Publication
- May 11, 2017
- COWS
- Laura Dresser, Javier Rodriguez, and Mel Meder.
In Wisconsin, policy makers seem to increasingly assume that work, and work alone, can provide a decent standard of living. However, working families continue to face a slew of challenges – low wages, inadequate benefits, insufficient hours – generated by the very jobs that are supposed to be the answer. This report highlights the disconnect between state policies and the realities of Wisconsin families working in jobs at or near the poverty line.
Publication
- February 21, 2017
- COWS
- Rhandi Berth, Laura Dresser, and Emanuel Ubert.
Manufacturing in the Midwest continues to evolve. Firms increasingly rely on highly specialized and flexible processes, deploying new technology that redefines workers’ jobs and the skills needed for them. In Milwaukee, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP)/BIG STEP has spearheaded the creation of a new registered apprenticeship in response to these dynamic forces. Industrial Manufacturing Technicians (IMT)are now working and being trained at firms across the upper Midwest. The success of this apprenticeship derives directly from the WRTP/BIG STEP’s long-standing and deep relationships with manufacturing firms and labor unions built over the course of two decades. The success also owes to the long tradition of apprenticeship in Wisconsin and the ways this project has built from the existing model. This paper offers the story of this apprenticeship innovation which is remaking apprenticeship for the new and rapidly evolving manufacturing sector.
At its height, manufacturing dominated the Ohio economy, employing half of all workers in the state. That was during World War II, supplying the Allied forces. Since then, the manufacturing footprint has shrunken, but the sector remains a vital part of the economy. Today, one in eight Ohio workers is in manufacturing, making the state third in the nation, after California and Texas, for the size of our manufacturing workforce: nearly 687,000 in 2015. Average wages of $1,119 per week in the sector exceeded the average for all sectors by 24.9 percent. Ohio manufacturers contributed $108 billion to the economy in 2015, 17.8 percent of the total for the state.
Publication
- November 30, 2016
- COWS
- Laura Dresser, Hannah Halbert, and Stephen Herzenberg.
Implementation of the Workforce Investment and Opportunity Act (WIOA) is well underway. This process creates unprecedented opportunity to adopt policies and practices that boost job quality. Connecting workers with the best quality job possible serves job seekers better. More stable work means higher income, longer job tenure, and better predictability for managing the tensions between work and life. But beyond that, WIOA policies for job quality help protect public investments in training by ensuring that those investments are not simply lost in a revolving door of turnover. Policies that focus on better quality jobs help make WIOA resources a reward for employers who are already treating their workers with greater care, rather than subsidizing low-road competitors who may waste the investment. A new report produced by COWS, the Keystone Research Center in Pennsylvania, and Policy Matters Ohio, identifies three WIOA quality standards that can target public training investment where it will have stronger returns.