John C Williams: Welcoming remarks - Investing in America's
Workforce Book Launch Event
Welcoming remarks by Mr John C Williams, President and Chief Executive Officer of the Federal
Reserve Bank of New York, at the Investing in America's Workforce Book Launch Event, New
York City, 9 November 2018.
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As prepared for delivery
Welcome
Good morning. I am very pleased to welcome you all to the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
for the launch of Investing in America's Workforce: Improving Outcomes for Workers and
Employers. I would like to thank our colleagues across the Federal Reserve System, the
Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University, the Ray Marshall Center at
the University of Texas at Austin, and the W.E. Upjohn Institute for Employment Research for
collaborating with us on this initiative.
My colleagues and I are proud to co-sponsor this event today and appreciate everyone who
contributed their time and effort to making the Investing in America's Workforce publication a
reality.
With over 100 contributors, pulling this together was not an easy feat. I recognize the value of
sharing knowledge and resources and am pleased that we can help facilitate this effort. I
congratulate my colleagues and our partners for this accomplishment and believe this is just the
beginning of our work to support the workforce field. There is a tendency to try to re-invent the
wheel and overlook past experience, but by taking a step back and learning from one another, we
can have a much greater positive impact in our communities.
Roadshow Workforce Experience
Sustainable economic growth and thus broad-based prosperity is dependent on a healthy job
market, one in which employers can find the skills they need and workers find jobs that allow
them to grow and move up the economic ladder. The challenge is developing a system that
encompasses both and is accessible to all those seeking a job. Our workforce development
initiative aims to promote dialogue and a greater understanding of promising policies and
programs that allow workers, especially those in low and moderate-income communities, to
develop in-demand skills and connect them with employers. We can achieve this by connecting
with workforce stakeholders through policy forums, roundtable discussion sessions, and
examining areas through our research and outreach.
One of the best aspects of my job is the opportunity to visit communities across our Second
District. The skills gap and the uneven economic recovery among different communities are
consistent themes I hear, not just in the Second District but also in my previous job on the West
Coast. I also have heard about a variety of policies and programs that seem to be making an
impact and could have broader potential that are worth sharing.
Early in my tenure I visited Brooklyn P-TECH and met with a dedicated and focused group of
young students learning IT skills for middle-skill jobs. This partnership between IBM Corporation,
the New York City Department of Education, the City University of New York, and the NYC
College of Technology, provides an instructive model. It takes kids from high school through an
associate's degree with corporate support and real-life experiences.
And it's working. Their first class of 91 students entered the program in September 2011 and
almost all have since earned their high school diplomas and about half have earned an
associate's degree in a STEM field. IBM has hired 23 graduates and continues to offer paid
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summer internships.
In a few weeks, I will be visiting Per Scholas, a tuition-free workforce training program in the
Bronx and in other parts of the country. It seeks to break the cycle of poverty by providing free
technology career education, training, placement, and advancement services to people in
underserved communities. Approximately 90% of Per Scholas trainees are people of color, with
the large majority representing Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino individuals -- groups
with historically low representation in IT and the financial services industry.
This workforce program is unique in that it seeks to re-train adult workers for successful careers
as technology professionals and works with employers in crafting unique training programs for
their business. In 2017, Per Scholas NY enrolled 502 students and 406 graduated, of which a
substantial majority reported being placed with an employer with an average starting wage of
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more than $20 an hour.
Earlier this year, the New York Fed partnered with Per Scholas NY to support our own Diversity &
Inclusion efforts focused on career paths in IT, cybersecurity, and data science in the financial
services industry. I am proud to say that the New York Fed was recognized by Per Scholas as a
Major Partner in its recent 2018 annual update report.
I mention these two examples as they reflect the theme of today's event and the book-
workforce development is about investing in work, workers and systems leading to greater
employment opportunities for all.
Employer Engagement by Community Colleges in New York State
Another important issue is the role of employer engagement with community colleges. By
working directly with local employers, community colleges can more effectively prepare students
for available jobs, and at the same time, help employers find and retain workers with the skills
they need.
In an effort to better understand the level and types of employer engagement activities taking
place in our region, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York recently conducted a survey of all of
the community colleges in New York State. Next Wednesday, we will be releasing a report that
details our findings.
Our report does show that employer engagement by community colleges in New York State has
become the norm. The typical community college engages with more than 100 employers,
spanning a broad range of industries, including healthcare, manufacturing, utilities, and tourism,
just to name a few. It is also quite common for community colleges to actively assess local labor
market needs, often with the help of local employers.
As part of these engagement efforts, employers provide a wide range of education and training
support to community colleges, offer various forms of work experience, and help students
prepare for the job market. Employer engagement is a promising and important undertaking for
community colleges, local employers, students, and workers.
Investing in America's Workforce
These are just a few examples of the work being done across the Federal Reserve System and
beyond, which is one of the reasons we have come together under the Investing in America's
Workforce umbrella. This initiative started in 2017 as a way to identify new approaches,
opportunities, and challenges in the various areas of workforce development. Led by the Federal
Reserve System alongside other educational and nonprofit institutions, Investing in America's
Workforce has encompassed 52 regional meetings held across the country last year, a
capstone conference held in Austin, TX last October, and a three-volume book highlighting
workforce development efforts as investments for economic and community growth, which the
Fed and our partners are releasing today.
In 2017 and 2018, the New York Fed held seven regional meetings in our District, and one in
Orlando, FL in partnership with our Atlanta Fed colleagues after the influx of Puerto Ricans to the
mainland post-Hurricane Maria. We found that all of these communities shared certain needs,
including to: develop training programs that lead more directly to available jobs; make the public
workforce system less complicated; and find a consistent way to document and collect data on
individuals who participate in training to assess the effectiveness of the programs.
I hope this book will help find solutions, recognizing that there is no one-size-fits-all solution or
approach.
So what's in the book? Investing in America's Workforce: Improving Outcomes for Workers and
Employers is a collection of more than 65 essays from national and regional workforce experts
about systemic barriers to employment and how further workforce investments can overcome
those barriers. Staff from the New York Fed contributed two chapters in the publication. One
piece-on partnership development as a key workforce strategy- includes a look into how three
employers in New York and Puerto Rico developed partnerships with post-secondary institutions
to make progress in overcoming the skills gap issue. By detailing some of the factors that
contributed to employers' partnering with educational institutions, this chapter aims to provide
insight to employers seeking to engage with educational partners to address labor market
concerns and support the development of skilled industry talent. The second piece examines the
high child poverty rate in Puerto Rico and its impact on the long-term economic sustainability of
the island and its ability to recover from Hurricane Maria. The island's child poverty rate is almost
three times higher than that of mainland, and has remained stagnant even during times of
economic growth, suggesting the issue is not just rooted in labor demand. This chapter
discusses the dual programmatic and policy strategy of the Boys and Girls Club of Puerto Rico
and its sister organization the Youth Development Institute.
Before I conclude my remarks, I would like to provide a quick overview of today's sessions. First,
my colleague Patrick Harker, President and CEO of the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia,
will discuss key shifts in perspective needed to see workforce development as an investment.
Then there will be three panel sessions, each dedicated to the overarching focus of a volume in
the publication - investing in workers, investing in work, and investing in systems. The day will
then end with a luncheon panel discussion where speakers from various sectors will discuss
what needs to happen to realize the goal of seeing workforce development as an investment in
inclusive economic growth that benefits workers, employers, and communities.
I am thrilled that we can bring together national and regional leaders representing the private,
public, and nonprofit sectors to engage in a dialogue that can inform workforce development
programming across the country and learn from one another about the opportunities for investing
in America's workforce. We look forward to a productive day and continuing the conversation
after the event. Thank you.12