Your Chamber continues to meet monthly with the Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) Chairman Bryan Daniel in Austin. This month, Chairman Daniel invited us to join him in a small group discussion with the other Metro 8 Chambers. Having ongoing direct communication with the head of TWC gives us the opportunity to provide our local perspective as he makes decisions for his agency.
Chairman Daniel updated us on the progress of several TWC initiatives as directed by the Texas Legislature including:
- Tri-agency collaboration with the Texas Education Agency (TEA) and the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB),
- Data collection, and
- Addressing the child care crisis in our state.
Texas annually spends more than $100 billion on its education-to-workforce system, yet often employers struggle to locate the skilled talent they need to grow their businesses. TWC and its tri-agency partners are striving to create more formal employer engagement in the development of workforce goals and strategies in order to be responsive to employer needs. This includes addressing problems or inefficiencies in a more rapid fashion.
Another effort discussed with Chairman Daniel included an update on the Texas Education & Workforce Alignment Act to enhance data reporting to improve the state’s labor market information. We encouraged TWC to clearly demonstrate value to employers in expanding data collection and encourage voluntary participation, not mandate it. We also asked that reporting of employment information be simplified and collected once instead of through multiple entities. Such efforts can certainly improve unemployment program integrity and reduce risk of fraud, but it could also improve understanding of specific roles and pathways from education to careers and wage linkages.
If you have a question or concern on TWC or the tri-agency efforts that you would like to share with Chairman Daniel, please contact Katie Ferrier, Vice President of Education and Workforce Development.