Strengths and Weaknesses of the Workforce Development Activities

Initial analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of Arkansas’s workforce development activities suggests that our talent development system has the right expertise and pockets of excellence.

Successfully serving common customers in our system will require continued collaboration, coordination and re–assessment. During a strategic planning session of the Arkansas Workforce Development Board, the following strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and challenges were identified for the workforce development system in Arkansas.

Strengths

• The State has strong workforce development programs in place; however, the state needs to focus on outreach and education about the services available.
• The State’s business leaders are at the table as champions of the programs through input into program design, identification of skills development, and commitment to continuous improvement of the talent development system.
• Key industries are involved in strategic planning and committed to driving the talent development system in Arkansas.
• Economic development is involved in planning activities at the state and local level and have identified targeted industries.
• Partnerships at state level are strong and will enable the state to successfully and fully implement WIOA, thereby enhancing services to the public through the State’s talent development system.
• Despite stagnant budgets, staffing has been maintained to provide services in all 75 counties.

Weaknesses

• Arkansas has a shrinking labor force.
• Secondary education’s involvement in workforce development, strategic planning and program design needs to be strengthened.
• Funding for community colleges is insufficient.
• While there are strong partnerships in some areas of the state with community colleges and workforce development, involvement from all community colleges statewide should be stronger.
• Funding models for education are inadequate.
• Marketing and outreach of the State’s talent development system is inadequate and too many employers and jobseekers are unaware of the services and opportunities available.
• Employers’ outreach to students and their parents regarding potential occupations needs to be increased.
• Parent and students lack knowledge of business/industry in the State.
• Government is not at the table as an employer.
• Kiosks for consumers who are blind are not available statewide and staff turnover at the locations make it necessary to provide frequent and ongoing training.
• Staff training programs for serving the customers across agencies are not in place, especially recognizing the special needs of serving persons with disabilities.

Opportunities

• Current Registered Apprenticeship opportunities present a tremendous for opening workforce development strategies.
• Strong industry/workforce partnerships exist in some areas of the State.
• The State has new leadership to drive the new current agenda of collaboration and coordination.
• Bringing community colleges to the table to enhance the State’s talent development system.
• Opportunities for community college programs to increase capacity.
• Program–based learning needs to be explored and utilized.
• Community College partnerships should be expanded to increase credential attainment.

Challenges

• Arkansas has an aging workforce and the younger generation is not skilled to replace retiring workers.
• Regional disparities in workforce and industries makes it difficult to recruit new industries.
• Misalignment of services and programs could threaten enhanced service delivery and integrity of the talent development system.
• Duplication of efforts and programs reduces the efficiency of already stagnant or declining budgets.
• Systemic education issues exist in secondary and higher education.
• Industries may be lost due to a lack of skilled labor.
• There is a lack of existing workforce training funds.
• Budgets for workforce development programs are stagnant or declining due to a lack of funding from federal sources.
• Coordination at the state level for implementation of WIOA is strong; however, this level of collaboration and coordination is labor intensive and often takes team members away from oversight and leadership responsibilities. Maintaining the current level of collaboration is critical to success.