The top-down approach to adult learning is proving cumbersome, costly, and confusing. Those are the key takeaways from an analysis by Harvard University’s Project on Workforce examining the federal government’s primary labor force training system. The system, established under the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), was designed to serve jobseekers by helping them gain access to over seven thousand different job-focused training providers through a government voucher system. While the intention of helping support low-income jobseekers is sound, the model is falling short of expectations. Learners need a different path – one built from the bottom-up and driven by their aptitudes and skills.
The analysis from Harvard includes some eye-popping findings. The government voucher model severely limits who can take advantage of the program due to a burdensome and bureaucratic eligibility process: applicants must produce a mountain of information and visit a career center to meet with a counselor who certifies their eligibility. Individuals don’t have the power to opt in. Instead, government regulations dictate who receives opportunity. Making matters worse, the regulations the program operates under include very narrow definitions of which unemployed workers are eligible. Instead of pathways, the system creates regulatory roadblocks for adult learners. It also creates headaches for the colleges and state officials attempting to implement the program.
For those lucky enough to receive a voucher, the system is not user-friendly or tailored to provide localized education options. In fact, WIOA doesn’t promote the most successful upskilling program models, forcing jobseekers to navigate an overwhelmingly large offering of training providers with nary any information about program efficacy.
But the most damning proof of failure can be found in the pocketbooks of those who used the system. Forty percent of participants in the government program still earn less than $25,000 per year. It’s not leading to gainful employment. So, what did a $500 million annual taxpayer investment in a top-down approach get us?
Contrast these results with the striking successes of the SkillUp Coalition, a curator of and connector to upskilling nonprofits started at the height of the pandemic. In 2020, as millions of Americans lost jobs or faced furloughs, entrepreneurs Josh Jarret, Steve Lee, and the team at SkillUp built an online career services platform and network designed to connect displaced workers to training and employment opportunities.
Unlike a limiting voucher system, SkillUp’s free platform allows jobseekers to identify aptitudes and skills they already have, as they build new ones suited for in-demand job sectors. The system empowers workers to input their experience and interests as they are then matched with short-term, affordable, and skill-based training opportunities and fast-growing industries present in their local communities. By design, the platform curates the most effective training models, simplifying and streamlining the experience for jobseekers.
The results have been impressive. Since its launch, SkillUp has supported more than one million adult learners without a degree and who make less than $40,000 a year. They’ve done it through scholarships, career advancement counseling, and access to upskilling providers and jobs. So far, SkillUp has connected 35,000 workers to in-demand jobs and those hired are making an average of $10,000 more in earnings. Overall, these SkillUp users will experience an estimated collective wage increase of more than $1 billion during their careers.
But SkillUp represents much more than bigger paychecks – it represents real stories of individuals improving their lives. Brianna was a custodian looking for an opportunity. SkillUp provided a stipend through the SkillUp Together Fund for her to take IT courses and she began her new career the day after graduating. There are thousands more stories like Brianna’s.
SkillUp is flourishing because it was built by people close to the problem it was designed to address. That team saw a real need and built a coalition of workers, employers, trainers, and funders, as well as a platform that could connect them. The experience they built respects the dignity of each individual learner by empowering them to take advantage of the unique experiences and skills that they have already cultivated, while giving them access to new educational opportunities to help them find meaningful purpose in their careers.
Policy makers should take a hard look at the contrast between the expanding success of SkillUp and the limiting nature of the government’s voucher program. What they will find is the model having more impact is the one that starts from the bottom-up.
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