State Policy

The Rhode Island economy faces twin challenges of a worker gap among employers and a skills gap among workers, which in combination are fueling a squeeze on workers and businesses. While the state is facing challenges in supplying employers with workers having high technical skills, several new initiatives have been launched by state agencies, nonprofit organizations, and local and national foundations to upgrade the quality of services and to foster collaboration across state agencies involved in workforce development.

States and communities are turning to new labor market institutions known as workforce intermediaries in response to a dual challenge: the need to aid low-skilled workers seeking advancement opportunities and the need to aid employers seeking employees who can help them compete in today's economy. However, workforce intermediaries have grown largely on the local level and independently of major national programs or funding streams, responding to the absence in local labor markets of institutions that can adequately serve low-skilled workers and their employers.