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• How do we ensure the skills of Mississippi workers meet the needs of Mississippi businesses?
• What groups must collaborate to ensure the vitality of Mississippi’s regional industries?
• How can these groups collaborate to move the region’s economy forward?

A framework called regional sector initiatives is being used across Mississippi and the nation to meet each of the challenges mentioned above.

The Basics of Regional Sector Initiatives
A regional sector initiative formally connects a region’s organizations and leaders involved in workforce development and training. Invested groups include workforce agencies, workers, employers, training providers, political leaders, and economic developers. 

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Through building partnerships, regional sector initiatives create clear pathways for communicating the needs of an industry’s employers, workers, and training providers. Sector initiatives are able to come together to ensure that the skills of workers align with the skill demands of the region’s employers. Initiatives broaden the focus on training to pool needs of all the employers in a particular industry. Sector initiatives will typically focus resources on a few industries that exhibit growth opportunities. In Mississippi and other states, selected sectors cover a broad range of industries like healthcare, advanced manufacturing, aerospace, maritime transportation & forest products.

How are industries selected?
Often, regional sector initiatives choose to focus on a few industries that meet the criteria for job growth and quality wages. While criteria vary, some of the more common are:

• The industry demonstrates current and future job openings and a demand for more skilled labor;
• The industry offers job opportunities that provide quality wages for employees;
• The industry offers opportunities for workers to move up career ladders and advance to higher earnings with additional training and postsecondary credentials.

What are the goals of a regional sector initiative?
A regional sector initiative develops policies and partnerships to support all invested groups with the goal of streamlining education and workforce development efforts to meet an industry’s need for skilled labor. The end result is a better understanding of workplace needs and a training infrastructure that adapts quickly to train and advance low-skill workers into jobs with higher wages.

Sources:

Building Pathways to Credentials and Careers. Mississippi Economic Policy Center.
Employers, Low-Income Young Adults, and Postsecondary Credentials: A practical Typology for Business, Education, and Community Leaders. Workforce Strategy Center.

Author:

Sarah Welker, Policy Analyst