The University of Texas at Austin

Ray Marshall Center

for the Study of Human Resources

for the Study of Human Resources

American Graduate video explainer: HS students training to be EMTs upon graduation

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Looking for a career that can help others, Lauren entered the Pflugerville ISD Fire/EMT Academy, which trains high school students to become certified EMTs.  Now she’s a sophomore at Texas A&M Commerce in a pre-med course with hopes of becoming a nurse practitioner in the ER.

*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.

To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.

The Better Employment and Training Strategies (BETS) Task Force

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The Better Employment and Training Strategies Task Force, or BETS, is a group of more than 40 workforce experts formed in November 2020 by Prof. Stephen Crawford of the George Washington Institute of Public Policy, Stuart Andreason of the Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta, and Larry Good of Corporation for a Skilled Workforce to develop recommendations aimed at informing the incoming Biden-Harris administration and the 117th Congress on issues and policy options related to five central workgroups: unemployment insurance, workforce development, job quality, youth employment, and federal jobs initiatives. These five workgroups will provide critically needed input into workforce development policy and programmatic conversations around improving the country’s employment and training system.

Members include:
Steve Crawford (GW Institute of Public Policy, The George Washington University)
Stuart Andreason (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Center for Workforce and Economic Opportunity)
Larry Good (Corporation for a Skilled Workforce)
Burt Barnow (George Washington University)
Kisha Bird (CLASP)
Amanda Cage (National Fund for Workforce Solutions)
Mary Clagett (Jobs For the Future)
Maureen Conway (Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program)
Maria Flynn (Jobs For the Future)
Bob Jones (former Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration/Department of Labor)
Clair Minson (Sandra Grace Consulting)
Todd Greene (WorkRise, Urban Institute)
Annelies Goger (Brookings Institution)
James Haynes (OIC of America)
Chris King (Ray Marshall Center, University of Texas at Austin)
Andy Van Kleunen (National Skills Coalition)
Jeanine LaPrad (Corporation for a Skilled Workforce)
Ann Lichter (New America)
Mary Alice McCarthy (New America)
Sarah Miller (Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta)
Jane Oates (former Assistant Secretary, Employment and Training Administration/Department of Labor)
Brent Parton (New America)
Heath Prince (Ray Marshall Center, University of Texas at Austin)
Martha Ross (Brookings Institution)
Bob Sheets (GW Institute of Public Policy, The George Washington University)
Thomas Showalter (National Youth Employment Coalition)
Martin Simon (formerly National Governors Association)
Katie Spiker (National Skills Coalition)
Carl Van Horn (Heldrich Center for Workforce Development, Rutgers University)

Publications
-Op-ed: ‘Building Back Better’ Means Focusing on the Labor Force & Systems That Support Recovery, The Better Employment and Training Strategies Taskforce, RealClear Policy, January 22, 2021.
-Policy Brief: Building Back Better: A National Jobs Strategy, Mary Alice McCarthy, Carl Van Horn, and Michael Prebil, February 18, 2021.
-Policy Brief: Building a National Unemployment Insurance System, Stephen A. Wandner and Christoper King, February 24, 2021 (revised March 16, 2021).
-Policy Brief: Build Back Better: Creating Infrastructure and Emergency Community Service Jobs Programs, Carl Van Horn and Mary Alice McCarthy, March 3, 2021.
-Policy Brief: Modernizing and Investing in Workforce Development, Larry Good and Earl Buford, March 22, 2021.
-Policy Brief: To Build Back Better, Job Quality Is the Key Maureen Conway, Jeannine LaPrad, Amanda Cage, and Sarah Miller, April 14, 2021.

American Graduate video explainer: Getting Certified for Construction While in High School

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Jorge is a senior at Crockett High School in Austin, Texas. As a freshman he was introduced to a Career & Technical Education (CTE) program that will allow him to graduate high school with the knowledge and skills to start an entry level job in construction. Right now, he has his eye on trade school and concrete, and his variety of interests and strong work ethic will ensure he finds success in his chosen field.

*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.

To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.

America’s Job Center of California Evalutation

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Principal Investigator: Heath J. Prince, PhD
Sponsor: Corporation for a Skilled Workforce
Project Duration: June 2020 – December 2021
Description: With assistance from the California Workforce Association (CWA), the Corporation for a Skilled Workforce (CSW) and the Ray Marshall Center (RMC) of the University of Texas are partnering to evaluate the effectiveness of American Job Centers of California (AJCC) system using a mixed-methods and multi-part research design to achieve the objectives below:

– To understand how the four different models of service delivery in use in California affect a) overall access to services and, more importantly, b) the mix of services provided to the client population served.

– To understand how investment decisions pertaining to AJCC infrastructure, staffing levels, and number of locations affect a) overall access to services and, more importantly b) the mix of services provided to the client population served.

– To understand whether there is any relationship between participant program outcomes and the mix of services provided to the client population served. Do some models of service delivery and some types of investment decisions pertaining to AJCCs appear to be systematically related to participant program outcomes?

 
Reports Available:

American Graduate video explainer: The Child Care Dilemma

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The pandemic has revealed the importance of child care for a strong economy, especially for working mothers.  Yet the majority of those employed in the industry don’t earn a living wage, forcing them to depend on public income support.  Those who love the profession and realize its importance have to make hard economic decisions just to stay afloat.

*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.

To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.

RMC’s Chris King co-authors Medium article about workforce policy post-COVID-19

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RMC’s Senior Research Scientist Dr. Chris King and Corporation for a Skilled Workforce‘s President and CEO Larry Good co-authored an article “Rethinking Workforce Policy During the COVID-19 Recovery” for Medium published on June 16, 2020.   The article focuses on missed opportunities pre-pandemic, preparations for the next crisis, and what future workforce policy should entail post-pandemic.  Chris is also CSWs Board Chair and has worked closely with them for many years.

 

American Graduate video explainer: Training nurses amid COVID-19

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Amid COVID-19 job losses, the demand for medical professionals in certain sectors remains high, and one local training program is lifting people out of lower-wage jobs and into these vital nursing positions.  Austin PBS’s Decibel spoke with Capital IDEA about how they’re working to help meet the nursing demand with training.

*The Ray Marshall Center is proud to be one of the local partners, joining Austin Community College, the Office of the Mayor of the City of Austin, Travis County Judge’s Office, and Workforce Solutions Capital Area in the grant.

To read more about the initiative and see updates, please visit the dedicated website.

RMC work featured in Aspen Institute’s recently launched Job Quality Tools Library

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The Aspen Institute Economic Opportunities Program recently launched the Job Quality Tools Library, a platform to support leaders to strengthen job quality in their own organizations, in the businesses they partner with, and across labor markets. The library offers tools, resources, and guidance to help a variety of organizations – including workforce development, worker advocacy, policy, investing and lending, economic development, and employers – engage in practical action to improve jobs.

In the library, you will find tools to support workers and businesses during and after the current crisis, including a special section of resources focused on urgent responses to COVID-19. You will also find our contribution “Partnering for Equity: How Sector Partnerships are Tackling Workforce Disparities” in the Equity and Inclusion tool featured in Section 4: Strengthening Practices to Improve Job Quality. As we come together to focus on relief in the short-term and building a more inclusive economy in the long-term, tools and approaches to foster high-quality, economy-boosting jobs are more critical than ever.

You can learn more and visit the library here.

RMC’s Chris King featured in UT News article discussing impact of COVID-19

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RMC’s Senior Research Scientist Dr. Chris King was interviewed by UT News‘s Avrel Seale on 4/21/20 exploring COVID-19’s impact on unemployment, what the economy will look like going forward, and what reform opportunities the pandemic has exposed.  You can read the article here.

HPOG Secondary Data Analysis

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Principal Investigator: Christopher T. King, PhD
Sponsor: Department of Health and Human Services, Administration for Children and Families, Office of Planning, Research, and Evaluation
Project Duration: December 2019 – December 2021
Description: The Ray Marshall Center will evaluate the variation in program characteristics – including program components, implementation features, local context, and participant traits – to explore which characteristics are associated with Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA) program participant’s healthcare profession career pathway outcomes.  This research will address the following questions:

  • What program characteristics, implementation features, local context, and participant traits are associated with participant completion of nursing assistant training?
  • What program characteristics, implementation features, local context, and participant traits are associated with participant obtainment of CNA licensure?
  • What program characteristics, implementation features, local context, and participant traits are associated with CNA program completer’s achievement of advanced CNA training?
  • What program characteristics, implementation features, local context, and participant traits are associated with CNA program completer’s achievement of additional training in the healthcare profession?

Similar to the previous research on the impact of HPOG program characteristics on educational achievement (Peck et al., 2018 and Walton et al., 2019), this research expects to identify supports such as childcare and transportation assistance, tuition, and other financial assistance, as well as employment supports and emergency assistance associated with CNA participant achievements along a career pathway.

Practitioners, policymakers, funders, and researchers may be interested in which combination of program components, implementation strategies, participant characteristics, and local context may impact a CNA participant to pursue the next step along a healthcare profession career pathway.  Insights from this research can inform future program design and implementation within the broader field of entry level healthcare provider workforce development.

Reports Available:

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