Employer-centered training for international competitiveness: Lessons from state programs

There has been a surge of new interest in federal training policy. This momentum has been fueled by concerns with productivity and competitiveness, whereas past federal policy has been more focused upon distributional issues. A wide range of new proposals have been put forth, and high on the list are initiatives to work directly with firms. As making employers the clients of training programs is a relatively new idea, there is very little past federal experience to draw upon. However, in recent years states have experimented with similar efforts, and these experiments provide an underused data source for assessing the traps and opportunities inherent in any national program. This paper reports the results of case studies in four states, two of which based employer-centered training in new state agencies and two of which housed the programs in community colleges. We identify issues of concern that arise in employer-based training programs and also suggest some possible solutions.