Resources
2017
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Addressing the Middle Skills Gap Outcomes
Release Date: 02.2017
As a result of this grant, 670 people were placed in jobs at 447 companies; this is 82% of graduates and 74% of participants, compared to a national enrollment to placement rate of 56% for similar programs. Read this one pager for more details and outcomes from the Addressing the Middle Skills Gap Grant Program which ran from 2013-2016.
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Closing the Skills Gap: Meeting the Demand for Skills in a Growing Economy
Release Date: 01.2017
The purpose of this analysis is to provide data that informs policy and practice in the education and workforce development fields. This report documents statewide trends, placing the Massachusetts experience in the national context. We use data from a number of federal and state sources to inform our analysis. These data are the latest available as of August 2016.
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Evaluation of the 2012 Health Care Cost Containment Law in Massachusetts
Release Date: 07.2017
Chapter 224 of the Acts of 2012—“An Act Improving the Quality of Health Care and Reducing Costs Through Increased Transparency, Efficiency and Innovation”—was enacted with the goal of controlling health care spending growth while improving access and quality. Section 251 of the law posed research questions and directed the Office of the State Auditor (OSA) to “conduct a comprehensive review of the impact of [Chapter 224] on the health care payment and delivery system in the Commonwealth and on health care consumers, the health care workforce, and general public.”
Evaluation of the 2012 Health Care Cost Containment Law in Massachusetts, is the result of the OSA’s work. Commonwealth Corporation and the Centers for Labor Markets and Policy at Drexel University authored Chapter 4: The Changing Nature of the Health Care Workforce.
Click “Download File” below for the Executive Summary.
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Health Care Workforce: Characteristics of Workers and Jobs in Massachusetts
Release Date: 07.2017
The paper examines changes that have occurred in the demographic traits and the employment patterns and earnings of the state’s health care workforce between 2011, the year before the passage of Chapter 224, and the most current year for which data are available, 2015.
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Health Care Workforce: Developments in Certificates and Degrees in Massachusetts.
Release Date: 07.2017
This paper provides information on trends in postsecondary completions in health care-related fields of study in Massachusetts over the 2001 to 2012 period, representing the period before the passage of Chapter 224 or what the authors label as the “pre-Chapter 224 period” and over the period of three years following the enactment of Chapter 224, 2012 to 2015 which the authors have labeled the “post-Chapter 224 period”.
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Health Care Workforce: Employment Structure and Trends in Massachusetts
Release Date: 07.2017
Fundamental changes have occurred in the way that health care is delivered in Massachusetts in recent years and this is reflected in the changing nature of demand for labor among the various component industries that make up the health care and social assistance sector. This paper examines the nature of these changes along a variety of labor market related dimensions and makes some observations about the outlook for growth and future change in health care diagnostic and practitioner occupations and in health care support/direct care occupations.
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Health Care Workforce: Mass Layoffs 2004-2016
Release Date: 07.2017
This paper examines mass layoff activity within the state’s health care and social services industry relative to other major industry sectors over the 2004 to 2012 period, just before the implementation of Chapter 224. This discussion places the mass layoffs that have occurred in the health care and social assistance sector in the context of overall mass layoff activity in Massachusetts.
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Health Care Workforce: Profile of 15 High Growth Occupations
Release Date: 07.2017
This research brief presents a profile of 15 occupations in the Massachusetts health care industry. These occupations were selected on the basis of their importance within the state’s health care industry; either because of strong growth in employment or because of the emerging importance of the role that workers in these occupations play in the changing health care service delivery environment in the state.
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Health Care Workforce: Select Direct Care Occupations in Massachusetts
Release Date: 07.2017
This special topics report summarizes publicly available data and information gathered through interviews and focus groups with employers, workers, labor leaders and state officials in order to understand the labor market context of three already large and fast growing health care support and direct care occupations: home health aides, personal care aides, and community health workers (CHWs)/social and human service assistants.
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Health Care Workforce: Summary of HCWTF Training Grants
Release Date: 07.2017
As health care employers align with the goals of Chapter 224 and cost controls begin to alter the delivery of health care services in differing ways within the sector, providers are changing some of their business processes, occupational job descriptions, and staffing structures. In anticipation of these changing skill and knowledge demands, Chapter 224 established the Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund. The Fund was designed to support education and training initiatives to help health care employers address workforce challenges that are related to organizational and operational changes they need to make to implement Chapter 224. Commonwealth Corporation issued a Request for Proposals for Health Care Workforce Transformation Training grants and in 2015 awarded grants to 55 organizations. In 2016 Commonwealth Corporation awarded Training grants to 4 additional organizations, for a total of 59 grants. This paper provides information about the Training grant applications and the 59 grants.
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Lagging Teen Employment in a Strong Bay State Labor Market
Release Date: 05.2017
More than six years after the recovery from the Great Recession of 2007-2009, Massachusetts’ overall economy and labor markets have improved markedly. However, the gain in employment has not been uniform across age groups. The youngest workers (16-to-19 years old) continue to be disconnected from the labor market. This research report assesses the year-round and summer employment experiences of teens in Massachusetts and the U.S. over the past 4 decades (1978-1979 to 2015-2016).
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YouthWorks 2016 Databook
Release Date: 02.2017
The YouthWorks 2016 Databook details the YouthWorks 2016 Job Program. This year 4,658 youth in over 31 cities across the Commonwealth successfully completed summer job opportunities. It is submitted to General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by Commonwealth Corporation on behalf of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development.
2016
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2015 BOG Report
Release Date: 2016
This report provides an overview of the programming and outcome data for all funded grantees in Fiscal Year 2015.
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2015 DYS Comprehensive Education Partnership Report
Release Date: 2016
This report reflects the growth and breadth of the Massachusetts juvenile justice education system through the DYS current contract with the Commonwealth Corporation (“CommCorp”), referred to as the Comprehensive Education Partnership Initiative (CEP).
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2015 Foundation Annual Report
Release Date: 2016
The various programs at Commonwealth Corporation work with youth and adults to build skills and secure pathways to a career, and with businesses to up-skill current workers and build a pipeline for future employees. In this year’s annual report we focus on programming in four categories: (1) youth jobs; (2) services for youth at risk; (3) unemployed adults training; and (4) workforce training for businesses.
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2016 CommCorp Annual Report
Release Date: 12.2016
Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Ronald L. Walker, II, describes CommCorp as a “driving force behind making sure more residents acquire the skills, education and training they need to compete for jobs.” For more, read our FY16 Annual Report.
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2016 WCTF Annual Report to Legislature
Release Date: 12.2016
This report provides additional detail on the progress to date of the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund Addressing the Middle Skills Gap and FY’16 Appropriation grant programs. This report does not include final outcomes for previous rounds of funding awarded under the WCTF, which have been reported in previous annual progress reports.
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Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund Case Study – Centrus
Release Date: 12.2016
See how Centrus Premier Home Care utilized a Health Care Workforce Transformation Grant to address a workforce challenge.
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Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund Report to Administration and Legislature through Dec 2015
Release Date: 04.2016
This report provides information about the status of initiatives that have been supported by the Health Care Workforce Transformation Fund (the Fund) as of the end of calendar year 2015.
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Signal Success Data Report
Release Date: 2016
This report describes the results of a pilot study designed to test the effectiveness of the career-readiness and career exploration curriculum, Signal Success, developed for teens at high school and community-based programs. The findings offer an opportunity to look at noncognitive learning in practice and explore the types of skills that may be most relevant to success in school and work.
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The Job Seeker’s Challenge: The Impact of Online Applications & Assessments
Release Date: 09.2016
In this brief we share information about the reasons behind the growing use of online applications and pre-hire assessments in hiring (particularly at the entry-level), the format of the applications and strategies to prepare job seekers to complete online applications. This brief grew out of one of the findings from our 2013 study, Signaling Success: Boosting Teen Employment Prospects.
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WCTF Case Study: Building Pathways and Sullivan & McLaughlin
Release Date: 2016
This case study features Building Pathways, one of the grantee recipients from 2013 WCTF Awards and how they work with partners like Sullivan & McLaughlin along with many others to bring more women and minorities into the trades.
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WCTF Event with Governor Baker: Jiebin’s story
Release Date: 2016
Grants from the WCTF support unemployed and underemployed job seekers across the state. In this piece we highlight one of those workers and how he was able to change his career and his life.
2015
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2014 Foundation Annual Report
Release Date: 2015
The Annual Report for FY14 gives a “Year in Review” from July 1, 2013 to June 30, 2014, highlighting key workforce development initiatives, research projects, and our public and private partnerships.
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2015 WCTF Annual Report to Legislature
Release Date: 2015
This report provides an overview of the programming and outcome data WCTF Grantees in Fiscal Year 2015.
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2015 WTFP Annual Report
Release Date: 2015
The Fiscal Year 15 report to the Massachusetts Legislature for the Workforce Training Fund Program.
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YouthWorks 2015 Databook
Release Date: 2015
The YouthWorks 2015 Data Book is submitted to General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts by Commonwealth Corporation on behalf of the Executive Office of Labor and Workforce Development. It details the YouthWorks 2015 Job Program.
2014
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Health Care Workforce Planning Grant Brief
Release Date: 10.2014
This brief is part of Commonwealth Corporation’s effort to support health care provider, community college, workforce investment board, career center and community based organization staff, and policymakers in understanding the potential impact of Massachusetts’ health care cost containment and quality improvement law (Chapter 224) on the health care industry’s demand for skilled workers. We are learning a great deal about how the state’s health care providers are addressing a variety of workforce skills challenges associated with operational changes they are making to comply with Chapter 224.
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Occupational Gap Analysis Report
Release Date: 07.2014
This report summarizes the results of a formal gap analysis of the clinical lab workforce in the Pioneer Valley and Berkshire regions, including supply and demand data. The report also contains the aggregated regional results of a laboratory skill assessment. The report provides strategies that could be used to address workforce issues for these occupations and makes recommendations for next steps. The Regional Employment Board of Hampden County, Inc. produced this report on behalf of the Healthcare Workforce Partnership of Western Massachusetts. Funding was provided through a planning grant from the Healthcare Workforce Transformation Fund (2014).
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Understanding & Addressing the Youth Employment Crisis
Release Date: 11.2014
In 2013 Commonwealth Corporation examined the historically low teen employment rates and surveyed employers to identify their perceptions of teens in the workplace. This two-page brief outlines some of the findings from that study and offers ways employers, education institutions, and workforce organizations can better prepare young people for work.
2013
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Building Blocks of Labor Market Success: Evidence from O*NET Job Analysis Surveys
Release Date: 04.2013
This report is a companion to Signaling Success: Boosting Teen Employment Prospects and the O*NET data reinforces the findings from employers shared in the Signaling Success report.
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Closing the Massachusetts Skills Gap: Recommendations & Action Steps
Release Date: 04.2013
This report is the culmination of an 18-month project to better understand labor demand and supply across the state. This report defines a problem and issues a call to action and serves as the final product of Skills Gap: Supply & Demand in the Massachusetts Economy.
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Partnerships: A Workforce Development Practitioner’s Guide
Release Date: 05.2013
Through our work as funders and evaluators, we have observed what characterizes partnerships in workforce development and what contributes to their effectiveness. This Guidebook contains the following elements designed to use useful for workforce practitioners: key questions and action steps at the end of each chapter, examples from partnerships, tools and templates that may be readily used by practitioners, and case studies.
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Signaling Success: Boosting Teen Employment Prospects
Release Date: 04.2013
This study examines the historically low teen employment rates and identifies employer perceptions of teens in the workplace. Signaling Success: Boosting Teen Employment Prospects was released at a Workforce Development in Practice series event on April 2, 2013 in Worcester.
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Strategic Employer Engagement: Building Dynamic Relationships with Employers in Teen & Young Adult Employment Programs
Release Date: 04.2013
This guidebook for workforce practitioners offers resources to aid teen/young adult-focused professionals in planning and executing successful employer engagement activities and related youth employment programming. Tools are arranged in accordance with a five-step process and include instructions for developing an employer engagement marketing campaign.
2012
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Labor Market Trends in the Berkshire Region
Release Date: 09.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities. Labor Market Trends is a joint project of Commonwealth Corporation and the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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Labor Market Trends in the Boston/Metro North Region
Release Date: 10.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities. Labor Market Trends is a joint project of Commonwealth Corporation and the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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Labor Market Trends in the Cape & Islands Region
Release Date: 12.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities.
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Labor Market Trends in the Central Mass Region
Release Date: 10.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities.
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Labor Market Trends in the Metro South/West Region
Release Date: 06.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities. Labor Market Trends is a joint project of Commonwealth Corporation and the New England Public Policy Center of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston.
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Labor Market Trends in the Northeast Region
Release Date: 11.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities.
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Labor Market Trends in the Pioneer Valley Region
Release Date: 11.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities.
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Labor Market Trends in the Southeast Region
Release Date: 10.2012
This report provides a detailed picture of the region’s current and future labor supply. It is designed to help guide workforce development professionals, policy makers, and civic, education, and business leaders as they make decisions about education and training opportunities.
2011
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Measuring Business Impact: A Workforce Development Practitioner’s Guide
Release Date: 11.2011
This guidebook for workforce practitioners offers step-by-step instructions to measuring the business impact of workforce programs. It features case studies, tools, tips and worksheets based on Commonwealth Corporation’s experience in measuring business impact of workforce programs in Massachusetts.
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Measuring Business Impact: Lessons Learned from Workforce Development in Massachusetts
Release Date: 09.2011
This report examines the challenges and opportunities of measuring the impact of workforce development programs on employers. Measuring Business Impact looks at impact of the Workforce Competitiveness Trust Fund’s (WCTF) 31 projects across multiple industries such as manufacturing, healthcare, trades and financial services.
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The Increased Presence of Older Workers in the Massachusetts Labor Market
Release Date: 07.2011
This report was prepared by the Center for Labor Markets & Policy at Drexel University for Commonwealth Corporation. It provides an overview of trends in the labor force among the nation’s older population and presents more recent labor market outcomes of older workers in the nation and in Massachusetts. This report also examines the industries and occupations in which older workers in Massachusetts are employed and the change across the different industries/occupations.