The Biden–Harris administration has demonstrated an historically unprecedented commitment to equity over the past three-and-a-half years, making good on their campaign promise to codify inclusive growth within all levels of federal policy-making. To accomplish this, the administration has leveraged just about every tool available to the executive branch, from statutory measures and executive actions to budget allocations and regulatory reforms, at times testing legal boundaries to enact policies that actively address and rectify systemic inequalities. The administration’s policy portfolio stands as a testament to their achievement, where equity provisions crosscut all major legislative initiatives from economic recovery to climate action.
Over the course of this effort to embed equity into the core of federal policy, the administration has paid particular attention to workforce development. Recognizing training and employment as key components of inclusive economic recovery, Biden and Harris pledged substantial resources toward skill-building programs for historically marginalized communities. The White House has delivered on this promise, signing a raft of bills that allocated billions of dollars for workforce development initiatives tied to robust equity provisions. This commentary offers a summary of some of those successes for the American workforce, as well as some ways to keep building on them into the future.
A Comprehensive Workforce Equity Portfolio
While specific conditions and activities vary from law to law, each piece of the administration’s flagship workforce development policies has included substantial funding for job training and apprenticeship programs, with particular attention to meeting the needs of underrepresented and under-served communities (generally defined as communities of color, women, people with disabilities, and people from low-income and rural areas). Bills have also been deliberately structured to bring community-based organizations (CBOs) to the table, helping these programs serve populations that traditional employment and training initiatives have failed to reach.
These strategies and others can be seen throughout the administration’s legislative actions. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) earmarked approximately $40 billion for workforce development programs, including grants for training and employment services tailored to underrepresented groups, which help to ensure that these supports are accessible to those communities hardest hit by the economic downturn. Additionally, the act provided over $2.7 billion in direct funding to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to promote recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, through support for financial aid, campus improvements, and other critical needs.
Building on this momentum, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) promoted the creation of high-quality jobs in sectors such as water, transportation, and broadband, and prioritized projects in disadvantaged communities. The bill also included requirements for contractors to engage in fair hiring and employment practices and provided workforce training that targets disadvantaged workers.
Similarly, the Inflation Reduction Act built in targeted labor and workforce development standards, offering enhanced tax incentives for clean energy projects that ensure workers are paid prevailing wages and incorporate paid, registered apprenticeships into their workforces. And more recently, the CHIPS and Science Act allocated funds for sector partnerships to support disadvantaged groups as well as grants to enhance research, development, and training programs at HBCUs, which have built the capacity of these institutions to produce graduates with the skills needed for high-tech careers.
These programs are designed to drive inclusive growth, thereby ensuring that historically marginalized individuals and businesses have access to the opportunities generated by emerging and high-demand sectors of the economy.
Three programs developed by the administration also contain substantial equity provisions and funding allocations: The Good Jobs Challenge, the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs). These initiatives are all structured around domestic manufacturing, particularly in clean energy and semiconductor production, with the goal of boosting U.S. industrial capacity while creating jobs in under-served communities. Through their frameworks and operational guidelines, these programs are designed to drive inclusive growth, thereby ensuring that historically marginalized individuals and businesses have access to the opportunities generated by emerging and high-demand sectors of the economy.
Changing the Paradigm
The equity-first, community-minded approach that the Biden–Harris administration has taken in the policies discussed above marks a notable departure from previous administrations, which often focused on broad economic growth rather than on targeted interventions for specific communities. The current administration’s agenda actively prioritizes racial equity, worker-centered policy, and community involvement, values which align with broader social justice movements and help distribute economic benefits more widely and fairly. Early signs indicate that these investments are starting to yield positive outcomes. ARPA has helped stabilize communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic, generated significant and equitable job growth, and lowered unemployment. Furthermore, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is beginning to reverse long-standing disparities in access to essential services by directing public works projects to close the infrastructure gap in underserved communities. And early evidence suggests both IRA and CHIPS are not only boosting local economies, but also creating opportunities for historically marginalized workers to join the high-tech industry, which has helped to address long-standing disparities in access to careers in science and technology.
TCF has had a front-row seat to the implementation of these workforce policies through our Industry and Inclusion coalition, an initiative that brings training providers together to build ecosystems and increase racial equity in manufacturing. Notable shifts that our coalition has seen in federally funded workforce projects include the prioritization of strategies that focus on inclusivity and comprehensive support within workforce projects. Increasingly, CBOs are brought in during the planning and execution phases, which helps to ensure that projects are grounded in local needs and that they leverage regionally tailored solutions. Our coalition has also noticed that leadership teams are being diversified to bring a wider array of perspectives and experiences to the forefront, which enhances decision-making and project relevance. Efforts are also far more likely to include awareness-building trainings, in explicit recognition of the invisible barriers faced by historically marginalized communities. And the administration’s legislation prioritizes diverse wraparound services, such as career counseling, job placement assistance, and supportive services like childcare and transportation, which are crucial for removing barriers to employment.
How to Keep Building on These Successes
There is still room for improvement. Many federally funded workforce initiatives lack true accountability when it comes to creating, and measuring the impact on, expanded access to high-quality employment. Features like wraparound services are often still fraught with red tape, making it difficult for potential participants to access critical services. Poor administrative design and implementation are thus posing barriers to employment themselves. And despite the emphasis on high-quality employment, many of the jobs at the end of these programs offer such low wages that job-seekers cannot cover their basic costs with the pay. Moreover, to the extent to which workforce programs interface with Unemployment Insurance (UI) and other forms of public assistance, they both fail to leverage opportunities that would promote participation, and penalize participants who secure employment by withdrawing government aid even when the wages are lower than the assistance. We must solve these issues if we’re to be able to provide individuals with access to high-quality jobs, and to develop a workforce able to keep pace with the knowledge requirements demanded by tightening technology cycles.
That said, while we still have work to do, President Biden and Vice President Harris have fulfilled their promise to integrate equity into the heart of federal policymaking, making a landmark stride toward rectifying long-standing systemic inequalities in the process.
The full measure of these investments will take years, perhaps decades, to unfold, and the depth of their impact on socioeconomic equity is likely to vary across regions in response to local implementation. Ultimately, while the administration has laid a strong foundation for advancing equity within federal policy, the ongoing challenge will be to continue their legacy of equity-centered legislative and executive action, while ensuring that local decision-makers implement policy according to both the letter and the spirit.
Tags: biden-harris administration, HBCU, workforce development
How the Biden–Harris Administration’s Policies Have Boosted Equity in Federal Workforce Programs
The Biden–Harris administration has demonstrated an historically unprecedented commitment to equity over the past three-and-a-half years, making good on their campaign promise to codify inclusive growth within all levels of federal policy-making. To accomplish this, the administration has leveraged just about every tool available to the executive branch, from statutory measures and executive actions to budget allocations and regulatory reforms, at times testing legal boundaries to enact policies that actively address and rectify systemic inequalities. The administration’s policy portfolio stands as a testament to their achievement, where equity provisions crosscut all major legislative initiatives from economic recovery to climate action.
Over the course of this effort to embed equity into the core of federal policy, the administration has paid particular attention to workforce development. Recognizing training and employment as key components of inclusive economic recovery, Biden and Harris pledged substantial resources toward skill-building programs for historically marginalized communities. The White House has delivered on this promise, signing a raft of bills that allocated billions of dollars for workforce development initiatives tied to robust equity provisions. This commentary offers a summary of some of those successes for the American workforce, as well as some ways to keep building on them into the future.
A Comprehensive Workforce Equity Portfolio
While specific conditions and activities vary from law to law, each piece of the administration’s flagship workforce development policies has included substantial funding for job training and apprenticeship programs, with particular attention to meeting the needs of underrepresented and under-served communities (generally defined as communities of color, women, people with disabilities, and people from low-income and rural areas). Bills have also been deliberately structured to bring community-based organizations (CBOs) to the table, helping these programs serve populations that traditional employment and training initiatives have failed to reach.
These strategies and others can be seen throughout the administration’s legislative actions. The American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) earmarked approximately $40 billion for workforce development programs, including grants for training and employment services tailored to underrepresented groups, which help to ensure that these supports are accessible to those communities hardest hit by the economic downturn. Additionally, the act provided over $2.7 billion in direct funding to historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) to promote recovery from the impacts of the pandemic, through support for financial aid, campus improvements, and other critical needs.
Building on this momentum, the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (also known as the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law) promoted the creation of high-quality jobs in sectors such as water, transportation, and broadband, and prioritized projects in disadvantaged communities. The bill also included requirements for contractors to engage in fair hiring and employment practices and provided workforce training that targets disadvantaged workers.
Similarly, the Inflation Reduction Act built in targeted labor and workforce development standards, offering enhanced tax incentives for clean energy projects that ensure workers are paid prevailing wages and incorporate paid, registered apprenticeships into their workforces. And more recently, the CHIPS and Science Act allocated funds for sector partnerships to support disadvantaged groups as well as grants to enhance research, development, and training programs at HBCUs, which have built the capacity of these institutions to produce graduates with the skills needed for high-tech careers.
Three programs developed by the administration also contain substantial equity provisions and funding allocations: The Good Jobs Challenge, the Build Back Better Regional Challenge, and the Regional Technology and Innovation Hubs (Tech Hubs). These initiatives are all structured around domestic manufacturing, particularly in clean energy and semiconductor production, with the goal of boosting U.S. industrial capacity while creating jobs in under-served communities. Through their frameworks and operational guidelines, these programs are designed to drive inclusive growth, thereby ensuring that historically marginalized individuals and businesses have access to the opportunities generated by emerging and high-demand sectors of the economy.
Changing the Paradigm
The equity-first, community-minded approach that the Biden–Harris administration has taken in the policies discussed above marks a notable departure from previous administrations, which often focused on broad economic growth rather than on targeted interventions for specific communities. The current administration’s agenda actively prioritizes racial equity, worker-centered policy, and community involvement, values which align with broader social justice movements and help distribute economic benefits more widely and fairly. Early signs indicate that these investments are starting to yield positive outcomes. ARPA has helped stabilize communities disproportionately affected by the pandemic, generated significant and equitable job growth, and lowered unemployment. Furthermore, the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law is beginning to reverse long-standing disparities in access to essential services by directing public works projects to close the infrastructure gap in underserved communities. And early evidence suggests both IRA and CHIPS are not only boosting local economies, but also creating opportunities for historically marginalized workers to join the high-tech industry, which has helped to address long-standing disparities in access to careers in science and technology.
TCF has had a front-row seat to the implementation of these workforce policies through our Industry and Inclusion coalition, an initiative that brings training providers together to build ecosystems and increase racial equity in manufacturing. Notable shifts that our coalition has seen in federally funded workforce projects include the prioritization of strategies that focus on inclusivity and comprehensive support within workforce projects. Increasingly, CBOs are brought in during the planning and execution phases, which helps to ensure that projects are grounded in local needs and that they leverage regionally tailored solutions. Our coalition has also noticed that leadership teams are being diversified to bring a wider array of perspectives and experiences to the forefront, which enhances decision-making and project relevance. Efforts are also far more likely to include awareness-building trainings, in explicit recognition of the invisible barriers faced by historically marginalized communities. And the administration’s legislation prioritizes diverse wraparound services, such as career counseling, job placement assistance, and supportive services like childcare and transportation, which are crucial for removing barriers to employment.
How to Keep Building on These Successes
There is still room for improvement. Many federally funded workforce initiatives lack true accountability when it comes to creating, and measuring the impact on, expanded access to high-quality employment. Features like wraparound services are often still fraught with red tape, making it difficult for potential participants to access critical services. Poor administrative design and implementation are thus posing barriers to employment themselves. And despite the emphasis on high-quality employment, many of the jobs at the end of these programs offer such low wages that job-seekers cannot cover their basic costs with the pay. Moreover, to the extent to which workforce programs interface with Unemployment Insurance (UI) and other forms of public assistance, they both fail to leverage opportunities that would promote participation, and penalize participants who secure employment by withdrawing government aid even when the wages are lower than the assistance. We must solve these issues if we’re to be able to provide individuals with access to high-quality jobs, and to develop a workforce able to keep pace with the knowledge requirements demanded by tightening technology cycles.
That said, while we still have work to do, President Biden and Vice President Harris have fulfilled their promise to integrate equity into the heart of federal policymaking, making a landmark stride toward rectifying long-standing systemic inequalities in the process.
The full measure of these investments will take years, perhaps decades, to unfold, and the depth of their impact on socioeconomic equity is likely to vary across regions in response to local implementation. Ultimately, while the administration has laid a strong foundation for advancing equity within federal policy, the ongoing challenge will be to continue their legacy of equity-centered legislative and executive action, while ensuring that local decision-makers implement policy according to both the letter and the spirit.
Tags: biden-harris administration, HBCU, workforce development