Problem
Our Approach
The Workforce Almanac is a first-of-its-kind initiative that aims to help us move away from a siloed
conception of workforce development training provision and towards a new, integrated idea of the
sector that puts the worker front and center.
In this first iteration of the Workforce Almanac, we have mapped almost 17,000 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 types.
Why it matters
In the context of a relevant gap between job openings and job seekers, occupational segregation, and evident skill gaps, a more integrated approach to workforce development training provision is essential. People need a broader view of training pathways that are more approachable, swift, and closer aligned to workplace needs. The cost for diverse communities who cannot access effective workforce training options is high, especially as emerging technologies render some skills obsolete while increasing demand for others.
The infrastructure for short-term workforce training opportunities exists, but is hidden in fragmentation. Nearly 17,000 training providers operate a variety of programs, develop many different skills, confer a wide set of credentials, and target a diverse range of workers. Exploring a more integrated approach to these opportunities can offer a paradigm shift in how we better prepare our workforce for the present and the future.
The Workforce Almanac is an effort to better understand this broad and important system and offer open access data for practitioners and researchers to use in ways that improve workforce training pathways for workers and learners.
How it can be used
- Policymakers, including state and local workforce boards, can integrate the Almanac data with other more granular information to improve their decision-making on resource allocation and to work more strategically with training providers serving their areas.
- Philanthropies can find communities with a high need for investment and better inform their grant-making strategies.
- Training providers can explore what other providers may have coverage in the areas they are looking to serve for benchmarking or collaboration purposes.
- Intermediaries and employers can better understand the local and regional training provision landscape to match learners and workers to existing training opportunities, or from training to employment opportunities.
- Researchers in the field can explore other geospatial dimensions of this data – including local labor markets, metropolitan areas, and rural areas–to produce new insights into the workforce development sector.
- We are just beginning to learn where practitioners and researchers will take this open access data to improve workforce training pathways.
What's in the data
Where the data comes from
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Explore the
data
Methodology
Learn more about how we collected, aggregated, and cleaned the data.
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us
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Read
publications
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