Workforce Intermediary Partnerships: Key to Success in High-Performing Labor Markets

The purpose of this report is to examine the historical development and policy evolution of workforce intermediaries, a community-based model of education, job training and economic development practices that has become commonplace in local and regional labor markets. Workforce intermediaries broker the relationship between workers and employers, reducing uncertainty in the labor exchange process and managing transaction costs. They are diverse in their organizational sponsors, spanning non-profit worker centers and community colleges, for example, to chambers of commerce and joint union-employer partnerships. The report is based on a comprehensive online search of books, authoritative policy reports, and academic journals for writings on workforce intermediaries published between 1989 and 2021. It synthesizes the findings of about 170 publications. The features of modern intermediaries have been forged in successive versions of federal workforce legislation that emphasized "second-chance" services to disadvantaged persons and "low-skilled workers" in low-income communities. Scholars found that this focus on these constituencies tended to stigmatize participants, lessening their attractiveness to employers. This model has evolved to serve the educational, job training and job search needs of a broad range of participants. The report documents the emergence of high-performing workforce intermediaries that have adapted to changing conditions by becoming closely attuned to local community members and industry, both employers and unions, as partners in developing training curriculum, designing supportive services, and serving the precise needs of employers in targeted industry sectors. These advanced intermediaries, termed Workforce Intermediary Community and Industry Organizations in the report, have become central actors in the structure of local labor markets. They strive to integrate workforce development, educational and economic development perspectives and services. The report argues that further advancement in this organizational field requires greater sustainability among these organizations and government resources to establish what the Jewish Vocational Services calls a "sophisticated learning community" (Rubin 2019, 17) to share knowledge, identify best practices, and nurture continued innovation. The report includes references to 120 publications.