Workforce 

Development Planning 

Guide

Guidance for CHIPS Incentives 

Applicants

CHIPS Program Office

March 27, 2023 
for AMERICA

CHIPS.gov

CHIPS for America includes the CHIPS Program Office, responsible for 

semiconductor incentives, and the CHIPS Research and Development Office, 

responsible for R&D programs, that both sit within the National Institute of 

Standards and Technology (NIST) at the Department of Commerce. 

NIST promotes U.S. innovation and industrial competitiveness by advancing 

measurement science, standards, and technology in ways that enhance 

economic security and improve our quality of life. NIST is uniquely positioned 

to successfully administer the CHIPS for America program because of the 

bureau’s strong relationships with U.S. industries, its deep understanding of the 

semiconductor ecosystem, and its reputation as fair and trusted. 

Visit https://www.chips.gov to learn more.
Contents

Executive Summary ................................................................................................................... 3

Message from the Secretary ...................................................................................................... 6

1. CHIPS Workforce Values....................................................................................................... 7

1.1 Highly Effective Workforce Investments ........................................................................ 7

1.2 Good Jobs Principles .................................................................................................... 8

1.3 Women in Construction................................................................................................. 8

2. Partnerships..........................................................................................................................10

3. Facility Workforce Plan .........................................................................................................15

3.1 Workforce Needs Assessment .....................................................................................16

3.2 Worker Recruitment and Retention ..............................................................................18

3.3 Good Jobs Principles Approach ...................................................................................22

3.4 Workforce Training and Wraparound Services.............................................................25

3.5 Metrics and Milestones ................................................................................................31

4. Construction Workforce Plan.................................................................................................34

4.1 Project Labor Agreements............................................................................................35

4.2 Compliance with Federal Labor Laws...........................................................................38

4.3 Women in Construction................................................................................................40

5. Child Care Plan.....................................................................................................................42

5.1 Core Child Care Principles ...........................................................................................43

5.2 How Companies Provide Access to Child Care............................................................46

5.3 Special Considerations for Construction Workers ........................................................50

5.4 Partners and Other Resources Available .....................................................................52

6. Submitting a Successful Workforce Development Plan .........................................................54

6.1 Workforce Development Planning Guiding Questions ..................................................55

6.2 Pre-Application (optional).............................................................................................59

6.3 Final Submission and Evaluation–Workforce Development Plan..................................60

6.4 Additional Workforce Development Pipeline Support ...................................................63

Appendix...................................................................................................................................66

A.1 Acronyms ....................................................................................................................66

A.2 Job Quality Toolkit .......................................................................................................67

A.3 Industry Specific Training and Workforce Development Resources .............................71

A.4 Child Care for Construction Workers: Case Studies.....................................................87

A.5 Federal Labor and Employment Laws..........................................................................89

A.6 Additional Workforce Planning Resources ...................................................................91
3 

Executive Summary 

The CHIPS Incentives Program, authorized by section 9902 of the William M. (Mac) Thornberry 

National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2021 (“CHIPS Act”), aims to strengthen U.S. 

economic and national security, including economic resilience and competitiveness, through 

long-term growth and economic sustainability in the domestic semiconductor industry. The 

CHIPS Incentives Program is administered by the CHIPS Program Office within the National 

Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) of the United States Department of Commerce 

(Department). 

The CHIPS Incentives Program will seek to assure a sufficient, sustainable, reliable, and secure 

domestic semiconductor ecosystem, including for national security needs and critical industries

through the construction, expansion, and modernization of semiconductor facilities. The CHIPS 

Incentives Program can provide funding for eligible projects via direct funding (grants, 

cooperative agreements, or other transactions), loans, and loan guarantees. The financial 

assistance is intended to incentivize investment related to fabrication, assembly, testing, 

packaging, or production of semiconductors, materials used to manufacture semiconductors, or 

semiconductor manufacturing equipment. 

For the CHIPS Incentives Program to be successful, the domestic semiconductor industry must

enable and sustain a vibrant domestic industry that supports quality jobs, a skilled and robust 

workforce, and a diverse supplier base of large and small firms, while supporting a high-volume 

semiconductor manufacturing and benefiting the broader U.S. economy.

The CHIPS Program Office offers this Workforce Development Guide as a resource for 

applicants responding to the February 2023 Notice of Funding Opportunity (NOFO) for the 

construction and expansion of commercial leading-edge, current, and mature node fabrication 

facilities under the CHIPS Incentives Program. This Guide is supplemental to the NOFO and is 

for informational purposes only.

Under the CHIPS Act, and as stated in the NOFO, the applicant must document workforce 

needs and provide a strategy to meet such workforce needs via a workforce development plan.1

The workforce development plan must demonstrate appropriate investments and commitments 

to recruit, train, hire, retain, and upskill a skilled and diverse workforce. Workforce development 

plans should describe specific commitments of proactive employer engagement and 

mobilization and efforts to train and hire workers into good jobs that offer competitive wages, 

including by offering programs to expand employment opportunities for economically 

disadvantaged individuals.2

 The workforce development plan must also demonstrate secured

commitments from regional educational and training entities and institutions of higher education 

to provide workforce training, including programming for training and job placement of 

economically disadvantaged individuals. 3

 

1 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(ii)(VI). 2 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(ii)(II). 3 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(ii)(III). 
4

A highly-skilled, diverse workforce is critical to meeting the goals of the CHIPS Incentives 

Program. This includes both the construction workforce who construct or expand facilities, and 

the semiconductor workforce who operate them. The applicant will need a strategy for both 

workforce components. 

Workforce Development Plans should have three components: 

a) Facility Workforce Plan

i. Workforce Needs Assessment

ii. Worker Recruitment and Retention

iii. Good Jobs Principles Approach

iv. Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

v. Metrics and Milestones

b) Construction Workforce Plan

i. Workforce Needs Assessment

ii. Worker Recruitment and Retention

iii. Good Jobs Principles Approach

iv. Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

v. Metrics and Milestones

c) Child Care Plan (required for applicants requesting CHIPS Direct Funding over $150 

million and strongly encouraged for other applicants)

In implementing the CHIPS Incentives Program, the CHIPS Program Office aims to support the 

Biden-Harris Administration’s goal to build a stronger and more secure future and the following 

principles, as set forth in Executive Order 14080, “Implementation of the CHIPS Act of 2022,” 

to:

• Protect taxpayer dollars

• Meet economic and national security needs

• Ensure long-term leadership in the sector

• Catalyze private sector investment

• Generate benefits for a broad range of stakeholders and communities

• Strengthen and expand regional manufacturing and innovation ecosystems4

This Guide provides examples of strategies applicants can use to meet the goals outlined in the 

NOFO. This Workforce Development Planning Guide includes: 

• CHIPS workforce values to help applicants align their workforce development plans in 

keeping with the requirements of the CHIPS Act, the workforce values of the CHIPS 

Program Office, and the Department of Commerce’s guidance for the creation of good 

jobs

• Benefits of sectoral partnerships and strategies for developing relationships

• A breakdown of the Facility Workforce Plan requirements as described in the NOFO

and strategies for achieving success

• Information related to developing a Construction Workforce Plan

4 “Executive Order 14080 of August 25, 2022, Implementation of the CHIPS Act of 2022,” Code of Federal 

Regulations, title 3 (2022): 52847-52849.
5 

• Implementation strategies for the Child Care Plan

• Guidance for application submission as it relates to the workforce development plan

• An Appendix with numerous resources on industry specific workforce development 

and general information about workforce and labor

The Department supports the development of an equity-driven workforce that that supports job 

creation in the United States and expands employment opportunity for economically 

disadvantaged individuals.5 Please visit the CHIPS workforce development site for updates and 

more information.6

The below guide is for informational purposes only and is intended solely to assist potential 

applicants in better understanding the CHIPS Incentives Program and the application 

requirements set forth in the NOFO for this program. The guide does not and is not intended to 

supersede, modify, or otherwise alter applicable statutory or regulatory requirements, or the 

specific application requirements set forth in the NOFO. In all cases, statutory and regulatory 

mandates, and the requirements set forth in the NOFO, shall prevail over any inconsistencies 

contained in the below guide. 

Any reference to a non-federal organization or corporation does not convey endorsement or 

approval by the Department of Commerce of the entity or their programs or resources. All 

examples provided are for illustrative, non-exhaustive purposes only. The Department of 

Commerce does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information contained 

therein.

5 15 U.S.C. § 4652(d); 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(ii)(II). 

6 “Workforce Development,” Chips.gov (NIST, February 21, 2023), https://www.nist.gov/chips/workforcedevelopment. 
6 

Message from the Secretary 

Thanks to President Biden’s leadership and bipartisan work 

in Congress, the Commerce Department is investing 

approximately $50 billion to grow a vibrant U.S. 

semiconductor industry. The CHIPS for America program 

will unleash the next generation of American innovation, 

protect our national security, and preserve our global 

economic competitiveness for decades to come.

It will also create good jobs with the potential to change 

lives, offer family-sustaining wages and benefits, and lead 

to long-term careers.

America’s workers have the knowledge, drive, grit, and 

determination to do these jobs well. By making smart 

investments in workforce development and job training, 

companies will ensure workers have the opportunities and 

skills they need to succeed, whether they’re constructing 

the fabs or making chips inside of them.

Commerce believes that we won’t be able to build the semiconductor workforce needed unless 

more of America’s workers have the chance to get into these jobs. Our diversity is our strength. 

With CHIPS for America, Commerce will work with companies to provide more opportunities—

and remove barriers to access these jobs for all Americans—including women, veterans, people 

of color, people with disabilities, youth, and people in rural areas. 

We know that we can’t do this alone. That’s why we are prioritizing workforce solutions that 

encourage employers, training providers, workforce development organizations, education and 

training institutions, labor unions, and other key stakeholders to work together.

This Workforce Development Planning Guide offers supplemental information to applicants as 

they respond to the requirements outlined in the February 2023 CHIPS Incentives Program 

Notice of Funding Opportunity. 

By building a vibrant semiconductor workforce that is skilled, diverse, and inclusive, we will 

bolster U.S. leadership and competitiveness in one of the most critical technologies of our time 

and ensure that more of America’s workers can share in our prosperity. Thank you for your role 

in making that vision a reality.

Secretary Gina Raimondo
7 

1. CHIPS Workforce Values 

Projects awarded funds by the CHIPS Incentives Program will create good-paying jobs that 

benefit American workers, including economically disadvantaged individuals7 and communities 

underrepresented in the industry. The program will prioritize workforce solutions that enable 

employers, training providers, workforce and economic development organizations, communitybased groups, education and training institutions, labor unions, and other key stakeholders to 

work together. To build a workforce that enables a successful domestic semiconductor industry, 

the Department is encouraging more paid training, experiential learning opportunities, 

Registered Apprenticeship, and other high-quality work and learn programs; increased provision 

of wraparound services; and other creative recruitment and retention strategies; and a 

commitment by employers to hire workers based on their acquired skills.

Applicants should submit workforce development plans that align with the workforce values and

best practices outlined in this Guide. These values and best practices collectively aim to ensure

sustainable career pathways to meet employers’ need for talent and to connect American 

workers to good jobs. To attract workers and expand employment opportunity, workplaces 

should be diverse, equitable, inclusive, and accessible to every worker.8 These efforts will

support employer needs and have a lasting positive economic, social, and health benefits for 

years to come. 

1.1 Highly Effective Workforce Investments

The Department’s workforce development agenda is guided by a set of best practices and 

principles. The Department encourages applicants to consider these practices when planning 

CHIPS Act-related workforce investments. Highly effective workforce investments:9

• Are employer led to ensure skilled workers are connected to quality job opportunities.

• Are guided by multiple community partners such as educational institutions, labor 

unions, community-based organizations, workforce development organizations, and 

economic development organizations.

• Include wraparound services to expand employment opportunity for economically 

disadvantaged individuals.

• Increase educational and workplace diversity, equity, and inclusion.

• Prioritize proven earn and learn models like Registered Apprenticeships.

7 Individuals whose ability or opportunity to compete in the economy has been impaired due to an individual’s (1) 

membership in a group that has been subjected to racial or ethnic prejudice or cultural bias within American society; 

(2) gender; (3) veteran status; (4) limited English proficiency; (5) disability status; (6) long-term residence in an 

environment isolated from the mainstream of American society; (7) membership in a Federally or state-recognized 

Indian Tribe; (8) long-term residence in a rural community; (9) residence in a U.S. territory; (10) residence in a 

community undergoing economic transitions (including communities impacted by the shift towards a net-zero 

economy or deindustrialization); (11) individuals without a college degree; or (12) membership in another 

“underserved community.” National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, 

CHIPS Incentives Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 74. https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/viewopportunity.html?oppId=346349. 8 “Equity,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, November 3, 2022), 

https://www.commerce.gov/equity. 9 “Workforce Development,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, September 9, 2022), 

https://www.commerce.gov/issues/workforce-development. 
8 

• Lead to stackable, industry-recognized credentials and ensure that information about 

credentials is publicly accessible through the use of linked open data formats that 

support full transparency and interoperability. 

• Measure and evaluate outcomes such as workers’ employment and earnings. Ensure 

that data is transparent, actionable, and linked back to entities executing workforce 

programs.

• Build sustainable systems and partnerships that endure to serve employers and workers 

beyond the federal investment.

• Connect workforce development to economic development.

• Are coordinated across the Federal government.

• Encourage the use of other government and private funding.

1.2 Good Jobs Principles

Good jobs are the foundation of an equitable economy that lifts up workers and families and 

makes businesses more competitive globally. The Departments of Commerce and Labor

partnered to develop Good Jobs Principles, which create a framework for workers, businesses, 

labor unions, advocates, researchers, state and local governments, and federal agencies for a 

shared vision of job quality.10 CHIPS Incentives Program applicants are expected to incorporate 

aspects of this framework into their workforce development plans, as stated in the NOFO, to 

ensure jobs to construct, expand, modernize, and operate semiconductor facilities are high 

quality.

11 To receive funds, each applicant must commit to appropriate investments to recruit, 

train, hire, retain, and upskill workers in good jobs that employer needs. 

The Good Jobs Principles cover eight core concepts: recruitment and hiring; benefits; 

diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility (DEIA); empowerment and representation; 

job security and working conditions; organizational culture; pay; and skills and career 

advancement. See section 3.3 of this Guide for more information on Good Jobs.

1.3 Women in Construction

Secretary Raimondo announced in October 2022 a goal of seeing an additional one million 

women join the construction industry over the next decade, roughly doubling women’s

representation in the industry.12 Through the American Rescue Plan, the Bipartisan 

Infrastructure Law, the CHIPS Act, and the Inflation Reduction Act, trillions of dollars are being

invested in ways that dramatically increase the demand and employment opportunities for highly 

skilled construction workers in a wide array of occupations.

10 “Good Jobs Principles,” U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Labor, 

2022), https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/goodjobs/Good-Jobs-Summit-Principles-Factsheet.pdf. 11 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 50-51. https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/viewopportunity.html?oppId=346349

12 “Secretary Raimondo Calls for More Women in the Construction Industry at NABTU Tradeswomen Build Nations 

2022 Conference,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, November 8, 2022), 

https://www.commerce.gov/news/blog/2022/10/secretary-raimondo-calls-more-women-construction-industry-nabtutradeswomen-build. 
9 

Although women make up a majority of the population and 44 percent of the U.S. workforce, 

women make up only 10 percent of the construction industry—of which only a fraction are 

directly employed in construction and extraction trades. Of the 11.3 million construction workers 

in the United States, only 1.2 million of them are women. The disparity between men and 

women is even worse in some construction occupations, with women making up less than 2

percent of carpenters, 3 percent of all first-line construction managers, and 3 percent of all 

construction laborers.

13 

Actions to broaden outreach to include women in the construction industry can be found in 

section 4.3 of this Guide. 

13 “Employment and Earnings by Occupation,” DOL (U.S. Department of Labor, 2019), 

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/data/occupations. 
10

2. Partnerships

Partnerships will play an integral role in the development and implementation of high-quality

workforce development strategies. Applicants must secure commitments from strategic 

partners, including partnerships with regional educational and training entities and institutions of 

higher education to provide workforce training, including programming for training and job 

placement of economically disadvantaged individuals.14

The Department considers essential and strongly encourages the development of sectoral 

partnerships to ensure that immediate and long-term pathways are created for local workforces 

to operate facilities. These partnerships may include other employers with shared skills needs, 

education and training providers (such as high schools, career and technical education 

providers, community colleges, higher education institutions), the public workforce system, labor 

unions, and community-based and other worker-serving organizations. A best practice for a 

sectoral partnership is to identify a trusted partner to serve as a backbone entity to coordinate 

these entities and manage the partnership. In strong applications, a sectoral partnership will 

drive the workforce development plan. An applicant that has not organized or participated in a 

sectoral partnership should explain, in its plan, why doing so was infeasible and how its 

workforce efforts will ensure that it has engaged partners to serve worker needs.

There is a strong evidence base that demonstrates sectoral partnerships’ effectiveness in 

serving the needs of employers and workers.15 By participating in sectoral partnerships, 

education and training providers will discover the skills needed by businesses as they develop 

learning pathways for the future workforce. Employers benefit from an increased supply of 

skilled workers and an education and training system aligned to their needs. State and local 

economic and workforce development organizations understand industry needs, including 

creating the conditions for industry retention and growth and attracting new industries to their 

area to create more jobs for Americans in the communities where they live. Sectoral 

partnerships heighten the chance of job placement in the community after training program 

completion given their connection to real-time employer demand and can lead to greater 

retention through the development of career paths.

16

These partnerships drive employers from the same industry to collaborate with one another and 

align partners’ strategies around common industry challenges including: 

14 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(III). 15 Examples include Jeffrey Liebman and Gina Raimondo, “Chapter 4: A Good Job at the End of Training: Rhode 

Island’s Outcomes - Focused Approach to Workforce Development,” in Workforce Realigned: How New Partnerships 

Are Advancing Economic Mobility (Social Finance, Federal Reserve Bank of Atlanta Federal, Reserve Bank of 

Philadelphia, 2021), pp. 86-101; Jessica Ziegler, “Sector Strategies: Aligning the Skills of the Workforce with the 

Needs ...,” U.S. Department of Labor (Mathematica Policy Research, U.S. Department of Labor, Social Policy 

Research Associates, November 2015), https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/ETAOP-2016-

05_Sector%20Strategies%20-

%20Aligning%20the%20Skills%20of%20the%20Workforce%20with%20the%20Needs%20of%20Employers.pdf. ; 

Kate Dunham, Lea Folsom, and Jeanne Bellotti, “Employer Engagement Strategies in Regional Partnerships,” U.S. 

Department of Labor (U.S. Department of Labor, Mathematica Policy Research, America's Promise Grants, Social 

Policy Research Associates, March 2022), https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/ETAOP2022-48-

Employer_Engagement_Strategies_in_Regional_Partnerships.pdf. 16 Katz, Lawrence F., Jonathan Roth, Richard Hendra, and Kelsey Schaberg. "Why do sectoral employment 

programs work? Lessons from WorkAdvance." Journal of Labor Economics 40, no. S1 (2022): S249-S291.
11

• Aligning the workforce needs of local businesses and non-profit organizations with the 

learning objectives of education and training providers.

• Leveraging a corresponding workforce framework for the industry.

• Increasing the pipeline of students and young people pursuing careers in the industry.

• Training more Americans to move them into middle class jobs in the industry.

• Supporting local economic development efforts to stimulate job growth.

Applicants are encouraged to make efforts to co-lead or to participate in a partnership beginning 

early in the CHIPS project workforce development planning process and continuing throughout 

its duration. Applicants are encouraged to find other businesses in the industry or related 

Guidance from the NOFO. Sectoral partnerships will play an integral role in the development 

and implementation of high-quality, equitable workforce development strategies. As such, the 

Department will require all applicants’ workforce development strategies to reflect the 

following steps:

• Applicants must secure commitments from strategic partners, including partnerships 

with regional educational and training entities and institutions of higher education to 

provide workforce training. The strongest applicants will, wherever possible, engage in 

sectoral partnerships so they have the broadest view of potential workforce solutions. 

For example, rather than partnering with only a single community college, an applicant 

might instead partner with a community college system to engage the full range of 

potential community college partners in the region. Strategic partners can include:

o Other businesses 

o Government organizations (e.g., Federal, state, local, tribal)

o Educational institutions (e.g., K-12, community colleges, technical colleges and 

universities, historically Black colleges and universities, tribal colleges and 

universities, and minority serving institutions, including Hispanic-serving 

institutions)

o Training organizations

o Economic development organizations 

o Workforce development organizations (e.g., state and local workforce boards)

o Labor unions and other labor organizations

o Industry associations 

o Community-based organizations (e.g., non-profits, faith-based organizations)

o Career and technical education programs and career and technical student 

organizations for students in public secondary schools and community and 

technical colleges

• Applicants must describe the constitution and layout of partnerships they have formed, 

as well as plans to utilize these partnerships on an ongoing basis, such as through 

regular convening. Applicants should also describe the roles and responsibilities each 

partner will take on as part of their plan. 

• Applicants must develop an equity strategy, in concert with their partners, to create 

equitable workforce pathways for economically disadvantaged individuals in their 

region. Recruiting, training, and retaining a diverse and skilled set of workers will 

necessitate building new pipelines for workers, including specific efforts to attract 

economically disadvantaged individuals and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and 

accessibility.
12

industries in their region and collaborate with partners such as: community colleges; high school 

career and technical education programs; state and local workforce boards and agencies;

economic development organizations, higher education institutions including historically black 

colleges and universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and minorityserving institutions (MSIs); labor unions, and community-based organizations. Applicants are 

also encouraged to identify a neutral, trusted, and credible intermediary that convenes and 

serves as a liaison between businesses and the full range of partners, also known as a 

backbone organization. The partnership should include representation from other businesses 

with related hiring needs, including any on-site and other relevant suppliers. 

Applicants are expected to develop their workforce development plan in collaboration with their 

partners. In their workforce plan, applicants should include letters of commitment from education 

and training entities and institutions that detail the specific tasks they will perform in support of 

the workforce plan and the resources that will be provided.17 The Department considers this 

collaboration essential to inform the development and implementation of effective, equityfocused workforce plans that create immediate and long-term pathways for local workers to 

operate facilities for decades to come. 

Strategies 

A critical aspect of establishing a sectoral partnership is to identify a strong backbone 

organization, an intermediary that convenes and coordinates between parties, serving as a 

liaison between businesses and the full range of partners. Backbone organizations provide a 

clarity of purpose, drive long-term momentum and growth, establish strong partnership identity

by connecting and aligning people and activities, and define clear measures of success.

18 

Building partnerships is a process and it takes time to identify complementary strengths and 

interests, define where and how to engage, and to consider the roles and responsibilities of 

each party.19 There is not one defined process that works for each region or project. However, 

there are best practices that can help sectoral partnerships achieve success.20

• Have the right organizations and people at the table. Sectoral partnerships center on 

a critical mass of business leaders from the targeted industry sector. It is essential to 

recruit business leaders who are decision-makers in their companies and who 

understand that the success of their business is tied to the broader success of the 

industry and the region. Recruiting strong industry champions is an important first step in 

building a sectoral partnership. Likewise, a sector partnership depends on a coordinated 

team of public and non-profit partners playing supportive roles to implement partnership 

priorities. Each organization should strive to place people on the project that are 

17 See 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(III). 18 Crespin, R., and H. Moser. "Six proven practices for backbone organizations." (2018). 19 Tess Zakaras, “How to Build a Partnership across Sectors (Q&A),” Resonance Global (Resonance, September 15, 

2022), https://www.resonanceglobal.com/blog/cross-sector-partnerships-alignment-is-the-starting-line. 20 Joseph Parilla, Ryan Donahue, and Sarena Martinez, “Institutionalizing Inclusive Growth: Rewiring Systems to 

Rebuild Local Economies” (Brookings Institution, April 7, 2022), https://www.brookings.edu/wpcontent/uploads/2022/04/Guidebook-report.pdf; “12 Steps towards Successful Cross-Sector Partnerships,” The 

Partnering Initiative (The Partnering Initiative, 2023), https://thepartneringinitiative.org/tpi-tools/12-steps-towardssuccessful-cross-sector-partnerships/. 
13

knowledgeable, have authority to make and execute decisions, and can maintain

continuity if attrition occurs. Sectoral partnerships can include a mix of K-12 schools, 

community colleges, other institutions of higher education, other training providers, local 

workforce boards, labor unions, affordable housing providers, and local employers. 

Participation from more than one organization of each of these types as well as from 

training and certification providers, economic development organizations, and other 

community organizations is encouraged.

• Build trust. Trust, transparency, and open communication are critical to successful 

partnerships. Each organization should understand and respect the value that others 

bring to the partnership.

• Frame the problem and establish clear goals and outcomes that are relevant for 

each party and the partnership. Together in the partnership, organizations should 

create shared goals to align actions and resources. Partnering organizations should 

coalesce around a unified high-level vision for the partnership and have shared values 

on workforce development. To the greatest extent possible, the partnership should 

develop a strategy that operates from a systems-level vantage point. For example, as 

opposed to partnering with a single community college, a sectoral partnership might 

instead partner with a community college system to engage the full range of potential 

partners. Goals should be realistic, measurable, and achievable for each party in a 

partnership and for the broader partnership itself. Partnerships often fail due to 

misalignment of goals and outcomes, or misunderstandings about timelines and 

deliverables. 

• Identify roles for organizations. Partner organizations will each serve a specific role in 

the partnership—convener, connector, or implementer. Conveners, or backbone 

organizations, will help the partnerships form, create shared goals, and build consensus. 

Connectors help bring together the right organizations to achieve goals. Implementers 

take action to recruit prospective workers, provide training opportunities, and hire 

workers. One organization can take on tasks across different roles.

• Document partnership roles in a Memoranda of Understanding (MOU). Establishing 

an MOU creates structure to hold organizations accountable and defines roles and 

responsibilities of the partnership.21

Resources available from both private and public sources can aid in building long-term, effective 

sectoral partnerships. Some of these resources include: 

• Department of Labor Labor-Management Resources.

22

• Workforce GPS, sponsored by the Department of Labor, provides best practices, tools, 

and resources on sector strategies and employer engagement.

23

21 “Sample Memorandum of Understanding,” Local Initiatives Support Corporation (Local Initiatives Support 

Corporation, 2023), https://www.lisc.org/our-initiatives/safety-justice/cbcr/resources/tools-templates/memorandumunderstanding/. 22 “Labor Management Partnerships,” (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), 

https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/labor-management-partnerships. 23 “Employer Engagement and Sector Strategies,” WorkforceGPS (U.S. Department of Labor, September 30, 2022), 

https://nextlevelnow.workforcegps.org/resources/2022/09/28/13/18/Employer-Engagement-and-Sector-Strategies. 
14

• Next Generation Sector Partnership Community of Practice sponsored by the Institute 

for Networked Communities offers a training manual for building industry-led sectoral 

partnerships and provides examples of established partnerships.

24

• Jobs For the Future hosts a Good Jobs Challenge Community of Practice Digital Library 

which has resources for building sectoral partnerships designed for compliance with 

DOC’s Good Jobs Principles.25

• Wageningen Center for Development Innovation provides tools and a guide to designing 

and facilitating effective multistakeholder partnerships.

26 

• The Ohio Manufacturer’s Association provides guidance and templates for building, 

implementing, and sustaining sectoral partnerships.27

• Tools for Backbones is a starting point reference for backbone organization 

responsibilities.28

24 “Next Generation Sector Partnership Training Manual,” Next Generation Sector Partnership Community of Practice 

(Institute for Networked Communities, 2020), https://www.nextgensectorpartnerships.com/toolkit. 25 “Good Jobs Challenge Community of Practice Digital Library,” Jobs for the Future (Jobs For the Future , 2023), 

https://jff.instructure.com/enroll/GF73TC. 26 “MSP Tools,” MSP Guide (Wageningen Center for Development Innovation, March 18, 2022), 

https://mspguide.org/msp-tools/. 27 See section A.2 of this Guide for more information. 28 “Tools for Backbones - UNCG,” Collective Impact Forum (Collective Impact Forum, FSG, 2023), 

https://communityengagement.uncg.edu/wp-content/uploads/2014/08/Collective-Impact-Backbone-Toolkit.pdf. 
15

3. Facility Workforce Plan 

The facility workforce development plan should demonstrate appropriate investments and 

commitments to create good jobs and recruit, train, hire, retain, and upskill a diverse workforce 

sufficient to meet the operating needs of the entire facility. 

Facility workforce plans should have five components: 

1. Workforce Needs Assessment

2. Worker Recruitment and Retention

3. Good Jobs Principles Approach

4. Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

5. Metrics and Milestones

Applicants are also required to consult, engage, and coordinate with workforce partners — 

including educational institutions, training providers, community-based organizations, labor 

unions, career and technical education organizations, and public-sector organizations — in 

formulating their workforce plan. The Department expects that applicants will engage with each 

of these groups, at a minimum, in formulating their plan, as projects are most likely to succeed 

in creating a high-skilled and inclusive workforce by committing to close and ongoing 

coordination with on-the-ground stakeholders. Applicants should also demonstrate a vision for 

long-term sustainability by engaging with educational institutions that will be key to training the 

next generation of workers, including working with K-12 institutions to develop and strengthen 

career and technical education programs.29 

This section walks applicants through these required components in the NOFO and provides 

resources and strategies that will help applicants meet the NOFO requirements and the goals 

outlined in the CHIPS Workforce Values.

29 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication, 50. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chips-incentivesprogram-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 
16

3.1 Workforce Needs Assessment

Each applicant will have unique and specific workforce needs depending on the characteristics

and scope of the proposed project. Accurately assessing employer workforce needs is critical to 

project success. This section provides information applicants can use with their sectoral 

partners to determine what workforce resources are currently available, what needs will arise 

with CHIPS project implementation, and the resulting gaps that applicants will need to fill. This 

requires assessing the broader regional workforce landscape for location of the proposed 

project.

Guidance from the NOFO. The Department believes that a strong, long-term workforce 

strategy is critical to the economic and national security goals of the CHIPS Act. As such, 

each applicant should commit to appropriate investments to recruit, train, hire, retain, and 

upskill a diverse workforce in good jobs at their facility. The Good Jobs Principles published 

by the Departments of Commerce and Labor outline the elements of a good job, including 

recruitment and hiring practices, pay and benefits, job security and working conditions, 

worker empowerment, skills and career advancement, and organizational culture.

In collaboration with its partners, each applicant must create a workforce development plan to 

articulate the applicant’s approach to meeting their facility workforce needs. The plan should 

contain a detailed workforce needs assessment for the facility or facilities, and the 

recruitment, training, and retention strategies that address the specific workforce challenges 

identified in the assessment. The applicant’s plan should document how the applicant will 

expand access for economically disadvantaged individuals, including how the applicant’s 

recruitment, training, and retention strategies will be tailored to address the needs of these 

workers. The plan should also detail the applicant’s engagement with strategic partners, 

including but not limited to labor unions, workforce development organizations, state and local 

workforce boards, educational institutions, and others. Strong applications will reflect an 

integrated, comprehensive approach to building inclusive workforce pipelines through a 

sectoral partnership and strategies to retain workers in good jobs. Strong applications will 

also demonstrate a vision for long-term sustainability. Engaging with educational institutions 

at all levels will be key to training the next generation of workers, including commitments to 

work with K-12 institutions and develop and strengthen career and technical education.

An effective workforce plan will be informed by, and demonstrate support and commitments 

from, a diverse set of community and public-sector entities and include evidence-informed 

approaches to outreach, recruiting, training, wraparound services, job placement, and 

advancement. See Sections IV.H.5, IV.I.10, and V.A.5 for additional detail. 

In addition, the Department expects applicants to commit to working to support long-term, 

cross-cutting initiatives – such as competency development, curriculum design, and 

credentialing – that will strengthen the U.S. national semiconductor workforce. Because 

meeting workforce needs will require ongoing collaboration and coordination across the 

sector, the Department expects to engage with recipients to support workforce efforts after 

awards are made. 
17

Applicants should assess workforce needs holistically, thinking not just about the number and 

type of positions the project requires, but also about the services they can provide or facilitate to

recruit and retain the workers they need. Applicants should consider needs including, but not 

limited to, reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, housing, transportation, 

and child care. 

Strategies

The Department recommends applicants conduct their workforce needs assessments and then 

consult with their sectoral partners to determine how to address their workforce needs through 

the partnership. Beyond determining their own needs, employers should familiarize themselves 

with the workforce training landscape of their region to understand the training resources

already available and the current makeup of the local labor force. 

Applicants are encouraged to use any data available to them to quantify their needs. This may 

include publicly available labor market data, internal data, or purchased data. Section A.6.3 of 

this guide lists resources that may be used for understanding the workforce landscape. 

The workforce needs, gaps, and goals will inform subsequent steps of developing the CHIPS 

project workforce development plan. 

The Department expects each workforce development assessment to be unique to the 

applicant’s needs, but there are some existing tools and resources available to inform 

applicants’ processes. Examples include: 

• Best Practices for regional workforce providers developed by the Project on Workforce 

at Harvard Summer Fellowship Series. 30

• Illinois Central College IT Workforce accelerator assessed employer demand.31

• Fillable occupational demand worksheet from The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association.32

• Workforce Needs Assessment of Missouri’s Food, Agriculture and Forestry Industries.33

30 Jake Boyd and Claudia Moreno, “Ours to Solve Together: Best Practices in Employer Engagement from American 

Rescue Plan Programs” (Cambridge, MA: Harvard Kennedy School, 2022), p. 6, 

https://www.pw.hks.harvard.edu/post/ours-to-solve-together. 31 “Hired! IT Workforce Accelerator: Developing the Central Illinois Workforce through a Talent Pipeline Management 

System,” Economic Development Agency (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 2022), 

https://www.eda.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Illinois-Central-College-Project-Narrative.pdf. 32 “Occupational Demand Worksheet ,” The Ohio Manufacturer's Association (The Ohio Manufacturer's Association, 

2019), https://www.ohiomfg.com/wp-content/uploads/Occupational_Demand_Worksheet_2019_Fillable_Form.pdf. 33 Mark C White et al., “Missouri Food, Agriculture and Forestry Workforce Needs Assessment” (University of 

Missouri, Missouri Agricultural Foundation, July 10, 2020),

Guidance from the NOFO. Assessment of the workforce needs of the project (job types, 

skills, and workers required over time in each job type), including the necessary workforce for 

facility operations, on-site supplier operations, engineering, administration, and others. The 

applicant and their partners should map identified workforce needs to existing resources and 

the existing labor market to determine gaps. The analysis should also identify other workforce 

risks that could adversely impact the project. 
18

• Workforce Needs Assessment for the Aerospace Industry in North Carolina.

34

3.2 Worker Recruitment and Retention

Two major workforce challenges for the semiconductor industry are recruiting and retaining 

diverse, high-quality talent.35 American workers and the public are largely unaware of the 

opportunities available in the semiconductor industry, especially opportunities that will be 

created with forthcoming CHIPS Incentives Program investments. Manufacturing jobs are

sometimes viewed as physically demanding to a degree that is out of step with the reality of 

advanced manufacturing today. Only one in three parents think manufacturing has good career 

opportunities for their children.

36 For workers with advanced degrees, such as engineers in the 

semiconductor industry, job quality is perceived as poor in comparison to jobs in adjacent fields 

where more flexibility, higher salaries, and positive workplace culture can present a strong draw. 

Attrition is high for all groups, but particularly for people from underserved communities, both in 

education and training programs intended to feed into the semiconductor workforce and in the 

semiconductor workforce itself.37 For example, many women do not pursue careers in science 

and engineering occupations or do not advance to leadership positions because of barriers 

including, but not limited to, implicit and explicit sexual bias, harassment, unequal access to 

funding and resources, and pay inequality.38 

While outreach by the industry to increase public awareness is needed, the semiconductor 

industry can only attract and maintain talent if good jobs are available for interested workers. 

Section 3.3 of this Guide will describe good jobs in more detail. 

https://extension.missouri.edu/media/wysiwyg/Extensiondata/Int/BusinessAndCommunity/Docs/WorkforceNeedsAsse

ssment.pdf. 34 Susan Seymour, “Workforce Needs Assessment for the Aerospace Industry in North Carolina,” Goldenleaf.org 

(Golden LEAF Foundation, June 2009), https://www.goldenleaf.org/wpcontent/uploads/2018/03/AerospaceWNA_ExecutiveSummary.pdf. 35 “Workforce Development,” SEMI (American Semiconductor Academy Initiative and SEMI Foundation, 2023), 

https://semi.org/en/workforce-development. 36 “Competing for Talent: Recasting Perceptions of Manufacturing,” The Manufacturing Institute (The Manufacturing 

Institute and Deloitte, March 2022), https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/DI_ERIThe-workforce-experience-in-manufacturing-Does-manufacturing-need-to-recast-its-image_final-copy-1.pdf. 37 For more information, see the following resources: Xianglei Chen and Matthew Soldner, “Stem Attrition: College 

Students’ Paths into and out of STEM Fields,” National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) (U.S, Department of 

Education, November 26, 2013), https://nces.ed.gov/pubsearch/pubsinfo.asp?pubid=2014001rev; “Doubling Women 

in Semiconductor Leadership,” Accenture (Accenture and Global Semiconductor Alliance, 2021), 

https://www.accenture.com/content/dam/accenture/final/industry/high-tech/document/Doubling-womensemiconductor-leadership.pdf; Brandi, N., Geisinger., D., Raj, Raman. (2012). Why They Leave: Understanding 

Student Attrition from Engineering Majors. International Journal of Engineering Education, 29(4), 914-925. 38 This report makes actionable recommendations to leverage change and drive improvements to the systems of 

education, research, and employment in order to improve both the representation and leadership of women. 

See National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Promising Practices for Addressing the 

Underrepresentation of Women in Science, Engineering, and Medicine: Opening Doors. (Washington, DC: The 

National Academies Press, 2020), https://doi.org/10.17226/25585. 
19

Strategies

The problem of attracting and retaining talent is not unique to the semiconductor industry. 

Successful strategies from other industries can be leveraged to increase diversity, improve job 

quality, tap into new pools of worker talent on the sidelines of the labor market, and provide

opportunities for workers to advance their skills and career progression in the industry over time. 

The Department recommends applicants design specific strategies to conduct outreach to

economically disadvantaged individuals and promote diversity, equity, inclusion, and 

accessibility. 

Existing strategies and resources should be leveraged and combined with new ideas and 

partnerships to meet the ambitious workforce development requirements necessary to develop 

and grow the U.S. semiconductor industry. The commitment of financial resources to workforce 

development is critical for attracting and retaining talent. This section includes proven 

government and industry tools as well as suggestions for solutions to be built out by the 

recipient during implementation. 

Work with Partners to Attract New Sources of Talent. Applicants are encouraged to work 

with organizations to conduct outreach to new sources of talent for the semiconductor industry 

and industry-related educational programs. These organizations include, but are not limited to, 

HBCUs, TCUs, MSIs, including Hispanic-Serving Institutions, Public Housing Authorities 

(PHAs), multi-family owners/operators, and Tribally-Designated Housing Entities. There are 

multiple workforce programs intended to reach specific populations whose talents are often 

overlooked, including Job Corps, Reentry Employment Opportunities grantees39 serving 

39 “Reentry Employment Opportunities Grantees,” Employment and Training Administration (U.S. Department of 

Labor, 2023), https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/reentry/grantees. 

Guidance from the NOFO. Describe the overall workforce development system approach 

and key stakeholders, as well as the applicant’s commitments to worker and community 

investments through training and education benefits and identifying programs to expand 

employment opportunities for economically disadvantaged individuals. This should include 

commitments of financial resources of the applicant as well as other non-CHIPS Incentives 

resources to fund this effort in a manner that is sustainable over the long-term. Applicants 

should identify spending by priority (outreach, training, wraparound services, etc.). 

The Department encourages the applicant to address several well-known workplace barriers. 

The workforce plan should reflect commitments to ensuring that all workers have access to a 

safe environment that is free of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation; setting clear 

expectations about workplace conduct and anti-harassment policies, including consequences 

for violating policies; and setting clear procedures for reporting misconduct in the workplace.

The Department also strongly encourages applicants to identify creative recruitment and 

retention strategies to increase the participation of economically disadvantaged individuals. 

Such strategies could include skills-based hiring and removing degree requirements, setting 

diverse hiring slate policies, eliminating personal and demographic information from the hiring 

process, and conducting structured and skills-based interviews. 
20

returning citizens, Jobs for Veterans State Grants,

40 and young-adult oriented YouthBuild41

grants which expose youth to experience in multiple sectors. American Job Centers42 provide 

employment services and training to many jobseekers. Multiple tribes have robust workforce 

development efforts, and many can leverage multiple resources towards a comprehensive 

employment and training plan. The Department of Labor’s ApprenticeshipUSA program

maintains a “Universal Outreach Tool,” an online mechanism for finding organizations in a 

specific geographic location that work with diverse and under-represented populations.43 

Targeted Industry Campaigns. Applicants can increase awareness of the opportunities 

available in the semiconductor industry. Some efforts are already underway to increase 

awareness of and interest in the industry and CHIPS applicants may find opportunities to

participate and contribute to existing efforts.44 Companies can help expose more potential 

students to what it is like to work on the factory floor or in engineering roles in the 

semiconductor industry. In addition to recruitment campaigns, efforts should be made to 

improve working conditions and company culture where needed to adhere to the Good Jobs 

Principles and to make jobseekers aware of those changes. (See in section A.3 of this Guide: 

OMA recruitment campaign kit, SEMI Foundation High Tech U and Industry Image Awareness 

Campaign, BYFA, MxD) 

Job Quality Toolkit. The Department of Commerce Job Quality Toolkit45 is an actionable tool 

that organizations can use to improve the quality of the jobs they offer. The Toolkit is rooted in 

the Department’s Baldrige Excellence Framework46 which has been used for almost four 

decades by organizations around the world to ensure the inclusion of validated leadership and 

management practices to enhance organizational performance and sustainability. Included in 

the Toolkit are recommendations for recruiting, hiring, and promoting practices that will help 

organizations attract and retain employees.47 

 

The Toolkit identifies best practices and includes information on how to implement them. The

guidance for implementation encourages Toolkit users thoughtfully choose and implement the 

practices that best fit their organization, that will be championed by organization leaders, and 

that can be appropriately resourced. 

40 “Hire a Veteran,” Veteran's Employment and Training Service (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023), 

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/vets/employers/hire. 41 “YouthBuild,” Employment and Training Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2023),

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/eta/youth/youthbuild. 42 See section A.4 of this Guide for more information. 43 “Universal Outreach Tool for Recruiting Under-Represented Populations,” ApprenticeshipUSA (U.S. Department of 

Labor, 2023), https://www.apprenticeship.gov/eeo/sponsors/recruit-and-hire/universal-outreach-tool. 44 The National Academies developed a strategy for infusing advanced manufacturing into undergraduate 

engineering education, which could be used to attract STEM undergraduate talent. See National Academies of 

Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, Infusing Advanced Manufacturing into Undergraduate Engineering Education. 

(Washington, DC: The National Academies Press, 2022), https://doi.org/10.17226/26773. 45 “Job Quality Toolkit,” (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 4, 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/work-us/jobquality-toolkit. 46 “Baldrige Excellence Framework,” NIST (U.S. Department of Commerce, February 22, 2023),

https://www.nist.gov/baldrige/publications/baldrige-excellence-framework. 47 “Recruitment & Hiring, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 

2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Recruitment-Hiring-Driver-Job-Quality.pdf. 
21

For example, the Toolkit includes the below strategies regarding recruitment, skills-based hiring, 

and increasing retention. 

Recruit from diverse sources of talent: 

• Actively recruit and track talent from underrepresented communities at universities, 

community colleges, and minority-serving institutions. 

• Offer job shadow programs and internships with local high schools, community colleges, 

Job Corps Centers, workforce intermediaries, or community-based organizations. 

• Highlight inclusive benefits like child care and paid leave in job descriptions. 

• Offer on-ramps to late-career workers. 

• Ensure accessibility in the hiring and promotion process.

Implement skills-based hiring and promotion practices: 

• Limit requirements in job descriptions to “must haves.” 

• Evaluate whether credential and experience requirements in job descriptions are 

necessary and remove four-year and other degree requirements where appropriate. 

• Narrow definitions of relevant prior experience, where appropriate, and count life 

experiences. 

• Consider diverse hiring slate policies and remove personal and demographic information 

from the hiring process. 

• Conduct structured and skills-based interviews. 

• Where negotiation over salary is permitted, institute consistent practices and oversight to 

ensure equity. 

• Eliminate salary history as a basis for screening applicants and setting pay.

Create a formal retention plan for your organization: 

• Ask employees what makes them stay (or would make them stay). Employee surveys 

and focus groups can uncover opportunity blind spots (e.g., workers value more flex time 

over wage increases). Offer flexible benefits, not a “one size fits all” package. 

• Understand and adapt to causes of turnover (i.e., inadequate child care, culture fit, job 

security, benefits, wages). 

• Foster belonging; create a learning environment around the fundamentals of inclusivity 

and a psychologically safe workplace. 

• Plan for succession as part of career development; be strategic about apprenticeships 

and cross-training to prepare more junior workers for senior positions. 

• Ensure all workers have a well-articulated path for learning and performance milestones.

Skills-Based Hiring. Research shows that basing hiring decisions on skills leads to better job 

outcomes for workers and employers alike.

48 Applicants may consider defining work roles and 

48 Beth Berwick and Annaliese Calhoun, “Skills-Based Hiring Is Just The Beginning,” Forbes (Forbes Magazine, 

December 1, 2022), https://www.forbes.com/sites/gradsoflife/2022/12/01/skills-based-hiring-is-just-thebeginning/?sh=7fa69f233964; Hunter, J. E. "Hunter. RF (1984). Validity and utility of alternative predictors of job 

performance." Psychological Bulletin 96, no. 1 (8): 72-98.
22

base hiring decisions on workers’ skills, rather than the degrees they possess. There are 

several reasons skills-based hiring can improve recruitment and retention efforts:

• Allows organizations to recruit from pools of workers with adjacent skill sets, building a 

team on which workers complement one another’s strengthens and can help train one 

another. Demonstrated proficiency in one skillset can signal that workers have the 

potential to learn an adjacent skillset, facilitating re-skilling and upskilling efforts.49 

• Gives employers and job seekers a common language by defining job requirements 

using a commonly accepted competency model—such as the SemiconductorNanotechnology Manufacturing Competency Model—which improves transparency and 

aligns expectations.

• Allows workers to more easily re-skill or upskill to new opportunities along career 

pathways because it is clear what skills they must learn to qualify for different positions 

within the organizations.50 51

Set Goals and Measure Progress. Set and publicly communicate company or project 

recruitment and retention goals, including for workplace diversity. Measure the baseline metric 

or metrics for the company’s or project’s workforce, and track and share progress toward stated 

goals. (See in section A.3 of this Guide: SEMI Foundation Roadmap to Diversity, Equity, and 

Inclusion which includes strategies and self-assessment tools to increase recruitment and 

retention of a diverse semiconductor workforce; also see in section 3.3 of this Guide: Good Jobs 

Principles, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility) 

3.3 Good Jobs Principles Approach

Applicants should create jobs that align with the Good Jobs Principles—good jobs help 

employers become more competitive by attracting and retaining talent; good jobs also provide 

stability, economic security, and shared prosperity for American workers. 

49 “To Support the US Semiconductor Industry, Hire for Skills and Potential,” Eightfold (Eightfold.ai, January 4, 2022), 

https://eightfold.ai/blog/semiconductor-hire-forskills/#:~:text=In%20the%20semiconductor%20industry%2C%20several,%2C%20Simulink%2C%20and%20algorith

m%20design. 50 For a primer on how federal funds are used to advance the American workforce system, see: “A Guide to the 

American Workforce System,” Nexight Group (Nexight Group, November 2020), 

https://nexightgroup.com/case-studies/workforce-primer/. 51 The Career Pathways Toolkit generated by the Departments of Education and Labor and other agencies serves as 

a guide for anyone involved in workforce preparation to understand how to build and support career pathways, which 

can help improve upward mobility and identify opportunities for training and upskilling outstanding employees. See:

“Career Pathways Toolkit: An Enhanced Guide and Workbook for System Development,” Workforce GPS (U.S. 

Department of Education, October 20, 2016).

https://careerpathways.workforcegps.org/resources/2016/10/20/10/11/Enhanced_Career_Pathways_Toolkit. 

Guidance from the NOFO. The Departments of Labor and Commerce’s Good Jobs 

Principles provide a framework to ensure semiconductor facility jobs are high quality. The 

workforce development plan should describe the applicant’s approach to meet these 

principles for newly created jobs and to increase job quality for existing jobs at expanded 

facilities. Additional details on the dimensions of job-quality are available on Department of 

Commerce’s website. 
23

Good jobs are the foundation of an equitable economy that lifts up workers and families and 

makes businesses more competitive globally. The Departments of Commerce and Labor

partnered to develop Good Jobs Principles, which create a framework for workers, businesses, 

labor unions, advocates, researchers, state and local governments, and federal agencies for a 

shared vision of job quality.52 CHIPS Incentives Program applicants are expected to incorporate 

aspects of this framework into their workforce development plans, as stated in the NOFO, to 

ensure jobs to construct, expand, modernize, and operate semiconductor facilities are high 

quality.

53 Each applicant should commit to appropriate investments to recruit, train, hire, retain, 

and upskill workers in good jobs. 

The Good Jobs Principles cover eight core concepts: 

Recruitment and Hiring: Qualified applicants are actively recruited–including those from 

underserved communities. Applicants are free from discrimination, including unequal treatment 

or application of selection criteria that are unrelated to job performance. Applicants are 

evaluated with relevant skills-based requirements. Unnecessary educational, credentials and 

experience requirements are minimized.

Benefits: Full-time and part-time workers are provided family-sustaining benefits that promote 

economic security and mobility. These include health insurance, a retirement plan, workers’ 

compensation benefits, work-family benefits such as paid leave and caregiving supports, and 

others that may arise from engagement with workers. Workers are empowered and encouraged 

to use these benefits.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA): All workers have equal opportunity. 

Workers are respected, empowered, and treated fairly. DEIA is a core value and practiced norm 

in the workplace. Individuals from underserved communities do not face systemic barriers in the 

workplace. Underserved communities are persons adversely affected by persistent poverty, 

discrimination, or inequality, including Black, Indigenous, people of color; LGBTQ+ individuals; 

women; immigrants; veterans; individuals with disabilities; individuals in rural communities; 

individuals without a college degree; individuals with or recovering from substance use disorder; 

and justice-involved individuals.

Empowerment and Representation: Workers can form and join unions. Workers can engage 

in protected, concerted activity without fear of retaliation. Workers contribute to decisions about 

their work, how it is performed, and organizational direction.

Job Security and Working Conditions: Workers have a safe, healthy, and accessible 

workplace, built on input from workers and their representatives. Workers have job security 

without arbitrary or discriminatory discipline or dismissal. They have adequate hours and 

predictable schedules. The use of electronic monitoring, data, and algorithms is transparent, 

52 “Good Jobs Principles,” U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. Department of Commerce and U.S. Department of Labor, 

2022), https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/goodjobs/Good-Jobs-Summit-Principles-Factsheet.pdf. 53 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 50-51. https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/viewopportunity.html?oppId=346349
24

equitable, and carefully deployed with input from workers. Workers are free from harassment, 

discrimination, and retaliation at work. Workers are properly classified under applicable laws. 

Temporary or contractor labor solutions are minimized.

Organizational Culture: All workers belong, are valued, contribute meaningfully to the 

organization, and are engaged and respected especially by leadership.

Pay: All workers are paid a stable and predictable living wage before overtime, tips, and 

commissions. Workers’ pay is fair, transparent, and equitable. Workers’ wages increase with 

increased skills and experience.

Skills and Career Advancement: Workers have equitable opportunities and tools to progress 

to future good jobs within their organizations or outside them. Workers have transparent 

promotion or advancement opportunities. Workers have access to quality employer- or labormanagement-provided training and education.

For the last principle—skills and career advancement—workers access to career pathways, 

including youth and young workers, is essential. The Workforce Innovation Opportunity Act 

(WIOA) of 201454 defines a career pathway as “a combination of rigorous and high-quality 

education, training, or other services that:

• Aligns with the skill needs of industries in the economy of the state or regional economy 

involved.

• Prepares an individual to be successful in any of a full range of secondary or 

postsecondary education options, including Registered Apprenticeships.

• Includes counseling to support an individual in achieving the individual’s education and 

career goals.

• Includes, as appropriate, education offered concurrently with and in the same context as 

workforce preparation activities and training for a specific occupation or occupational 

cluster.

• Organizes education, training, and other services to meet the needs of an individual in a 

manner that accelerates the educational and career advancement of the individual to the 

extent practicable. 

• Enables an individual to attain a secondary school diploma or its recognized equivalent, 

and at least one recognized postsecondary credential.

• Helps an individual enter or advance within a specific occupation or occupational 

cluster.”55

See section A.2 of this Guide for information on how to apply these principles to workforce 

development activities.

54 Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act 29 U.S.C ch.32 §3102(7) (2014). 55 “Career Pathways Systems,” PCRN: Career Pathways Systems (U.S. Department of Education, 2014), 

https://cte.ed.gov/initiatives/career-pathways-systems. 
25

3.4 Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

The Department estimates that as a result of ongoing ambitions to dramatically increase chip 

production in the United States, an estimated additional 90,000 manufacturing workers will be 

needed in the semiconductor industry by the end of the decade.56

56 This datapoint comes from an internal estimate of the CHIPS Program Office.

Guidance from the NOFO. The workforce development plan should include commitments to 

provide workforce training to address the applicant’s needs. These commitments should 

include programming for training and job placement, including for economically 

disadvantaged individuals and underrepresented groups in the semiconductor industry. The 

Department expects applicants to develop such strategies in concert with their partners. The 

Department also expects that applicants may need to make additional training commitments 

as their efforts progress based on changing workforce needs.

Where possible, the applicant should identify existing, successful training programs that can 

be scaled and adapted to meet the applicant’s needs, as well as their use of work-and-learn 

training models. To demonstrate satisfaction of the statutory requirement that the applicant 

secure “commitments from regional educational and training entities and institutions of higher 

education to provide workforce training, including programming for training and job placement 

of economically disadvantaged individuals,” the applicant must also attach letters of 

commitment from education and training entities and institutions that detail the specific tasks 

they will perform in support of the workforce plan and the resources that will be provided, 

including, but not limited to, programming for training and job placement of economically 

disadvantaged individuals. 

Applicants should make commitments to hiring individuals who complete training programs, 

and should also strongly consider partnering with programs that train workers with the 

needed skills and then provide career pathways that lead to good jobs (such as Registered 

Apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeships with a strong relationship with one or more Registered 

Apprenticeship programs, other programs at community and technical colleges with 

successful track records of putting students on the path to good jobs, career pathways 

programs in high schools, and other paid work-based learning). Applicants may also consider 

how they can partner with such programs and provide real-world, hands-on work-based 

learning opportunities to secondary and postsecondary students interested in the 

semiconductor industry and to workers interested in career advancement. 

Finally, as part of their description of training commitments, applicants must describe any 

wraparound services and other barrier reductions they or their partners will provide to support 

facility workers’ access to and completion of training, as well as transition into and 

progression in a job (such as adult care, child care, transportation assistance, housing 

assistance, emergency cash assistance, language support, tools, uniforms, equipment, 

application fees, and services like mentorships that aim to help retain workers, etc.).
26

Workforce training has traditionally focused on degree programs, rather than skills and 

competencies, and has largely struggled to adapt to changing skill needs brought on by 

technological change. As CHIPS investments grow, U.S. semiconductor education and

workforce training efforts are better served through an approach that is skills-based, scalable, 

and adaptable to changing industry needs. 

With their sectoral partners, CHIPS applicants should identify the training programs most 

appropriate for their unique project and longer-term needs. The Department recognizes that 

there are many training models and programs available to employers. This section presents 

models that have proven to be effective in meeting the skills needs of employers while also 

creating good jobs for American workers. 

Research has found that access to wraparound supportive services, like child care and 

transportation, both attracts job seekers and workers to training programs and helps them 

persist to completion. Training strategies that are both responsive and closely connected to the 

needs of employers and include access to wraparound supportive services can help to ensure 

that businesses have the trained workforce they need.

3.4.1 Training

Applicants should provide workforce training options to recruit, train, hire, and upskill the

workers required for the success of proposed CHIPS projects but should also identify training 

programs they will use to increase worker productivity and retention and contribute to the 

sustainability of the domestic semiconductor workforce. 

In this effort, reskilling and upskilling programs could play a key role. Assessment questions and 

strategies are provided in this section to identify, scale, and develop workforce training 

programs that meet the Department’s Good Jobs Principles and can meet the oncoming 

demand.

Strategies

The Department recommends applicants consider the strategies below to meet their workforce 

training needs.

Incorporate Registered Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships. Registered 

Apprenticeship programs and pre-apprenticeship programs that have an established 

relationship with one or more Registered Apprenticeship programs have a proven track record 

of providing strong results for both employers and workers and can help provide a pipeline for 

women, people of color, veterans, individuals from rural communities, formerly incarcerated 

individuals, people with disabilities, opportunity youth, and individuals from other 

underrepresented groups to participate in the semiconductor workforce. Support for such 

programs could come through public housing authorities with service coordination or case 

management to complement efforts. 
27

Ninety-three percent of individuals who complete a Registered Apprenticeship program retain 

employment with an average annual salary of $77,000.57 Further, recent evaluation that 

Registered Apprenticeship can be an effective strategy for earnings growth and career on-ramp 

for individuals from underserved communities.

58 Furthermore, employers experience a positive 

return on investment to apprenticeships. For every $100 an employer invests in RA, they can 

receive $144.30 in total benefits.59 

The Department of Labor Office of Apprenticeship provides a website as a one-stop source to 

connect career seekers, employers, and education partners with Registered Apprenticeship 

resources and includes unique tools such as partner finder, occupations finder, and standards 

builder to accelerate partnerships and accelerate development of new programs.

60 

The Department of Labor also invests in national Registered Apprenticeship technical 

assistance centers and workforce industry intermediaries to build employer and organizational 

capacity to launch and scale programs in existing, new and emerging industries. For example, 

the Department of Labor funds the National Institute for Innovation and Talent (NIIT) to serve as 

a national intermediary and they support a national strategy to attract, train, and retain talent in 

nanotechnology and semiconductors using registered apprenticeships and other strategies.

(See in section A.3 of this Guide: U.S. DOL Registered Apprenticeship, IMT, NIIT, IUE-CWA,

SEMI Foundation) 

Incorporate other work and learn models 

Applicants are encouraged to explore how other training programs using “work and learn” 

models might be incorporated.61 Work and learn models vary across the spectrum, from low 

touch (less structured) to high touch (very structured). Some examples of work and learn 

models beyond Registered Apprenticeships and pre-apprenticeships are (from low touch to high 

touch): career fair/expos, industry tours, job shadowing, externship, paid work experience or 

transitional jobs, mentorships, clinical training/practicum, return ship, on-the-job training, 

internship, and cooperative education/co-op.62 

Low touch work and learn models require less engagement/fewer resources from the employer, 

while high touch work and learn models require high engagement/more resources from the 

employer. In essence, the structure is determined by a participant's general career knowledge 

57 “Explore Registered Apprenticeship,” ApprenticeshipUSA (U.S. Department of Labor, August 2022), 

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/sites/default/files/dol-industry-factsheet-apprenticeship101-v10.pdf. 58 “Evaluation of the American Apprenticeship Initiative (AAI),” ApprenticeshipUSA (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.),

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/evaluation-american-apprenticeship-initiative-aai. 59 Siobhan Mills De La Rosa, Daniel Kuehn, Robert Lerman, and Kevin Hollenbeck, “Do Employers Earn Positive 

Returns to Investments in Apprenticeship? Evidence from Registered Programs under the American Apprenticeship 

Initiative,” American Apprenticeship Initiative (U.S. Department of Labor, October 26, 2022),

https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/details.cfm?q=&id=2727. 60 “ApprenticeshipUSA” (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), https://www.apprenticeship.gov/. 61 Anthony P. Carnevale, Nicole Smith, Michelle Melton, and Eric W. Price, “Learning While Earning: The New 

Normal,” Center on Education and the Workforce (Georgetown University, 2015),

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED574376.pdf; Annelies Goger, “Desegregating work and learning through ‘earn and 

learn’ models” Brookings Institution (Brookings Institution, December 9, 2020), 

https://www.brookings.edu/research/desegregating-work-and-learning. 62 Maisha Meminger, “Paid and Unpaid Work Experience,” WorkforceGPS (U.S. Department of Labor, January 19, 

2017), https://youth.workforcegps.org/resources/2017/01/19/14/27/Paid-and-Unpaid-Work-Experience.
28

to full immersion in an industry or career. The principles of a work and learn model can be 

adapted to the unique needs of workers and employers by, for example, paying for education 

and training programs or affording paid time off for classes or studying for relevant degrees. 

Providing work and learn programs for existing workers can help bridge skill gaps created by 

technological change and help high achieving workers advance. (See in section A.3 of this 

Guide: FAME, New Manufacturing Alliance, OMA Tools for Earn-and-Learn Programs) 

Partner with community colleges and technical colleges. Community and technical colleges

are in every community, provide pathways to career and workforce education and training 

aligned to in-demand sectors, and serve as a hub for workforce development in local 

communities. In addition to providing high-quality occupational certificates, associate and, in 

some cases, bachelor’s degrees, community and technical colleges can administer career and 

technical education programs, offer programs of study that meet the needs of a diverse array of 

students, and coordinate appropriate wrap around services for its students. Community colleges

are eligible for Federal funding through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act and can 

actively support skilling, reskilling, and upskilling workers in skills needed in the semiconductor 

industry.63 Many jobs in the semiconductor workforce, such as technicians and inspectors, 

require specialized skills that do not require a four-year degree. Community colleges play a 

fundamental role in Registered Apprenticeship programs by developing and administrating 

curricula and experimental learning opportunities that meet specific industry needs. Several 

community colleges have also made open educational resources available including in the 

semiconductor sector.64 (See in section A.3 of this Guide: AJC Community College Finder, 

MNT-EC, Semiconductor Technician Quick Start Program, NSF, CSCC)

Establish strong career pathways. Applicants should strongly consider partnering with 

programs that train workers with the needed skills, then provide career pathways that lead to 

good jobs Providing on-the-job pathways for entry-level production workers to skill up into midlevel classifications and offer wage progression may help businesses retain workers. Resources 

on understanding career pathways and using common competency models for career pathways 

are discussed in section 3.2 of this Guide. Additionally, applicants can look to data on “feeder 

occupations” with adjacent or relevant skills sets to better understand potential paths for 

workers.65 (See in section A.3 of this Guide: NIIT, NSER) 

Build and scale career technical education programs for high school students and other 

learners. Career Technical Education (CTE) prepares high school, postsecondary, and adult 

learners with the academic and technical skills, knowledge, and training necessary to succeed 

63 “WIOA-Eligible Training Program Finder,” CareerOneStop (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023), 

https://www.careeronestop.org/LocalHelp/EmploymentAndTraining/find-WIOA-training-programs.aspx. 64 “SkilsCommons,” U.S. Department of Labor (U.S. Department of Labor, 2023), 

www.skillscommons.org. 65 See: Deena Schwartz, et al., “Building Better Pathways: An Analysis of Career Trajectories and Occupational 

Transitions,” U.S. Department of Labor, Chief Evaluation Officer (U.S. Department of Labor, December 2021), 

https://wdr.doleta.gov/research/FullText_Documents/Building%20Better%20Pathways_CTOT_Final%20Report.pdf; 

“Career Trajectories and Occupational Transitions Dashboard,” Office of the Assistant Secretary for Policy, 

Department of Labor (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.),

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/oasp/evaluation/resources/career-trajectories-and-occupational-transitions-dashboard. 

For information on adjacent skills in the semiconductor industry, see: “Specializing in Semiconductors,” Lightcast

(Lightcast.io, August 2022), https://lightcast.io/resources/blog/specializing-in-semiconductors. 
29

in future careers and to become lifelong learners.66 Successful high school CTE programs can 

position students to enter the workforce with a base of skills that position them well for job 

training programs with employers. CTE prepares these learners for the world of work by 

introducing them to career competencies and makes academic content accessible to students 

by providing it in a hands-on context.67 Applicants may offer externships to CTE teachers to 

earn semiconductor industry certification to keep up with current skills and knowledge in the 

industry. Applicants may also work with schools to adapt curricula to continuously meet industry 

needs. Applicants may also consider providing CTE programs with labs, equipment, and other 

resources to provide students with hands-on semiconductor industry experience. (See in section 

A.3 of this Guide: Advance CTE, MCC Semiconductor Technician Quick Start Program, NSER, 

Alexandria Public Schools CTE: Technology Education68)

Establish education-to-workplace manufacturing pipelines. Many work roles in the 

semiconductor field do not require a postsecondary degree but provide higher than average 

wages. Applicants may consider partnering with local high schools, especially technical high 

schools, Job Corps Centers, community colleges, WIOA Youth Programs, and American Job 

Centers to bring awareness and training programs to all young people, including opportunity 

youth. Registered Apprenticeship programs for youth between the ages of 16-24 combine 

academic and technical classroom instruction with work experience.69 Applicants may 

cooperate with existing CTE programs to provide experiential learning opportunities and 

establish paid internships and school-to-work programs for high school students as pathways to 

full-time positions post-graduation. (See in section A.3 of this Guide: NSF, NextFlex FlexFactor

and Flex2Future, PowerAmerica) 

Partner with unions. Collective bargaining and other labor-management partnerships enable 

businesses of all sizes to work with their employees’ unions to address job training, safety and 

health, technology, and other key issues.70 Labor-management partnerships can facilitate 

recruitment and provide access to stable careers with wage and skill progression, enforceable 

rights, and a voice at work. Joint labor-management training programs can enhance job quality 

and help ensure a stable supply of talent for employers; broad-based economic growth in local 

communities; diversity, equity, and inclusion; and accessibility in the workplace. (See in section 

A.3 of this Guide: CWA) 

Partner with state and local workforce boards. Partnering with state and local workforce 

boards presents a unique opportunity to design, scale, or implement concrete workforce 

strategies at local, regional, or the state level. Workforce boards are critical partners in helping 

to meet workforce needs; they are business-led and work together to support collaboration with 

economic development areas and ensure that career pathways, sector strategies, and 

66 “Updated: Advanced Manufacturing Sector Sheet,” CTE Policy Watch (ACTE, June 30, 2021),

https://ctepolicywatch.acteonline.org/2021/06/updated-advanced-manufacturing-sector-sheet.html. 67 “Career Technical Education,” AdvanceCTE (AdvanceCTE, n.d.), https://careertech.org/CTE. 68 “CTE: Technology Education,” Alexandria City Public Schools (Alexandria City Public Schools, 2023),

https://acps.cleancatalog.net/cte-technology-education. 69 “Youth Apprenticeship,” ApprenticeshipUSA (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.),

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/educators/youth-apprenticeship. 70 “Labor Management Partnerships,” (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), 

https://www.dol.gov/general/workcenter/labor-management-partnerships. 
30

expansion of Registered Apprenticeships and other work and learn career training approaches 

address the needs of businesses in diverse industries.

71

Furthermore, by leveraging innovative training approaches and leveraging WIOA, state and 

local workforce boards are uniquely positioned to implement workforce specific training 

strategies. These strategies include: 1) Classroom or online training for individuals 2) On-the-job 

training for individuals 3) Cohort Training 4) Registered Apprenticeship programs 5) Incumbent 

worker training and 6) Customized training. In addition, state and local workforce boards are 

uniquely positioned to support wrap-around and supportive services through WIOA. 

Provide flexible, tailored training opportunities to skill, reskill, and upskill. Flexible job 

training opportunities offered virtually and onsite can help further develop workers’ skills and 

prepare them for taking on additional responsibilities in the future.72 Applicants may choose to

employ work and learn models by offering benefits such as tuition assistance and sponsorship 

for relevant coursework. This approach can help remove barriers for workers looking to take 

advantage of training opportunities and can make these opportunities more accessible for all 

workers. 

Provide equipment. In addition to wraparound services, providing laptops and digital devices

required onsite or for training programs, as well as personal protective equipment in all sizes to 

workers of all genders, can reduce the financial barriers for individuals seeking to join trades 

and/or workforce development programs.73

3.4.2 Wraparound Services

Wraparound services include, but are not limited to, transportation, housing, high-speed 

internet, child care and eldercare, parental leave, loan forgiveness, and mentorship and 

employee cohort programs. Applicants may provide wraparound services to improve 

recruitment, access, and retention into workforce development programs and employment 

arrangements. The availability of wraparound services during training and in the initial entry to a 

new job has been shown to be a key factor in attracting and retaining students and employees 

during education, training, and initial entry into a new job.

74 

Strategies

The Department recommends the following strategies to execute appropriate and successful

wraparound supportive services. 

71 “What is a Workforce Development Board?” produced by National Association of Workforce Boards (YouTube, 

April 9, 2021), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juAXERBRolM. 72 “Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 2022), 

www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Job-Quality-Toolkit.pdf. 73 “Identify, Train, Place: A Playbook to Build Tomorrow’s Highway Construction Workforce,” Federal Highway 

Administration (U.S. Department of Transportation, February 2021), 

https://www.fhwa.dot.gov/innovativeprograms/centers/workforce_dev/hcwp/pdfs/hcwp_playbook.pdf. 74 Gaye D. Ceyhan et al., “The Socialization and Retention of Low-Income College Students: The Impact of a WrapAround Intervention,” International Journal of Higher Education 8, no. 6 (2019): 249-261. 

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/EJ1234479.pdf; Darnell Cole, Christopher B. Newman, and Liane I. Hypolite, “Sense of 

Belonging and Mattering Among Two Cohorts of First-Year Students Participating in a Comprehensive College 

Transition Program,” American Behavioral Scientist 54, no. 3 (2019): 276–297.

https://doi.org/10.1177/0002764219869417. 
31

Assess worker needs holistically. Assessment of employee needs for wraparound 

intervention should be done both at a community and individual level. Applicants may work with

local organizations and sector partners to understand community-wide needs that may affect all 

workers (e.g., lack of public transportation). To understand existing worker needs, applicants 

may consider a variety of feedback mechanisms including working groups or surveys.75

Find local partners. Partnering with local organizations, including sectoral partners, can help 

applicants understand what needs for wraparound services are generally present in the 

community as well as what services may already be available from government and nonprofit 

organizations to fill these gaps. State and local workforce boards are unique partners with 

funding for supportive services through WIOA. Applicants may consider providing financial and 

logistical support to existing successful programs, when possible, in conjunction with targeted 

programs managed by the applicant to maximize the support. 

Tailor wraparound services to specific groups and individuals. Different individuals will 

require different wraparound services for success, and the needs of an individual may change 

with shifts in their work situation (e.g., hours of work) or personal situation (e.g., caregiving 

responsibilities). 

Develop ongoing communication and assessment. Applicants should prepare to engage in 

ongoing assessment and communication with all stakeholders to ensure wraparound services 

continue to be appropriate and successful. 

3.5 Metrics and Milestones

The outcomes of workforce development efforts and training programs must be measured so 

that successful programs can be scaled, and less successful programs can be modified to 

improve outcomes. The ability to measure outcomes starts with setting SMART workforce 

development goals: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time-Bound. 

• Specific goals consider the findings of the workforce needs assessment, including 

workforce demographics, goals currently in use, and barriers that affect the plan. 

• Measurable goals to track workforce progress and measure success, such as by 

tracking workforce expansion, workforce demographics, the number of potential hires 

enrolled in training programs, etc. 

• Attainable goals consider timelines, resources, partner capacity, and skills available to 

ensure that goals are doable, such as considering funding limitations and the current 

state of workforce demographics. 

• Relevant goals ensure that all planned workforce objectives and targets align properly 

with the broader workforce plan, including requirements and additional guidance. 

• Time-bound goals need to comply with project timelines.

75 Patricia Miles and Neil Brown, “Wraparound Implementation Guide: A Handbook For Administrators and 

Managers,” The National Wraparound Initiative (Portland State University, 2011),

https://nwi.pdx.edu/pdf/ImplementationGuide-Complete.pdf. 
32

Strategies

As noted above, the Department will provide specific guidance on the metrics it will collect from 

CHIPS Incentives Program recipients at the time of award and during post-award. 

For the workforce development plan, applicants must list major workforce development planning 

milestones with an expected timeline. Applicants may wish to share current workforce data 

collection activities and evaluation strategies, as well as new data collection or evaluation 

processes they plan to enact to measure progress toward achievement of their workforce 

development goals and quality of training workforce training programs.

For long-term success of workforce development efforts and to sustain successful efforts, 

applicants may consider working with their partners to develop success measures and 

milestones for workforce development efforts. Suggested activities include:

• Developing an understanding of the baseline workforce in the state, using data from the 

workforce analysis, including workforce demographics. 

• Establishing and tracking success measures to monitor progress towards workforce 

development plan goals. Applicants may incorporate existing metrics already identified 

through the workforce landscape analysis. 

• Creating early feedback loops on recruiting numbers, training completion, job 

persistence numbers, and the use and type of wraparound services to help focus and 

deepen recruiting efforts, training supports, and initial employment practices. 

• Regularly reassessing workforce strategies and activities based on reported 

performance metrics for program quality improvement.

• Working to develop an internal measure of return on investment to employee training.

Guidance from the NOFO. In addition, the workforce development plan must include 

the core milestones the program aspires to achieve (with timing), as well as metrics 

and processes to measure, track, and report publicly on the goals and commitments. 

CHIPS Incentives awardees will be expected to collect real-time, granular data that 

will inform the evaluation of their workforce efforts and to help track the success of 

their workforce commitments. Applicants will also be expected to make data publicly 

available in a form that protects individual worker information, including personally 

identifiable information. The Department will provide additional guidance on metrics at 

the time of award. At a minimum, applicants should be prepared to describe and 

subsequently report:

• Metrics and plan to collect demographically disaggregated data on outreach, 

recruitment, hiring, education, and outcomes (including job placement and wages) of 

skills training programs and upskilling efforts.

• Disaggregated data on the demographics of the workforce, including breakdowns of 

work hours, wages, benefits, and other measures of job quality.

• How data will be collected so that it can be evaluated in real time and the means of 

accountability, such as any reporting to key stakeholders.
33

• Making aggregate workforce data public, including information on demonstrating good 

faith efforts for recruiting, retaining, and advancing individuals from underserved 

communities. 

Applicants may view high-level narratives of the Economic Development Administration

(EDA) Build Back Better Regional Challenge awardees and the Good Jobs Challenge 

awardees for examples of applicant success metrics.76 Applicants may also view the EDA

Good Jobs Challenge’s Workforce Data Collection questionnaire.77

76 “$1B Build Back Better Regional Challenge Finalists,” Economic Development Administration (U.S. Department of 

Commerce, 2023), https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/build-back-better/finalists; “Good 

Jobs Challenge Awardees,” Economic Development Administration (U.S. Department of Commerce, 2023), 

https://www.eda.gov/funding/programs/american-rescue-plan/good-jobs-challenge/awardees. 77 “EDA Workforce Data Collection Instrument,” Economic Development Association (U.S. Department of Commerce, 

June 9, 2022), https://omb.report/omb/0610-0109. 
34

4. Construction Workforce Plan 

Applicants should incorporate the five aspects of facility plan identified in Section 3 into their 

construction workforce plan: workforce needs assessment; worker recruitment and retention; 

Good Jobs Principles approach; workforce training and wraparound services; and metrics and 

milestones. In addition, there are several unique considerations that apply in the context of the 

construction workforce. 

Applicants should be aware that federal contractors and subcontractors must comply with 

certain equal employment opportunity requirements enforced by the Department of Labor’s 

Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, including requirements related to recruitment, 

data collection and analysis, and hiring.78 This section also describes specific actions that 

applicants may take to advance the objectives of the CHIPS program. 

78 The US Department of Labor’s Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (OFCCP) holds those who do 

business with the federal government (contractors and subcontractors) responsible for complying with the legal 

Guidance from the NOFO. With respect to the construction and expansion of the facilities, 

each applicant will be required to submit a construction workforce plan that includes a 

detailed description of the steps that will be taken by the applicant and their construction 

partners to recruit, hire, train, and retain a diverse and skilled construction workforce. As part 

of this plan, applicants should describe their approach to worker recruitment and retention, 

including efforts to include women and other economically disadvantaged individuals in the 

construction industry; a strategy for creating good jobs; and engagement with community 

partners, such as labor unions, workforce development organizations, and others. 

Applicants must also provide a detailed description of the steps that will be taken by the 

applicant and their construction partners to recruit, hire, train, and retain a diverse and skilled 

construction workforce, including any steps to expand employment opportunity for 

economically disadvantaged individuals. The plan should include the elements of a workforce 

plan discussed above: 1) Workforce needs assessment; 2) Worker recruitment and retention; 

3) Good Jobs Principles approach; 4) Workforce training and wraparound services; and 5) 

Metrics and milestones. 

Accordingly, the plan should include the identification of the number of jobs needed by 

craft/position type and where expected gaps may exist. The plan should also include 

identification of existing programs that successfully train diverse populations and that can be 

scaled appropriately before construction begins and as construction in ongoing, including 

high-quality apprenticeship readiness programs and Registered Apprenticeships. Applicants 

are strongly encouraged to provide wraparound services for construction workers to complete 

training and be retained on the construction site (such as adult care, transportation 

assistance, language support, tools, uniforms, appropriately sized safety gear and equipment, 

and services like mentorship that aim to help retain workers, etc.). The plan should also 

include specific details about the percentage of labor hours expected to be performed by 

registered apprentices. 
35

4.1 Project Labor Agreements

Project labor agreements (PLAs) are pre-hire collective bargaining agreements negotiated 

between one or more construction unions and one or more construction employers 

(contractors/project owners) that establish the terms and conditions of employment for a specific 

construction project. 

Why Do PLAs Support CHIPS Goals? PLAs are beneficial for successful implementation of 

large, complex construction projects for which efficient and timely procurement is essential, 

such as those that will be funded by the CHIPS Act. These projects often have multiple 

employers at a single location and a lack of permanent workforce, which makes it difficult for 

contractors to predict labor costs when bidding on contracts and to ensure that a steady supply 

of labor exists on the contracts being performed. Additionally, a labor dispute involving one 

employer can delay the entire project. As a result, lack of coordination among various 

employers, or uncertainty about the employment terms and conditions of various groups of 

workers, can create friction and disputes in the absence of an agreed-upon resolution 

mechanism. 

PLAs provide the structure and stability needed to reduce uncertainties for all parties connected 

to a large-scale construction project. These pre-hire agreements help secure the skilled and 

trained workforce required to complete a high-quality project on schedule. They also generally 

prevent labor disputes (and related delays) on projects by preventing strikes and lockouts. PLAs 

can also encourage increased veteran participation, apprentice utilization, local hiring, and the 

employment of women and people from underserved communities. 

requirement to take affirmative action and not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sex, sexual orientation, gender 

identity, religion, national origin, disability, or status as a protected veteran. In addition, contractors and 

subcontractors are prohibited from discharging or otherwise discriminating against applicants or employees who 

inquire about, discuss or disclose their compensation or that of others, subject to certain limitations. See: “OFCCP at 

a Glance,” Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (U.S. Department of Labor, August 1, 2019), 

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/CAGuides/files/At-A-Glance-WEB_080119_CONTR508c.pdf. 
36

Best Practices for Project Labor Agreements. The existence of a project labor agreement 

indicates that a project will have the skilled labor and coordination needed to execute on a 

complex construction project. In addition, applicants should consider consulting several model 

PLAs as they negotiate with potential partners.

79 By crafting a PLA using best practices, 

applicants will have better capabilities to deliver projects on-time and at-cost. 

79 See for example: “The National Construction Agreement,” North American Contractors Association and North 

America’s Building Trades Unions (North America’s Building Trades Unions, May 2019), 

https://nabtu.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/National-Construction-Agreement-Revised-05-01-19.pdf. 

“City of Portland Community Benefits Agreement,” City of Portland (City of Portland, February 2020), 

https://www.oregon.gov/odot/equity/Documents/City%20of%20Portland%20PLA%20Template.pdf. 

“Project Labor Agreement Covering Design-Build New Construction, Renovation & Rehabilitation of City Owned 

Buildings and Structures 2021-2023,” City of New York (City of New York, November 15, 2021),

https://www.nyc.gov/assets/mocs/downloads/pdf/2021_Vertical_DB_PLA%20_Agency_Solicitation_Version.pdf. 

Guidance from the NOFO. The Department strongly encourages the use of project labor 

agreements (PLA) in connection with construction projects. Applicants that commit to using 

best-practice project labor agreements will generally be likely to produce a construction 

workforce plan that meets the criteria in this NOFO. By contrast, applicants that do not 

commit to using a PLA will be required to submit workforce continuity plans and show that 

they have taken other measures to reduce the risk of delays in project delivery.

If an applicant proceeds without a PLA, the applicant must instead provide a project 

workforce continuity plan, detailing:

• Steps taken and to be taken to ensure the project has ready access to a sufficient 

supply of appropriately skilled and unskilled labor to ensure construction is completed 

in a competent manner throughout the life of the project, including a description of any 

required professional certifications and/or in-house training, Registered 

Apprenticeships or labor-management partnership training programs, and 

partnerships with entities like unions, community colleges, or community-based 

groups; 

• Steps taken and to be taken to minimize risks of labor disputes and disruptions that 

would jeopardize timeliness and cost-effectiveness of the project; 

• Steps taken and to be taken to avoid workplace illnesses, injuries, and fatalities, 

including descriptions of safety training, certification, and/or licensure requirements for 

all relevant workers (e.g., OSHA 10, OSHA 30, confined space, traffic control, or other 

training required of workers employed by contractors), the use of workplace safety 

committees, and whether the applicant commits to allowing employees to specify a 

worker or union representative to accompany any OSHA inspectors during any 

inspections of the construction project; 

• Steps taken and to be taken to ensure that workers on the Project receive wages and 

benefits sufficient to secure an appropriately skilled workforce in the context of the 

local or regional labor market.
37

Applicants utilizing a PLA should therefore strongly consider how their PLA addresses each of 

the following best practices80 for PLA agreements: 

• Timely hiring. It is imperative that CHIPS projects proceed in a timely fashion and are 

uninterrupted by labor stoppages. Best-practice PLAs have language that commits 

unions to make available skilled workers quickly, such that worker absences do not lead 

to delay. 

• Recruitment of workers from outside the region. Local unions have arrangements 

through their international parent organizations to allow for workers from other areas to 

work on a project when the local labor force is insufficient. With adequate notice, even 

large projects can recruit a labor force of diverse workers with established employment 

records from around the nation. 

• Dispute resolution procedures. One of the major upsides of a PLA is that it can 

include mechanisms to limit disputes and quickly resolve any issues between 

management and labor. Best-practices PLAs have no-strike/no-lockout language, as 

well as other dispute resolution processes, such as (1) a “traditional” three step 

grievance/arbitration procedure; (2) a procedure for the settlement of jurisdictional 

disputes, and (3) an expedited arbitration procedure. Each of these processes has

proven to be highly effective in preventing disruptions on worksites. 

• Harmonization of working hours. CHIPS projects will need to coordinate workers of 

many different skillsets, specialties, and backgrounds. Coordination is an imperative for 

efficient delivery. By coordinating starting times, holidays, and other work rules, PLAs 

can improve efficiency, preventing inefficient use of time and/or excessive use of 

overtime.

• Creation of labor/management committees. Labor-management committees are a 

pivotal tool that helps oversee projects, set timelines, ensure that the tenets of a PLA are 

followed, and anticipate problems before they occur. 

• Local engagement. The process of drafting a PLA should be inclusive and engage 

stakeholders throughout the community. Up front engagement helps ensure that the 

workers and community leaders who will implement the PLA can provide input, identify 

with the project, and feel a sense of ownership over its timely completion.

• Health and safety provisions. Project safety is a foundational priority for the 

Department. PLAs will often include provisions that emphasize the importance of health 

and safety, including, but not limited to, an explicit training program for both apprentice 

and journeymen related to the site; procedures to ensure a culture focused on health 

and safety; consistent tracking of workplace injuries and illnesses on the site and 

80 Matthew M. Bodah and Dale Belman, “Building Better: A Look at Best Practices for the Design of Project Labor 

Agreements,” Economic Policy Institute (Economic Policy Institute, August 12, 2010), 

https://www.epi.org/publication/building_better_a_look_at_best_practices_for_the_design_of_project_labor/. 
38

evaluation of “near-miss” situations; and linking of health and safety to workers’ 

compensation to provide cost savings for effective health and safety programs. 

• Support for small and minority-owned businesses. The Department will require each 

applicant to have a plan for supplier diversity. PLAs can support this goal is by 

supporting small and minority-owned businesses. 

• Access and oversight. PLAs can create access and oversight committees, which often 

include the project owner, prime contractor, unions, and other relevant community 

stakeholders. These committees meet regularly to review and analyze workforce data for 

the purpose of monitoring progress on recruiting, retaining, and supporting underserved 

workers on jobsites. These committees can also develop dedicated outreach and 

representation strategies to address barriers and increase opportunities for workers from 

underserved communities. 

• Equitable training opportunities. Many PLAs include Registered Apprenticeship 

programs, opportunities for pre-apprenticeships with direct pathways to Registered 

Apprenticeship programs, employment placement, and advancement for entry-level 

workers.

• Tracking of diversity data. Measuring performance and following through on 

commitments to community benefits and inclusion is critical. PLAs will often include 

tracking workforce metrics related to Registered Apprenticeship and apprenticeship 

readiness programs, including disaggregated data by race, ethnicity, and gender, to 

maintain visibility on whether initiatives to build and retain a diverse workforce are 

succeeding. 

If an applicant proceeds without a PLA, the applicant must instead provide a project workforce 

continuity plan, as outlined in the NOFO.

4.2 Compliance with Federal Labor Laws

All CHIPS awardees will be subject to Federal labor and employment laws. Federal construction 

contractors and subcontractors also must comply with certain equal employment opportunity 

requirements regarding gender, race, ethnicity, disability, and veteran status. In addition, as part 

of their construction workforce plan, applicants must also provide a description of the steps that 

will be taken to ensure that all contractors and subcontractors on the construction project have 

and will continue to have a strong track record of compliance with all Federal labor laws, 

including but not limited to all relevant Davis-Bacon Act, Executive Order 11246, Occupational 

Safety and Health Act provisions, rules and regulations, and the steps that will be taken to 

prevent the misclassification of workers. Additional detail on applicable laws and agencies are 

available in the section A.6.3 of this guide. 
39

The Department supports strong labor standards to protect the individual worker and broader 

project workforce and create a safe job environment that benefits both worker and employer. 

Protecting workers can help promote talent retention, job competitiveness, and equity in worker 

treatment. Strategies applicants may consider include:

• Appropriately Classify Jobs. Job classification can depend on job responsibilities, 

scope, and complexity.81 Appropriately classifying different job types helps to ensure 

employees receive the protections and compensation they are owed for their work. 

Applicants can encourage subgrantees to submit job classifications for review. 

• Engage Labor Experts. Federal DOL Regional Offices can provide additional support, 

resources, and guidance to teams across many labor and employment laws, such as fair 

labor laws, the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and other civil rights laws, 

Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) requirements, and others that 

affect the semiconductor workforce.

82 More detail on these programs are available in 

section A.5 of this guide.

• Provide Relevant Training. For example, applicants may describe whether and how 

their project plan includes training for worksites on anti-harassment and other strategies 

(including third-party reporting procedures and robust anti-retaliation measures) to 

prevent and address hostility and harassment based on race, gender, ethnicity, or other 

factors protected under law. 

81 “Job Quality Toolkit: Strategies and Actions to Help Small-to-Medium Sized Organizations Recruit and Retain a 

High-Performing Workforce,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 2022) 

www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Job-Quality-Toolkit.pdf; “Creating and Expanding a Diverse 

Broadband Workforce with Good Jobs and Career Pathways,” America Achieves and Rural Innovation Strategies

(America Achieves, June 22, 2022), www.americaachieves.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/America-AchievesBroadband-Workforce-Report-June-2022.pdf. 82 “State Labor Offices,” Wage and Hour Division (U.S Department of Labor, n.d.), 

www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/state/contacts. 

Guidance from the NOFO. As part of their construction workforce plan, applicants must also 

provide a description of the steps that will be taken to ensure that all contractors and 

subcontractors on the construction project have and will continue to have a strong track 

record of compliance with all Federal labor laws, including but not limited to all relevant DavisBacon Act, Executive Order 11246, Occupational Safety and Health Act provisions, rules and 

regulations, and the steps that will be taken to prevent the misclassification of workers. This 

description should also include the steps that will be taken to ensure that all workers have 

access to a safe working environment that is free of harassment, discrimination, and 

retaliation.
40

4.3 Women in Construction

Women make up 44 percent of the workforce, but only about 10 percent of the construction 

workforce. Increasing opportunities for women in the construction workforce will be paramount if 

applicants hope to attract and retain the skilled workforce needed on CHIPS projects. Applicants

may consider the following strategies for recruitment, retention, and transparency to increase 

women’s participation in construction. 

Recruitment

• Set clear hiring goals based on refined data with rigorous compliance by all 

contractors and subcontractors.

• Use Registered Apprenticeships. Require or encourage that a certain percentage of 

the workforce or working hours come from Registered Apprenticeship Programs (the 

strongest path for new employees into the industry).

• Support women-focused programs. Identify, support, or launch community-specific 

Apprenticeship Readiness Programs that focus on women. Examples of such programs 

include Blue Collar Prep at Nontraditional Employment for Women (NEW), NEW at 

Night, Technical Opportunities Program at Chicago Women in Trades, and Pathways to 

Success Trades and Apprenticeship Career Class at Oregon Tradeswomen Inc.

• Partner for success. Establish formal partnerships with organizations that specialize in 

recruiting and training women. Many organizations already have a proven track record of 

preparing and placing individuals into high-quality jobs. 

Retention and Support

• Provide wraparound services. Offer services including, but not limited to,

transportation, child care (including nonstandard hour care), and well-fitting safety gear

and tools that enable women to participate or enter the field.

• Create a harassment-free workplace. Set requirements to ensure that all workers have 

access to a safe environment that is free of harassment, discrimination, and retaliation.

Strategies can include providing antibias training for employees of all levels; setting clear 

expectations about workplace conduct and anti-harassment policies, including clear 

consequences for violating policies; setting clear procedures for reporting misconduct in 

the workplace, including the identification of one or more individuals on site so that if 

women have problems, they have someone to go to; and using inclusive language and 

messaging.

• Promote mentorship. Create mentorship opportunities for longer-serving women on job 

sites to mentor new employees.

• Promote women to leadership roles. Create promotional pathways for women to 

move into steward and foreman roles.

• Ensure restroom access. Require every job site to have both men’s and women’s 

restrooms and provide adequate time to use facilities when needed.

Accountability and Transparency

• Measure for success. Enforce workforce goals at all levels, either by supervisory staff 

or outside contractors.

• Be transparent. Publish and frequently update workforce data to ensure all 

demographic goals are being met.
41

• Track and review performance. Convene regular meetings with all relevant 

stakeholders to review and respond to the data in real time.
42

5. Child Care Plan 

To fully staff construction sites and fabs, and to achieve the CHIPS Act economic and national 

security objectives, employers and applicants must recruit, train, and hire a skilled workforce, 

including by looking to new sources of talent. 

Labor force participation continues to languish below pre-pandemic rates.83 Delivering on 

CHIPS goals requires implementing new and creative strategies for attracting and retaining a 

skilled workforce. 

One of the biggest barriers to workforce participation is access to child care. Half of all workers 

and nearly 60 percent of parents cite lack of childcare as their reason for leaving the

workforce.84 The 2018-2019 National Survey of Children’s Health reported that the parents of 

two million children under the age of 5 had to quit a job, not take a job, or greatly change their 

job because of problems with child care.85 Over half of working parents report difficulties related 

to child care, and an inability to find child care is one of the primary factors keeping women out 

of the workforce.86 In fact, Federal Reserve data shows that over the past two years women 

with young children have experienced large and persistent declines in labor force participation.87

Policies that expand access to child care can boost both parental participation and productivity 

in the workplace, including by allowing working parents to obtain additional education or job 

training and increasing the likelihood that they will work full time.88 Child care sector benefits

also promote recruitment, retention, and productivity. 

The Department is focused on ensuring that construction sites and manufacturing facilities have 

the workforce they need to achieve the goals of the CHIPS Act, and that everyone, including 

women, can participate and thrive in the U.S. semiconductor economy. Facilitating access to 

child care is an important step toward achieving these goals.

83 “Charts Related to the Latest ‘The Employment Situation’ News Release.” U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 

https://www.bls.gov/charts/employment-situation/civilian-labor-force-participation-rate.htm. In February 2023, the 

labor force participation rate was 62.5 percent compared to 63.3 percent in February 2020.

84 ““Data Deep Dive: A Decline of Women in the Workforce”, U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (April 27, 

2022), https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/data-deep-dive-a-decline-of-women-in-the-workforce. 85 “2019 National Survey of Children’s Health: Indicator 6.17,” Data Resource Center for Child & Adolescent Health 

(Child and Adolescent Health Measurement Initiative, 2019), https://nschdata.org/browse/survey/results?q=8354. 86 Katherine Schaeffer, “Working moms in the U.S. have faced challenged on multiple fronts during the pandemic,” 

Pew Research Center (May 6, 2022), https://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2022/05/06/working-moms-in-the-u-shave-faced-challenges-on-multiple-fronts-during-the-pandemic/; Leila Schochet, “The Child Care Crisis Is Keeping 

Women Out of the Workforce,” Center for American Progress (March 28, 2019), 

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/child-care-crisis-keeping-women-workforce/. 87 Katherine Lim and Mike Zabeck, “Women of color and women with children disproportionately left the labor force 

during the COVID-19 pandemic,” (February 28, 2022), https://www.minneapolisfed.org/article/2022/women-of-colorand-women-with-children-disproportionately-left-the-labor-force-during-the-covid-19-pandemic. 88 Elizabeth E. Davis, et al., “Do Child Care Subsidies Increase Employment Among Low-Income Parents?” J. Fam. 

Econ. Iss 39, 662-682 (2018), https://doi.org/10.1007/s10834-018-9582-7; Chris M. Herbst and Erdal Tekin, “Do child 

care subsidies influence single mothers’ decision to invest in human capital?,” 30 Economics of Education Review 5, 

901-912 (October 2011), https://doi.org/10.1016/j.econedurev.2011.03.006. 
43

5.1 Core Child Care Principles

To meet families’ needs and expand employment opportunity child care should be accessible, 

affordable, high-quality, and reliable. Child care needs will vary across regions and employers, 

and the Department is not looking for a one-size-fits-all approach. Employers should consider 

partnering with child care organizations, providers, and families to assess current child care 

capacity and gaps in the community (e.g., availability of services, workforce needs, family 

preferences) to ensure that child care plans can deliver care that is accessible, affordable, highquality, and reliable.

Accessibility. The first gateway that workers often face in the market is finding accessible 

care—in particular for infants and toddlers. Due to historic under-investment in child care, there 

Guidance from the NOFO. Child care is critical to expanding employment opportunity for 

economically disadvantaged individuals, including economically disadvantaged women. The 

Department requires that any applicant requesting CHIPS Direct Funding over $150 million

provide a plan for access to child care for facility and construction workers, e.g., through onor near-site child care, pre-arranged agreements with existing child care providers, child care 

subsidies, or other similar measures. 

To meet families’ needs and thus expand employment opportunity, child care should be: 

• Affordable: costs are within reach for low- and medium-income households 

• Accessible: at a convenient location with hours that meet workers’ needs

• Reliable: granting workers confidence that they will not need to miss work for 

unexpected child care issues 

• High-Quality: providing a safe and healthy environment that families can trust and 

nurtures the healthy growth and development of children 

Projects that do not request CHIPS Direct Funding meeting the $150 million threshold are still 

strongly encouraged to provide access to child care for facility and construction workers to 

the greatest extent feasible. 

The Department recognizes that there will not be a one-size-fits-all solution, as child care 

needs will vary across communities and employers. The Department expects applicants to 

devise solutions that are responsive to their workers’ needs, such as access at extended 

hours, and regional market dynamics. In addition, the Department encourages applicants to 

work with community stakeholders, including state and local governments and local groups 

with expertise administering child care, to create effective solutions. 

Applicants may also consider whether there are opportunities to leverage facilities or 

arrangements that would aid both facility and construction workers. However, applicants may 

choose to address facility and construction workers separately. Applicants that are subject to 

this requirement should therefore work with their contractors to determine what strategies 

they will use to ensure access to child care, including access at extended hours when 

necessary, and then describe those strategies as a separate element of their facility and 

construction workforce plans
44

is a serious shortage of workers and programs, with many programs maintaining long waitlists

and parents left hoping a spot may become available in a setting that fits their needs. 

In addition to capacity, the location and hours of operation also often influence whether care is

accessible. 

Survey research shows that parents are either unable or unwilling to transport their children to 

far-off locations to increase their employment opportunities. Though on-site care is often

convenient for workers, sometimes off-site care better meets workers’ needs, such as when

families seek care near their home. In addition, many child care centers operate on schedules 

tailored to traditional working hours which may not support individuals who work non-standard 

hours. Moreover, intense competition for child care slots means that even when such care is 

provided, workers might have trouble reserving space for their child. Accessible care provides 

services at a convenient location with hours that meet workers’ needs.

Affordability. The price of care is also an acute barrier in many regions of the United States. 

The median price of child care for just one child in some regions represents nearly 20 percent of 

median family income, and an even greater percent of family income for lower-income 

families.89 In the United States, the price of child care increased 210 percent between 1990 and 

2019, faster than the increase in consumer spending overall (74 percent) and faster than the 

median family income (143 percent).90 Recent data also demonstrate that a 10 percent increase 

in median childcare prices was associated with 1 percentage-point lower county-level maternal 

employment rates.

91 

And while child care prices vary substantially across the country, data shows that even in lowerpriced areas, prices are still too high for many families to afford.92 Middle- and low-income 

households are acutely at risk when the price of care rises, particularly for infants and toddlers

for whom caregiver-child ratios need to be lower to meet children’s needs. 

The Department is not requiring or expecting applicants to provide free care. To successfully 

attract and retain workers, applicants should strongly consider defraying the price of care such 

that it is within reach for low- and medium-income households. In practice, the affordability of 

care may change based on circumstances outside the control of a provider – including changes 

in family composition. Thus, while fixed affordability metrics (e.g., a fixed share of family 

89 “National Database of Childcare Prices,” Women’s Bureau (U.S. Department of Labor, n.d.), 

https://www.dol.gov/agencies/wb/topics/childcare. 90 “The Cost of Living in America: Helping Families Move Ahead,” Council of Economic Advisors & Office of 

Management and Budget Issue Brief (The White House, August 2021), https://www.whitehouse.gov/wpcontent/uploads/2021/08/Costs-Brief.pdf/. Overall consumer spending is measured by the Personal Consumption 

Expenditures price index which reflects changes in the prices of goods and services purchased by U.S. consumers. 

See: “Personal Consumption Expenditures Price Index,” Bureau of Economic Analysis (Bureau of Economic Analysis, 

February 24, 2023), https://www.bea.gov/data/personal-consumption-expenditures-price-index. 91 Liana Christin Landivar, Nikki L. Graf, and Giorleny Altamirano Rayo, “Childcare Prices in Local Areas, U.S.” 

Women’s Bureau (U.S. Department of Labor, January 2023),

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/WB/NDCP/WB_IssueBrief-NDCP-final.pdf. 92 Christin Landivar, “New Childcare Data Shows Prices Are Untenable for Families,” Women’s Bureau (U.S. 

Department of Labor, January 24, 2023), https://blog.dol.gov/2023/01/24/new-childcare-data-shows-prices-areuntenable-for-families?_ga=2.262442764.102264152.1675172343-255207837.1675172343. 
45

income93) may serve as a guidepost, applicants may consider taking a holistic view of how to 

defray the price of care for its workers. 

Quality. Families need child care that is safe, stable, and high-quality to feel comfortable 

placing their children in another person’s care. High-quality child care has immense benefits to

children, leading to improved cognitive and health outcomes over time.

94 

As a general matter, high-quality child care providers will employ staff who are wellcompensated and appropriately resourced to do the job. Well-compensated child care workers 

tend to stay on the job longer, gain skills and expertise, and can give children the focus and 

attention they need. For that reason, high-quality care is associated with better pay for 

caregivers.95 

In addition, high-quality programs generally support and nurture children’s overall growth and 

development, including their social, emotional, intellectual, and physical development.

96

Common metrics of quality include provider and staff education and training, health and safety 

records, appropriate group sizes and ratios of staff to children that allow adults to give children 

sufficient attention, and facilitate meaningful adult-to-child interactions. Licensure and 

accreditation are another way to ensure that care is safe and high-quality. High-quality child 

care can be found in a variety of settings, including child care centers, as well as family child 

care homes, which may be license exempt. For additional resources on care quality, applicants 

may (where applicable) consult their state’s licensing regulations and care quality rating 

systems, Head Start quality standards, or other tools.97

Reliability. Even when families have access to child care, disruptions in care can place both 

children and families in a bind. An estimated $3 billion in revenue is lost annually due to 

employee absenteeism as the result of child care breakdowns.98 Beyond that, due to lapses in 

after school care, parents can lose up to eight days of work and businesses can lose upwards of 

$300 billion a year.99 Such problems affect a diverse and large group of families. A 2023 study 

93 The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has previously communicated to states accepting 

federal child care subsidy funding that low-income families receiving subsidies should spend no more than 7 percent 

of family income on child care payments. 94 Elaine A. Donoghue, “Quality Early Education and Child Care From Birth to Kindergarten,” American Academy of 

Pediatrics 140, no. 2 (2017): 1-6, https://doi.org/10.1542/peds.2017-1488; Andres S. Bustamante et al., “High-Quality 

Early Child Care And Education: The Gift That Lasts A Lifetime,” Brookings (Brookings, November 4, 2021), 

https://www.brookings.edu/blog/education-plus-development/2021/11/04/high-quality-early-child-care-and-educationthe-gift-that-lasts-a-lifetime/. 95 Asha Banerjee, Elise Gould, and Marokey Sawo, “Setting Higher Wages For Child Care And Home Health Care 

Workers Is Long Overdue,” Economic Policy Institute (Economic Policy Institute, November 18, 2021),

https://www.epi.org/publication/higher-wages-for-child-care-and-home-health-care-workers/. 96 “Child Care Quality Ratings,” Childcare.gov (Administration for Children & Families and Office of Child Care, 2023),

https://childcare.gov/consumer-education/child-care-quality-ratings. 97 Ibid. 98 “The Bedrock of American Business: High-Quality Early Childhood Education, U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Foundation,” The Business Case (U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, February 9, 2021), 

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/early-childhood-education/the-business-case. 99 Ibid.
46

found that one in four parents of infants and young children reported being fired for work 

interruptions due to child care breakdowns.100 

What it means to provide reliable care may vary across employers and regions. However, there 

are several models of reliable care benefits that applicants may consider. For example, some 

employers work to ensure that, to the extent possible, employees have reliable schedules that 

enable them to arrange care in advance. Other employers provide access to back-up care (e.g., 

emergency coverage through center or home-based care) or alternative arrangements (e.g., 

compensation for a family member to stay home) if something goes wrong.101 Employers may 

also consider whether they support a multitude of care options such that employees can 

arrange care in a pinch or in crisis. 

5.2 How Companies Provide Access to Child Care

As employers increasingly realize the importance of child care to employee retention and 

productivity, several different models of employer-provided care have emerged. This section 

reviews several of the primary models that employers already use to provide their workers with 

care. Mention of these models already used by employers does not convey endorsement or 

approval by the Department of Commerce of the entity or their programs or resources. All 

examples provided are for illustrative, non-exhaustive purposes only. The Department of 

Commerce does not guarantee the accuracy or completeness of the information contained 

herein.

The Department recognizes that these models (and the associated benefits) may not work in 

every scenario. In some cases, the models may be used in combination. In fact, many 

companies have successfully used mixed delivery models to provide benefits that are tailored to 

their workers’ diverse needs. Similarly, case studies in this section are not panaceas, but are 

included to illustrate potential strategies that applicants for CHIPS funding may pursue. The four 

primary models are: on-site care, operated by the employer; on-site care, contractor operated; 

off-site care, cash assistance; and off-site care, provider sponsorship.

On-Site Care: Operated by the Employer. Building an on-site child care center and hiring staff 

to operate it has several advantages. First, it helps employers ensure that their employees 

receive high-quality care, that staff are well paid, and that programs reflect worker needs and 

priorities. In addition, when a company provides space and owns the profits and/or losses from 

a care center (including any management and staffing fees), it might enable the employer to 

provide care at a lower cost to employees by charging only what is necessary to operate the 

center. Employers may also be eligible for certain tax credits.102 Finally, such on-site care is 

100 “‘$122 Billion: The Growing Annual Cost of the Infant-Toddler Child Care Crisis,” ReadyNation (Council for a 

Strong America, 2023), https://www.strongnation.org/articles/2038-122-billion-the-growing-annual-cost-of-the-infanttoddler-child-care-crisis. 101 “Employer Roadmap: Childcare Solutions for Working Parents,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 2022),

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ECE%20Employer%20Roadmap_March%202022.pdf. 102 “Credit for Employer-Provided Child Care Facilities and Service: Form 8882” Internal Revenue Service 

(Department of the Treasury, December 2017), https://www.irs.gov/pub/irs-pdf/f8882.pdf. 
47

often (though not always) convenient to employees.103 Companies that choose to provide onsite care also often offer slots for other children and families in the community, both to ensure 

the center can operate at full enrollment and to support community economic development.

However, on-site, employer-operated care requires advance planning and investment. On-site 

care requires new building space or remodeling/repurposing existing space. In some cases, the 

cost of standing up a new facility may be significant, and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Foundation estimates that it can take one and a half years to launch a new on-site program.104

Beyond that, operating a child care facility requires licensure, insurance, and other liability 

protections. On-site care also requires employers to ensure they have sufficient demand such 

that their facility would be viable. That is not always a guarantee, especially for smaller 

employers or those who cannot open their facility to the public if demand is not there. Some 

families may prefer care with different characteristics (e.g., family child care homes) or in a 

different location. 

These operational hurdles aside, several companies have had major success with providing onsite child care. Collins Aerospace, for example, partnered with other local businesses and 

grassroots organizations to stand up a near-site child care center.105 The center is open to all 

members of the community, with Collins employees receiving preference, and now operates 

with an enrollment of over 300 children. Similarly, Patagonia has offered on-site childcare since 

1983. In addition to providing on-site child care in Reno, NV and Ventura, CA, Patagonia offers 

child care stipends for parents who are not based in those areas. This model shows that on-site, 

employer-provided care can be both an important tool for worker well-being and improve 

business performance. 

On-Site Care: Contractor Operated. With fully outsourced care, a company provides space 

(on-site or nearby) and/or shuttle service to site, and an external vendor provides care and 

operates the child care center. In many respects, relying on an external vendor can lower 

administrative overhead for the employer while still capturing the benefits of on-site care. In 

addition, working with an experienced partner can help ensure access to high-quality care and a 

cadre of experienced child care professionals. And as with employer-operated care, contractoroperated care can accommodate drop-offs in demand by opening spaces for the public when 

there is unused capacity. 

In some cases, however, contracting out child care may increase prices for employees and limit 

employer flexibility, as care providers may charge a premium beyond the cost of care (though

the employer can still subsidize prices for employees). Beyond that, relying on a contractor may 

result in additional difficulties if an employer wants to change operating hours or tailor its 

offerings to worker needs.

103 See, e.g., Rebecca A Snyder et al., “The Case for On-Site Child Care in Residency Training and Afterward,” 

Journal of Graduate Medical Education 5, no. 3 (2013): 365-367, 

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3771163/. 104 “Employer Roadmap: Childcare Solutions for Working Parents,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 2022),

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ECE%20Employer%20Roadmap_March%202022.pdf. 105 “Starting Small and Growing to Meet Childcare Demand,” Talent Forward (U.S. Chamber of Commerce 

Foundation, 2023), https://www.forwardontalent.org/stories/collins-aerospace/. 
48

Overall, the on-site, contractor-operated model has been adopted successfully by several 

companies. Toyota, for example, provides round-the-clock on-site child care at its Kentucky and 

Indiana manufacturing sites.106 These on-site centers cater to employees’ needs for extended 

hours. In Kentucky, the company was also able to work with the local school district to provide 

children in the facility transit access to schools. Likewise, Marriott has an on-site care facility at 

its headquarters, and partners with off-site providers, including resource and referral agencies,

to ensure access to care for its employees at other locations.107 As noted by the Chamber of 

Commerce Foundation, there are many case studies and examples employers can draw from in 

adopting an on-site, contractor-operated model.108

Off-Site Care: Cash Assistance (e.g., vouchers/subsidies). Under this model, the employer 

provides bonuses, vouchers, or subsidies to help employees meet costs of child care with 

existing care providers. The cash assistance model has many upsides. For the employer, it 

comes with relatively low overhead. For employees, vouchers provide maximal flexibility in 

choosing which care facility they might want to use (assuming there is capacity, and the amount 

of the subsidy is sufficient to make the child care option affordable for the family). This may be 

particularly valuable when workers live in neighborhoods far from their worksite, as vouchers will 

enable those employees to find care that is close to home. Vouchers also can enable 

compensation for a wide range of settings.

109 And employers who provide vouchers will often 

partner with child care resource and referral agencies to offer “child care navigation” services to 

employees that help them identify opportunities to use the benefit. 

For those applicants considering using vouchers in their child care plans, vouchers (absent 

additional services) may only address affordability issues. For example, in areas of limited child 

care capacity, vouchers may drive up local prices, especially if they increase demand for child 

care without driving an increase in supply. As a result, large scale projects may need to pair

vouchers with steps that directly influence the supply of child care. Of available options,

vouchers may be less attractive (as a standalone offering) than capacity-expanding options that 

also include affordability support. 

Several employers have already deployed voucher programs to support their employees in 

accessing care. For instance, Bank of America provides child care subsidies of up to $275 a 

month, per eligible child, and makes the benefit available to full and part-time employees

making less than $100,000 per year.

110 Bank of America also provides resources to help 

employees find child care that meets their needs through referral, research, and information 

resources. Other employers may want to partner with existing child care resource and referral 

agencies to provide this support. 

106 NAM News Room, “The Right Thing to Do’: Toyota Provides Overnight Child Care, National Association of 

Manufacturers,” National Association of Manufacturers (National Association of Manufacturers, June 9, 2022),

https://www.nam.org/the-right-thing-to-do-toyota-provides-overnight-child-care-17824/?stream=workforce. 107 CHIPS Program Office Interviews (Jan. 2023). 108 “Employer Roadmap: Childcare Solutions for Working Parents,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 2022),

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ECE%20Employer%20Roadmap_March%202022.pdf. 109 See below (Section 5.3) for further discussion of different provider options. 110 CHIPS Program Office Interviews (Jan. 2023). 
49

Off-Site Care: Provider Sponsorship. Employers will sometimes sponsor off-site care 

providers to increase capacity and improve options available to their workers. Sponsorship can 

take several forms. In some cases, a company will give a lump sum donation to enable 

increased capacity or operating hours at an existing center. In others, a company may pay 

upfront for slots for shift workers to guarantee capacity, and then allow its employees to access 

such care at a discount. Some of the time, these arrangements will involve a community center

open to all families in the area. 

The benefits of provider sponsorship can be significant. For one, sponsorship can directly 

increase the supply of local care, which can help lessen upward price pressures in the 

community. Likewise, sponsorship can often attract multiple partners or community stakeholders

(e.g., home-based, non-profit, or faith-based providers) since the benefits are shared broadly 

among the community, rather than just by the employer. Scaling capacity-building efforts 

requires strategic collaboration with state and local communities, and when employers take part 

in such efforts, they may attract additional capital for child care. Further, this approach 

leverages and builds on the supply of care in the community, avoiding potential unintended 

disruptions of the existing child care market that could lead to reduced access for other families 

in the community. 

In addition, provider sponsorship allows employers to alter or expand caregiver services without 

the overhead of starting a facility. If workers need care at extended hours, sponsorship provides 

an opportunity to help generate such care without the administrative overhead of launching its 

own facility. And in determining the provider payment rate under a sponsorship model, 

employers can work with providers to understand the full cost of providing high-quality care and

ensure that the employer contributes the appropriate proportion of that cost. 

One example of an employer’s use of a sponsorship model is Dr. Bronner’s, a soap 

manufacturer in California.

111 After realizing many of its manufacturing and shift workers had 

difficulties securing child care, Dr. Bronner’s investigated several options for providing care to its 

workers. Ultimately, Dr. Bronner’s partnered with an online care platform so that workers could 

arrange care that was close to home and met their needs for extended-hours care. Nontraditional care providers, as well as in-home providers, were eligible through the platform. Dr. 

Bronner’s also subsidized access to care, paying up to $7,500 per family per year. Companies 

across retail, health care, and other industries have similarly worked with startups or online 

platforms to match workers with existing facilities. 

Another example of provider sponsorship is Wisconsin’s Partner Up! Program, which allows 

businesses to buy slots for their employees at existing regulated child care providers.112 By 

reserving slots up front, Partner Up’s sponsorship model helps improve caregivers’ financial 

viability, thereby increasing neighborhood supply and ensuring that caregivers are appropriately 

compensated. The program also simultaneously enables employers to deliver accessible and 

111 Aaron Merchen, “Reimagining Childcare Through Innovative Partnerships,” Center for Education and Workforce 

(U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation, August 30, 2021), 

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/blog/post/reimagining-childcare-through-innovative-partnerships. 112 CHIPS Program Office Interviews (Dec. 2022). 
50

convenient care without an on-site facility. Partner Up’s sponsorship arrangement has thus 

helped hundreds of businesses pre-arrange care with local providers.113 

That said, provider sponsorship may have drawbacks, particularly if a sponsored facility is not 

convenient for workers. It also requires thoughtful research and partnership to ensure the care 

itself is high-quality. Sourcing and reimbursement models—where an employer reserves slots 

for workers but does not encourage the facility to increase capacity—can be useful when there 

is an ample supply of child care. When child care is scarce, reserving seats for employees 

should be paired with other strategies to meet worker needs. 

5.3 Special Considerations for Construction Workers

To keep up with demand over the coming years, the construction industry must work to recruit, 

train, and retain a new generation of workers. Access to reliable, affordable, and quality child 

care is often an overlooked barrier to successful employment. Surveys of construction workers 

show that among women with children under 18 who seriously considered leaving the 

construction industry, more than two-thirds mention difficulties finding child care as a key 

factor.114 

Although child care is a factor that affects industries nationwide, there are unique challenges 

facing the construction industry. 

Hours of Care. Construction jobs often start early in the morning, and the commute time can be 

significant. Many parents in construction need drop off times to be available before many child 

care centers open and pickup times that extend past typical hours. 

Affordability. The price of child care can be burdensome for construction workers, especially

for apprentices and trainees.

115 A recent survey of construction apprentices found that 45

percent of mothers and 26 percent of fathers identified the cost of child care to be a problem.

116 

Location. Finding high-quality, reliable child care is difficult for parents regardless of the 

industry. But the in-person, on-site nature of construction work creates significant challenges for 

workers with child care responsibilities. That is especially true for construction sites that are 

sometimes far from where workers live.

113 “Partner Up! Grant Program,” Wisconsin Department of Children and Families (Wisconsin.gov, 2023), 

https://dcf.wisconsin.gov/childcare/projectgrowth/partner-up. 114 Ariane Hegewisch and Eve Mefferd, “A Future Worth Building: What Tradeswomen Say about the Change They 

Need in the Construction Industry,” Institute for Women’s Policy Research (Institute for Women’s Policy Research, 

2021), https://iwpr.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/02/A-Future-Worth-Building_What-Tradeswomen-Say_FINAL.pdf. 115 “Highest Paying Jobs Without A Degree,” U.S. News & World Report: Careers (U.S. News & World Report L.P., 

2023), https://money.usnews.com/careers/best-jobs/rankings/the-100-best-jobs. 116 “Child Care Supports For The Construction Trades: Building and Sustaining Diversity in Oregon,” Institute for 

Women's Policy Research (Institute for Women's Policy Research, 2020), https://policygroupontradeswomen.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/12/IWPR-Oregon-Child-Care-in-Construction-2020-Final.pdf. 
51

Potential Interventions

The Department is committed to working with applicants to develop or identify innovative 

mechanisms to provide child care to construction workers at scale. Applicants may consider the 

following examples of strategies that other employers have used: 

For off-site care, use demand guarantees for providers to ensure access at the proper 

times and locations. One reason child care providers may not operate in a child care desert or 

have capacity at extended hours is lack of demand visibility. Applicants can conduct an 

assessment of what their workforce child care needs are and the existing supply available. If an 

applicant finds that their local child care market does not provide needed extended hours care

or accessible capacity, they may consider taking steps using their purchasing power to ensure

care giver supply. Demand guarantees (i.e., when companies guarantee a certain level of use 

or financial backing to centers or home-based providers) can help address this problem. By 

prearranging such care with providers, employers can help de-risk extended hours care or 

encourage expansion of capacity in a market that otherwise would not be economically viable. 

Consider opportunities to leverage long-term infrastructure for facility workers. 

Companies may consider ways to create programs that support both construction and facility 

workers. For example, for facilities that plan to offer on-site care, employers may consider 

whether there is an opportunity to build a child care facility in the first phase of construction so 

that construction workers can benefit, too. Similarly, if an applicant plans to sponsor an off-site 

facility or provide demand guarantees with off-site providers, they might investigate whether 

there are opportunities to work with their construction partner to build capacity with that provider 

on a more expedient timeline. 

Partner with a range of providers (e.g., family, smaller providers) to meet worker needs. 

Given construction workers’ non-standard work hours, employers may struggle to find child care 

programs that provide accessible and affordable options. Some organizations facing this 

problem have investigated whether there are opportunities to work with a range of care 

providers—including faith-based organizations and home-based facilities–to find child care for 

their workers’ families.

117 Home-based providers often have more flexible hours and locations, 

which can be useful when working with populations that need non-standard hour care. These 

providers may also be responsive to unique needs of the workforce, such as bilingual care,

culturally appropriate services, or services targeted towards children with special needs. 

Because home-based providers are more dispersed and serve fewer children per facility, 

employers may find it difficult to partner with them to provide the scale of services their 

employees need. Applicants may consider working with intermediaries—such as child care 

resource and referral agencies, associations for the education of young children, community 

development financial institutions, local dedicated funds for children and youth, licensed family 

child care networks, and shared service alliances, and private care intermediaries—to help 

connect local child care providers with workers who may have care needs.

118 

117 “Home-Based Child Care Fact Sheet,” Home Grown (Homegrown Childcare, December 14, 2020), 

https://homegrownchildcare.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/HomeGrown_Child-Care-Fact-Sheet_final.pdf. 118 Resources for particular states are available at: “See Your State’s Resources,” ChildCare.gov (U.S. Administration 

for Children & Families, 2023), https://childcare.gov/state-resources-home. 
52

See Section A.4 of this Guide for case studies on child care for construction workers.

5.4 Partners and Other Resources Available

As noted above, the Department recognizes that creating an access to child care plan can be 

complicated. The Department is committed to working closely with applicants to navigate this 

challenge. 

An important first step applicants may consider is to survey their workforce and community to 

determine local needs. Such a plan may reflect whether the community suffers from demand 

constraints (price) and/or supply constraints (capacity); areas for improvement, including 

drawing on existing child care community needs assessments; and what workers say they need, 

either through surveys, discussions with worker representatives (e.g., unions), or other 

engagement.

Companies that have performed such surveys or listening sessions have used that approach to 

inform their ultimate benefits package.119 Similarly, applicants can benefit from a community 

perspective on what initiatives and partners might be eager to support expanded access to child 

care. Child Care Resource and Referral Agencies can be helpful partners to consult in many 

communities to understand the existing child care supply and gaps in the community.120 In all 

cases, understanding local context will be pivotal. 

In addition, applicants may consider partnering with state and local governments and taking

advantage of other federal resources available for employer-provided child care. To encourage 

businesses to provide child care to their employees, the Federal government offers companies 

a tax credit to help cover some of the associated costs. The Employer-Provided Child Care 

Credit, under the Internal Revenue Code Section 45F, offers employers a tax credit of up to 25

percent of qualified child care expenditures and 10 percent of qualified child care resource and 

referral expenditures, both detailed below. The credit is capped at $150,000 and can offset 

initial investments in employer-provided care. Dependent Care Flexible Spending Accounts 

(DCFSA) might also be a relevant tool for employers to explore.121

Similarly, many states and localities have launched ambitious programs to support access to 

child care that applicants may collaborate with or leverage. State assistance can be valuable on 

at least three fronts, including real estate (and site selection for facilities), financing (including 

state funding for programs), and partnerships (including obtaining relevant licenses). Many 

employers have already begun partnering with their state and local governments to get their 

employees access to care. For instance, Colorado and Iowa both have statewide grant 

programs that support employers who construct, remodel, renovate, or retrofit on-site or near119 Nadine El-Bawab, “Employers Offer Stipends For Babysitting And Tutoring To Sweeten Child-Care Benefits And 

Win Over Workers,” The Path Forward (CNBC, July 9, 2021), https://www.cnbc.com/2021/07/09/employers-sweetenchild-care-benefits-to-win-over-workers-.html. 120 “Child Care Resource and Referral,” Child Care Aware® of America (Child Care Aware® of America, 2023), 

https://www.childcareaware.org/about/child-care-resource-referral/. 121 Jenna Shrove, “Employer Guide to Childcare Assistance and Tax Credits,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce (U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce, April 28, 2022), https://www.uschamber.com/workforce/employer-guide-to-childcareassistance-and-tax-credits. 
53

site child care facilities.

122 These programs are varied and extensive; as part of an applicant’s 

engagement process for receiving state and local incentives, applicants may ask about 

opportunities to jumpstart their child care efforts. Applicants may also consider whether there

are opportunities to work with their state and local governments to streamline licensing 

processes or reduce start-up costs and constraints on child care capacity without sacrificing 

safety or quality.

123

Finally, as discussed in the previous section, there are a wide variety of community partners that

are willing and able to support employers in finding care for their employees’ children. The U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce foundation, for example, offers numerous resources and case studies to 

employers seeking to provide affordable, quality child care for working parents.124 Child care

resource and referral agencies can also partner with employers to offer “child care navigation”

services to employees as an additional benefit. 

122 Ann Schimke, “At Hospitals, Food Halls, And Ski Resorts, Colorado Effort Helps Employers Create On-Site Child 

Care,” Chalkbeat Colorado (Chalkbeat, February 2, 2022), https://co.chalkbeat.org/2022/2/1/22913443/coloradoemployer-provided-child-care; “Child Care Grants,” Future Ready Iowa (Iowa.gov, 2023), 

https://www.futurereadyiowa.gov/child-caregrants#:~:text=The%20Child%20Care%20Business%20Incentive,a%20benefit%20to%20their%20employees. 123 Hailey Gibbs, ”Increasing America’s Child Care Supply,” Center for American Progress (Aug 23, 2022), 

https://www.americanprogress.org/article/increasing-americas-child-care-supply/ 124 “Employer Roadmap: Childcare Solutions for Working Parents,” U.S. Chamber of Commerce Foundation (U.S. 

Chamber of Commerce Foundation, 2022),

https://www.uschamberfoundation.org/sites/default/files/ECE%20Employer%20Roadmap_March%202022.pdf. 

For additional tools that may be useful in accessing care, see Childcare.gov (Administration for Children & Families

and Office of Child Care, 2023), https://childcare.gov/. 
54

6. Submitting a Successful Workforce Development Plan 

The Department recognizes that the development and implementation of workforce plans are 

ambitious, long-term efforts that will support the success of the CHIPS Incentives Program.

Guidance for both the Pre-Application (optional) and Full Application submissions are included 

in this section; there is no workforce development component for the Statement of Interest 

submission. This section also includes recommendations on how applicants can further the 

development of the semiconductor workforce and education ecosystem over time.

The workforce development plan must demonstrate appropriate investments and commitments 

to create good jobs and recruit, train, screen, hire, retain, and upskill a diverse workforce 

sufficient to meet operating needs. 

As described in section 2 of this Guide, the Department strongly encourages each applicant to 

engage in a sectoral partnership focused on the labor market region where the semiconductor 

manufacturing will take place. Sectoral partnerships will play an integral role in the development 

and implementation of high-quality workforce development strategies.

Because meeting workforce needs will require ongoing collaboration and coordination across 

the sector, the Department expects to engage with recipients to support workforce efforts after 

awards are made.125

More guidance on workforce development planning will be posted on chips.gov/workforcedevelopment and communicated to applicants it becomes available.

125 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication, 20-21. https://www.grants.gov/web/grants/view-opportunity.html?oppId=346349. 

Guidance from the NOFO. Each applicant must document their expected workforce needs 

for each facility and provide a strategy to meet such needs in a single workforce 

development plan. Applicants must also produce a workforce plan for their construction 

workforce. Applicants are required to identify the overall financial resources that will be 

committed to these efforts by the applicant and other parties across the workforce system. 

Applicants should also explain what those resources will be used for, though the 

Department understands that the level of detail may vary depending on the stage of the 

development of a sector partnership or other workforce development planning. The plans for 

construction workers and facility workers should not exceed 30 pages in total, excluding any 

attachments.
55

6.1 Workforce Development Planning Guiding Questions

The following sets of questions are intended to help applicants articulate their workforce needs 

in the pre-application and final application submissions while meeting the guidelines outlined in 

the February 2023 NOFO. Applicants are not required to submit answers to all these questions, 

rather the questions should be used to guide applicants’ workforce development planning 

activities.

Developing and sustaining sectoral partnerships

• What efforts have you made to identify employers in your industry and adjacent 

industries and other organizations to develop a sectoral partnership, including a 

backbone organization? 

• What structure, norms, and supports are in place to build and sustain the sectoral 

partnership?

• Do you have specific and detailed letters of support from partners describing the roles 

and responsibilities they will fulfill and the resources they will provide?

Employer workforce needs assessment

• Determine the scope and scale of your organization’s workforce needs with specificity. 

What are the expected workforce needs over the lifecycle of the proposed project? 

Where is there uncertainty about future workforce needs? How will the applicant 

continually update its understanding of its workforce needs? Be as specific as possible 

in detailing, the number of jobs, skills requirements, and the timeframe over which the 

jobs will be needed. In defining skills requirements, please utilize existing competency 

frameworks, such as those for advanced manufacturing and semiconductor and 

nanotechnology manufacturing created by the National Institute for Innovation and 

Technology (NIIT) in consultation with DOL, and available through the competency 

model clearinghouse, to the extent possible. 

• What gaps, both in personnel and skillset, will need to be filled? What are the current 

challenges for filling identified skill and personnel gaps? 

• How do you currently train your workforce? What is effective and what needs 

improvement?

Regional workforce landscape assessment 

• Familiarize yourself with existing analysis of the region. What labor is available 

regionally? Are there workers with the skills you need or workers with similar skills that 

can be reskilled? It may be helpful to look at current population, employment, and 

educational enrollment data, regional economic development strategies such as a 

Comprehensive Economic Development Strategy (CEDS) or States’ WIOA State Plans 

that include workforce analysis and assessment of regions.

126 

• What are the common avenues for labor recruitment in your region, in particular for 

recruiting underserved groups (e.g., unions, community-based organizations, etc.)?

126 “Economic Development Districts,” U.S. Economic Development Administration (U.S. Economic Development 

Administration, 2023), https://www.eda.gov/about/economic-development-glossary/edd; WIOA State Plans available 

at “The Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act State Plan,” WIOA State Plan Portal (WIOA State Plan, 2023), 

https://wioaplans.ed.gov/. 
56

• What training programs are currently available to you for developing industry talent in 

the region of your proposed project? 

• What workforce programs have proven successful in the proposed project regional area 

or in other areas? Can existing training programs be scaled for the proposed project or 

is it necessary to develop new training programs? Consider where new financial support

may support existing resources as matching existing financial resource streams with 

additional support can help support elements of regional workforce systems mostly 

aligned with the employer's needs.127

Worker recruitment and retention

• What financial resources (including both CHIPS Incentives Program dollars and nonCHIPS funding) will you commit to workforce development? Applicants should include 

details on the amount and source of the funding being allocated to workforce 

development activities (e.g., outreach, training, wraparound services, etc.). 

• What targeted efforts do you plan to take or are you already taking to recruit from new 

and diverse sources of labor?

• What pre-apprenticeship programs and other training organizations will you be 

partnering with to expand employment opportunities for individuals from underserved 

communities? 

• How do you plan to implement policies on hiring workers based on skills required for the 

job rather than degrees earned? This may include changing job requirements or rewriting job descriptions based on common skills competency models. 

• Do you track employee turnover and conduct exit interviews with separating employees 

to understand their reason for leaving your organization?

• Do you conduct employee surveys to understand services your organization may be 

able to provide or policies your organization may be able to implement to improve 

employee retention?

Good Jobs Principles approach

• Have you reviewed the Good Jobs Principles and evaluated your organization’s 

recruitment, training, hiring, retention, and advancement policies against the identified 

principles?

• What new policies or strategies can your organization implement to provide “good jobs” 

to the semiconductor industry?

• What practices will your organization follow to ensure that the Good Jobs Principles 

remain applicable to the jobs your organization creates and maintains? 

Determining training needs for both new and incumbent worker

• Based on your workforce assessment of needed competencies and available skilled 

workforce in section 3.1 of this Guide, how many workers will require training to build the 

competencies or skills needed to fill the available work roles? 

• What share of each skill set do you expect to be addressed by external training partners

including pre-hiring, versus by your own in-house training and/or apprenticeships? How 

127 Jake Boyd and Claudia Moreno, “Ours to Solve Together,” The Project on Workforce (Harvard College, October 

13, 2022), https://www.pw.hks.harvard.edu/post/ours-to-solve-together. 
57

much specific internal company training will be needed for the various roles in your 

workforce? How can you scale up internal programs? What wraparound services are 

available and appropriate for internal training? 

• What external groups do you or will you work with to train your workforce? What 

resources can you provide to strengthen and support that partnership (e.g., experiential 

learning opportunities, funding for wraparound services)? What resources can be shared 

more broadly across the semiconductor training ecosystem to reduce fragmentation?

• What competency standards will you use for training? Is there an official, industry-wide 

standard for each area or will a competency standard need to be developed? How will 

you assess if these competency standards are sufficient? How do you update the 

standard to keep pace with technological changes? 

• What role do you see your organization playing in the existing training structure, 

especially in relation to sectoral partners? 

Provision of wraparound services

• Do you have a strategy to provide wraparound supportive services?

• What wraparound services are currently available to workers in your organization 

beyond those in training programs? Are they sufficient to meet workers’ needs? What 

are the barriers to provide new or expanded wraparound services? 

• Have you assessed your region’s most critical supportive services needs? These might 

include linkages to community services, assistance with transportation, childcare and 

dependent care, housing, needs-related payments, educational testing, work-related 

tools, reasonable accommodations for individuals with disabilities, legal aid services, 

referrals to health care, or payment and fees for employment and training-related 

applications, tests, and certifications. 

• In what supportive services gaps in the community do you plan to invest? 

• Have you established partnerships with human services agencies, a state or local 

workforce board, or community-based organizations to support or provide wraparound 

supportive services? What community-based organizations exist to support this work?

• What other sources of funding (federal, state, etc.) are available and will be tapped (if 

any) to assist with the provision of wraparound services? 

Workforce metrics

• Have you set workforce development goals that are SMART: specific, measurable, 

achievable, relevant, and time-bound?

• How do you plan to develop systems and a process for accessing and reporting specific 

and disaggregated data on a timely basis?

• What administrative data sources can be leveraged to report on your metrics of interest?

• What resources are available to your organization for developing data systems and 

people to assess and report data and evaluate success?

• What is your plan for evaluating workforce development activities over time?
58

Construction workforce plan

• Have you formed a project labor agreement that includes best practice provisions and 

dispute resolution processes? 

• How do you plan to ensure compliance with federal and state labor law? Have you 

implemented discrete strategies to monitor compliance?

• What initiatives are you using to increase access to opportunity for women in the trades?

Child care plan

• Have you surveyed your workforce and local providers to assess needs?

• What are you doing to ensure that care is accessible, affordable, high-quality, and 

reliable for facility and construction workers?

• What is the availability of childcare providers in the area? What are their hours? 

• Have you planned initiatives that will increase the supply of child care, particularly at 

needed hours? 

• What is the feasibility of creating on-site child care?

• What partners have you worked with? Has your state or locality made commitments to 

assist your implementation of a child care plan?

• Is your plan to provide child care near-site, on-site, or elsewhere? What is the rationale 

for that decision?

• What are your expectations for uptake with respect to child care benefits and how do 

you plan to communicate the availability of such benefits to workers? 
59

6.2 Pre-Application (optional)

The optional, but recommended, pre-application phase creates an opportunity for dialogue 

between the Department and the potential applicant to ensure it is ready to meet program 

requirements and address program priorities. The Department strongly encourages preapplications for current-generation, mature-node, or back-end production facilities.

Each applicant will have unique workforce needs. The goal of the workforce development 

component of the pre-application is to give the applicant a chance to receive feedback from the 

Department on the workforce plan under development. Applicants should provide succinct but 

detailed descriptions of their understanding of the needs of the proposed project and the 

proposed strategies to meet workforce needs, including recruiting, hiring, training, and retaining 

a diverse and skilled workforce. 

Ideally, applicants will have made efforts to start identifying potential sectoral partners and can

detail progress on partnership development in the pre-application. 

Guidance from the NOFO. Each potential applicant must discuss their approach to recruit, 

train, and retain a diverse and skilled set of workers to fill the good jobs that will be created 

to operate its semiconductor facilities. Potential applicants should provide a description of:

• Anticipated facility workforce needs 

• Proposed strategies to meet facility workforce needs, including proposed equity 

strategy to promote the hiring and retention of economically disadvantaged 

individuals

• Approach to meeting the Good Jobs Principles

• Proposed high-quality education and training programs or strategies, such as 

Registered Apprenticeships, pre-apprenticeship programs, career and college 

pathways, and wraparound supportive services 

• Actions taken to engage with a broad range of potential strategic partners

• Actions taken with respect to creating or participating in a sectoral partnership, such 

as convening or conducting outreach to potential partner organizations, establishing 

the constitution and layout of the partnership, defining respective roles and 

responsibilities, or identifying a backbone organization to facilitate the sectoral 

partnership

To the extent that the applicant is in discussions with workforce, educational, communitybased, public-sector, local housing, or other organizations on proposed collaborations that 

have not yet been finalized, it should describe the state and goals of those discussions. 

The potential applicant may also note any planning it has done, in concert with partners, for 

meeting their construction workforce needs. However, a construction workforce plan is not 

required at the pre-application stage. 
60

6.3 Final Submission and Evaluation–Workforce Development Plan

A potential applicant must submit a full application to be officially considered for a CHIPS 

Incentive Award. The full application will contain extensive, detailed information on the proposed 

project(s). Because the full application is resource-intensive, the applicant should strongly 

consider any pre-application feedback when deciding whether to prepare and submit a full 

application. The Department will engage with the applicant to seek further information or 

clarifications and provide feedback.

The Department recognizes that developing and implementing a workforce strategy takes time 

and is dependent on other factors unrelated to the workforce. The Department expects 

applicants to submit complete workforce development plans at the time of full application to the 

extent possible with the understanding that the plans may evolve and change over time. 

6.3.1. Submission Information

As detailed in the NOFO, strong workforce development plans will meet the following conditions:

 Not exceed 30 pages128

 Contain the following components:

129

a) Facility Workforce Plan (one for each facility in the project application)

i. Workforce Needs Assessment

ii. Worker Recruitment and Retention

iii. Good Jobs Principles Approach

iv. Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

v. Metrics and Milestones

b) Construction Workforce Plan

i. Workforce Needs Assessment

ii. Worker Recruitment and Retention

iii. Good Jobs Principles Approach

iv. Workforce Training and Wraparound Services

v. Metrics and Milestones

c) Child Care Plan (required for applicants requesting CHIPS Direct Funding over $150 

million and strongly encouraged for others)

 Identify the overall financial resources that will be committed to these efforts by the 

applicant and other parties across the workforce system.

130 This should include 

commitments of the applicant’s financial resources as well as other non-CHIPS 

Incentives Program resources to fund this effort in a manner that is sustainable over the 

128 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 49. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 129 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 50-54. https://www.nist.gov/system/files/documents/2023/02/28/CHIPSCommercial_Fabrication_Facilities_NOFO_0.pdf. 130 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 49. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities.
61

long-term. Applicants should identify spending by priority (outreach, training, wraparound 

services, etc.).

131 

 Demonstrate appropriate investments and commitments to recruit, train, hire, retain, and 

upskill a diverse workforce. 

 To demonstrate satisfaction of the statutory requirement that the applicant secure 

“commitments from regional educational and training entities and institutions of higher 

education to provide workforce training, including programming for training and job 

placement of economically disadvantaged individuals,”132 the applicant must also attach 

letters of commitment from education and training entities and institutions that detail the 

specific tasks they will perform in support of the workforce plan and the resources that 

will be provided, including, but not limited to, programming for training and job placement 

of economically disadvantaged individuals.133 

 Include commitments to working to support long-term, cross-cutting initiatives—such as 

competency development, curriculum design, and credentialing–that will strengthen the 

U.S. national semiconductor workforce. See section 6.4 of this Guide for additional 

information.134

6.3.2. Evaluation

The merit review process will assess the strengths and weaknesses of projects’ workforce 

development plans against the workforce development criterion. The criterion addresses the 

degree to which the workforce development plans set out a coherent, achievable, and equitable 

strategy to address talent needs and generate the workforce needed to execute on the 

applicant’s project goals.

135 The assessment of this criterion will consider the:

• Completeness, cohesiveness, and feasibility of the strategies and financial plan to 

recruit, secure, and train the skilled and diverse workforce necessary to complete the 

proposed projects and operate the facilities, including:

o Workforce needs assessment

o Worker recruitment and retention plan

o Commitment to good jobs as defined by the Departments of Labor and 

Commerce’s Good Jobs Principles

o Worker training plan and wraparound services that reduce barriers to access to 

and completion of the training

o Metrics for success

• Capacity, resourcing, and cohesiveness of the applicant’s partnerships, including the 

extent of the applicant’s engagement with a broad range of strategic partners; whether 

131 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 50. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 132 15 U.S.C. § 4652(a)(2)(B)(ii)(III). 133 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 51. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 134 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 20. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 135 National Institute of Standards and Technology, United States Department of Commerce, CHIPS Incentives 

Program – Commercial Fabrication Facilities, 62-63. https://www.nist.gov/document/notice-funding-opportunity-chipsincentives-program-commercial-fabrication-facilities. 
62

the applicant has formed a sectoral partnership; whether there is a clear delineation of 

roles and responsibilities among partners; and quality of participation commitments of 

community colleges and other higher education institutions, high school career and 

technical education programs, labor unions, and other entities

• The depth and quality of the applicant’s equity strategy to recruit, hire, train, and retain a 

skilled and diverse facility and construction workforce, including the specific steps that 

will be taken to recruit, hire, train, and retain economically disadvantaged individuals and 

disclose data on workforce and training participant diversity, as well as the extent to 

which the plan draws on evidence-backed approaches 

• Whether the applicant plans to use apprenticeship readiness and other programs that 

successfully train diverse populations

• Quality of the construction workforce plan, including the completeness, cohesiveness, 

and feasibility of the strategy to recruit, secure, and train the workforce necessary to 

complete the proposed project, including whether the applicant plans to use a project 

labor agreement

• For applicants requesting CHIPS Direct Funding over $150 million, the sufficiency, 

quality, and feasibility of the plans to provide facility and construction workers with 

access to affordable, accessible, reliable, and high-quality child care; for applicants 

requesting less than $150 million, quality of plans to provide access to child care for 

facility and construction workers to the greatest extent feasible 
63

6.4 Additional Workforce Development Pipeline Support

Applicants may include in their narrative supplemental actions they plan to take to strengthen 

and sustain the U.S. semiconductor workforce pipeline. These efforts should focus on longterm, cross-cutting initiatives such as competency development, curriculum design, and 

credentialing as much as possible, but additional pipeline support can include, but is not limited 

to, direct investment, resource sharing, and experiential learning. Applicants may coordinate at 

both the local level with sector partners and more broadly when possible. 

Applicants should consider outreach opportunities that cultivate curiosity among K-12 

learners in STEM careers more broadly and for more specific opportunities in the 

semiconductor industry. For younger learners, this effort could include hosting field trips or 

developing and collecting grade-appropriate activities to introduce semiconductor technology.

Fostering this curiosity is important as one of the key indicators of successful entry to the STEM

workforce more broadly is an indicated interest in STEM by eighth grade.

136 Research shows

that girls and young women are exposed to STEM fields and careers at lower rates than

boys.137 For secondary and post-secondary learners, these strategies can be broadened to

include experiential learning opportunities like internships and apprenticeships as discussed in

Section 3.4 of this Guide. Fostering interest and excitement at these critical junctures will drive

more students to pursue STEM degrees and careers in the semiconductor industry. 

Applicants should consider how they can support students in higher education, so they 

are prepared and excited to enter the semiconductor workforce. As discussed in Section

3.2 of this Guide, undergraduate and graduate students demonstrate strong levels of attrition

both during and after their intended degree program. Additionally, employers have identified 

increasing skill gaps among these workers upon graduation. Applicants should work, when 

possible, with educational funding partners to provide additional funding and programmatic 

support, such as career planning resources, to scholarship and fellowship programs already in 

place. 

• Applicants may fund scholarship or fellowship programs of their own but should carefully 

consider the existing educational funding landscape first. Applicants may consider

opportunities to engage and excite students beyond scholarships and fellowships. 

Prizes, awards, and competitions can engender confidence and excitement while also 

providing benchmarks and encouragement toward a career in the semiconductor 

industry. 

• To help mitigate skill gaps for both graduate and undergraduate students, applicants 

should consider providing educators with resources on state-of-the-art techniques and 

semiconductor curriculum. Examples of universities with targeted programs that can be 

leveraged or supplemented are listed in section A.3 of this Guide. 

136Cannady, M. A., Greenwald, E., & Harris, K. N. “Problematizing the STEM pipeline metaphor: Is the STEM pipeline 

metaphor serving our students and the STEM workforce?” Science Education, 98 (2014): 443-460.

doi: https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21108. 137 “Elyse Shaw, MA and Halie Mariano, “Tackling the Gender and Racial Patenting Gap to Drive Innovation,” 

Institute for Women's Policy Research (Institute for Women's Policy Research, July 2021), https://iwpr.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/07/Tackling-the-Gender-and-Racial-Patenting-Gap_FINAL38.pdf. 
64

• Applicants may also consider strengthening educational tools for universities with 

funding for improved educational laboratories, “train the trainer” programs, or co-op or 

exchange programs.138 

• To increase awareness of opportunities in the semiconductor industry for all students, 

applicants may plan to provide resources on careers in the semiconductor industry in 

coordination with academic partners as well as to internal programs like internships and 

workshops. 

• To increase diversity in the industry, applicants may develop long-term partnerships with 

HBCUs, TCUs, and other MSIs.

Applicants should leverage sectoral partnerships in these efforts as much as possible and 

carefully consider which interventions provide most benefit for investment.139 Resources on 

existing entities, initiatives, and programs aimed at education and workforce development in the 

semiconductor industry are listed in Section A.3 of this Guide.

Applicants may choose to collaborate with CHIPS-funded entities and programs that 

have directives to innovate and sustain workforce development for the semiconductor 

industry. The four entities and programs that make up the CHIPS Research & Development 

(R&D) program, including the National Semiconductor Technology Center (NSTC), National 

Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program, (NAPMP) Manufacturing USA, and the NIST 

Metrology Program, will strive to create a dynamic, equitable, and inclusive ecosystem for 

workforce development for research and development in the semiconductor industry. Applicants 

should consider if and how workforce development efforts by CHIPS R&D entities may be 

utilized or supported to further workforce development goals beyond incentives investments. 

The Department of Defense (DoD) is also working to enhance learning opportunities for 

participation in the semiconductor workforce. 

• As outlined in the CHIPS Act, the NSTC is tasked to incentivize and expand participation 

in graduate, undergraduate, and community college programs and develop workforce 

training programs and apprenticeships.

140 The NSTC will serve as a coordinating body 

and center of excellence to scale the technical workforce, including scientists, engineers 

and technicians. The NSTC will work with the CPO and other agency programs to 

ensure that workforce development activities are complementary and cohesive. Further 

information on the workforce development efforts of the NSTC will be detailed in an 

upcoming white paper that will be available at chips.gov. 

• The NAPMP will focus on the needs of the advanced packaging industry and develop 

workforce efforts that meet those needs. 

• The NIST Metrology program will aim to develop next generation technologies and 

standards for the semiconductor industry and will host workforce development programs 

to prepare researchers for this work. 

138 “Infusing Advanced Manufacturing into Undergraduate Engineering Education,” The National Academies Press. 

(National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine, 2022), https://doi.org/10.17226/26773 139 Analysis of survey data from the National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics may be helpful in this 

determination: “Surveys & Analysis,” National Center for Science and Engineering Statistics (National Science 

Foundation, 2023), https://ncses.nsf.gov/surveys-analysis. 140 NDAA Section 9906 / 15 U.S.C. § 4656(c)(2)(C)
65

• Manufacturing USA already has a variety of programs in place for workforce 

development in advanced manufacturing at its 16 current institutes that will be expanded 

upon for the semiconductor industry with new forthcoming institutes supported by CHIPS 

funding. 

• As part of their mission statement, the DoD’s Microelectronics Commons plans to 

“enhance the microelectronics education and training pipeline to bolster the 

microelectronics engineering workforce” in addition to helping create direct pathways for 

commercialization of lab technologies.141 

Applicants may also consider partnering with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to support 

advancement of the semiconductor workforce and education ecosystem. Through partnership 

with the NSF, applicants can facilitate expanded experiential training opportunities, provide 

scholarships, and support the development of semiconductor educational curricula for both 

students and teachers. See section A.3 of this Guide for a full list of NSF programs and 

partnership opportunities.

 

141 “The Microelectronic Commons,” U.S. Department of Defense Research & Engineering (Office of the Under 

Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering, October 31, 2022), 

https://www.cto.mil/ct/microelectronics/commons/. 
66

Appendix 

A.1 Acronyms 

ADA Americans with Disabilities Act

CTE Career Technical Education

DEIA Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility

DOC U.S. Department of Commerce

DoD U.S. Department of Defense

DOL U.S. Department of Labor

EDA U.S. Economic Development Administration

HBCU Historically Black Colleges and Universities

HHS U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

MOU Memorandum of Understanding

MSIs Minority Serving Institutions

NAPMP National Advanced Packaging Manufacturing Program

NDAA National Defense Authorization Act

NOFO Notice of Funding Opportunity

NSF National Science Foundation

NSTC National Semiconductor Technology Center

OSHA Occupational Safety and Health Administration

PLA Project Labor Agreement

R&D Research and development

SMART Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic, Time-Bound

STEM Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics

TCU Tribal Colleges and Universities

WIOA Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act
67

A.2 Job Quality Toolkit

The Department of Commerce Job Quality Toolkit offers employers a comprehensive approach 

to creating good jobs. Identifying and improving the drivers most valued by workers can 

significantly increase their satisfaction and engagement, resulting in increased enthusiasm for 

their work, lower absenteeism, lower turnover, higher retention, better team performance, 

increased productivity, improved products and services for customers, higher customer 

satisfaction, and increased revenues. Pay and benefits matter, and so do a multitude of other 

factors like workplace safety and health, a voice, scheduling predictability, skills building, and 

advancement. 

For more information and resources, including case studies142 on how organizations have 

implemented these practices, please access the full Job Quality Toolkit from the Department of 

Commerce website.143

The Toolkit, some of which is reproduced below, provides a high-level summary of actions that 

support good jobs.

Pay. Provide an equitable living wage to all workers and ensure fair compensation practices.

• Consider what is appropriate for the region. 

• Ensure that compensation practices are transparent. Publish and regularly update all 

career paths and their pay and clearly state the required skills and competencies. 

• Conduct pay-equity analysis by gender, ethnicity, and race and report on results 

transparently. 

• Demonstrate fairness and recognition by compensating workers for improving 

performance based on objective measures. 

Benefits. Seek workers’ input on needed and desired benefits, such as paid leave, health 

insurance, and a retirement plan. Provide them and encourage their use.144

• Tailor services, benefits, and polices to the diverse needs of your workforce groups and 

segments. Regular assessments can help match services, benefits, and policies to 

worker needs.

• Offer health benefit options that meet the needs of the entire workforce and provide 

employer contributions toward premiums. 

• Offer mental health benefits. 

• Offer paid time off in support of work-life balance and wellness including safe and 

sick/medical leave, family leave, vacation and holidays, bereavement leave, and 

emergency child care or eldercare leave. 

• Offer retirement savings programs such as a 401(k) or similar program, provide an 

employer match to employee contributions, and provide a variety of investment options. 

142 “Job Quality Case Studies,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 4, 2022), 

https://www.commerce.gov/work-us/job-quality-toolkit/job-quality-case-studies. 143 “Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 4, 2022), 

https://www.commerce.gov/work-us/job-quality-toolkit. 144 “Benefits, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, August 4, 2022),

https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Benefits-Driver-Job-Quality.pdf. 
68

• Offer liquid savings programs such as short- and long-term savings plans to help 

workers weather financial shocks. 

• Offer benefits to part-time as well as full-time workers.

• Eliminate worker misclassification by reviewing and properly classifying workers as 

employees rather than independent contractors. 

• Financially support learning and skill building. See section 3.4 of this Guide for more 

information.

• Reduce the cost and burden of commuting by providing free or subsidized public-transit 

options.

• Offer child care and eldercare benefits. See section 5 of this Guide for more information. 

• Offer transportation support such as public transportation vouchers or gas cards.

• Offer tax benefits such as pre-tax deduction benefits. 

• Promote worker financial wellness by offering employee stock ownership plans, stock 

options, and profit sharing. 

• Encourage benefit uptake and use.

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Accessibility (DEIA). Make equal opportunity a core value 

and practiced norm. Foster systems where all workers feel respected and empowered in the 

workplace. Identify and remove systemic barriers to DEIA.145

• Assess the organization’s internal equity policies, practices, and organizational culture to 

assess alignment with your organization’s values and its practices. Communicate to 

employees the organization’s pay-setting practices and structures and conduct pay 

equity audits by gender, race, ethnicity, and disability status. Use data and metrics to set 

a baseline and measure progress.

• Institutionalize accountable, systemic change. Clearly identify a senior leader 

responsible for developing a DEIA strategy, monitoring outcomes, managing roadblocks, 

and making necessary adjustments along the way. Actionable items include avoiding

gender-coded language in written and or verbal communications (i.e., use of “she or he” 

for candidate/employee references), using accessible language (e.g., to individuals for 

whom English is a second language), and ensuring that the organization’s online 

platforms and physical facilities are accessible to persons with disabilities. 

• Empower the workforce to speak out against bias and discrimination in the workplace 

and speak for DEIA without fear of retaliation. Ensure that your employees have multiple 

channels to report concerns, voice opinions, and offer feedback; and adopt robust antiretaliation measures to ensure that they may safely do so. 

• Offer and consider requiring employees to participate in DEIA training that aligns with 

the organization’s mission and values. 

• Use mentorship, coaching, and sponsorship to help diverse talent advance and design 

formal mentoring programs that align with employees’ career interests and needs. 

• Establish recovery-ready workplace policies.

145 “Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, & Accessibility, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department 

of Commerce, August 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/DEIA-Driver-Job-Quality.pdf. 
69

Empowerment and Representation. Ensure that workers have a meaningful voice, without 

fear of retaliation. Enable workers to contribute to decisions about their work, how it is 

performed, and organizational direction.146 

• Communicate with—and listen to—your workers systemically and frequently by 

developing regular, repeatable processes for communicating, conversing, actively 

listening, and providing feedback on worker inputs. 

• Give your workforce a meaningful voice through formal structures that protect workers. 

Establish and promote clear worker complaint and investigation policies and procedures 

that include robust protection from retaliation. Create systems that receive and 

implement worker input on process improvements and innovation and inform workers 

how their input was used. 

• Ensure that workers can organize. Employers should remain neutral during organizing 

activity and ensure that barriers to workers’ organizing or collective bargaining are 

removed.

• Assess workforce satisfaction and engagement by regularly soliciting feedback directly 

from the workforce. 

Job Security and Working Conditions. Ensure a safe, healthy, and accessible workplace and 

offer job security. Minimize temporary or contractor labor solutions, using such workers mainly 

to adjust for short-term needs. Assess and schedule hours that are adequate and predictable.147

• Increase job security by minimizing part-time and contingent work, which can cause job 

insecurity and deprive workers of important benefits and protections. Plan to prevent 

workforce reductions and minimize the impact of any necessary reductions. 

• Ensure that workers are physically safe. Prohibit and prevent all forms of violence in the 

workplace, including verbal, physical, and gender-based violence, as well as sexual 

harassment. 

• Ensure that workers are psychologically safe by supporting workers’ sense of well-being 

at work. 

• Anticipate and respond with agility to reduce job strain. Utilize ongoing assessments of 

work activity, intensity, risk, and need for flexibility to adjust or lessen worker stress and 

adjust staffing. adjust staffing to accommodate those times. Make staffing decisions to 

maximize product and service effectiveness and customer value and not to meet payroll 

targets. 

• Protect workers’ data and information. 

• Offer stable and predictable hours to all workers. 

• Offer flexible remote work options (when possible given required job tasks).

146 “Empowerment & Representation, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of 

Commerce, August 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Empowerment-RepresentationDriver-Job-Quality.pdf. 147 “Job Security & Working Conditions, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of 

Commerce, August 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Job-Security-Working-ConditionsDriver-Job-Quality.pdf. 
70

Organizational Culture. Demonstrate through explicit behaviors and norms of leadership that 

all workers belong, are valued, and contribute meaningfully to the organization. Assess workers’ 

engagement and feelings of respect.148 

• Infuse the workplace with respect and trust–show how your organization values workers 

by being explicit about values and behaviors that demonstrate respect and trust in your 

organization. Make leaders role models and accountable for those values. 

• Be intentional and strategic about improving the workplace climate. Set goals and 

measure progress toward those goals. Share tracked results for workforce engagement, 

satisfaction, and commitment to the organization’s work. 

• Ensure that the workforce reflects the community and the organization by recruiting, 

hiring, and onboarding a workforce that represents the diversity of ideas, cultures, and 

thinking in your organization’s hiring and customer communities. 

• Make leaders accountable for workplace culture. 

• Actively manage change by preparing for and managing any periods of workforce growth 

or downsizing or changes in organizational structure, workplaces, work systems, and 

technology.

Skills and Career Advancement. Provide opportunities and tools for workers’ self-realization 

and advancement in their current jobs, within the organization, and outside it.149

• Communicate clear, transparent career paths within the organization, along with the 

skills, competencies, and experiences needed to progress on those paths. Offer multiple

training opportunities that lead to industry-recognized credentials such as a certificate, 

license, or degree. See section 3.4 of this Guide for more information.

• Cross-train workers such that employees and managers have ownership and 

specialization over a specific department but can step in to help other departments when 

needed. 

• Provide ongoing and regular performance reviews and promotions. Establish clear and 

transparent promotion pathways that prioritize internal candidates. 

• Establish a performance management system that uses compensation, rewards, 

recognition, and other incentives to encourage high performance, intelligent risk taking, 

and a customer and business focus. Create clear and transparent off- and on-ramps to 

full-time work. 

• Evaluate the effectiveness of your learning and development programs. See section 3.5

of this guide for more information.

148 “Organizational Culture, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of Commerce, 

August 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Organizational-Culture-Driver-Job-Quality.pdf. 149 “Skills & Career Advancement, Job Quality Toolkit,” U.S. Department of Commerce (U.S. Department of 

Commerce, August 2022), https://www.commerce.gov/sites/default/files/2022-08/Skills-Career-Advancement-DriverJob-Quality.pdf. 
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A.3 Industry Specific Training and Workforce Development Resources

Advance CTE

Advance CTE is the longest-standing national non-profit that represents State CTE Directors 

and state leaders responsible for secondary, postsecondary and adult Career Technical 

Education (CTE) across all 50 states, the District of Columbia and U.S. territories.150 Its mission 

is to support state CTE leadership to advance high-quality and equitable CTE policies, 

programs and pathways that ensure career and college success for each learner.

Advance CTE oversees CTE: Learning that works for America®, a national branding campaign 

to support the promotion of high-quality CTE. Over 700 local schools, districts and organizations 

use the campaign’s brand and resources to communicate the benefits of high-quality CTE to all 

stakeholders. 

The National Career Clusters Framework provides structural alignment and a common 

language to bridge education and work, empowering each learner to explore, decide and 

prepare for dynamic and evolving careers. Advance CTE maintains two Career Clusters® 

relevant to the semiconductor industry: manufacturing and science, technology, engineering, 

and mathematics.151

IUE-CWA 

As the Industrial Division of Communications Workers of America (CWA), IUE-CWA represents 

a force of 150,000 active and retired men and women united collectively to seek dignity on the 

job and secure futures for industry workers and future generations.152 Members of the 

Communications Workers of America (CWA) are part of one of America’s largest and most 

diverse unions. Training opportunities, scholarships, and other resources are available. 

MSCC Pre-Apprenticeship Program

Five years ago, IUE-CWA started a pilot pre-apprenticeship program at Northridge H.S. in 

Dayton, Ohio, to prepare students for careers in IUE-CWA represented manufacturing facilities 

in the area. The program has expanded into other areas schools, with several other districts in 

Ohio, Virginia, and Kentucky showing interest in the program. 

The MSSC certification is also a key component of the nationally recognized IMT (Industrial 

Manufacturing Technician). This program creates a pre-apprenticeship certification for 

production workers, increasing their wages and starting them on the path to a skilled trade. 

IUE-CWA Skilled Trades Program

The IUE-CWA Skilled Trades apprenticeship program is designed to increase the trades 

workers in IUE-CWA represented facilities and specifically focuses on recruiting and training 

people of color and women who are often underrepresented in skilled trades positions. The 

program’s Skilled Trades classification system is relevant to the vast majority of IUE-CWA 

represented manufacturing facilities and IUE-CWA Journeyman cards are nationally recognized 

and transferable to any factory.153 

150 “Advance CTE,” Advance CTE (Advance CTE: State Leaders Connecting Learning to Work, 2023), 

https://careertech.org/. 151 “Pathways to College & Career Readiness: Career Clusters,” Advance CTE (Advance CTE: State Leaders 

Connecting Learning to Work, January 12, 2023), https://careertech.org/the-framework. 152 “IUE-CWA, A Force for Working Families AFL CIO,” IUE-CWA (IUE-CWA, 2023), https://www.iue-cwa.org/. 153 “IUE-CWA Skilled Trades Program,” IUE-CWA (IUE-CWA, 2023), https://www.iue-cwa.org/skilled-trades-program. 
72

201 E Team Machinist Training Program

IUE Local 201 in Lynn, MA co-founded the E-Team Machinist Training Program provides free, 

in-depth job training for aspiring machinists, especially those that are unemployed or 

underemployed.154 

Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education

The Federation for Advanced Manufacturing Education (FAME) provides workforce 

development through technical training, integration of manufacturing core competencies, 

intensive professional practices, and intentional hands-on experience to build the future of the 

modern manufacturing industry.155

FAME was created by Toyota and moved to the Manufacturing Institute156 for national scaling in 

2019. Today, the Manufacturing Institute, as the workforce development and education partner 

of the National Association of Manufacturers,

157 is proud to manage FAME USA as it continues 

to grow across the country with the support of more than 400 manufacturers.

The Advanced Manufacturing Technician (AMT) program administered under the FAME model 

leverages a work/learn framework to weave technical knowledge, professional behaviors and 

distinct manufacturing core exercises into a focused co-op experience to build global-best, 

entry-level, multiskilled maintenance technicians.

Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship

The Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship (IMT)158 is a nationally recognized 

apprenticeship registered with the U.S. Department of Labor that trains front-line manufacturing 

production workers. Employers participate by identifying skill requirements for your company, 

hiring new workers, or selecting current workers as apprentices, and providing mentors to 

deliver on-the-job learning. A broad coalition of labor unions and manufacturing employers 

specified the job tasks, skills, performance standards, and helped to design supporting 

curriculum. Related instruction for the IMT apprenticeship is based upon the Manufacturing 

Skills Standards Council (MSSC) Certified Production Technician national industry standards.

Manufacturing Extension Partnership 

The National Institute of Standards and Technology’s (NIST) Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP) is a public-private partnership with Centers in all 50 states and Puerto Rico 

dedicated to serving small and medium-sized manufacturers.159 For the past 30 years, the MEP 

National NetworkTM has equipped small and medium-sized manufacturers with the resources 

needed to grow and thrive. Industry experts work side-by-side with manufacturers to reduce 

costs, improve efficiencies, develop the next generation workforce, create new products, find 

new markets and much more. Together, they strengthen communities and U.S. manufacturing.

154 “E-Team Machinist Training Program,” E-Team Machinist Training Program (E-Team Machinist Training Program, 

2018), https://eteamhome.net/. 155 “Global Best Skills Training Program,” FAME USA (FAME USA, 2023), https://fame-usa.com/fame-program-formanufacturers/. 156 “FAME,” The Manufacturing Institute (National Association of Manufacturers, 2023), 

https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/workers/fame/. 157 “The Manufacturing Institute,” The Manufacturing Institute (National Association of Manufacturers, 2023), 

https://www.themanufacturinginstitute.org/. 158 “Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship,” Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship 

(Industrial Manufacturing Technician Apprenticeship, February 17, 2017), https://www.imtapprenticeship.org/. 159 “Manufacturing Extension Partnership (MEP),” National Institute of Standards and Technology (National Institute 

of Standards and Technology, January 30, 2023), https://www.nist.gov/mep. 
73

MEP Centers and partners have developed a wide range of services and initiatives to enable 

manufacturers to identify opportunities that will accelerate and strengthen growth and 

competitiveness in the global marketplace, including resources on assessment and planning, 

attraction and recruitment, training and development, engagement and retention, and becoming 

and employer of choice.160

Manufacturing USA Institutes

Manufacturing USA consists of a national network of linked manufacturing institutes that work to 

foster innovation.

161 Each has a unique technological concentration but is also designed to 

accelerate the entire U.S. advanced manufacturing. One of the key initiatives of the Institutes is 

workforce development. A few of the institutes are highlighted below. 

NextFlex 

NextFlex takes key steps toward furthering U.S. development and adoption of the flexible hybrid 

electronics (FHE) that will revolutionize the way Americans live, work and play. NextFlex

Learning Programs is the workforce development and education arm of the Institute and has a 

portfolio that focuses on advanced manufacturing through awareness building, recruitment, and 

skill building for the advanced manufacturing sector and FHE community.162

FlexFactor is an outreach, recruitment, and STEM education program designed to familiarize K12 students with advanced manufacturing technology, entrepreneurship, and the education and 

career pathways that can lead to a STEM career. The program was designed to showcase the 

promise of these careers and help students to develop the critical thinking, creative reasoning, 

and problem-solving skills needed for future success.

Flex2Future is a work-based learning program designed to allow colleges to easily integrate onthe-job training into advanced manufacturing career pathways.

PowerAmerica

PowerAmerica brings together the brightest minds in the wide bandgap (WBG) semiconductor 

world. Semiconductor manufacturers and the companies that use power semiconductors in their 

products are working together to accelerate the adoption of next generation silicon carbide and 

gallium nitride power electronics. PowerAmerica’s education and workforce initiatives aim to 

train the next generation of WBG students at U.S. universities and train the workforce in WBG 

technologies by offering short courses and technical webinar series, and by matching students 

with employers.163

MxD

In partnership with the Department of Defense, MxD equips U.S. factories with the digital tools, 

cybersecurity, and workforce expertise needed to begin building every part better than the last. 

MxD can help communities build a manufacturing workforce of the future. With programs in 

places ranging from high school to the factory floor, MxD focuses on helping companies train 

160 “Workforce Development for Manufacturers, Manufacturing Extension Partnership,” National Institute of Standards 

and Technology (National Institute of Standards and Technology, December 5, 2022), 

https://www.nist.gov/mep/workforce-development-manufacturers. 161 “Institutes,” Manufacturing USA (Manufacturing USA 2023), https://www.manufacturingusa.com/institutes. 162 “Learning Portfolio, Developing the Advanced Manufacturing Workforce of the Future,” NextFlex (NextFlex, June 

13, 2022), https://www.nextflex.us/learning-portfolio/. 163 “Education and Workforce Development,” PowerAmerica (North Carolina State University, PowerAmerica, 2023), 

https://poweramericainstitute.org/education-and-workforce-development/. 
74

and retain skilled workers who are nimble and digitally savvy to overcome current skills and 

perception gaps in the manufacturing sector. Many students and their families lack an accurate 

understanding of a modern factory environment, and MxD is working to rectify that.

Micro Nano Technology Education Center 

The overarching goal of The Micro Nano Technology Education Center (MNT-EC) is to grow the 

MNT technician workforce by fostering academic and industry mentorship between existing 

MNT partners and educators developing prospective community college MNT programs.164

MNT-EC is working on the following objectives to achieve this goal:

1. Developing a coordinated national approach to advance MNT education. This objective 

is being accomplished by:

• Strengthening and fostering creation of new MNT programs across the United 

States.

• Developing a single curated online repository and distance education

opportunities.

• Engaging industry to identify educational needs in technical education.

2. Delivering professional development to enhance knowledge, skills, and abilities. This 

objective is being accomplished by:

• Facilitating workshops and professional conferences on emerging MNT 

technologies.

• Delivering hands-on laboratory education.

• Producing industry and education podcasts.

3. Conducting strategic outreach, recruitment, and retention of traditional and 

underrepresented faculty/students. This objective is being accomplished by:

• Coordinating effort to recruit African American, Latin/x, and women faculty 

and students.

• Providing support and outreach to active-duty military and veterans.

• Communicating MNT career benefits to increase awareness among students 

and parents.

4. Creating deep Industry/Education Alliance that supports student success. This objective 

is being accomplished by:

• Providing work-based learning opportunities to students through industry 

connections.

• Creating internships and employment database.

• Organizing a national Business and Industry Leadership Team (BILT).

• Defining and correlating student outcomes with industry skill requirements.

National Institute for Innovation and Technology

The National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT) is a U.S. Department of Labor 

(USDOL) funded Registered Apprenticeship Industry Intermediary contractor charged with 

establishing and expanding Registered Apprenticeship Programs in Semiconductor and 

Nanotechnology industries and their related supply chain. NIIT has implemented the Growing 

Apprenticeships in Nanotechnology and Semiconductors program (GAINS) to expand access to 

USDOL Registered Apprenticeship Programs with a specific focus on underrepresented 

populations. GAINS leverages regional assets and organizations to meet the needs of individual 

employers. The implemented Registered Apprenticeship programs rely on the “learn and earn” 

model and competency-based training for mechanical and electrical skill sets. One goal of the 

164 “Micro Nano Technology Education Center,” Micro Nano Technology Education Center (Pasadena City College 

and National Science Foundation, Micro Nano Technology Education Center, 2023), https://micronanoeducation.org/. 
75

program is to increase employee retention by enabling participants to advance along multiple 

career pathways within an organization. GAINS also has a component that enables returning 

service men and woman to leverage their experience and quickly advance through the program. 

The NIIT is also establishing “regional talent pipeline hubs” around the nation where 

ecosystems supporting these related industries exist. Facilitated by NIIT’s industry and 

education experts, regional stakeholders including employers, educators, and other workforce 

development entities evaluate educational programs (K-12, college, adult education) to 

determine the presence and extent of experiential learning, curriculum alignment with industry 

requirements, and appropriate facilities, equipment, and instructors. NIIT and the regional team 

also evaluate whether the education pathway is interconnected, transparent, and easy to 

access for the area population, with a dedicated focus on returning service members and their 

families. After evaluation, the team works together to determine gaps and develop solutions 

employing NIIT technical assistance, programs, and infrastructure.

NIIT developed the “National Talent Hub” portal with the support and partnership of the National 

Science Foundation Advanced Technological Education Program (NSF-ATE) and the USDOL 

Employment and Training Administration (USDOL-ETA). The portal serves as a gateway for 

talent to employers and training providers and ensures real-time, detailed alignment and 

connectivity between industry, academia and individuals. It is a competency-based system 

which reflects relevant, validated industry required knowledge skills and abilities (KSAs) for 

Advanced Manufacturing and the Semiconductor industry. The system houses the NIIT’s 

“Comprehensive Competency Standards Database”, which was developed by evaluating 

existing databases and constructing a single, up-to-date database, as well as the nation’s first 

Semiconductor Competency Standard, which was developed by the NIIT. This database 

provides a foundation for what is now a fully automated system that uses advanced data 

analytics to align industry/jobs with education/training course curriculum, credentials and 

certificates, and individual skills profiles. The system translates data into industry recognized 

KSAs regardless of credential, certificate, degree or source of experience. GAINS leverages the 

National Talent Hub to assess individual skills and identify skills gaps, target training, provide 

career mapping services and to build related training programs, as well as to create a “preapprenticeship pathway” by enabling participants in education and training programs at all levels 

to participate in the program.

National Science Foundation 

The National Science Foundation (NSF) is one of the leading investors in building the science, 

technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) workforce of the future and ensuring that the 

Nation is well-positioned to meet the growing STEM workplace demands. Through many of its 

workforce development activities, the agency makes significant investments in preparing, 

nurturing, and broadening the representation of scientists, technicians, engineers, 

mathematicians, educators, and entrepreneurs who can give rise to research breakthroughs 

and major technological advancements that contribute to the Nation's overall security and 

economic competitiveness. For nearly 75 years, NSF has demonstrated a track record of 

enhancing learning and teaching and achieving excellence in STEM education at all levels and 

in all settings. 

NSF has developed an expansive and inclusive range of workforce development programs, 

broadly supporting science and engineering, including learners in K-12 schools, community 

colleges, and universities, as well as reskilling for current workers and upskilling for those 
76

seeking to enter the workforce in new and emerging areas. Through its programs, NSF is 

already funding institutions of higher education to:

• Expand training opportunities through experiential education;

• Broaden and democratize access to semiconductor fabrication and prototyping experiences 

central to advancing a future workforce for this topic area; 

• Increase the education/training and scholarships for students, which includes the creation of 

new programs of study, courses, and materials as well as the adaptation and 

implementation of existing efforts;

• Proliferate the adaptation and implementation of evidence-based curricula and pedagogies 

in different STEM career pathways, through curricular and/or pedagogical training for higher 

education faculty and/or secondary teachers, better integration and encapsulation of 

curricula for sharing, broader dissemination networks, collaboration, and networking 

opportunities;

• Align and incorporate industry, professional, technical standards in teaching and learning 

and/or incorporating career skills into training and education modalities, thereby increasing 

access to, and interest in, different career pathways in STEM;

• Integrate systematic, exemplary approaches to advance inclusive and equitable STEM 

education;

• Build the capacity for institutions’ rapid response to the changes in the STEM-oriented and 

skilled technician workforce; and

• Investigate student success in academia and/or in the workforces in semiconductors and/or 

associated fields.

As described below, multiple programs created and executed by NSF are “shovel-ready” for the 

Department of Commerce (DOC) and CHIPS Incentives Program. NSF and its current partners 

are investing more than $350 million annually in these programs. Additional investments would 

enable scaling and strengthening of the impact of these programs on workforce development for 

the benefit of the semiconductor and microelectronics industries. Moreover, by considering the 

full range of workforce development programs supporting the U.S. semiconductor and 

microelectronics industries, 

NSF Programs

• Advanced Technological Education (ATE) program focuses on two-year colleges 

(community and technical colleges) and the education of technicians for the hightechnology fields that drive our nation's economy, including semiconductor and 

microelectronics technology. The program invests in nearly 40,000 students and 9,000 

teachers annually. It involves partnerships between academic institutions (grades 7-12, 

IHEs), industry, and economic development agencies to promote improvement in the 

education of science and engineering technicians at the undergraduate and 

secondary school levels. The program supports curriculum development; professional 

development for college faculty and secondary school teachers; career pathways; 

apprenticeships; internships; reskilling for incumbent workers; and other activities. The 

program also supports applied research that advances the knowledge base related to 

technician education, academically talented students and has supported more than 

100,000 students across the nation since 2006.165

165 “Advanced Technological Education (ATE),” National Science Foundation (National Science Foundation, July 8, 

2021), https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/advanced-technological-education-ate. 
77

• NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (SSTEM) program provides scholarships for low-income students with academic ability, 

talent, or potential in many STEM fields, including those related to semiconductor design 

and manufacturing. The program seeks to increase the number of low-income students 

who graduate from two-year and four-year colleges and universities with a STEM degree 

and contribute to the American innovation economy. Recognizing that financial aid alone 

cannot increase retention and graduation in STEM, the program also invests in adapting, 

implementing, and studying evidence-based curricular and co-curricular activities that 

have been shown to be effective in supporting student recruitment, retention, transfer, 

and graduation. The program has supported over 100,000 students in nearly every state, 

plus Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, in the last 15 years. The program 

encourages collaborations among universities, industry, local community organizations, 

national labs, and other federal, state, and tribal government organizations.166

• Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies (ExLENT) program 

providing experiential learning opportunities to students interested in the semiconductors 

and microelectronics workforce. The ExLENT program, which NSF launched in Fall 

2022, invests in expanding access to career-enhancing experiential learning 

opportunities for a broader, more diverse population, including adult learners interested 

in re-skilling and/or upskilling (e.g., those who face or who have faced significant barriers 

to accessing a formal STEM education); promoting crosssector partnerships between organizations in emerging technology fields and those with 

expertise in workforce development; and developing a workforce aligned with regional 

economies based on emerging technologies across the Nation. NSF anticipates 

touching hundreds of learners with an inaugural set of awards in 2023.167

• Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) in 

semiconductor and microelectronics research and development. NSF invests in 

hundreds of thousands of graduate students annually. Aligned with its commitment to 

supporting graduate students, the INTERN program invests in supplemental funding 

requests for up to an additional six months of graduate student support on active NSF 

grants, providing graduate students with opportunities to augment their academic 

research with non-academic research internship activities and training opportunities that 

will complement their academic research training; and pursue new activities aimed at 

acquiring professional development experience that will enhance their preparation for 

multiple career pathways for graduation. Of particular interest is the participation of 

graduate students from groups underrepresented in STEM.168

• Research Experiences for Undergraduates (REU) supports meaningful research 

opportunities across science and engineering topics supported by NSF. Approximately 

6,000 students participate in NSF REU sites every year. The typical REU site provides 8 

166 “NSF Scholarships in Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics Program (S-STEM),” National Science 

Foundation (December 2, 2022), https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/nsf-scholarships-science-technologyengineering. 167 “Experiential Learning for Emerging and Novel Technologies(ExLENT),” National Science Foundation (National 

Science Foundation, October 17, 2022), https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/experiential-learning-emergingnovel-technologies. 168 “Non-Academic Research Internships for Graduate Students (INTERN) Supplemental Funding Opportunity,” 

National Science Foundation (National Science Foundation, October 8, 2020), 

https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/non-academic-research-internships-graduate. 
78

to 10 weeks of research and professional development activities for about 10 students, 

of whom many are women, persons with disabilities, or Black, Hispanic, or other 

underrepresented minorities. NSF and Semiconductor Research Corporation (SRC) 

recently signed a memorandum of understanding to support hands-on research 

opportunities for undergraduate students in research areas related to semiconductors. 

This partnership will advance the fundamental science and engineering of 

semiconductors and the development of a diverse science and engineering workforce for 

an area of high national priority.169

• CSGrad4US Fellowships, eFellows, and MPS-Ascend seek to increase the number 

and diversity of students engaging in advance degree programs in areas of relevance to 

the semiconductor industry and to the computing fields that both drive semiconductor 

R&D and build from it. Now in its third year, CSGrad4US program is highly scalable and 

was initiated to reverse troubling trends regarding US student engagement in the 

research pipeline, and to produce sufficient domestic expertise in areas of national 

need.170 MPS-Ascend171 and eFellows172 focus on post-doctoral researchers working to 

advance fundamental and process development questions relevant to the semiconductor 

industry.

• Supplements for Semiconductor Fabrication and Prototyping are available for 

researchers and educators to expand researcher and student access to semiconductor 

fabrication experiences. These opportunities can be viewed as a scalable crosscut 

across the programs listed above, and others.173 

Of particular interest to NSF are two-year/community colleges and Minority Serving Institutions, 

Historically Black Colleges and Universities, Tribal Colleges and Universities, and Alaska Native 

and Native Hawaiian Serving Institutions, in which groups historically underrepresented and 

underserved in STEM are showing increased interest in advanced technology careers.

NSF also has established relationships with two-year/community colleges and Minority Serving 

Institutions (e.g., Hispanic Serving Institutions (HSIs), Historically Black Colleges and 

Universities (HBCUs), Tribal Colleges and Universities (TCUs), and Alaska Native and Native 

Hawaiian Serving Institutions (ANNH)), in which groups historically underrepresented and 

underserved in STEM are showing increased interest in advanced technology careers.

NSF is already working with industry and other partners to customize educational offerings to 

diverse student populations. These range from two-year/community college enrollees to adult 

learners in search of reskilling or upskilling certification, broadening career pathways for these 

students to land full-time advanced technology jobs, following the completion of their degree 

169

National Science Foundation, Research Experiences for Undergraduates, (June 8, 2022) 

https://www.nsf.gov/pubs/2022/nsf22601/nsf22601.htm. 170 “CSGrad4US,” National Science Foundation (National Science Foundation, October 25, 2022) 

https://www.nsf.gov/cise/CSGrad4US//. 171 “Mathematical and Physical Sciences Ascending Postdoctoral Research Fellowships (MPS-Ascend)," National 

Science Foundation (National Science Foundation, October 11, 2022),

https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/mathematical-physical-sciences-ascending. 172 “About the eFellows Program,” National Science Foundation and American Society for Engineering Education 

(American Society for Engineering Education, 2021), https://efellows.asee.org/home. 173 “Supplements for Access to Semiconductor Fabrication,” National Science Foundation (National Science 

Foundation, August 16,2022), https://beta.nsf.gov/funding/opportunities/supplements-access-semiconductorfabrication-asf. 
79

and/or certificate programs. CHIPS applicants can directly partner with NSF to enhance the 

workforce development opportunities for diverse talent across the industry. 

National Semiconductor Economic Roadmap

The National Semiconductor Economic Roadmap (NSER) was conceived and commissioned by 

the Arizona Commerce Authority (ACA) and developed by industry leaders, academic 

institutions, state entities, and the Boston Consulting Group. This first-of-its-kind roadmap is an 

industry-led initiative designed to advance semiconductor competitiveness and craft a blueprint 

to future-proof semiconductor manufacturing in the US. More than 80 industry leaders, 

educational institutions and public sector leaders from states around the nation came together 

to collaborate and develop the NSER, which outlines goals and objectives across four key 

pillars: infrastructure, supply chain, workforce, and entrepreneurship.

The NSER includes a chapter on workforce which provides background information about the 

semiconductor workforce and identifies workforce challenges. Also included is the NSER Action 

Plan which sets visions for the semiconductor workforce and proposes high level initiatives with 

examples. 

The workforce vision includes:

• The number of students who enter the semiconductor pipeline increases significantly 

due to teaching, mentoring, and transitioning a diverse population into the industry.

• The semiconductor industry retains its talent pool by reversing attrition factors.

• The workforce is adaptable to the advancing needs of the industry.174

New Manufacturing Alliance

The New Manufacturing Alliance brings together manufacturers in a united voice to solve 

workforce skills challenges. The businesses have partnered with; K-16 education, workforce 

boards, economic development organizations, and others to change the image of manufacturing 

in northeast Wisconsin. They offer numerous resources for business, educators, students, and 

job seekers. 

NY CREATES

NY CREATES aims to further accelerate the growth of high-value, high-technology companies, 

by attracting entrepreneurs to New York State, and supporting them through ideation, 

incubation, and investment phases. NY CREATES continues the long-standing push to provide 

an invigorating environment for high technology industries. NY CREATES serves as a resource 

for public-private and academic partnerships within New York State to create and lead industry 

connected innovation and commercialization projects that attract investment and create growth 

in high technology jobs.

NY Creates partnered with the National Science Foundation (NSF) to create Vet S.T.E.P., a 

hands-on, high tech training internship for veterans to earn the skills to earn tech 1 certification 

for the semiconductor industry. The program consists of two weeks or training and 8 weeks of 

174 “The National Semiconductor Economic Roadmap,” Arizona Commerce Authority and Boston Consulting Group 

(Arizona Commerce Authority, December, 2022), https://www.azcommerce.com/media/ndyorum2/nationalsemiconductor-economic-roadmap-nser.pdf. 
80

internships with a semiconductor company, is free of charge, and provides housing for 

participants.175 

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association

The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) strives to protect and grow Ohio manufacturing. 

While Ohio manufacturing businesses are their constituency, OMA provides numerous 

workforce development tools and resources for free on their website:

• Tools & Resources for Industry Sector Partnerships

• Tools for Sector Partnership Launch

• Tools for Sector Partnership Implementation

• Tools for Earn-and-Learn Programs

• How-to-Guides (including recruiting)

See the workforce services page for a full list of available resources.176 

OhioTechNet

OhioTechNet (OTN) is accelerating innovation by creating education-industry partnerships that 

work to fill today’s high-tech manufacturing jobs for the next generation. OTN is a consortium of 

career technical centers, Ohio Technical Centers, community colleges and universities, who 

have partnered with The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (OMA) and other state and national 

partners to make Ohio a leader in solving the manufacturing workforce shortage. 

OTN partners have expanded registered apprenticeship programs and launched other Earn & 

Learn models that align with Ohio’s most in-demand jobs. Expertise within the consortium 

accelerates the adoption of these models among partner institutions – creating a win-win for 

students who can complete training with little-to-no debt, and employers who can build a 

sustainable talent pipeline for entry-level and skilled positions.177 

SEMI Foundation

The SEMI Foundation is the 501(c)(3) arm of SEMI, the global industry association representing 

the microelectronics manufacturing and design supply chain. The Foundation leads the 

association’s global workforce development and diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives. 

The Foundation is uniquely positioned to bring together companies, academia, and a wealth of 

other partners to create a stronger, more diverse industry workforce.

In partnership with its member companies, the Foundation has developed a world-class portfolio 

of programs and resources to assist individual companies, industry coalitions, and workforce 

development systems. This workforce development portfolio allows partners to leverage 

ongoing work to create embedded, successful, and scalable workforce development 

ecosystems that also incorporate diversity, equity, and inclusion best practices.

The SEMI Foundation offers support packages that can be customized to assist company- or 

coalition-based initiatives. Programs and services include:

• High Tech U – an outreach initiative to K-12 schools, districts, and adjacent programs

• VetWorks – supports for recruiting, hiring, and retaining veterans

175 “Vet S.T.E.P.,” NY Creates (NY Creates, 2023), https://ny-creates.org/vetstep/. 176 “Workforce Services,” The Ohio Manufacturers’ Association (The Ohio Manufacturers Association, 2023), 

https://www.ohiomfg.com/workforce-services/. 177 OhioTechNet (Ohio TechNet, 2018), https://ohiotechnet.org/. 
81

• Career portal – a robust website to help students and job seekers explore industry 

opportunities

• SEMI Mentoring – online, on-demand mentoring that connects college students with 

industry professionals

• Industry Image and Awareness Campaign – Initiatives aimed at solving one of the 

largest industry challenges in workforce development

• Diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) resources including a roadmap and toolkit, 

trainings, and support

• SEMI University – online learning platform with over 360 courses created for the 

industry, providing online semiconductor training program for employees ranging from 

recently hired facility operators to experienced technicians, engineers and non-technical 

staff

• Events, webinars, research, and events that support workforce development and DEI 

thought leadership and industry perspectives

In addition to these packages, the SEMI Foundation is also developing larger-scale 

apprenticeship, pre-apprenticeship, and other earn-and-learn programs. In addition, companies 

and coalitions have access to SEMI University, a new global program offering innovative and 

leading-edge global educational and training solutions.178

Semiconductor-Nanotechnology Manufacturing Competency Model

The competency model framework for Semiconductor-Nanotechnology Manufacturing179 was 

developed through a collaborative effort involving the USDOL Employment and Training 

Administration (USDOL-ETA) and leading industry organizations. The framework incorporates 

Tiers 1-4 of the Advanced Manufacturing Competency Model and adds specialized 

competencies for the Semiconductor-Nanotechnology Manufacturing industry-sector.

ETA worked with the National Institute for Innovation and Technology (NIIT) to create a dynamic

version of the Semiconductor-Nanotechnology Competency Model. It identifies competencies 

needed for success in semiconductor-nanotechnology manufacturing to improve skills 

transparency and support a deeper workforce pipeline. This developmental version includes the 

industry-wide Tier 4 competencies from the Advanced Manufacturing Competency Model and 

the industry-sector competencies proposed for inclusion in Tier 5, which will be supplemented 

with Critical Work Functions and Technical Content Areas upon completion.

U.S. Department of Labor Apprenticeship.gov Resources—Advanced Manufacturing 

Registered Apprenticeship Programs

Registered Apprenticeship180 is an industry-driven, high-quality career pathway where 

employers can develop and prepare their future workforce, and individuals can obtain paid work 

experience, receive progressive wage increases, classroom instruction, and a portable, 

nationally recognized credential. Registered Apprenticeships are industry-vetted and approved 

and validated by the U.S. Department of Labor or a State Apprenticeship Agency.

Registered Apprenticeship Programs enable and energize more employers to participate and 

provide them access to larger talent pools that have been trained for entry-level to management 

178 “SEMI Foundation Mission & Vision,” SEMI Foundation (SEMI, 2023), http://semifoundation.org. 179 “Semiconductor-Nanotechnology Manufacturing Competency Model,” Competency Model Clearinghouse (U.S. 

Department of Labor, Employment and Training Administration, CareerOneStop, 2023), 

https://stage.careeronestop.org/CompetencyModel/competency-models/semiconductor-nanotechnology.aspx. 180 “Registered Apprenticeship Program,” Apprenticeship USA (U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship USA, 

2023), https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/registered-apprenticeship-program. 
82

positions, thereby meeting industry demands building pipelines of skilled workers across the 

country. 

Key elements of all Registered Apprenticeship programs include the following:

• Industry Led - Programs are industry-vetted and approved to ensure alignment with 

industry standards and that apprentices are trained for highly skilled, high-demand 

occupations.

• Paid Job - Apprenticeships are jobs that allow workers to earn progressive wages as 

their skills and productivity increase.

• Structured On-the-Job Learning/Mentorship - Programs provide structured on-the-job 

training to prepare for a successful career, which includes instruction from an 

experienced mentor.

• Supplemental Education - Apprentices are provided supplemental classroom 

education based on the employers unique training needs to ensure quality and success.

• Diversity - Programs are designed to reflect the communities in which they operate 

through strong non-discrimination, anti-harassment, and recruitment practices to ensure 

access, equity, and inclusion.

• Quality & Safety - Apprentices are afforded worker protections while receiving rigorous 

training to equip them with the skills they need to succeed and the proper training and 

supervision they need to be safe.

• Credentials - Apprentices earn a portable, nationally recognized credential within their 

industry.

Registered Apprenticeships provide additional benefits to employers. For example, in many 

states, businesses can qualify for tax credits. Businesses can also access additional resources, 

funding, and technical assistance. Since January 2021, the Biden-Harris Administration has 

invested over $330 million through grants, contracts, and cooperative agreements to states, 

employers, labor organizations, and Registered Apprenticeship intermediaries to expand and 

diversify Registered Apprenticeships, particularly in high-demand fields.181 

The Apprenticeship.gov website offers Registered Apprenticeship resources for employers, 

career seekers, and education partners. The Employers’ section of the website includes 

guidance on how to build or join a program, find partners in an industry or geographic area, and 

use Registered Apprenticeship to build a diverse, inclusive, and accessible workforce.182

Specific information on advanced manufacturing Registered Apprenticeship programs and highdemand occupations can be found on the advanced manufacturing landing page.183

Apprenticeship.gov also allows users to contact Registered Apprenticeship experts in the U.S. 

Department of Labor’s Office of Apprenticeship and State Apprenticeship Agencies for 

assistance.184

181 For information on funding opportunities, see: “What Funding is Available to Support Apprenticeship Program 

Creation or Expansion?,” Apprenticeship USA (U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship USA, 2023), 

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/help/what-funding-available-support-apprenticeship-program-creation-or-expansion. 182 “Registered Apprenticeship Program,” Apprenticeship USA (U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship USA, 

2023), https://www.apprenticeship.gov/employers/registered-apprenticeship-program. 183 “Advanced Manufacturing,” Apprenticeship USA (U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship USA, 2023), 

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/apprenticeship-industries/advanced-manufacturing.

184 “Top Questions,” Apprenticeship USA (U.S. Department of Labor, Apprenticeship USA, 2023), 

https://www.apprenticeship.gov/help.
83

College and University Programs

Many colleges and universities have specialized programs for semiconductor technologies with 

more expected as CHIPS investments are implemented. Some organizations have also formed 

consortia to tackle common challenges together. Workforce development is frequently a focus 

of these programs. This list is a sampling of current programs to serve as resources for 

information and potential collaboration. 

Arizona State University 

Arizona State University (ASU) has recently made significant investments in its microelectronics 

laboratories in cooperation with industry partners. ASU has additionally committed to providing 

customizable and scalable online course options in specific areas of expertise like 

semiconductor packaging or industrial automation to support industry’s needs in the face of 

technological change. ASU also works with industry partners to develop customized workforce 

development programs that respond to market demand.185 

The Secure, Trusted, and Assured Microelectronics (STAM) Center conducts fundamental 

research in three technical areas meant to establish the foundation for future secure and trusted 

semiconductor/ microelectronics technologies: (1) new substrates, synthesis, and fabrication; 

(2) new computing paradigms and architectures; and (3) integrated sensing, edge computing, 

and secure communications.186

The ASU MacroTechnology Works is accelerating semiconductor, advanced materials, and 

energy device research in the United States. ASU’s MacroTechnology Works offers capabilities 

that are an order of magnitude larger than those available at other universities. Core Research 

Facilities for Advanced Electronics and Photonics as well as Solar Fabrication provide 

comprehensive, industry-compatible resources to securely prototype, test and produce vital new 

technologies.187

Center for Heterogeneous Integration and Performance Scaling – UCLA

The UCLA Center for Heterogeneous Integration and Performance Scaling (UCLA CHIPS) was 

established in 2015, at the Samueli School of Engineering, to address the dramatic changes 

taking place in the electronic hardware arena. The immense cost of semiconductor development 

and manufacturing, together with the saturation in cost-power-performance metrics, has led to a 

consolidation of semiconductor fabrication into mega foundries. Even more far-reaching is a 

similar consolidation in the chip-design area. Computing paradigms are evolving as systems 

become more data centric and heterogeneous. This calls for a fundamental re-thinking of 

integrated circuits and system design and manufacture. UCLA CHIPS is an interdisciplinary 

university-led consortium composed of industrial partners and consortia, universities and 

government agencies to address this problem holistically. Starting from the application space, 

the design environment, and the integration scheme, appropriate new materials and 

components are being developed. These include energy sources, memory, sensors, passives, 

185 “Building the microelectronics workforce of the future,” Arizona State University (Arizona Board of Regents, 2022), 

https://microelectronics.asu.edu/workforce-development/. 186 “STAM Center,” Arizona State University (Arizona Board of Regents, 2022), https://stamcenter.asu.edu/. 187 “MacroTechnology Works, Forging the future of materials technology and manufacturing,” Arizona State University 

Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering (Arizona Board of Regents, 2022), 

https://engineering.asu.edu/macrotechnology-works/. 
84

electromechanical and medical devices—all of which need to be integrated into these new 

platforms and application space.

Columbus State Community College 

An example of a new dual approach to recruiting and preparing non-degreed workers for 

semiconductor manufacturing jobs is being spearheaded by the local community college and 

workforce boards. Columbus State Community College (CSCC) is leading the development of a 

novel statewide strategy to tackle the new facility’s workforce demands and fill approximately 

2,000 non-degreed jobs (not including Intel’s suppliers, which will also be generating new 

positions).188 At the same time, the local workforce board is sharpening its intermediary role as 

a convener of training organizations and scaling up a “no wrong door” philosophy that enables 

greater access to the training pipeline for all workers.189

Lorain County Community College 

Lorain Community College will lead a collaboration of 10 colleges and universities with support 

from Intel to prepare a semiconductor workforce for Intel’s planned plant in New Albany, Ohio. 

Lorrain County Community College was chosen to lead this consortium as they provide a variety 

of programs in microelectronics and automation with a focus on learn and earn education. This 

consortium was built out of the existing Ohio TechNet program aimed to develop a strong 

manufacturing workforce in Ohio. Lorain County Community College will also join 11 other 

midwestern colleges and universities in the formation of a new Midwest Regional Network to 

Address National Needs in Semiconductor and Microelectronics.190 

Maricopa Community Colleges – Semiconductor Technician Quick Start Program

The Semiconductor Technician Quick Start program was developed by Maricopa Community 

Colleges in partnership with semiconductor employers. The program is a 10-day technical 

education program intended to prepare potential technicians for hire by businesses. The 

program exposes participants to working in semiconductor clean rooms and bunny suits, 

introduces them to the equipment in the facilities, and prepares them to take the NIMS 

Technician Certification test. Upon passing, students are eligible to receive a stipend to cover 

the cost of training and interview with semiconductor companies.191 

Midwest Regional Network

Midwest colleges and universities are teaming up to develop innovative solutions to best 

support the onshoring of the advanced semiconductor and microelectronics industry and 

address the industries’ research and workforce needs. As of January 2, 2023, 20 

188 “Engineering, Manufacturing, and Engineering Technology,” Columbus State Community College (Columbus State 

Community College, 2018-2020), https://www.cscc.edu/#ENGINEERING. 189 Mark Muro, Lavea Brachman, and Yang You, “With High-Tech Manufacturing Plants Promising Good Jobs in 

Ohio, Workforce Developers Race to Get Ready,” Brookings (January 24, 2023), 

https://www.brookings.edu/research/with-high-tech-manufacturing-plants-promising-good-jobs-in-ohio-workforcedevelopers-race-to-get-ready/. 190 “Lorain County Community College receives Intel award to fuel Ohio’s semiconductor workforce,” Lorain County 

Community College (Lorain County Community College, September 9, 2022), 

https://www.lorainccc.edu/newsroom/lorain-county-community-college-receives-intel-award-to-fuel-ohiossemiconductor-workforce/. 191 “What is the Semiconductor Industry,” Maricopa Community Colleges (The Maricopa County Community College 

District, 2023), http://info.maricopacorporate.com/semiconductor. 
85

institutions have joined the Midwest Regional Network. The goal is to pool resources and 

collaboratively improve the quality of the semiconductor workforce.192

Morgan State University 

Morgan State University is an HBCU with high research activity that provides several degrees 

customized to the microelectronics industry, including research and degree programs in secure 

embedded systems and assured microelectronics.193 

Oregon State University 

Oregon State University houses and participates in several collaborative efforts with university 

and industry partners to drive faculty research in semiconductors including the Advanced 

Technology and Manufacturing Institute and Center for Design of Analog-Digital Integrated 

Circuits. Oregon State University collaborates with the University of Washington to support the 

Northwest Nanotechnology Infrastructure site, a part of the NSF’s National Nanotechnology 

Coordinated Infrastructure office.194 

Pennsylvania State University

The Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization provides interdisciplinary degree 

programs, coursework, and resources on nanotechnology manufacturing, including a 

Nanofabrication Manufacturing Technology Capstone Semester that can be used by students 

from other universities or industry workers.195 

Purdue University

Purdue University participates in many avenues of education and workforce development for the 

semiconductor industry. In addition to providing degrees and credentials specific to 

semiconductor technologies, Purdue has developed a variety of online learning tools for the 

semiconductor workers including nanoHub and vFabLab. The Purdue Summer Training, 

Awareness, and Readiness for Semiconductors (STARS) is an eight-week program that will be 

offered in summer 2023 for the first time to develop deep-tech skills like IC design, fabrication, 

and packaging, and semiconductor device and materials characterization.196 The Birck 

Nanotechnology Center is a state-of-the-art research facility at Purdue University which allows 

prototype fabrication and characterization at scale.197 Purdue also leads the SCALE program 

funded by the Department of Defense which aims to train highly skilled U.S. microelectronics 

engineers, hardware designers, and manufacturing experts.198 

192 Zeta Cross, “Illinois Tech join the Midwest Semiconductor Network,” The Center Square (Franklin News 

Foundation, 2023), https://www.thecentersquare.com/illinois/illinois-tech-joins-the-midwest-semiconductornetwork/article_757d79e4-8797-11ed-9706-63bf1989bc3d.html. 193 “Electrical & Computer Engineering,” Morgan State University (Morgan State University 2023), 

https://www.morgan.edu/soe/ece. 194 “Semiconductor Innovation at Oregon State,” Oregon State University (Oregon State University, 2023), 

https://engineering.oregonstate.edu/research/semiconductor. 195 “Center for Nanotechnology Education and Utilization,” Penn State College of Engineering (The Pennsylvania 

State University, 2022), https://www.cneu.psu.edu/. 196 “How to Start Your Journey Towards a Purdue Semiconductor Credential,” Purdue University (Purdue University, 

2023), https://engineering.purdue.edu/semiconductors/student-opportunities. 197 “Birck Nanotechnology Center,” Purdue University, https://www.purdue.edu/discoverypark/birck/. 198 “Semiconductors @ Purdue,” Purdue University (Purdue University, 2023), 

https://engineering.purdue.edu/semiconductors/semiconductors-at-purdue. 
86

The State University of New York (SUNY)

The State University of New York is a university system consisting of 64 institutions, providing a 

host of programs from technical credential and associate’s programs to doctoral programs. The 

SUNY network has a portfolio of programs specifically directed at the semiconductor industry, 

including a Semiconductor Manufacturing Technology Associate’s Degree from Mohawk Valley 

and Hudson Valley Community Colleges, Certificates and Associate’s Degrees in Advanced 

Manufacturing from Hudson Valley and Cayuga Community Colleges, and a Bachelor’s Degree 

in Nanoscale Engineering from SUNY Polytechnic Institute. SUNY Polytechnic Institute 

additionally participates in a variety of coalitions and centers focused on advanced 

semiconductor research in collaboration with other university and industry partners.199 

Olin College of Engineering

Olin College of Engineering established a Society of Women Engineers to stimulate women to 

achieve full potential in careers as engineers and leaders, expand the image of the engineering 

profession as a positive force in improving the quality of life, and demonstrate the value of 

diversity.200 About half of the college’s student body identifies as female while women make up 

only about 18 percent of the engineering workforce in the United States.201 

University of Texas at Austin

The University of Texas at Austin (UT Austin) is home to the Chandra Department of Electrical 

and Computer Engineering, the largest department in the university’s Cockrell School of 

Engineering. Besides offering both undergraduate and graduate level opportunities, it is the 

home of the Semiconductor Power Electronics Center (SPEC). SPEC at UT Austin educates 

and trains students; designs, builds, and tests first-of-a-kind devices and systems; provides a 

world class facility accessible to industry; offers technology transfer to industry through spinout 

companies; provides advice to the government; and educates the public through 

demonstrations and pilot projects. Industry supports SPEC by providing fellowship opportunities, 

sponsoring contract research, and engaging in joint proposals to government.202 

199 “Degrees and Training for Careers in the Growing Semiconductor Industry,” The State University of New York 

(SUNY, 2023), https://www.suny.edu/semiconductor/. 200 “Society of Women Engineers,” Olin College of Engineering (Olin College of Engineering, 2023), 

http://olincollege.swe.org/. 201 “A Boost for Women Students through Clare Boothe Luce Funding,” Olin College of Engineering, (Olin College of 

Engineering, July 21, 2022), https://www.olin.edu/articles/boost-women-students-through-clare-boothe-luce-funding. 202 “Texas ECE – Electrical & Computer Engineering at UT Austin,” University of Texas at Austin (University of Texas 

at Austin, n.d.),https://www.ece.utexas.edu/; “Semiconductor Power and Electronics Center,” University of Texas at 

Austin (University of Texas at Austin), http://spec.ece.utexas.edu/. 
87

A.4 Child Care for Construction Workers: Case Studies

Care That Works. A non-standard hour child care pilot program in Boston, MA, Care That 

Works, is a coalition of community groups and labor unions. Care That Works matches working 

parents pursuing careers in construction and hospitality with child care providers who open as 

early as 5:00 a.m. The program provides child care for workers and supports participating child 

care providers with a stipend, helping to ensure high quality child care. The funding for this vital 

support service comes from project labor agreements for major construction projects in the 

Boston area and recently received additional funding through the city of Boston using American 

Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) funds.203

TradesFutures. The goal of TradesFutures pilots launched in New York City and Milwaukee is 

to provide construction workers with access to quality, affordable child care.204 Both pilots will 

support a local child care coalition comprised of labor unions and nonprofits and will connect 

women with quality child care.205 

Moore Community House. Based in Biloxi, Mississippi, Moore Community House offers 

funding for child care as part of its Women in Construction (WinC) program. The program helps 

create economic security for women by offering affordable child care and job training for work 

that pays a living wage. The WinC Program is a pre-apprenticeship job training program 

designed to prepare women for careers in apprenticeship and nontraditional career pathways. 

As part of the program, Moore Community House offers child care assistance for eligible 

participants in two ways: they either provide child care directly through their Early Head Start 

program or they help connect WinC participants with a child care provider and provide a stipend 

for this care.206

Oregon Trades Programs. State, local, and community stakeholders have launched several 

initiatives in Oregon to expand access to child care for construction workers. The ApprenticeRelated Child Care (ARCC) program provides subsidies to apprentices as part of their training, 

allowing family and friends become eligible providers and receive payment for child care 

services.207 Evidence suggests that ARCC’s subsidies have increased apprenticeship training 

completion rates by more than 20 percent. In addition, as a means of creating a more stable 

supply of child care, Labor Littles (a nonprofit organization) reserved slots with extended hours 

care providers to ensure availability for construction workers. To de-risk the arrangement for 

providers, Labor Littles reimbursed providers for any slots that went unfilled. Such an 

203 “We’re Fighting for Child Care that Works for Working Families,” Care That Works (Care that Works, June 24, 

2022), https://carethatworks.org/. 204 “Child Care Pilots, TradesFutures Child Care Pilot Program: Working to Make Child Care Accessible for North 

America’s Skilled Tradespeople,” TradesFutures (TradeFutures, August 8, 2022), 

https://tradesfutures.org/initiatives/child-care-pilot/. 205 “Hard Hats. Strong Women. Building the Future.” Nontraditional Employment for Women, (Nontraditional 

Employment for Women, 2023) https://www.new-nyc.org/. 206 “Building Stronger Communities Since 1924,” Moore Community House (Moore Community House, 2021), 

https://www.moorecommunityhouse.org/. 207 Rebecca Gale, “How Child Care in Oregon is Saving the Construction Trade,” Early Learning Nation (Early 

Learning Nation, January 30, 2023), https://earlylearningnation.com/2023/01/how-child-care-in-oregon-is-saving-theconstruction-trade/. 
88

arrangement—which drew support from unions, providers, and public financing—represents a 

model by which employers can shape markets to meet their workers’ needs.208

208 “Child Care Supports For The Construction Trades: Building and Sustaining Diversity in Oregon,” Institute for 

Women's Policy Research (Institute for Women's Policy Research, 2020), https://policygroupontradeswomen.org/wpcontent/uploads/2021/12/IWPR-Oregon-Child-Care-in-Construction-2020-Final.pdf. 
89

A.5 Federal Labor and Employment Laws

Federal labor and employment laws are legal requirements that apply to all employers in the 

United States. They mandate minimum safety, wage, anti-discrimination, and other workplace 

standards for all businesses in the United States. Applicants should also be aware of broadly 

applicable federal labor and employment laws such as federal fair labor practices, civil rights, 

and nondiscrimination, and prepare to evaluate subgrantees on their adherence. Applicants 

must abide by all applicable Federal laws, executive orders, regulations and policies governing 

this program. This section intends to detail relevant federal law for CHIPS projects; however, 

states, territories, and Tribal Entities may have additional applicable labor and employment 

requirements to which applicants and subgrantees alike must adhere.209 

Act Summary

Fair Labor Practices

Fair Labor Standards 

Act

Establishment of minimum wage, overtime pay, recordkeeping, 

and child labor standards affecting full-time and part-time workers 

across private and public sectors 

Occupational Safety 

and Health Act Establishment of safe and healthy workplace standards 

Service Contract Act Establishment of standards for contractors and subcontractors 

performing services on prime contracts in excess of 2,500 

Civil Rights and Nondiscrimination

Title VI of the Civil 

Rights Act of 1964

(See also 15 C.F.R. 

Part 8)

Prohibition on discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national 

origin under programs or activities receiving federal financial 

assistance, including from the Department of Commerce

Title IX of the Education 

Amendments of 1972

Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of sex under federally 

assisted education programs or activities

The Americans with 

Disabilities Act of 1990

Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of disability under 

programs, activities, and services provided or made available by 

Eligible Entities and local governments or instrumentalities or 

agencies thereto, as well as public or private entities that provide 

transportation

Section 503 of the 

Rehabilitation Act of 

1973

Prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from 

discriminating in employment against individuals with disabilities 

and requires employers take affirmative action to recruit, hire, 

promote, and retain these individuals

209 Tribal Entities may have a Tribal Employment Rights Office (TERO) that monitors and enforces Tribal employment 

rights and ordinances and facilitates the employment of American Indians and Alaska Natives in businesses and 

industries operating within the geographical boundaries of the reservation, For more on TERO and Tribal Entity labor 

and employment law, see “Indian and Native American Employment Rights Program,” Office of Federal Contract 

Compliance Programs, (U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs, 2023),

https://www.dol.gov/sites/dolgov/files/ofccp/INAERP/files/INAERP_ESQA508c.pdf; “Frequently Asked Questions 

About Indian Tribes and Tribal Employment Rights Offices,” Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (2023), 

https://www.eeoc.gov/frequently-asked-questions-about-indian-tribes-and-tribal-employment-rights-offices; “Indian 

Preference FAQs,” Office of Federal Contract Compliance Programs (U.S. Department of Labor, Office of Federal 

Contract Compliance Programs, 2023), www.dol.gov/agencies/ofccp/faqs/indian-preference. 
90

Section 504 of the 

Rehabilitation Act of 

1973

Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of handicap under any 

program or activity receiving or benefiting from federal assistance

The Age Discrimination 

Act of 1975

Prohibition of discrimination on the basis of age in programs or 

activities receiving federal financial assistance

Executive Order 11246

Requires affirmative action and prohibits federal contractors from 

discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, sex, sexual 

orientation, gender identity, or national origin. Contractors also are 

prohibited from discriminating against applicants or employees 

because they inquire about, discuss, or disclose their 

compensation or that of others, subject to certain limitations.

Vietnam Era Veterans' 

Readjustment 

Assistance Act 

(VEVRAA)

Prohibits federal contractors and subcontractors from 

discriminating in employment against protected veterans and 

requires employers take affirmative action to recruit, hire, promote, 

and retain these individuals.

Additional Authorities

Parts II and III of 

Executive Order 11246, 

Equal Employment 

Opportunity

Requires that federally assisted construction contracts incorporate 

and fulfill the nondiscrimination provisions of §§ 202 and 203 of 

E.O. 11246 and Department of Labor regulations implementing 

E.O. 11246 (41 C.F.R. § 60-1.4(b))

Executive Order 13166, 

Improving Access to 

Services for Persons 

with Limited English 

Proficiency

Requires federal agencies to examine the services 

that they provide, identify any need for services to those with 

limited English proficiency (LEP), and develop and implement a 

system to provide those services so LEP persons can 

have meaningful access to them

Executive Order 13798, 

Promoting Free Speech 

and Religious Liberty

(see also OMB M-20-09 

Guidance Regarding 

Federal Grants and 

Executive Order 13798) 

States or other public grantees may not condition sub-awards of 

federal grant money in a manner that would disadvantage grant 

applicants based on their religious character
91

A.6 Additional Workforce Planning Resources

Applicants may consider using the following resources to better understand the guidance 

provided in this planning guide.

A.6.1 American Job Centers

The public workforce system provides central points of services for job listings, training referrals, 

and other supports for employers and workers through its system of more than 2,400 American 

Job Centers (AJCs) nationwide. State and local workforce development boards coordinate 

employment and training activities funded through the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity 

Act (WIOA) through AJCs. AJCs are also access points for WIOA partner programs, including 

adult education, career and technical education, vocational rehabilitation, and veterans’ 

employment programs. CareerOneStop.org provides a wide range of resources on the public 

workforce system including a listing of state and local workforce development boards, a 

community college finder, and a toolkit with a variety of resources, as well as many other 

resources.

A.6.2 U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development—Community & Supportive 

Services Programs

The Mission of the Community and Supportive Services (CSS) Program is to support the work 

of partners and public housing authorities in reducing barriers and improving access to 

opportunities for communities, families, and residents to improve their quality of life. 

There are three specific programs related to increasing employment and wages for households 

receiving federal housing assistance:

• Resident Opportunity Self-Sufficiency Program. Enables HUD-assisted residents to 

make progress towards self-sufficiency by removing the educational, professional, 

employment, and health barriers they face.

• Family Self-Sufficiency Program. Provides motivational coaching to increase 

household earned income and achieve self-sufficiency through the following: 

comprehensive case management services; partnerships for services, supports and 

resources; and via family escrow accounts that grows as a family’s earnings grow.

• Jobs Plus. Jobs Plus is a place-based, evidence-based program that aims to increase 

earnings and advance employment outcomes for public housing residents. The program 

develops locally-based, job-driven approaches to achieve objectives. Jobs Plus

addresses poverty among public housing residents by incentivizing and enabling 

employment through an earned income disregard, and services designed to support 

work including employer linkages, job placement and counseling, educational 

advancement, and financial counseling. Lastly, the program saturates sites with services 

and incentives, building a culture of work and making working families the norm.
92

A.6.3 Other Public Resources

Resource Source Description

Federal Labor and Employment Laws

Handy Reference Guide 

to the Fair Labor 

Standards Act

DOL Reference guide to sections of the Fair Labor 

Standards Act.

Prohibited Employment 

Policies/Practices

U.S. Equal 

Employment 

Opportunity 

Commission 

(EEOC)

Explanations and additional information on 

prohibited employment policies and practices 

per the laws enforced by HIS.

At A Glance DOL Office of 

Federal 

Contract 

Compliance 

Programs 

(OFCCP)

Explanation of role of OFCCP and enforcement 

of equal employment opportunity and 

nondiscrimination requirements of federal 

contractors. 

Job Accommodation 

Network

DOL Resources about the ADA and strategies to 

accommodate employees with disabilities. The 

Job Accommodation Network also offers 

consulting services for organizations with 

questions.

Equitable Training and Workforce Development

Diversity and Inclusion DOL Guidance and resources for fostering a diverse 

and inclusive workplace.

Diversity, Equity, 

Inclusion, and 

Accessibility

DOL Information on how including diversity, equity, 

inclusion, and accessibility in Registered 

Apprenticeships is beneficial, along with case 

studies.

Build Together: Diversity, 

Equity & Inclusion in 

Construction

National 

Center for 

Construction 

Education & 

Research

Key takeaways and examples of how 

construction companies can implement DEI 

initiatives and improve workplace inclusion for 

their employees.

SkillSPAN National Skills 

Coalition

A national network of non-partisan coalitions 

focused on advancing state skills policies to 

expand economic opportunities for workers 

while boosting local workforce capacity.

Designing Inclusive 

Apprenticeships

Partnership on 

Inclusive 

Apprenticeship

A guide to recruiting and training apprentices 

with disabilities.

USDA Resource Guide 

for Rural Workforce 

Development

U.S. 

Department of 

Agriculture 

(USDA)

Outlines programs and services available at 

USDA and other federal departments/agencies 

to support rural workforce development. 

Explore PreApprenticeshipsDOL Resource to support the development of highquality apprenticeship and pre-apprenticeship 

programs, including case studies and 

examples. 
93

Prevailing Wage 

Information and 

Resources

DOL A guide with information, tools, and additional 

resources specifically related to prevailing 

wage.

Labor-Management 

Relations

DOC An explanation of labor-management relations 

and best practices.

Construction Program 

Guide: Project Labor 

Agreement

DOT Provides a description of Project Labor 

Agreements (PLAs) and relevant Executive 

Orders and legislation. 

Labor Peace Agreements U.S. Chamber 

of Commerce 

Describes a Labor Peace Agreement and 

provides multiple case studies of successful 

Labor Peace Ordinances.

Family Self-Sufficiency 

(FSS)

HUD Promotes the development of local strategies 

to coordinate public and private resources that 

help housing choice voucher program 

participants, public housing tenants, and 

tenants in the Section 8 Project-Based Rental 

Assistance program obtain employment that 

will enable participating families to achieve 

economic independence and reduce 

dependence on welfare assistance and rental 

subsidies.

Resident Opportunity and 

Self Sufficiency (ROSS) 

HUD The purpose of the ROSS Service Coordinator 

program is to provide funding to hire and 

maintain Service Coordinators who will assess 

the needs of residents of conventional Public 

Housing or Indian housing and coordinate 

available resources in the community to meet 

those needs.

Section 3 HUD The Section 3 program requires that recipients 

of certain HUD financial assistance, to the 

greatest extent possible, provide training, 

employment, contracting and other economic 

opportunities to low- and very low-income 

persons, especially recipients of government 

assistance for housing, and to businesses that 

provide economic opportunities to low- and 

very low-income persons.

Contracting

An Overview of Small 

Business Contracting

Congressional 

Research 

Service 

Descriptions of federal small business 

designations, example federal funding 

programs for small businesses, and related 

requirements.

MBDA 

Programs/Business 

Centers

DOC A list of Minority Business Development 

Agency (MBDA) programs and business 

centers across the country by state.

Contracting Guide SBA A list of state and local SBA offices, which can 

offer support for connecting with small 

businesses. 
94

A.6.4 Resources for Understanding the Workforce Landscape

The workforce landscape analysis should include a thorough scan of workforce laws and 

regulations in the state, territory, or tribal community; employment and workforce demographic 

data; and potential collaborators on workforce initiatives. Use the guiding questions and 

resources below to help support a landscape analysis. 

Guiding Questions Resources

Laws and Regulations

• What are the laws and regulations that govern labor and 

workforce in your state, territory, or tribal community? 

• How do these laws and regulations relate to contracting and 

subcontracting? 

• Are there any workforce laws or regulations currently under 

consideration?

State Workplace Safety 

and Health Program 

Plans (OSHA)

State Labor Laws (DOL)

Labor Market

• What are the dominant industries and occupations in the 

labor market in your state, territory, or tribal community?

• What are occupations likely to be required in the 

semiconductor labor market? What are other industries that 

currently rely on these roles within your region? 

• What are the unemployment and underemployment rates?

• What are five-year trends for employment in each 

occupation?

• What are the leading barriers to employment in the 

semiconductor labor market?

• What are the prevailing wages for semiconductor workforce 

jobs?

• How do these compare to other jobs in the workforce?

• How do these compare to regional and national 

wages for each occupation?

• What is the variation in these trends across your state, 

territory, or tribal community?

Unemployment Rate by 

State (DOL)

Prevailing Wage 

Resources (National 

Conference of State 

Legislatures)

O*NET OnLine 

Occupational Information

(O*NET)

Longitudinal EmployerHousehold Dynamics

(Census)

Workforce Demographics

• Who are the workers in your state, territory, or tribal 

community? What are their characteristics (e.g., age, gender, 

ethnicity, race)?

• What groups are underrepresented in the workforce? Why 

are they underrepresented?

• What recruitment pipelines and workforce retention programs 

exist to promote a diverse and skilled workforce?

Workforce Data by State

(DOL)

State Employment 

Statistics (Bureau of 

Labor Statistics)

Worker characteristics

(Bureau of Labor 

Statistics)

Burning Glass Data

(Emsi)
95

State Labor Market 

Information Contact List

(Bureau of Labor 

Statistics)State Labor 

Market Information 

Contact List (Bureau of 

Labor Statistics)

Potential Collaborators

• Who are current partner groups (e.g., governmental offices 

and programs, unions and labor organizations, non-profits, 

educational institutions) involved in workforce in your state, 

territory, or tribal community?

• How are these various partners engaged? 

• What are potential opportunities for your workforce team to 

collaborate with these partners groups?

• Who are new businesses, industries, and other potential 

collaborators to engage in workforce planning? 

• Are these groups trusted among the communities where 

these jobs will be placed?

• What process will you use when conflict arises among 

contributors?

National Association of 

State Workforce Board 

Chairs (NGA)

Workforce Development 

Technical Assistance 

Program (NGA)

National Association of 

State Workforce Agencies 

(NASWA)

National Association of 

Workforce Boards

America Achieves
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