US Understanding Barriers to Employment Resources in United States

US Understanding Barriers to Employment Resources

Many hard-to-place workers, particular those from disadvantaged backgrounds, may simultaneously face several barriers to employment. As a result, they often experience significant difficulty in finding and maintaining a job.[1]

D.C.’s Workforce Investment Council has found that a large portion of its customers facing employment barriers are TANF recipients, ex-offenders, individuals with mental and substance abuse problems and those who have a history of long term unemployment.[2]

Specific employment barriers include:

Lack of Education
Lack of Work History
Low Income
Child Care
Transportation
Health Conditions
Substance-Abuse
Ex-Offenders
Homelessness
Language Barriers among Diverse Populations
Disabilities

In addition, these hard-to-serve customers often lack “soft” skills, such as personal grooming, getting to work on time, showing initiative, and communicating clearly, verbally and in writing. Employers stress how critical the basic soft skills are, especially among those who go directly from high school into the workforce. Lack of such skills can hinder even the brightest young people with great potential.[3] According to the American Society of Employers in Detroit, “The biggest employer workforce concern is finding qualified employees, not just regarding their technical skills base but also their soft skills and basic academics, including teamwork, getting up on time….Employers want people who are qualified with those basic skills and who have some growth potential. There are plenty of bodies, but not enough with skills even for so-called unskilled positions. [4]

Oregon found that although the personal effectiveness competencies listed below are generally taught in the home and community, they can be reinforced by the education and training system.

Interpersonal Skills
Integrity
Professionalism
Initiative
Dependability and Reliability
Willingness to Learn
Healthy lifestyle[5]
Workplace competencies are the skills and abilities that enable workers to function effectively in most work settings. Work experience is generally required to develop the following skills:

Teamwork
Adaptability/Flexibility
Customer Focus
Planning and Organizing
Creative Thinking
Problem Solving and Decision Making
Working with Tools/Technology
Using Computers[6]
Thus, ensuring that education and job training incorporate personal effectiveness skills would eliminate one common barrier for hard-to-place workers. Providing incentives to employers to give hard-to-place individuals work experience where they can develop workplace competencies might eliminate a second barrier.

[1] Charles Stewart Mott Foundation “Mott ProgramOfficer Neal Hegarty talks about reducing barriers to employment,” News, June 5, 2006, http://www.mott.org/recentnews/news/2006/nhegarty.aspx.

[2] D.C. Workforce Investment Council, The District of Columbia’s Strategic Two-Year Workforce Investment Plan (Washington, D.C.: WIC, 2005), 130.

[3]Terry Dillman, “Workforce Investment Board reaches out to region’s educators,” Newport News-Times, n.d., http://www.worksourceoregon.org/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=72&Itemid=14

[4] WIN, Reauthorizing the Workforce Investment Act, 2.

[5] OWIB, Winning in the Global Marketplace., 21.

[6] Ibid.