Guest Commentary by
Andy Van Kleunen, Executive Director, National Skills Coalition

Economic times are bad, and the nation wants answers:  What should policymakers be doing to get millions of Americans back onto a path toward prosperity?  And what will the U.S. economy look like when it finally comes back from the Great Recession?

The media is on the case, and in its quest has recently given a lot of ink to the rarely covered topic of workforce development.  For those running or funding local workforce programs, such press attention has seemed long overdue.  With community college enrollments at unprecedented levels, and a near three-fold increase in clients at Workforce Investment Act (WIA)-funded One-Stop Centers and training programs, worker demand for new skills is at an all-time high. Unfortunately, much of the recent coverage has presented two contradictory pictures of the economy:  one in which targeted investment in workforce skills is a no-brainer, the other in which job training is dismissed as inconsequential or out-dated.

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