Summary
October 2024, Paper: "As the federal government allocates trillions of dollars toward new industrial policies, states face a significant challenge: they will only succeed in realizing the economic potential of new investments in infrastructure, clean energy, and manufacturing if they have the skilled workforce to meet growing industry demands.1 Filling millions of projected job openings in construction and advanced manufacturing is far from a straightforward task, despite the historic federal investments.2 Workforce devel opment is an allowable use of some funds in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA), CHIPS and Science Act (CHIPS), and Inflation Reduction Act (IRA), but the statutes are struc tured in ways that require significant coordina tion at the state and regional levels for those dollars to be invested effectively. Furthermore, the role of the state workforce system across these three new federal programs is undefined."