Executive Summary: Strategic Plan for Program Year 2010
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago's are pleased to share an executive summary of their strategic plan for 2010. The executive summary articulates the WBMC's goals as well as priority activities for the coming year.
New Release: Report on the Metro Chicago Region's Economy
The Workforce Boards in partnership with the Metro Economic Growth Alliance of Chicago (MEGA) have issued the Overview of the Economy with a Focus on the Healthcare Industry report. This report updates economic indicator data for the region issued in a previous report and provides information specific to the region's healthcare industry.
New Release: Improving the Skills of Our Current Workforce
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago’s Improving the Skills of Our Current Workforce report examines how the use of public resources to support incumbent worker training can benefit workers, employers, and our economy; how resources available through the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 (WIA) have been utilized for this purpose in the metropolitan Chicago region; and why continued use of public resources for incumbent worker training is consistent with current goals and priorities of the Obama Administration.
ARRA Summer Youth Employment Program Report
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago have released the Metropolitan Chicago Region ARRA Summer Youth Employment Programs report. The report provides information on how funds made available through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009 (ARRA) were utilized to provide summer employment opportunities to more than 12,000 youth throughout the region.
WIA Reauthorization Recommendations
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago have submitted WIA reauthorization recommendations to the the U.S. Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. In a letter to Committee members, the eight Workforce Board Chairs who represent the regional consortium of Workforce Boards encourage the Committee to reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act of 1998 this year and provide specific recommendations regarding provisions of the Act that should be changed as well as those that are being scrutinized for change but should remain as they are currently written.
WIA Reauthorization Recommendations
Middle-Skill Job Opportunities in the Metropolitan Chicago Region
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago have issued the Middle-Skills Job Opportunities in the Metropolitan Chicago Region report which provides information on opportunities in middle-skill jobs in the metropolitan Chicago region. Middle-skill jobs are defined as those jobs that require some training and/or education beyond high school but less than a bachelor’s degree. The report provides information specific to the region’s middle-skill job opportunities, educational/training requirements, and anticipated earnings. This report builds on information presented in America’s Forgotten Middle-Skill Jobs which examines issues related to the future demand for a middle-skilled labor force.
Workforce Development Policy Recommendations
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago (WBMC) and Metro Economic Growth Alliance of Chicago (MEGA) have issued a paper summarizing their views relative to a national workforce development policy. As organizations that are committed to advancing the economic vitality of the metropolitan Chicago region and that recognize the importance of a quality workforce to this endeavor, the WBMC and MEGA are uniquely qualified to provide policy recommendations on high priority workforce development issues.
Finance and Insurance Career Pathways
The Workforce Boards of Metropolitan Chicago in partnership with the Chicagoland Chamber of Commerce, Illinois Bankers Association, Illinois State Association of Health Underwriters, Illinois League of Financial Institutions, and the Illinois Mortgage Bankers Association have released the Finance and Insurance Career Pathways publication. The report examines career paths and skills crosswalks within the finance and insurance sector, comprised of the banking, insurance and securities industries. Given the structural and cyclical changes impacting employment in this sector, particularly the banking and securities industries, information in this report is particularly useful to human resource personnel, career changers, and workforce development organizations responding to the skill needs of employers and individuals.
