To be successful in the 21st Century "information" economy, Pennsylvania workers need to adapt and learn the work practices, attitudes and skills required by modern, flexible businesses. Unfortunately, many public school and government workforce programs are based on out-of-date industrial models, their costs are high, and they are not designed to meet current needs.

The Pennsylvania Chamber of Business and Industry strongly encourages the Commonwealth to regularly undertake a comprehensive review of existing workforce development programs to make sure that each is achieving high quality results at an acceptable cost-per-student. These reviews should include a cost-benefit analysis, and the information from these reviews should be made readily available to the public.

In addition, The Pennsylvania Chamber supports:

• The establishment of clear performance criteria and system-wide accountability standards for all government workforce training programs.
• Regular monitoring and continual improvement of all existing government workforce training programs.
• Removal of the perceived educational bias against vocational education programs.
• Determining community workforce needs and tailoring local programs accordingly.
• Promotion of private sector educational and training programs as well as encouraging institutions of higher education to offer courses aligning with workforce needs.
• Focusing workforce training programs on the upgrading, retraining and cross-training of existing workers while holding the preK-16 educational system accountable for producing students who have the desired reading, writing, math, reasoning and work practice skills.
• Identification and utilization of best practices in workforce development.

Approved by Board of Directors 10/07/08