In 2018, Governor Ivey established the Success Plus postsecondary education attainment goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the workforce by 2025.

With labor market conditions nearing full employment in Alabama, meeting the Success Plus goal requires increasing Alabama’s labor force participation rate (LFPR). The LFPR is the percentage of the civilian non-institutionalized population age 16 and older who are employed or actively looking for work. As a result, Governor Ivey set a goal of surpassing the national LFPR by 2025.

With a November 2023 non-seasonally adjusted LFPR of 57.1%, Alabama ranks 47th in the nation (tied with Kentucky and above only Mississippi, South Carolina, and West Virginia). A one-percentage-point increase in Alabama’s LFPR represents approximately 23,000 additional Alabamians participating in the labor force. Increasing Alabama’s LFPR to the national average of 62.8% would add 131,100 Alabamians to the labor force. Alabama’s 78.4 percent prime-age labor force participation rate (25-54) also lags 4.9 percentage points behind the national average of 83.3 percent, which represents a delta of 112,700 prime-age Alabamians who are not working.

Our state will not reach its goals with nearly half of its working-age people on the sidelines. Alabama must, and can, do better, but it will require realignment of Alabama’s public workforce system to make it more effective and efficient. We must address postsecondary attainment and labor force participation together. Economic growth is booming in areas across Alabama with the highest levels of attainment and labor force participation. In the counties with a low LFPR, there is also limited postsecondary attainment and economic growth.

There are more available jobs than there are unemployed Alabamians. Therefore, we must focus on increasing the number of people participating in the labor market and coordinating our workforce programs. We must focus our efforts on increasing the LFPR with the same passion and focused leadership that we have placed in past years on important issues such as literacy and high school completion. Increasing the LFPR requires shared goals, coordination, and shared accountability metrics.

In the next legislative session, it is time to finish the job of aligning our workforce programs to meet the demands of our economy. Alabama must be a leader in all endeavors, with a particular focus on our workforce. We want Alabama to be a model for talent training and development, inspiring other states to aspire to become as good as Alabama.

This report outlines steps that should be taken through executive action and through the legislative and budgetary processes to align Alabama’s workforce system. These recommendations are focused on efficiency and cleaning up the motley mix of programs that are serving far too few of Alabama’s employers and job seekers.

This report was developed with the people of Alabama, and the taxpayers of Alabama, in mind. Achieving government efficiency often “ruffles a few feathers,” but we present this report as both the customers of, and funders of, Alabama’s public workforce system. With that in mind, we offer this report and recommendations for reforming Alabama’s public workforce system.

Alabama Survey of the Alabama Unemployed and Underemployed 4.0

The Governor’s Office of Education and Workforce Transformation and the Alabama Workforce Council conducted the fourth iteration of the Alabama Survey of the Unemployed and Underemployed to measure awareness and attitudes towards new job training programs in Alabama among underemployed and unemployed Alabamians.

The survey was conducted by Cygnal between January 4 and January 16, 2023, and 500 underemployed and unemployed Alabamians responded to the survey. 48% of respondents were male and 52% were female. The results of the Alabama Survey of the Unemployed and Underemployed underscores that fact that COVID-19 as a barrier to employment has almost entirely evaporated, although 45% of respondents claim COVID-19 has contributed to their current state of underemployment or unemployment.

At least three-quarters of respondents are very likely to seek entry to workforce in 2023. The number of men that responded to the survey that have been underemployed longer than 6 months have decreased, while the number of underemployed women has increased. Women are 11% more likely than men to have been underemployed longer than 6 months. Workers over the age of 35 are over 20% more likely to be underemployed for more than 6 months than workers under 35.

The current major obstacle to full employment is now transportation, followed by personal health, and familial obligations. 21% of Alabama jobseekers cited transportation as their greatest barrier to full-time employment, and 31% said it was their primary reason for being either unemployed or underemployed. Lack of transportation is particularly daunting for low-income and urban jobseekers, while older workers are hampered more by health issues. Women are three times more likely than men to cite familial obligations as a barrier to work.

Earning more money has become the preeminent reason for changing industries for both men and women, though women tend to place greater emphasis on reducing stress and a flexible schedule. The top concerns at the height of the pandemic, stability, and consistent wages, have fallen to secondary concerns. High-income earners are more likely to seek out an industry that has a more flexible workload and schedule. 83% of unemployed and underemployed workers are willing to apply for non-remote work, which is up from 77% during the height of pandemic.

When it comes to free training programs, business administration, human services, and information technology garner the most interest. A plurality of respondents said earning a certificate or license is their main goal when receiving job training or education. 41% of respondents said additional training is too expensive. A plurality of unemployed and underemployed workers see value in obtaining a credential before seeking full-time employment. Only 20% respondents completed additional job training while underemployed or unemployed.

At least 85% of respondents said they were more likely to apply for a job after reading about available programs and resources. Men and workers under 35 prefer skills training programs when considering applying for jobs, while women and workers over 35 are more interested in pursuing resources like community college, job fairs, and career coaching.

Due to the strong leadership of Governor Ivey, the Alabama Legislature, the State Board of Education, the State Department of Education, and education advocates in business and industry, Alabama’s historically anemic student proficiency scores and national rankings are beginning to move in the right direction.

This didn’t happen by accident. Governor Kay Ivey is Alabama’s education governor, and she has done more to transform Alabama’s K-12 education system during her five years in office than any of her predecessors.

From the beginning of her term as Governor, Kay Ivey has always said that literacy and numeracy are the “blocking and tackling” of education. During her first term, Governor Ivey set the bar for the Legislature and Alabama State Department of Education, and the Alabama State Board of Education to begin the hard work of improving Alabama’s education system to produce the educational results that Alabamians deserve.  Under Governor Ivey’s leadership, wise investments have been made to lay the foundation for excellence in literacy and numeracy.

Governor Ivey signed the Alabama Numeracy Act into law in May 2022, which places the same level of focus on mathematics that the Alabama Literacy Act placed on reading in 2019.

Alabama’s business community, through the work of the Alabama Workforce Council and other advocacy groups, have worked in conjunction with Governor Ivey to implement much-needed educational improvements.

Unfortunately, Alabama’s educational assessments, standards, and state superintendents have been altered or replaced every other year for a decade. Typically, change affects performance.  Alabama’s constant changes in leadership, assessments, and standards may have something to do with our low educational test scores. To maintain our current momentum, we must stop the standards war driven by reactionary voices that continue to push to change our standards every other year.

Continued changes in tests and standards confuse students, parents, and educators.  It also hinders our ability to determine student progress over time. It is extremely important to consistently maintain standards over a long enough period to accurately compare current performance to prior performance. Without consistency in standards and testing, confusion reigns.

We are pleased that Alabama’s 2019 Mathematics and 2021 English Language Arts courses of study were developed by Alabama’s teachers and members of business and industry.

Alabama has a new assessment system, the Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP).  Hopefully, our leaders will stick with the new assessment program for a long enough period to eliminate confusion.

Consistency will allow all Alabama education stakeholders—parents, students, educators, businesses, and citizens—to understand our educational goals and test results.

Due to Governor Ivey’s strong and consistent leadership, strong standards, and an assessment system aligned to the standards, we have already seen some limited growth on the 2022 Alabama Comprehensive Assessment Program (ACAP), which is Alabama’s annual summative student assessment given in grades 2-8.

Every grade in K-12 saw improvement in scores on the ELA ACAP from 2021 to 2022, with the largest increase in 2^nd grade whose proficiency increased from 43% to 49%.

The National Assessment of Education Progress, commonly referred to as NAEP (pronounced “nape”), is the only educational test that compares student performance across the country. In 2022, Alabama’s 4^th grade NAEP math ranking improved from 52^nd in the nation to 40^th..  Alabama 4^th grade ranking in reading increased from 49^th  in the nation in 2019 to 39^th place in 2022.  Alabama’s ranking for 8^th grade mathematics improved from 52^nd 2019 to 47^th in 2022.  Since 1992 Alabama’s 4^th grade students have never been ranked in the top 40 nationally.

Our state’s national rankings in reading and math improved in relation to other states, but our nominal test scores were not significantly improved.  In other words, our rankings improved in relation to other states because our students’ scores did not drop from prior years as much as other states did.  That means that our students’ loss of learning was significantly lower than other state’s students.

Keeping students in school during COVID-19 is certainly one variable that helped Alabama hold its own during a dramatic national decline.

Kudos to our state’s leadership, starting with Governor Ivey, to make the tough decision to place our children’s education above the national hysteria about COVID.  Our state’s leadership worked very hard to minimize the effect of COVID on our children’s loss of learning.

Alabamians should be proud that we held our own and did not experience as much COVID-19 learning loss as other states; however, our results should not be cause for us to become complacent or rest on our laurels.

The results from this year’s ACAP and NAEP are reason to double down and saddle up for the hard work that lays before us.  We have a head start on many other states. Let’s keep going! We are beginning to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a long tunnel.

The Alabama Workforce Council will continue to fall in beside Governor Ivey, Superintendent Eric Mackey, the Alabama Legislature, and the members of the Alabama State Board of Education to continue pushing for improvements in our children’s education because, as we all know—leadership matters!

Alabama’s need for aviation mechanics and technicians is soaring and a new registered apprenticeship program will begin filling that need with trained and qualified individuals.  The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship has partnered with M1 Support Services and the Alabama Aviation College to develop an apprenticeship program that combines paid work experience and classroom instruction, all while earning a portable, nationally recognized credential.

”We are proud to see  M1 Support Services developing a joint apprenticeship program to help meet the critical workforce needs for skilled aviation mechanics and technicians in the Fort Rucker area”, said Josh Laney, Director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship.  We are very thankful to the company and the union for helping us set a high standard throughout the program’s development and we look forward to the years of growth and success ahead for everyone involved.”

At the successful completion of the program, students will have a nationally recognized credential and a pathway to a high-wage and high-demand job.  The paid, on-the-job training that they receive through the apprenticeship program sets them up for success while providing a pipeline of qualified workers for M1 Support Services.

A signing ceremony was recently held for the apprentices and M1 Support Services at Enterprise Community College.

The demand for nurses is at an all-time high and the number of open nursing positions in the healthcare field is growing rapidly.  Mapping nursing career paths, providing learning and training while also a living wage to students is the newest strategy to deliver qualified nurses into the workforce.

The Alabama Office of Apprenticeship has partnered with the Alabama Board of Nursing and the Alabama Community College System to develop the state’s first nursing registered apprenticeship program.

What does a nursing apprenticeship program in Alabama mean? It means that students accepted into their local community college’s practical or registered nursing apprenticeship program get classroom instruction and on-the-job learning but at the same time, they are earning progressive wages.  Students will actually work as a hospital employee, earning pay for program clinical and practicum hours.  After successful completion of the program and the passage of the NCLEX (National Council Licensure Examination), the student transitions to full-time employment at the hospital where they were an apprentice.

Josh Laney, Director of the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship, said “the opportunity for nurse apprentices to earn while they learn, to continue applying skills learned in class in a real work environment, and to extend the time spent working with their preceptors, will positively impact the nursing industry’s critical needs for recruitment and retention of highly prepared nurses.”

The rules from the administrative code go into effect on March 17, 2022.  The initial cohort of nursing apprentices will launch this summer, and it will be open to other interested employers and training providers in the fall.

The new nursing apprenticeship program is just one way that the Alabama Office of Apprenticeship is working to remove barriers to entry for students wanting to enter high-demand occupations while also helping to meet Governor Ivey’s Success Plus Goal of adding 500,000 credentialed workers to the workforce by 2025.

MONTGOMERY, Ala – Despite the lingering economic uncertainty caused by the COVID-19 pandemic, a new report says Alabama’s workforce stands stronger today than it did one year ago.  “The Alabama Workforce Council (AWC) has been strengthened as an organization over the past year.  Our advocacy with state agencies and the Legislature has led to policy outcomes that will improve the lives of thousands of Alabamians,” said AWC Chair Tim McCartney and Vice Chair Sandra Koblas in a letter to Gov. Ivey and legislators that accompanies the report.

In partnership with the Alabama Legislature, the AWC successfully worked to increase funding for dual enrollment for career and technical education for high school students, reduce teacher chronic absenteeism and grow the educator workforce pipeline.  The Fiscal Year 2022 Education Trust Fund Budget included a $3 million increase for the dual enrollment program, which brought total funding for the program to $21.2 million. An $11 million increase for the K-12 Career Tech Initiative nearly doubled the total investment in the program to $19.3 million. Plus, there was a new $10 million investment in the Alabama Community College System’s Innovation Center for rapid worker training.

“Considering these successes, we are not resting on our laurels. In 2022, we will be focusing on completing our system for connecting talent and opportunity, known as the Alabama Talent Triad, increasing the labor force participation rate, and making tremendous progress against the Success Plus postsecondary education attainment goals,” said McCartney and Koblas.

Other highlights in the report about the AWC’s efforts are:

• ATLAS on Career Pathways, the state’s interagency data-sharing system, was implemented and will provide the data that’s needed to identify in-demand careers and credentials.
• The Alabama Credential Registry launched as the first of three technology solutions that comprise the Alabama Talent Triad, which will be used to scale skills-based hiring and competency-based learning practices in Alabama.
• The AWC partnered with Governor Ivey and the State Board of Education to pass a Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) completion policy that will open the doors to postsecondary education and the workforce for all of Alabama’s high school graduates.
• The Alabama Computer Science Summit resumed after a one-year hiatus caused by COVID-19.
• These successes and others are helping to achieve Gov. Ivey’s Success Plus goal of adding 500,000 highly skilled Alabamians to the workforce by 2025.

The full report can be viewed here.