General

The National Network of Sectoral Practioners (NNSP) offers information on sectoral strategies through its website, but access to many of its resources requires membership in the organization.  See http://www.nedlc.org/nnsp/about.htm for additional information about NNSP.  Proceedings from NNSP’s 2001 Conference are available on-line at http://www.nedlc.org/nnsp/2001conf.pdf.

In 2001, the U.S. Department of Labor funded 39 projects to help Workforce Investment Boards develop and implement sectorally-based workforce development activities.   A brief report reviews the progress made by 32 of those projects.  See http://www.aspenwsi.org/publicationdetailsdb.asp?pid=23.

Another sectoral initiative has been undertaken by Public/Private Ventures.  Currently underway is a Sectoral Impact Study that will compare participants in selected sectoral employment programs to a randomly assigned control group, looking at such outcomes as employment, job retention, wage levels, and earnings potential.  The publication, Gearing Up:  An Interim Report on the Sectoral Employment Initiative, describes activities at ten sites involved in the PPV project.  See http://www.ppv.org/ppv/workforce_development/workforce_development_initiatives.asp?section_id=5&initiative_id=9 for additional information on the PPV initiative, access to Gearing Up and other reports on their sectoral activities.

Projects and Case Studies

An early sectoral project, the Wisconsin Regional Training Partnership (WRTP) began in the early 1990s to address worker skill issues in the metalworking industry around Milwaukee.  They have since expanded their industry scope to cover a wide range of sectors in their home region.  See http://www.wrtp.org/   for a description of current industry partnerships, and access to other pages maintained by WRTP.

An informative case study published by the Aspen Institute is Cooperative Home Care Associates:  A Case Study of a Sectoral Employment Development Approach (2002).  This case study documents an evolving approach to improve the low-wage occupation of home health aide, noting its strategies and accomplishments in improving the quality of jobs, developing career ladders, and influencing industry practices.   See http://www.aspenwsi.org/publications.asp?cid=1 for this report as well as the Institute’s catalog of case studies.

The Working for America Institute, AFL-CIO, has information on a number of sectoral projects on its website.  Sites of interest include: http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/SectorInitManu.htm for a description of activities related to manufacturing;

http://www.workingforamerica.org/documents/healthcare.htm for information on projects in the health care field;

and the WAI portal, http://www.workingforamerica.org/, for access to pages describing other sectoral activities, including projects in the hospitality and building trades sectors.

Policy aspects

Among the Aspen Institute publications is a policy brief entitled, Industry-Specific Workforce Development:  Key Research Findings and Implications for the Workforce Investment Act (2003), which draws upon sectorally-oriented research to suggest program design choices to increase the effectiveness of publicly-funded workforce development activities.  For this and other Aspen Institute publications on the policy aspects of sectoral strategies and links to those documents, see http://www.aspenwsi.org/publications.asp?cid=3. 

Research

A comprehensive summary of sectoral-based approaches can be found in Working with Value:  Industry-specific Approaches to Workforce Development (2002).  This report presents a synthesis of findings from Aspen’s Sectoral Employment Development Learning Project, a multi-year learning evaluation designed to investigate the key characteristics, operating features, and effectiveness of programs that utilize industry-specific strategies to help low-income populations achieve self-sufficiency.  For this and other Aspen Institute publications on sectoral research, see   http://www.aspenwsi.org/publications.asp?cid=2.