Branstad seeks to better link workers to jobs

DES MOINES - Gov. Terry Branstad on Tuesday proposed the creation of a new public-private center to address a skills gap that impedes economic growth by better utilizing resources to match education and workforce training efforts with industry, worker and employer needs.

Branstad told members of the Greater Des Moines Partnership the focus of his new initiative would be to grow jobs and strengthen the Iowa economy by better aligning stakeholder assets through a new Center for Human Capital Enrichment that would assist job seekers, employees and employers in Iowa.

The five-term Republican said he wants to extend the public-private partnership model his administration has used to bolster economic development and job creation to the state's workforce development efforts.

'The idea is to have a public-private partnership that would work on workforce development just as we have on economic development,” said Branstad.

The governor said he hoped the new structure would be to 'provide a holistic approach to the development of human capital in Iowa” to better match private sector needs for skilled workers with state and local efforts to provide the necessary skills development for those Iowans seeking new job opportunities.

'We need to have the human capital available to meet the job demands of industry,” according to material distributed by the Branstad-Reynolds re-election campaign. Branstad is seeking an unprecedented sixth term as governor in a Nov. 4 general election matchup with Democrat Jack Hatch, a three-term state senator from Des Moines.

Branstad said the center would be an industry-led, 'common-sense” initiative that would be housed at the Iowa Department of Workforce Development in partnership with the Iowa Economic Development Authority. The mission would be to coordinate public and private efforts for training and employing Iowans to improve the 'pipeline” of qualified candidates for jobs opportunities in those sectors, and to provide a more holistic approach to oversight and governance of multiple approaches.

Under Branstad's proposed model, the effort would be overseen by a newly created public-private governing board with appropriate authority to provide executive-level oversight and guidance for the entire effort. The board would be comprised of 'CEO-level representatives from all stakeholder entities,” such as Iowa Workforce Development, Iowa Economic Development Authority, Iowa Department of Education, Iowa community colleges, the state Board of Regents, representatives from various industry sectors, organized labor and non-profit organizations that serve unemployed and underemployed Iowans.

The envisioned public-private partnership would bring together and better connect Iowa's workforce and training efforts by aligning programs, such as workforce training programs, apprenticeship opportunities, Skilled Iowa and Home Base Iowa, to the needs that businesses and industries have identified, he said.

'We want to make sure there is good coordination between the private sector need and the public sector programs,” Branstad said. 'I don't think this is something that's going to be extremely expensive but I do think it's an opportunity to better utilize the resources we have effectively.”

The center's job would be to improve opportunities for unemployed or underemployed Iowa to understand what jobs are available and connect them with the training needed to increase their income, the governor said. In addition, high schools and colleges would have a venue to learn from industry and develop partnerships in order to engage students earlier in order to create a workforce pipeline.