New research from the Project on Workforce and the National Governors Association highlights how Governors are leveraging new industrial policy opportunities to strengthen workforce development and meet labor market needs.
By: Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, Nathalie Gazzaneo, Ariel Higuchi, Jeffery Jen, Jack Porter, and Malena Dailey
As the federal government allocates trillions of dollars toward new industrial policies, states face a significant challenge: they will only succeed in realizing the economic potential of new investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing if they have the skilled workforce to meet growing industry demands.
Governors are in a unique position to identify, prioritize, and align workforce development investments across agencies and ensure that the new wave of industrial policies are implemented successfully. Through interviews with Governors’ workforce development policy advisors in sixteen states, we explored how Governors are embracing this charge. We investigated how they are supporting workforce development related to new industrial policies and the challenges they are facing.
We identified four common obstacles that Governors face to building the infrastructure, energy, and semiconductor workforce under IIJA, CHIPS, and IRA. Those obstacles include the lack of clarity around the role of the public workforce system, the complexity of coordinating funds across stakeholders, a lack of public sector capacity to support workforce development, and the difficulties of planning workforce development programs under uncertain timelines.
In several cases, Governors are undertaking strategic approaches to tackle these challenges in partnership with state agencies, industries, and regions.
About our Governors & State Workforce Systems Project
The Project on Workforce is conducting a joint research project with the National Governors Association to investigate how Governors are leading their state workforce systems to build more inclusive and prosperous economies.
About the Project on Workforce at Harvard
The Project on Workforce is an interdisciplinary, collaborative project between the Harvard Kennedy School’s Malcolm Wiener Center for Social Policy, the Harvard Business School Managing the Future of Work Project, and the Harvard Graduate School of Education. The Project produces and catalyzes basic and applied research at the intersection of education and labor markets for leaders in business, education, and policy. The Project’s research aims to help shape a postsecondary system of the future that creates more and better pathways to economic mobility and forges smoother transitions between education and careers. Learn more at www.pw.hks.harvard.edu.
About the National Governors Association
Founded in 1908, NGA is the premier resource for not only Governors but also for their cabinet members, state policy experts, the U.S. Congress, and private enterprise. NGA offers an array of services to help collaboratively tell the states’ story. Thanks to decades of broad expertise, NGA teams are able to work side-by-side with state leaders to identify challenges, help Governors stay ahead of the curve and offer solutions before challenges become problems.
Please direct inquiries to: Kerry McKittrick (kerry_mckittrick@gse.harvard.edu)
Suggested Citation: Joseph B. Fuller, Kerry McKittrick, et al. (October 2024). Workforce Strategies for New Industrial Policies: Governors’ Emerging Solutions. Published by the Harvard Kennedy School.