Seattle-King County
Regional Workforce Development Plan



Strategic Plan Project Consultants
Jill Nishi, Principal, JTN Consulting
• Bob Watrus • Trang Tu, Tu Consulting • Rich Stolz, OneAmerica      SEAKINGWDC.ORG
• W. Tali Hairston, Root and Branch

                REGIONAL WORKFORCE PLAN
• Establishes a shared regional blueprint to drive transformation and
alignment of regional workforce system
• Seeks to align regional and partner workforce efforts and resources
• Strategically responsive to current economic context
• Serves high level strategic plan to guide WDC’s priorities and basis for
2021 WIOA Local Plan


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                OUR NORTH STARS

EQUITABLE ECONOMIC
JOB QUALITY
RECOVERY
•   Recovery as an Opportunity to Rebuild Better                                 •   Livable Wage / Family Wage
•   Centering Racial Equity                                                           •   Benefits
•   Re-Envisioning Workforce Development                                       •   Career Advancement
•   Workplace Safety

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                                 COSTS VARY BY FAMILY TYPE AND GEOGRAPHY
JOB QUALITY
SELF SUFFICIENCY
STANDARD
How much income
families need to make
to meet basic needs
without public or
private assistance
Housing, Childcare, Food,
Healthcare,
Transportation, Taxes,
Emergency Savings


2020 Self Sufficiency Standard
University of Washington, School of Social Work
Center for Women’s Welfare                                SEAKINGWDC.ORG
www.selfsufficiencystandard.org

             How do King County Jobs Stack Up?




King County (City of Seattle): One Adult & One Preschooler & One School-age Child

                     COVID IMPACTS
Unprecedented Impact: Businesses and Workers
•  One in three jobs impacted
•  Over half a million new UI claims filed
COVID-19 Exacerbates Preexisting Racial and Economic Disparities
•  BIPOC, Immigrant and Refugee, Women and Lower Educational Attainment
•  Geography - South Seattle and South King County
•  Sector – Accommodations and Food Services
•  Low Wage Workers
•  Small business
Vulnerability, Duration and Economic Impact Vary

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                     Top Impacted Industries
Industry        New UI Claims  % of Total New   % of Industry
(Weeks 10-41)      UI Claims      Jobs Impacted
COVID-19 impact        Total, all industries               513,626         100%           33%
varies by sector and
occupation              Accommodation and food          66,763           13%            56%
services
46% of all UI claims
are in five sectors          Health care and social                52,990             10%              32%
assistance
Over half of
accommodation and     Retail trade                    48,504          9%           30%
food services jobs
have been impacted     Manufacturing                   41,087           8%            39%
Construction                        31,224             6%              35%

Source: Washington State Employment Security Dept, UI dataset
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         Disproportionate Impact on Diverse, Low Income Communities
ZIP Code             City/Area             New UI Claims/     Percent      % Below
Six ZIP codes in                                                                  Capita            BIPOC         200% of
King County
have UI claims per                                                                                          Poverty
capita rates of 45        98188      SeaTac, Tukwila                          60.6%            63.2%          33.7%
percent or more        98148     Burien, SeaTac, Des Moines            52.0%          52.6%         33.8%
98178     Seattle, Tukwila, Renton, Skyway      51.2%         74.9%       31.5%
Among the most
diverse ZIP codes in      98168      Tukwila, Burien, White Center,          48.5%           64.4%         36.5%
the county and                    SeaTac
have a high portion      98108      Seattle, Tukwila, Burien                 46.9%           79.1%         38.2%
of people living
below 200 percent      98118     Seattle                              45.2%          76.4%        32.4%
of poverty.
All          King County                               33.8%            40.4%          20.7%

Source: Public Health – Seattle & King County, COVID-19 Impacts/Unemployment
dashboard (new UI claims per capita); and Communities Count dashboard (percent           SEAKINGWDC.ORG
BIPOC and percent below 200% of poverty)

           Recovery Outlook & Assumptions

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                     Recovery Outlook
•  Contingent upon key factors: consumer behavior, vaccine development, federal relief funding
•  Nationwide employment projected to return to pre-COVID levels by 2023; regionally 2022 (but sector
dependent)
•  Regional recovery is happening at a slow pace and varies by sector
•  Recovery is slower for people of color, women and workers with lower levels of educational
attainment
•  The pandemic has accelerated automation, digitization and remote work and will greatly shape the
nature of work and skill requirements during and post-pandemic.
•  Unemployment (King County) at 7.0% - down from 14.9% May peak, but decrease is slowing
•  Re-gained half of lost jobs in August, but slowing; overall employment down 97,400 jobs or 6.6% for
year

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                                       Sector or Sub-Sector*               2021      2022     2023     2024     2025
RECOVERY    Arts, Entertainment and Recreation
WILL VARY BY  Accommodation and Food Services
Educational Services
SECTOR       Transportation and Warehousing
Manufacturing
Mining, Oil and Gas Extraction
Wholesale Trade
Power and Utilities
Finance and Insurance
Construction
Retail Trade
Real Estate, Rental and Leasing
Professional, Scientific and Technical
Information Services
Air Passenger Traffic
Freight and Logistics
Air Cargo
Rail Cargo
Hospitality
Travel                                                                                               SKC
Aerospace                                                                            SKC
Commercial Real Estate                                                                      SKC
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        Automation/Digitalization and Green Technologies Across Sectors
•  Need for training infrastructure to take advantage of the future change
•  Workers will need targeted support for reskilling or upskilling, particularly those in
operationally intensive sectors, such as manufacturing, transportation, and retail,
and operations-aligned occupations, such as maintenance, claim processing, and
warehouse order picking
•  Without targeted interventions, displacements due to technology could exacerbate
racial economic inequalities.
•  Opportunity - scale up the use of competency- and work-based training approaches
•  Incumbent-worker upskilling and competency- and work-based training

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         Automation/
digitalization are on
course to radically
transform work and jobs
across industries

Workers of color are
overrepresented in many
large and automationvulnerable
occupations.

Automation risk is best calculated in terms of the likelihood of computerization of
the underlying tasks that make up a given occupation, which can lead to worker
displacement
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                 Opportunity Sectors

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       PROMISING SECTORS              short-        term       +;2018
(Noted in Bold)                 1. Size and  Presence of  Sector (2019)         2. Job  Recovery/Gr  owth -  term  indicators     3. Job  Recovery/Gr  owth -  longer-  outlook     4. Wages and  Benefits (% of  jobs paying  $30/hr       5. Education  and Training  Requirement  s    6. Career  Pathways        7. Workplace  Safety        8. Sector  Engagement
90,168 jobs;
CONSTRUCTION                                                Varies by
segment              64%
0.99LQ
107,619 jobs;
T MANUFACTURING                       Varies by              61%
0.86LQ     segment
165,125 jobs;   Varies by         Varies by
EN RETAIL TRADE
1.06LQ     segment         segment             45%
Food and beverage stores
SSESSM General merchandise
57,291 jobs;
Non-store retailers
8.18 LQ
LL A  TRANSPORTATION AND WAREHOUSING       58,340 jobs;  Varies by     Varies by       44%
0.97LQ     segment         segment
Truck transportation
A
Support activities for transportation
V ER
Warehousing, storage
O                    123,064 jobs;
INFORMATION                                                                91%
4.26LQ
153,675 jobs;
PROFESSIONAL AND TECHNICAL SERVICES                                                 74%
1.46LQ
167,137 jobs;
HEALTH CARE AND SOCIAL ASSISTANCE                       Varies by                       40%
0.82LQ     segment
MARITIME*
* Maritime crosses multiple sectors and is complicated to aggregate jobs data. 2015 total sector
employment was 69,500. This analysis focused on sub-sectors of Ship Building and Repair; and    SEAKINGWDC.ORG
Marine Shipping and Logistics.

                   OPPORTUNITY SECTORS
Sector Archetype               Description                       Sectors
Moderate Recovery        Combination of recovery outlook that is moderate to     •  Construction
Outlook, Job Quality & Job  strong, moderate job quality and moderate job access or   •  Transportation & Warehousing,
Access                    fewer barriers (particularly around training requirements)  •  Maritime
compared to other sectors identified

Moderate Recovery        Moderate to strong recovery outlook and comparatively   •  Manufacturing
Outlook / Lower Job        lower barriers to job access, but need improvement in    •  Retail Trade
Quality / Higher Job         some dimensions of job quality, including workplace
Access                    safety.
Strong Recovery Outlook /  Strong outlook for recovery and higher job quality (in     •  IT
Higher Job Quality / Lower  terms of wages and workplace safety) but have significant  •  Healthcare
Job Access                 training requirements, as well as structural barriers to job
access for BIPOC workers.

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                 Proposed Strategies


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                          STRATEGIES
WORKFORCE DEVELOPMENT*          ADVOCACY         SYSTEMS CHANGE
 Relief                                  Leverage and expand creative       Strengthen connection
 Subsidized Transitional Employment          funding models                      between Economic &
 UI Access – Community Navigators                                               Workforce Development
 Recovery                            Strengthen access to childcare,      Measure & track
 Advance sector partnerships and             human services and other financial     equitable recovery
Strategies                                      supports
 Co-create high demand career pathways    Expand portable benefits & wrap-     Invest in digital
 Expand apprenticeship programs             around supports                    infrastructure
 Expand access to credentials with labor     Eliminate prohibitive policies         Build meaningful &
market value                                suspending/reinstating drivers’        sustainable community
 Invest in digital literacy                         Licenses                                 influence & power
 Population Specific                        Remove criminal background as a     Build internal capacity
 Opportunity Youth                        barrier to employment               on equity
 Immigrant and Refugee Pathways          Partner w/ employers & Industry on
 Justice Involved Re-entry                     equitable recovery commitments

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                     RECOVERY CORPS
•  Leverage awarded DOL funds and other public sources of
Subsidized
Transitional         funding to subsidize relief & recovery jobs
Employment    • Focus on inclusion of those most impacted by the pandemic,
w/Pathways       including people of color, immigrants and youth
•  ‘Recovery Corps’ – Public/non-profit sector recovery jobs
•  Private sector jobs in high-demand occupations
•  Include training and supports to create on-ramps to career
pathways
•  Comprehensive support services

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                 ADVANCE SECTOR PARTNERSHIPS & STRATEGIES
HIGH-DEMAND CAREER PATHWAYS
Develop new and strengthen existing sector partnerships and strategies, which can not only help
firms within targeted sectors meet their workforce and skill needs and people get jobs, but also
address racial equity and job quality, and promote broader policy/systems change. Initial
targeted sectors include:
 Construction: Support the work of Regional Public Owners and the Priority Hire program, as
way to address racial equity in the construction sector.
 Information Technology: Create alternative points of entry and pathways to the IT sector as
well as tech occupations that cross sectors to diversify the IT workforce.
 Healthcare: Support Healthcare Industry Leadership Table
 Other Sector Strategies: Pursue additional industry partnerships in “opportunity sectors”
(Maritime, Manufacturing, Transportation & Warehousing)

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                        Construction
•   Increase partnership opportunities to advance the work of Regional Public
Develop         Owners collaborative to expand access and training to public sector
and/or          construction jobs
Strengthen      •  Support the development of digital skills curriculum and hybrid in-person
Sector           and computer training
Strategies &
Career        •  Regional workforce backbone to provide research, data, program
Pathways        development and funding for pre-apprenticeship training, apprenticeship
retention and support
•   Work with labor, contractors and other partners to align and champion
greater workforce diversification in the trades
•   Fund effective practices to increase entry and retention of diverse workers
into the construction trades

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                  Information Technology
•   Regional Industry Engagement Partnership
Develop and/or
Strengthen     •  Leverage transferable skills of displaced workforce to address IT supply
Sector Strategies      gaps across industries
& Career      •  Develop career pathways and training based on industry input
Pathways
•   Create equity-centered alternative points of entry and pathways to the
IT sector
King, Pierce and        •   Identify occupations and skills that enable workers with short-term
Snohomish Tri-County        training (LinkedIn, MSFT, AWS, community colleges, etc.)
Partnership
•   Increase knowledge of changes in IT skill requirements, due to emerging
BIPOC – IT Summit         technologies (IoT, AI, Cloud computing/cyber security) and/or business
needs

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        Equitable Recovery and Reconciliation Alliance
•   Center the voice of the BIPOC community to achieve equitable recovery
•   Develop the capacity of credible existing institutions or new partnerships to
execute a racially inclusive economic recovery plan
Build         •  Invest in BIPOC led policy and strategy development
Meaningful and
 Equitable Economic Opportunities and Resiliency
Sustainable
Community        Small Business Incubation
Influence &          Access to Transportation
Power          Homelessness
 Workforce Development
 Education
 Community Engagement and Capacity Building
 Housing and Homelessness
 Public safety, Police and Criminal Justice Reform
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          THANK YOU!

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