As Vermont employers scramble to fill an estimated 17,000 job openings, lawmakers have created a new office in state government to improve workforce development efforts.
Legislation approved by Democratic lawmakers earlier this year, and later signed into law by Republican Gov. Phil Scott, establishes a new Office of Workforce Strategy and Development that will have at least two full-time employees.
Vermont already has a long list of workforce development programs that are run by state government, nonprofits and private companies. But Windsor County Sen. Alison Clarkson, a Democrat, said there’s no one with a bird’s eye view of how those programs interact or whether they’re actually working.
“We really need a workforce development ambassador — a person that is identified, that is the go-to person who’s going to set the priorities for workforce for the state, come to the Legislature with the priorities of what to fund with our modest dollars that we have to fund,” Clarkson told Vermont Public Tuesday.
“We need to give Vermonters the opportunity to grow and expand their education and their knowledge and their abilities to get better paying jobs, and that’s what we’re focusing on."Coventry Rep. Michael Marcotte
The legislation funds an executive director position to oversee the newly formed Office of Workforce Strategy and Development.
Coventry Rep. Michael Marcotte, the Republican chair of the House Committee on Commerce and Economic Development, said that person will help lawmakers determine which programs best deliver the training that workers need to enter high-demand fields, such as health care and the trades.
“We need to give Vermonters the opportunity to grow and expand their education and their knowledge and their abilities to get better paying jobs, and that’s what we’re focusing on,” Marcotte said.
Commissioner of Labor Michael Harrington has been working with lawmakers over the summer to define the range of duties for the new job, which will ultimately be an appointment-level position in the executive branch. Harrington said he welcomes the addition to the state’s existing workforce development team.
“We know that some of our efforts internally to grow Vermont’s workforce are good and on the right path. But they’re not enough to grow it at the level we want it to be at,” Harrington said Tuesday. “I think it will be a good addition to our toolbox for workforce investments to have a much broader view, and the ability to convene the partners around the table.”
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