network of like minded companies –Improve regional Work Ready Certificate levels –Counties attain Certified Work Ready Community status –Integrated career pathways for industry identified critical jobs 10

Elements of Work Ready  Be Work Ready –Unemployed earn Work Ready Certificates and improve levels  Get Work Ready Month –High school seniors focus on earning Work Ready Certificates 11

12 Georgia Work Ready Certificate  Three assessments –Applied mathematics –Reading for information –Locating information  Work Habits assessment only on-line  Issue Certificate based on lowest level earned 3s and above Bronze 4s and above Silver 5s and above Gold WorkKeys ScoresCertificate 6s and above Platinum

13 Work Ready Skills gap training – Targets for instruction Gap analysis shows how the person performed relative to the “bar.” Training is available to close any gap. Reflects the skills required according to the job profile Reflects the job seeker’s certification level

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Why Georgia Work Ready and High School seniors?  Every child to graduate both college and work ready  Level 5 in AM and RI correlated to be indicator of ‘college ready without remediation’ [Ready for College, Ready for Work, Same or Different?, ACT, 2006]  Skills gap training software is used by high schools to: –Prepare for Work Ready assessments –Improve graduation test results 15

Career Academy skills gap project  Three career academies participating –One required skills gap training during school hours –Two let students remediate on their own –Incentivized improving results  School One [in school skills gap training] – 50% of students improved Certificate level  School Two, Three [skills gap training on own time] – –29% and 32% improvement in Certificate level 16

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Elements of Work Ready  Hire Work Ready –Small business use Work Ready for hiring and training new employees  Certified Work Ready facilities –Companies develop and implement a plan to develop staff using WRC, job profiles and ‘on the job’ training 18

GWR 2010 Challenge In 2010 Georgia Work Ready will invest five million dollars to produce 50,000 Work Ready Certified Georgians of which 10,000 will find jobs resulting in $265,000,000 in direct wages 19

Work Ready Certificate benefit statement A Georgia Work Ready Certificate benefits every Georgian beginning with high schools seniors by providing them valuable information on the level of their work readiness skills to be trained to do a specific job or help them make a career decision. It validates their basic computer skills through a computer based assessment and also validates their soft skills strengths through the Work Habits component. Lastly, it gives them confidence as they walk through the door for an interview or make their first or next career decision. 20

WHO is does strategic challenge matter?  Georgians  Georgia businesses  Georgia Chamber of Commerce  State Workforce Investment Board  Alliance of Education Agency Heads  Georgia state agencies –Technical College System of Georgia is service delivery provider  Local organizations – public and private 21

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23 Georgia Work Ready 2009 Scoreboard 12% of all NCRC!

24 Georgia Work Ready 2009 Scoreboard Work Ready Job Profiles through August 2010 StateNationalPercent % % % % Businesses listed on GWR Web site536 Businesses with one or more job profiles193

25 Certified Work Ready Communities In three years:   145 participating   56 fully Certified   HSGR 79.9%

26 Industry targeted:  Advanced Manufacturing  Aerospace  Bioscience  Energy  Entertainment  Logistics

Region Expended Work Ready Budget Remaining

East Central Energy

WRR Documented Career Pathway

What is next?  Strengthen the sustaining efforts for CWRC  Continue to build/grow sustained WRR career pathways  Increase unemployed basic computer skills and access to skills gap training  Find the right formula, incentives and metrics to drive improvement in WRC levels –High school students –Unemployed  No single ‘magic bullet’ –Employers recognizing, using –Students understanding value –Unemployed engaging in skills gap training 34

35 What motivates improving WRC levels? BWR Packets Delivered BWR Improved WRC levels BWR Improved WRC levels last month Overall WRC Improved WRC levels last month

36 Transformational strategy