The Workforce Almanac

Mapping the workforce development sector across the US

Problem

The United States workforce development sector has historically been viewed in a siloed, compartmentalized way. As a result, practitioners and researchers alike have struggled to understand it as a system that includes higher education institutions, registered apprenticeships, organizations eligible to receive WIOA funds, and non-profit providers. To understand how well the workforce development sector really serves American workers and communities, we need to identify where providers are located, measure key provider characteristics, and consider workers' life cycle, aspirations, and needs in their entirety.

Our approach

The Workforce Almanac is a first-of-its-kind initiative that moves away from a siloed conception of workforce development training provision towards a new, integrated idea of the sector that puts the worker front and center.

In this second iteration of the Workforce Almanac, we have mapped over 20,000 providers of workforce training, which we have defined as short-term (lasting less than two years), post-high school training opportunities in which learners gain work-relevant skills to help them find a job.

Using our data portal, you can see how these workforce training providers are spread geographically across the US, and view their names, addresses, and organization types. For certain types of training providers – such as non-profits and higher education institutions – you can also view revenue and expense information.

Why it matters

A more integrated approach to workforce development training provision is essential. There is a gap between the number of job seekers and available job openings, with evident occupational segregation and skill gaps. Diverse communities of people who cannot access effective workforce training options currently pay a high price, especially as emerging technologies are rendering some skills obsolete while increasing demand for others. People need a broader view of training pathways that is more approachable and more closely aligned to workplace needs.

The infrastructure for short-term workforce training opportunities exists, but is hidden by its fragmentation. Nearly 20,000 training providers operate a variety of programs, develop many different skills, confer a broad set of credentials, manage budgets of varying sizes, and target a diverse range of workers. The Workforce Almanac aims to better understand this complicated – but crucial – system. By providing open-access data for practitioners and researchers to improve workforce training pathways for workers and learners, it enables a more integrated approach – a paradigm shift in how we prepare our workforce for the future.

Who it is for

We are only just beginning to learn how practitioners and researchers might use the open-access data in the Almanac to improve workforce training pathways. Here are some possibilities:

Policymakers, including state and local workforce boards, can integrate the Almanac data with other, more granular information to:

improve their decision-making around resource allocation
work more strategically with training providers serving their areas

Philanthropies can use the Almanac data to find communities with a high need for investment and better inform their grant-making strategies.

Training providers can explore other providers covering the areas they are looking to serve, for the purposes of benchmarking or collaboration.

Intermediaries and employers can better understand the training provision landscape locally and regionally, potentially improving their ability to match learners and workers to existing training, or from training to employment.

Researchers can use the Almanac data to explore the geospatial dimensions of local labor markets in both metropolitan and rural areas and produce new insights into the workforce development sector.