National Fund Blog: The First Post

To paraphrase Winston Churchill, at few other times in our economic history have so many counted on so few.

Unemployment remains at a staggering level of 10 percent. In many of the communities where we are working, the percentage is much, much higher. Economists have recently reported that the past decade was the worst for the U.S. economy in modern times. Since, December 1999, net job creation has been zero. Economic output increased by the least amount in any decade since the 1930s. And, since data first started being collected in the 1960s, this past decade was the first one to see a drop in median incomes. (“Aughts were a lost decade for U.S. economy workers,” Washington Post, January 2, 2010)

The National Fund for Workforce Solutions is dedicated to taking innovative approaches to preparing jobseekers and employees for careers, and helping businesses compete, to scale. The need couldn’t be greater. Whether you are working directly with jobseekers, employees, and businesses, or you are a policymaker, employer, or funder, you are reading this because you understand that, for much of the American workforce, the end of the recession will not mean an end to hard times. And this through no fault of those workers. We have simply been incapable to building a workforce development system that helps employees and employers weather hard times and adapt to changing economic conditions.

The types of jobs we could count on in the past to employ large numbers of people don’t exist, at least not in the numbers they once did. In many communities, traditional manufacturing jobs have all but disappeared, replaced by information-based jobs, green jobs, etc. The jobs people once knew won’t be there when the economy gets healthier again. And in entire industrial sectors, businesses need to, or will need to, hire people with advanced skills but don’t know where to find them. The specter of not being able to compete in a global economy looms large for these employers.

The 22 sites supported by the National Fund focus on helping jobseekers and employees build careers and employers build productive workforces. The National Fund brings together funders, employers, and training providers to find and evaluate approaches to help workers blaze career paths where once there were none. To make this happen we need to learn from each other. That’s what this blog, what this website, is about. Welcome.