A new study on Delaware’s workforce landscape is released.
The study - commissioned by United Way of Delaware and the Delaware Racial Justice Collaborative - offers a comprehensive analysis of Delaware’s workforce landscape from the perspective of workforce providers.
Its overarching goal is to identify disparities in employment and economic opportunities, and how that impacts wealth creation.
United Way of Delaware Vice President and Chief Strategy Officer Laurie Girardi, says there was a common theme in the findings.
“Individuals can really have the best of intentions, but we have to advocate for and implement change at the systems level to really drive equity in our entire workforce ecosystem,” she explained.
Girardi adds that despite the good intentions, employment and hiring procedures that don’t combat structural racism in policies and practices will fail to drive equity.
Even if workplace practices promote equality, equity can only occur if people from different economic and social backgrounds can pursue opportunities without short or long term detriment.
The study suggests multiple ways to address that - such as implementing culturally responsive and flexible training programs, and increasing access to wraparound services like childcare and transportation.
“We also need to start thinking about building leadership development into any workforce pipeline, so that staff and leadership reflect the people that they're trying to attract and serve,” added Girardi.
This study is publicly accessible, and will be distributed to legislators, businesses, and training providers to help drive change.
It can be found at uwde.org/workforce.
