DWD plans to develop skilled workers

The Wisconsin Department of Workforce Development has released a three-year strategic plan that outlines the department’s four goals.
 They are: connect job seekers to jobs, support the development of a highly skilled labor force, achieve Unemployment Insurance solvency and increase program integrity and deliver DWD services more efficiently and support increased transparency and accountability.
There are 250,000 jobs available on the state’s website, www.jobcenterofwisconsin.com. The DWD plans to connect workers with those positions through promotion of the website and job service, seeking out unemployment insurance recipients to offer job search assistance and helping those with potential barrier disabilities to become economically independent.
In order to develop a highly skilled labor force, the DWD plans to engage and support the Governor’s Council on Workforce Investment by helping to develop a statewide workforce system that trains workers to meet anticipated employer needs. The plan also calls for identifying additional discretionary funding for workforce development to address the gap between worker skills and employer needs.
A third strategy for developing a skilled labor force involves coordinating workforce programs with the private sector, including the 11 workforce development boards. Finally, the DWD plans to focus its resources on high growth industries that need to hire more workers, in order to coordinate industry efforts and locate group funding.
Manufacturing is a high growth industry with a large skilled labor gap in Wisconsin.