The Good Jobs Collaborative Responds to House Passage of 'A Stronger Workforce For America Act'

On Tuesday, April 9th, a bipartisan majority in the U.S. House of Representatives passed “A Stronger Workforce for America Act” (ASWA). The legislation proposes to reform and reauthorize our federally-administered public workforce system, replacing the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act of 2016 (WIOA).

While we appreciate House members’ commitment to investing in workforce development, ASWA does not bring forth the transformational change our workforce system requires to truly support workers and jobseekers. Specifically, ASWA fails to reorient our public workforce system around the goal of putting people into high quality, family-sustaining jobs.

We, the Good Jobs Collaborative (GJC), are a diverse collective of organizations dedicated to advancing a worker-centered workforce development system. Our goal is to build a new narrative to guide workforce development policy that is grounded in principles of economic justice, advances racial and gender equity, is organized around the needs of workers first, and builds opportunities for worker voice and power.

We understand that ASWA’s shortcomings in meeting the needs of workers are not intentional. They stem from the principles that have guided federal workforce development policy for over three decades. The legislation is built on two flawed assumptions about what makes workforce development successful: that it must be employer-led and must address “skills gaps” among individual workers. Neither assumption is evidence-based and both reflect a failure of imagination on how workforce development can shape employer behavior toward high-road practices, improve job quality, and give workers and their advocates a seat at the table.

In March 2024, we published a set of principles that ground policy in the needs of workers for quality jobs and recognize the critical role that worker advocates must play in designing and guiding workforce development activities. In an accompanying paper, we outline three concrete examples of workforce development initiatives that are worker-led, meet the needs of employers, and advance job quality.

Millions of workers and advocates across the nation are demanding more of work: higher wages, decent benefits, voice in the workplace, and a free and fair chance to join a union. Unfortunately, ASWA is not informed by, or attentive to, these demands. It is a missed opportunity to put workers and their collective demands at the center of workforce development policy. At the GJC, we will be building toward that and look forward to engaging Congressional offices in the coming months to do so.

The Good Job Collaborative includes the Advancing Black Strategies Initiative, Aspen Institute’s Economic Opportunities Program, Center for Law and Social Policy (CLASP), Center on Education & Labor at New America, Healthcare Career Advancement Program (H-CAP), High Road Strategy Center at University of Wisconsin, Jobs to Move America, Jobs with Justice, Joint Center for Political and Economic Studies, Milwaukee Area Service and Hospitality Workers Organization (MASH), Restaurant Opportunities Centers (ROC) United, Roosevelt Institute, and the Service Employees International Union.