Labor Market and Industry Studies

The Better Employment and Training Strategies (BETS) Task Force

March 3, 2021 Leave a Comment

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.

America’s Job Center of California Evalutation

January 25, 2021 Leave a Comment

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:

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

June 24, 2020 Leave a Comment

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.

Belmont Forum Collaborative Research: Protection Resilience Efficiency and Prevention for Workers in Industrial Agriculture in Changing Climate

May 27, 2020 Leave a Comment

Principal Investigator:	Heath J. Prince, PhD
Sponsor:	National Science Foundation, Belmont Forum
Consortium Lead:	University of Gothenburg, Sweden
Project Duration:	January 2020 – December 2022
Description:	Chronic kidney disease of undetermined cause (CKDu), affects millions of workers in Latin America and Asia. Treatment is expensive, resulting in early death for those affected. Strenuous work in extreme heat without sufficient rest and hydration is considered a main driver. Industrial agriculture is the most affected, especially the sugarcane sector. Without prevention, this epidemic is likely to accelerate due to climate change. Increasing temperatures, coupled with decreasing precipitation in drier agricultural regions, is also causing pesticides and other toxins to concentrate at higher levels. As a response to this heat stress related disease, we have collectively implemented the Adelante Initiative, a workplace intervention with focus on adequate water, and rest in shade together with improved ergonomics, designed to prevent CKDu among workers at a sugarcane mill in Nicaragua. Due to the high prevalence of CKDu among sugarcane workers, we are concentrating our efforts in this sector; from there we will adapt the program to other geographies and industries. Our proposed project builds on current efforts and investigates the following: 1) the immediate and long-term impact the intervention has on workforce health (kidney health and heat related injuries) and productivity; 2) the economic and social impacts on those affected by the disease and whether our intervention aids in resilience, including mitigating migration pressures; 3) the economic burden on health systems treating CKDu; and 4) an analysis of public health policies to understand what policies, or absence of policy, have contributed to the disease while investigating what policies are required to effectively address it. The knowledge gained will create the groundwork to expand to other sugarcane mills and eventually other industries at-risk for heat stress and CKDu. As climate change means more extreme temperatures in already impacted regions, and the likelihood that regions further north and south of the equator will also be impacted by CKDu, it is essential a model to protect worker health and productivity is developed.
Reports Available:	A Measure of the Return on Ingenio San Antonio’s Investment in the Adelante Initiative: An Initial Estimate of Costs and Benefits of a Water, Rest, and Shade Intervention Author: Heath Prince, PhD Date: May 2020 Publication Type: Report, 7 pp. Prepared for the La Isla Network, with funding from the Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG) The Economic Impact of CKDnt on Households: Survey Findings from a Pilot Study of a Workers’ Association, Asochivida, and of the Communities of La Isla, Manhattan, and Candalaria, Nicaragua Author: Heath Prince, PhD Date: April 2020 Publication Type: Report, 13 pp. Prepared for the La Isla Network, with funding from the Deutsche Investitions und Entwicklungsgesellschaft (DEG)

RMC Director contributes to Time article on how COVID-19 will shape the Class of 2020

May 21, 2020 Leave a Comment

RMC Director and Research Scientist Dr. Heath Prince weighs in on the conversation about youth unemployment in a post-Virus America in an article by Charlotte Alter titled “How COVID-19 Will Shape the Class of 2020 For the Rest of Their Lives” published on May 21, 2020 in TIME. You can read the article here.

HPOG Secondary Data Analysis

April 22, 2020 Leave a Comment

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:

RMC Associate Director contributes to Statesman article exploring uncertain future for college-bound high school seniors

April 17, 2020 Leave a Comment

RMC Associate Director and Research Associate Dr. Greg Cumpton was interviewed for an article “Overwhelmed and facing an uncertain future, high school seniors prepare for college” by Lara Korte published on 4/17/20 in the Austin American-Statesmen. You can read the article here.

Chris King presents at ILO Centenary Workshop

May 21, 2019 Leave a Comment

Senior Research Scientist Dr. Chris King was invited to present research at the International Labour Organization‘s Centenary Workshop “Debating the Future of Work: Challenges and Prospects” in Sheffield, England on May 28-29, 2019. On the second day of the workshop, he will be joined by Jason Heyes (Centre for Decent Work, University of Sheffield, UK) and Ryuichi Yamakawa (Central Labour Relations Commission and University of Tokyo, Japan) to discuss Governance, Labour Administration, and Social Dialogue. Topics addressed in the presentation include:

Changes in the world have created new challenges for labour adminstration bodies, such as labour inspectorates and public employment services.
How have they responded to these challenges?
How might labour administration be more effective?
What role can social dialogue play in ensuring effective labour governance and inclusive economic growth?

The presentation was made possible with support from the ILO. It has benefited from discussions with colleague Burt Barnow from George Washington University and sources currently or formerly with the US Department of Labor.