Healy-Driscoll administration unveils statewide workforce agenda emphasizing training, apprenticeships and support services

Governor Maura Healy unveiled the Healy-Driscoll administration's first statewide workforce agenda at a morning event, saying the plan lays out strategies to attract, develop and retain workers across Massachusetts.

"Thank you all for being here to celebrate our administration's workforce agenda and official state workforce plan," Healy said, opening the presentation and thanking labor leaders, employers and agency partners.

Labor and Workforce Development Secretary Lauren Jones said the agenda complements the U.S. Department of Labor state workforce plan and the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act, and reflects months of work with employers, labor and education partners. "Today is a really great day. We're able to celebrate the release of the Healy-Driscoll administration's first workforce agenda," Jones said.

Key elements the administration emphasized include Mass Reconnect, which expands community college access for people 25 and older; Mass Talent, a set of employer partnerships intended to link workers to in-demand jobs; and a new investment of $4,000,000 per year in registered apprenticeship programs. Jones also highlighted a skills-based hiring policy aimed at removing unnecessary degree requirements for job postings.

Officials said the agenda is designed to coordinate across state agencies and measure outcomes. The administration pointed to the Mass Leads Act, its economic development bill, as a vehicle for historic investments in workforce training.

The agenda includes near-term actions the administration described as implementation steps rather than new, open-ended programs: the governor and several secretariats will convene a whole-of-government task force to design an affordable, accessible child-care system and the Labor and Workforce Development agency issued a request for proposals to pilot a stipend program that would use ARPA funds to support trainees enrolling in certain job-training programs in partnership with Commonwealth Corporation.

Joanne Pakowski, chair of the state workforce board and assistant vice president for workforce planning and development at Beth Israel Lahey Health, said the plan focuses on practical supports such as transportation, childcare, stable housing and ESOL training to improve hiring and retention, particularly in healthcare. "I truly believe this plan is a road map to an equitable, inclusive, and thriving economy," Pakowski said.

The administration said the agenda will be submitted and reviewed as part of the U.S. Department of Labor's state workforce plan process under WIOA. Officials posted the plan online at www.mass.gov/workforceagenda and said printed copies would be available.

Next steps outlined at the event include convening the childcare task force, advancing the ARPA-funded stipend pilot through the RFP process, and starting implementation under the newly announced undersecretary for workforce development.