New York Serves as Model City on Workforce Development

June 6, 2007 - Since the Department of Employment merged with the Department of Small Business Services in 2003, the agency has increased the number of New Yorkers we place in jobs each quarter from 127 to more than 4,300.

The growth in job placements by nearly 3,300 percent has come as a result of the agency's strengthening of the connection between employers and jobseekers. The City's Business Solution Centers across all five boroughs work with local businesses to identify their hiring needs, while co-located Workforce 1 Career Centers identify job seekers with matching skills and where necessary provide training to help New Yorkers meet the needs of particular positions.

To achieve higher rates of job placement, SBS has also created quarterly goals and reviews for its partners; implemented incentives for the sharing of information between career centers; introduced technology to share information about work orders and job seekers between centers; and instituted programs whereby partners evaluate and share best practices with each other.

Now, cities across the nation and around the world are looking to New York as a model for workforce development. SBS has hosted many visitors in an effort to share experience and learn from other practitioners around the country and internationally.  Delegations from Chicago, Boston, London and the World Bank have all come to SBS to understand the agency's business-driven strategy of linking economic and workforce development, and how SBS built the technology and contract incentives to implement the strategy.  SBS also has recently hosted two large conferences in New York City - with Workforce Innovations and with the International Economic Development Council – giving the agency further platforms to share this model.

Most recently, in April, the Department of Small Business Services hosted a delegation from the Netherlands to share its workforce development model. On April 26, staff from SBS and the Workforce Investment Board (WIB) hosted a delegation of 30 civil servants from the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment at the Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center. The delegation was visiting New York as part of a study tour focused on employment programs and policies in the United States and, in particular, New York City. SBS and WIB staff highlighted the successes of the City's business-driven workforce development system and previewed new initiatives coming out of the Center for Economic Opportunity to assist the City's working poor. Following this presentation, the delegates received a tour of the Brooklyn Workforce1 Career Center.

"During our meeting, we shared some experiences and explored similarities and differences," said Rianne van Alphen, Policy Advisor at the Dutch Ministry of Social Affairs and Employment. "It was a great meeting from which we gained interesting insights that can be useful for our policies in this field."

SBS has been honored to host these delegations and is looking forward to welcoming six politicians and five civil servants from Denmark this month.